Uncanny Atlas
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Claimed sighting

The radiant boy by the bedside

WhereThis has no location, and never had one.
DoorSomeone Who Was There
Our judgementObscurity 3 of 6

Fearing something had caught fire, a witness in bed looked out and saw a golden-haired boy in white standing beside the bed.

Catherine Crowe printed the statement in The Night-Side of Nature, in the witness's own words. Fearing that something had caught fire, the witness looked out. Instead there was a handsome boy dressed in white, with hair like gold, standing beside the bed. The boy stayed there for some minutes, watching the witness with a kind, gentle look.

Then the boy slid away toward the chimney side of the room, where the witness notes there was no way out, and vanished. The room was dark again, and nothing more happened until it was time to get up.

John Ingram's Haunted Homes and Family Traditions of Great Britain prints the same statement almost word for word.

From the primary source
"I looked out, apprehending that something had caught fire, when, to my amazement, I beheld a beautiful boy, clothed in white, with bright locks, resembling gold, standing by my bedside, in which position he remained some minutes, fixing his eyes upon me with a mild and benevolent expression. He then glided gently away toward the side of the chimney, where it is obvious there is no possible egress, and entirely disappeared. I found myself again in total darkness, and all remained quiet until the usual hour of rising."
Catherine Crowe (1848), Project Gutenberg ebook #54532, The Night-Side of Nature; Or, Ghosts and Ghost-SeersRead the source →
Also told in
The one rule

Every entry says what kind of claim it is.

Claimed sightingSomeone reported seeing it. The entry records the report and takes no side.
FolkloreA story carried by a community, with no single origin to point at.
Hoax, provenMade up to fool people, and exposed. The test is intent: the maker wanted it believed.
FictionMade openly as fiction. If people later believed it, the entry tells that story; the label stays.
DisputedSomething happened. What it was is still argued over by the people who've studied the record.
Religious traditionHeld as doctrine by living believers. Not ours to grade.
Provenance · shown like this

Some entries are living belief, like a rite still practised or a place people still hold sacred. A label alone can't say that, so these entries carry a provenance line wherever they appear, and their reading list starts with the community's own voice.