The Paranormal Database

Entrances to Hell take many forms.

Bottomless Pit

Location: Albury (Hertfordshire) - Halls Garden Pond near the church
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: This small body of water is said to be a one way ticket to Hell for anyone foolish enough to try to swim to the bottom.

Hell Gate

Location: Ballymena (County Antrim) - Dundermot Mound
Type: Other
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Dundermot Mound is reported to be the location of a secret entrance to hell - occasionally it opens, releasing demons who take any witnesses straight to the underworld.

Sir Thomas Boleyn Drives Headless Horses

Location: Breckles (Norfolk) - Breckles Hall
Type: Curse
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The father of Anne Boleyn is said to be cursed with driving his coach over forty (or eleven) Norfolk bridges. One of the passing points is Breckles Hall, where the spectre once scared a poacher to death (another version states that the poacher was taken by the Devil because of his constant law breaking). Locals say that anyone who views the coach is dragged down to hell.

A illustration by Wayne Lowden showing several indistinct figures standing in the mist.

Misty Figures

Location: Burrill (Yorkshire) - Hell Hole Wood
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: April 2012
Further Comments: A couple walking from Thornton Watlass spotted a few misty figures moving around the wood. It is said that the Devil would use the woods as a hiding place.

An old postcard showing the Devil's Chimney of Leckhampton Hill.

Devil's Chimney

Location: Cheltenham (Gloucestershire) - Leckhampton Hill
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: This limestone outcrop is said to lead straight to hell.

Hobgoblin Builders

Location: Gifford (Lothian) - Yester Castle (ruins)
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Still present, although only subterranean 'Goblin Hall remains'
Further Comments: Warlock Sir Hugo de Giffard is said to have made a pact with the Devil, and in return had an army of Hobgoblins build this castle for him. A staircase in the hall was filled with earth as it was believed it led straight to hell.

Urisk

Location: Glen Lyon (Argyll and Bute) - Inbhirinneoin (Burn)
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Evidence that shows this part fairy, part human hybrid still to be in the area occasionally turns up. A barrow known locally as the 'Mound of the Dead' is thought to be an entrance to Hell.

The Hell's Mouth, Gwithian.

Suicidal Screams

Location: Gwithian (Cornwall) - Hell's Mouth
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Prior to a storm
Further Comments: A man once killed himself by leaping off the cliffs at Gwithian after he found his home burnt to the ground and his sister missing. As stormy weather approaches, the man's screams can once more be heard as they bounce off the steep cliff sides at the area known as Hell's Mouth.

Escape Route

Location: Lundy Bay (Cornwall) - Lundy Hole
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Hole still present
Further Comments: While combing her hair nearby, Saint Menfre was confronted by the Devil. She threw her comb at him, striking with such force he dug Lundy Hole in his haste to return to hell.

Gaming with the Devil is risky.

Vanishing Leapfroggers

Location: Marston Moretaine (Bedfordshire) - Devil's Stone, also known as Devil's Jump Stone
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A stone marks the spot where the Devil played a game of leapfrog with three local lads - when they jumped over his back, a hole to hell opened, and they were never seen again.

A photograph of a statue depicting the Devil.

Laird Beardie

Location: Moonzie, Fife (Fife) - Lordscairnie Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 31 December, Midnight (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Beardie played cards against the Devil and lost - the fateful game is now replayed once a year, though it is warned that anyone watching the game will also travel to hell with the Laird at the end of the match.

Hell Hole

Location: Sheffield (Yorkshire) - Somewhere between Neepsend Bicarage and Rutland Road
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Pre-1880s
Further Comments: An entrance to the lower world was said to be located somewhere in Sheffield.

Dando

Location: St Germans (Cornwall) - Erth Hill, near the rivers of Tiddy and Lynher
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Circa fourteenth century?
Further Comments: Dando was a monk and a bit of a rogue - he enjoyed hunting on a Sunday. One Sabbath he was out hunting for hare when the Devil appeared and grabbed all the game Dando had hanging from his horse. Old Nick ran, Dando in hot pursuit - unfortunately, the monk lost his balance on the bank of the Tiddy and fell in. The waters turned to steam, and Dando was taken to hell.

Satan takes a murderer.

A Woman Scorned

Location: Torbay (Devon) - Daddyhole (or Daddy Hole) Plain
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Scorned by a knight, a woman invited the warrior and his new love to meet here. The woman murdered the couple, and as a storm developed, the Devil appeared and took the murderess into a nearby hole (presumably to hell).

Marshy Bells

Location: Tunstall (Norfolk) - Church, and marsh known as Bell Hole (and Hell Hole)
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The Devil once appeared in the village, stealing the church bells and sinking them into the nearby marsh. Bubbles in the marsh were said to be the result of the bells continuing to sink into the bottomless pit.

Hellsmouth

Location: Wellington (Somerset) - Park Farm
Type: Other
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: A muddy pool located near the farm was thought to be an entrance to hell, from where ghosts and ghouls could come and go as they pleased.