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Dartmoor Ghosts, Folklore and Forteana
Highwayman
Location: Dartmoor - Beetor Cross
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: This cloaked figure has been known to stand by the cross, empty eye sockets watching the road ahead.
Petrified Hunter
Location: Dartmoor - Bowerman's Nose (rock formation)
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: Bowerman was turned to stone by a coven of witches after letting his hounds disturb the women as they worked.
Luring Voice
Location: Dartmoor - Bradford Pool
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Calling your name gently, this soft voice will not stop until you are underwater, drowning.
Fighting
Location: Dartmoor - Cadover Bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The sound of battle can be heard near the bridge, the screams of the dying and injured, and the clash of sword and shield.
Guardian Monster
Location: Dartmoor - Chaw Gully
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Protecting a hoard of treasure, this beast has teamed up with a raven which calls out if anyone comes too close to the gold. The beast will then wait until a rope is lowered into the pit and then sever it when the treasure hunter is climbing down. The body would always be found outside the hole in the morning.
Childe
Location: Dartmoor - Childe's Tomb
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Early twentieth century
Further Comments: A hunter who froze to death on the moor, Childe's ghost was seen being carried by phantom monks.
Predictive Voice
Location: Dartmoor - Clasiwell (also known as Crazywell and Classenwell)
Type: Crisis Manifestation
Date / Time: Prior to death in the community
Further Comments: A disembodied voice can be heard at night, naming the next local to die.
Flickering Light
Location: Dartmoor - Coffin Wood
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Once the location where bodies would be transported from horseback into their coffins, the wooded area is now home to a glowing ball which flickers around the trees.
Sam Hunnaford
Location: Dartmoor - Combestone Tor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This local farmer hanged himself out of shame after been conned at a fair - his shade has been seen making his last journey on horseback, though instead of hanging itself, the ghost continues towards his former home.
Benjamin Gear
Location: Dartmoor - Cranmere Pool
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A former mayor of Okehampton, the figure is said to haunt the waters of the pool. He also takes the form of a black horse. There are reports of an exorcism attempt which may have failed.
Old Crockern
Location: Dartmoor - Crockern Tor
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Riding on the back of a skeletal horse, Crockern insists on moving down this path waving a sword in his dead hand.
Dewer
Location: Dartmoor - Dewerstone Woods
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A Wisht huntsman, Dewer would chase people up the highest crag in the area and leave them to fall to their deaths - if the drop did not kill them, the unfortunates would be consumed by hell hounds waiting at the bottom.
Large Black Hound
Location: Dartmoor - General area
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Said to have inspired the famous 'Hound of the Baskervilles', several phantoms are held to blame for this creature (including Drake (for his dealings with the devil) and Richard Cabell (a man so evil that he now hunts children with his devil dogs!)).
Yeth Hounds
Location: Dartmoor - General area of the River Tavy
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: These variants of the shuck, complete with hunters on horseback, have been heard running in this area after dark. Part of the Tavy is also said to be haunted by the ghost of Sir John Fitz, whose body was found in the river.
Murderer Begging for Mercy
Location: Dartmoor - Gibbet Hill, Black Down
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Weather Dependent: Stormy nights
Further Comments: One fellow was hung in the gibbet while still alive - it took many days for him to slowly die of thirst. His voice is occasionally heard begging for someone to kill him.
Sounds of Combat
Location: Dartmoor - Gidleigh bridge
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A small battle has been heard on the bridge. The area is also haunted by the shade of a woman who drowned here.
Squire Bowman
Location: Dartmoor - Great Hound Tor
Type: Legend
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: This rock formation is said to be a farmer and his hounds - they chased a witch from their farmland, but after a while she turned around and petrified them.
Limpety
Location: Dartmoor - Green Hill & Black Lane area
Type: Unknown Ghost Type
Date / Time: Twentieth century
Further Comments: Lost on the moor during a snowstorm, a master of the Dartmoor foxhunt claimed that a petite man on a grey horse came from nowhere and led him to safety. He later saw a painting of a gypsy called Limpety and named him as his saviour, only to be told that he had died on the moor 50 years previous.
Man in Green
Location: Dartmoor - Highwayman Inn
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A ghostly man in green, wearing a hat with a feather, was seen walking through a wall. A visiting medium claimed the ghost's name was Samuel.
Vanishing Cottage
Location: Dartmoor - Islington area?
Type: Environmental Manifestation
Date / Time: 1950s or 1960s
Further Comments: An OS surveyor working on the moor spotted a cottage with smoke rising from the chimney. When he went to investigate, no sign of the building could be found, although he did meet another person who had also spotted the cottage but was unable to find it.
People on Horseback
Location: Dartmoor - Lustleigh Cleave
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: 1956
Further Comments: Wearing clothing from the middle ages, witnesses observed several horsemen galloping across this Dartmoor area. Another party of witnesses saw what looked like cavemen moving around the stone circle at the Cleave.
Funeral Processions
Location: Dartmoor - Lych Way
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Phantom monks and funeral processions have been reported travelling along this ancient pathway, as have the ghosts of tin miners.
Wish Pack
Location: Dartmoor - Marchant's Cross
Type: Shuck
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Led by Drake, this pack of hounds patrol the area.
Sow
Location: Dartmoor - Merripit Hill
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This phantom sow and her litter walk the area looking for food.
Pixies
Location: Dartmoor - New Bridge
Type: Fairy
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Several of these small creatures are said to loiter around the area.
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