The Paranormal Database

Angel in the Snow, by Georg Tippel.

Devil's Cheese

Location: Linkinhorne (Devon) - Cheesewring (granite tor)
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Still standing
Further Comments: An old piece of folklore says the Devil would make his cheese using this stack of stones. The tor was created when Saint Tue engaged in a stone tossing contest with Uther, one of the local giants. One of Uther's stones missed the target; Saint Tue picked the rock up and an angel carried it to the top of the tor. Most of the giants promptly converted to Christianity.

The Devil, from an engraving by Albrecht Durer.

The Demons Below See

Location: Liverpool (Merseyside) - Monk's Well, Wavertree
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Still present (but a flower bed)
Further Comments: This old well has the words 'Qui non dat quod habet, Daemon infra vide 1414' carved above it. It was said that any traveller passing would have no choice but to drink the waters and give a donation to charity, otherwise the Devil (chained under the well) would laugh.

Footprints

Location: Llanarth (Dyfed) - Llanarth church
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown (footsteps still present?)
Further Comments: Up to his nightly no-good antics, the Devil entered this church, scaled the tower and tried to steal the bells. The vicar witnessed this and managed to drive the Devil away - the Horned One jumped from the bell tower, leaving an impression of his foot on a stone in the graveyard.

Devil's Home

Location: Llandulas (Clwyd) - Pen y Cefn Mount
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Old Nick once set up home in a cave here but was driven away by clergy after his presence grew too much for the locals to tolerate.

A still from F W Murnau' Faust.

Dancing Devil

Location: Llangattock (Powys) - Field north of Llangattock Park
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: 23 June (or Midsummer Eve) (reoccurring)
Further Comments: On the eve of Midsummer, the Devil would emerge and spend time dancing with the local fairies around a clump of trees.

Engraving of the Devil, 1895.

Stolen by the Devil

Location: Llangyfelach (West Glamorgan) - Church with separate tower
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The Devil stole the tower of the church but Saint Cyfelach caught him and forced Old Nick to drop it a short distance away.

A dog-headed figure from the Nuremberg Chronical (1493)

Tall Man

Location: Llanilar (Dyfed) - Church
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: One of several churches in Wales where the Devil was once said to have appeared in the form of a man with an evil looking face (or the head of a dog), with his appearance causing illness to witnesses.

Devil's Hideout

Location: Llanrhos (Clwyd) - The Devil's Tree (old oak tree)
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Eighteenth century?
Further Comments: Contained within the branches of this old, withered oak tree, Old Nick sometimes hides. The troublesome Devil would leap onto the backs of men as they passed, draining their energy and not letting go until they reached home or somewhere safe.

Tall Man

Location: Lledrod (Dyfed) - Church
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Nineteenth century
Further Comments: One of several churches in Wales where the Devil was once said to have appeared in the form of a man with an evil looking face (or the head of a dog), with his appearance causing illness to witnesses.

A loch in Scotland.

Devil's Coach Marks

Location: Lochs in Scotland (various districts) (Highland) - No exact location given
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Winter (reoccurring)
Further Comments: During the winter months, when the Devil visits Scotland, the wheels on his coach leave visible marks across frozen Lochs.

Petrified Witch

Location: Lomond Hills (Fife) - Carlin Maggie
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: This large column of rock is reportedly Maggie the Witch, who failed the Devil on so many occasions he finally hit her with lightning and turned her to stone. Another version of the story says Maggie deliberately antagonised the devil, resulting in her petrification.

Divot Tosser

Location: Lower Deeside (Aberdeenshire) - Baldarroch Farm
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Circa mid-eighteenth century
Further Comments: Local cunning man Adam Donald visited this farm after the devil moved in, throwing divots at the family and causing kitchen utensils to dance (what would now be seen as poltergeist activity). Donald's use of the arcane arts ensued peace returned to the household.

Hill Creation

Location: Lower Quinton (Warwickshire) - Meon Hill
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Seventh century?
Further Comments: Upset by the building of the Evesham Abbey, Old Nick threw a lump of dirt at it, but the prayers of Saint Egwin deflected the missile. The projectile ended up many miles away, becoming Meon Hill.

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.

Frozen Nick

Location: Lydmarsh (Somerset) - Windwhistle Hills
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The area is said to become so cold at night that the Devil died of exposure and is buried under a hill. Phantom highwaymen are also said to ride around the countryside.

Dancer

Location: Lynton (Devon) - Ragged Jack (rock)
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: For the heinous crime of leading a troupe of dancers on the Sabbath, Jack was turned to stone by the Devil.

Winner

Location: Maesteg (Mid Glamorgan) - Mountainside near Colliery
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A group of miners playing cards invited a passing stranger to join their game. He sat with them, quickly winning all hands, although the game quickly came to an end when the miners fled, having realised their guest had cloven feet.

Dancing with the Devil

Location: Mallow (County Cork) - Majestic Ballroom
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: 1960s?
Further Comments: According to one legend, a particularly good looking stranger asked a local girl at the ballroom to dance with him. She did so, but halfway through the tune the girl collapsed to the floor and the man quickly left. Upon recovering from her swoon, she told her friends she had looked down at his feet during the dance and spotted cloven hooves!

South of the River

Location: March (Cambridgeshire) - Church
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Church still present
Further Comments: The villagers of March wanted their church in the village, but the Devil felt so passionately about his fenland he moved the construction materials across the river.

Devil's Jumps

Location: Marshwood (Dorset) - Clumps of trees between village and Thorncombe
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: The small clumps of trees between these points are where the Devil bounced along the ground after being kicked by the Abbot of Forde. Some say that these trees move to a nearby stream to drink late at night, while others tell of the Devil returning after dark to swing from tree to tree.

Dropped Church

Location: Marston Moretaine (Bedfordshire) - St Mary the Virgin church
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The Devil tried to steal the bell tower, but found it too heavy and dropped it after several steps - church and tower remain separated to this day.

Moved Stones

Location: Matching (Essex) - Church
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The Devil tried to prevent the church from being built by moving stones at night, but he ultimately failed.

Saint Dunstan and the Devil.

Tongs

Location: Mayfield (Sussex) - Mayfield Convent
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: This convent holds the tongs used by St Dunstan to grab the Devil by the nose - the fallen angel was disguised in woman's clothing, but St Dustan noticed his cloven feet. After the attack, Old Nick ran off to the springs at Tunbridge Wells.

The poet Samuel Bamford.

Burnt Flag

Location: Middleton (Greater Manchester) - Old Grammar School
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: Samuel Bamford wrote that the school flag had a hole in the shape of a burnt hoofprint. Students had summoned the Devil and had to be saved by the school's headmaster who manged to exorcise the fallen angel, although the ritual damaged some of the building.

Old Nick moved many churches back in the day (public domain).

Sinking Church

Location: Millom (Cumbria) - Sunkenkirk (aka Swinside) stone circle
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Stones still present
Further Comments: A church is said to have once stood here, but the Devil appears and dragged it underground - all that remains are fifty-five stones that form a circle.