The Paranormal Database

Wishing Stone

Location: Selborne (Hampshire) - Selborne Hangar
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: The Devil is said to be responsible for the creation of this wishing stone.

An Angel, by Mariotto Albertinelli.jpg

Don't Upset the Tramp

Location: Semerwater (aka Simmer Water, aka Simmerwater) (North Yorkshire) - Lake
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A tramp (or angel or witch, depending on the source) looking for a place to rest was turned away from every house in the neighbourhood, until he came to a farm on the hillside where the occupants of which gave him food and shelter. He thanked his guests and punished the other households by flooding the valley. The lake also once had two large rocks on its banks which were known as the Mermaid Stones, said to have been thrown there by the Devil and a giant.

Another Thrown Stone

Location: Shaftesbury (Dorset) - The Popple Stone, Doncliffe Hall Farm (private property)
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This large stone was thrown into position by the Devil (as he chilled at Bul Barrow).

Cloven Hoof Card Player

Location: Shaftesbury (Dorset) - Three hundred year old barn (likely no longer standing), French Mill Lane
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The story goes that young people would meet at the barn to play cards on a Sunday. One day they were joined by a stranger who sat in for a couple of games. He dropped a card, and as he bent down to pick it up, other players spotted that he had a cloven hoof. None of the card players ever played on a Sunday again.

Turn it Over

Location: Shebbear (Devon) - Devil's Boulder
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: 05 November (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Once a year the villagers turn a large stone over that stands by an oak. It is said that if they fail to do so, disaster and ill-fortune will strike the region - one legend says the last time the village forgot to rotate the stone was just before the Second World War began. Some believe the Devil himself is trapped under the stone.

Illustration by Arthur Hughes

Devil or Other

Location: Sheffield (South Yorkshire) - Nicker Wood
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Pre-1880s
Further Comments: Sidney Oldall Addy, in a book about the local area, assumed that the woods took the name from a monster, water sprite, a goblin or the Devil.

Hell Hole

Location: Sheffield (South 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.

Angry Old Nick

Location: Shelve (Shropshire) - The Devil's Chair
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: This rocky outcrop is named after Old Nick after he accidentally dropped stones here instead of Hell's Gutter. A local legend says the Devil hates the area so much that he continues to bring heavy boulders to the area, hoping the county will sink beneath the sea.

Devil's Room

Location: Shinrone (County Offaly) - Cangort House
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The local priest offered to play cards with the first owner of the house, who responded, 'I'll rather play cards with the devil'. When the devil turned up at the house to take the owner up on his offer, the room where the horned one waited was promptly bricked up (and remains so to this day). The property is also haunted by several ghosts, including horses that are heard galloping but never seen.

Onion

Location: Silchester (Hampshire) - Stone on the common, Hampshire/Berkshire Border
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: A local giant named Onion tossed a stone that landed on the common, a mile away, leaving the impressions of his fingers upon it. Others have said that the stone was thrown by the Devil.

Devil's Treasure

Location: Southwood (Norfolk) - Old church and Callow Pit
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: A local legend states that the door handle of the church is all that remains of a treasure chest discovered by three (or two) men at the bottom of Callow Pit. As the men tried to take the chest away with them, Old Nick appeared and pulled at the other end - the men managed to escape with only one handle from the chest.

Devil's Headstone

Location: Spondon (Derbyshire) - St Warburg's Churchyard
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: 1960s, 1970s
Further Comments: A local legend speaks of the 'Devils Gravestone'; from the nearby path you could see the image of Old Nick upon a headstone, but when approached, nothing can be seen. A witness who would walk past the illusion on the way to school in the 1960s said that the headstone was moved in the 1980s, destroying the pareidolia.

John Knox.

Knox

Location: St Andrews (Fife) - General area
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: 1570
Further Comments: John Knox was banished from St Andrews after he raised the Devil. The event was supposedly witnessed by Knox's servant Richard Bannatyne, who became insane and died shortly after.

Moving Bricks

Location: St Brelade (Jersey) - Parish church
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The church was going to be built over a mile away, but the workmen awoke the day the construction was due to start and found their materials had been moved closer to the sea. The men spent the day moving everything back to the original spot, but after the materials were once again moved the following night, the church was constructed where it now stands. The jury is divided on whether God, the Devil or fairy folk were responsible.

From the book The History of Witches and Wizards, 1720.

Devil's Print

Location: St Clement (Jersey) - Rocqueberg, rocky outcrop
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Still present?
Further Comments: The area was reputedly the meeting place for witches and for summoning the devil. A footprint left by the devil is said to be still visible on a rock.

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.

A devil hacks a field with a scythe. Woodcut, circa 1700-1720.

Mowing Contest

Location: St Mabyn (Cornwall) - Exact location not known
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The Devil and the village smith had a hay mowing contest in the village. Unbeknown to Old Nick, the smith planted obstacles (most likely iron stakes) in the Devil's half of the field, ensuring the Devil's scythe quickly became blunt. Enraged, Old Nick threw his whetstone at the smith - it missed and landed in a field where it remained for some time before being removed.

An old postcard showing the Devils Hole on Jersey.

Sea Sounds

Location: St Mary (Jersey) - Devils Hole
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: A wooden devil figurehead from a ship once stood here, and although the first was stolen and burned, a modern replacement exist. Although some modern tales relate the crashing of the sea from the holes to legends, there is little to suggest people ever thought the noise was related to the Devil.

An old postcard of St Mawgan in Cornwall.

Moved

Location: St Mawgan (Cornwall) - Church
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: During construction, the Devil moved the stones each night to where the church now stands.

The devil at work.

New Shoes for the Devil

Location: St Nicholas (South Glamorgan) - Dusty Forge Inn
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: This inn was once a forge, where the Devil was caught making new shoes for himself.

Wedding Party

Location: Stanton Drew (Somerset) - Standing Stones
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Still present
Further Comments: Dressed as a fiddler, the Devil convinced all the guests from a wedding to dance on a Sunday - for the sin, the entire party were turned to stone. Another creation story for the site says a passing giant dropped the contents of his shovel that formed the circle of stones.

The Devil's Game

Location: Stanton Harcourt (Oxfordshire) - Devil's Quoits
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Stones still present
Further Comments: Playing Quoits on Beacon Hill, some two and a half miles away, the Devil was informed he was not playing the game correctly. In a rage, he threw the stones to where they now stand.

Devil's Gold

Location: Staple Fitzpaine (Somerset) - Devil's Stone, near the church
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Stone still present
Further Comments: The stone was once thought to have gold concealed underneath, hidden by the Devil. However, when moved to make way for a new road, nothing was found.

Devil

Location: Stony Hurst (Lancashire) - Cromwell Bridge
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: 24 December (reoccurring)
Further Comments: The Devil is reputed to cross the bridge once a year - if he looks you in the eye, he'll take your soul!

Construction Devil

Location: Stowe Nine Churches (Northamptonshire) - Church
Type: Legend - Old Nick
Date / Time: Unknown
Further Comments: The foundation stones of the church were moved around the village by Old Nick nine times before the rest of the building could be constructed. Another version of the story blames fairies.