Category: Occult

Thomas Holt And The Devil

Roy Palmer in ‘The Folklore Of Warwickshire (1976)’ tells us that ‘A Coventry musician, called Thomas Holt, who had nineteen children, sold himself to the devil to solve his financial problems.

Long Compton

About a mile from the Rollright Stones, it was once it was said that ‘There are enough witches in Long Compton to draw a load of hay up Long Compton Hill.’ Roy Palmer in his ‘The Folklore Of Warwickshire’ gives the following brief account of account of someone contacting the D

Astley Castle

The ruined Astley Castle is a Grade II listed fortified manor house dating from the 16th century. The manor had belonged to the Astley family since the 12th century but passed to the Grey’s in 1420 when Joan de Astley, wife of Reginald Grey, 3rd Baron Grey de Ruthyn (Born 1362 – Died 30 September 1440), inherited the estate of her father Sir William de Astley, 5th Baron Astley.

Devil Conjuration In Merthyr Tydfil

Before Picton Street in Merthyr Tydfil was replaced by Caedraw Road, you could find the Black Lion Inn (58 Picton Street), and according to the following story which appeared in British Goblins (1881) by Wirt Sykes, two of its drunken customers attempted to summon the Devil which appeared to them in the shape of a gosling. ‘These men were one night drinking together at the Black Lion Inn, when

Devil Summoning Tailor of Glanbran

The 18th century Glanbran House was dismantled around 1930 and was the ancestral home of the Gwynne family, the descendants of David Goch Gwyn who settled at Glanbran in the 16th century. Wirt Sykes in his British Goblins: Welsh Folk-Lore, Fairy Mythology, Legends and Traditions (1881) gives the following story in which an unnamed member of the Gwynne family plays a prominent part.

Pen Dinas Hill Fort, Great Orme

There was once an Iron Age hill fort at this area called Pen Dinas on the Great Orme. Archaeologists have identified the remains of more than fifty hut circles and some degraded defensive ramparts. Pen Dinas is subsidiary peak that juts out of the Great Orme, and it is a good defensive location for a settlement.