Dewerstone

From the book 'Haunted Dartmoor' by Kevin Hynes

Dewerstone is steeped in history as it is the site of an Iron Age hill fort which overlooks the river Plym. The notorious Dewerstone is an imposing rocky outcrop with the name Dewer; in ancient Celtic this means “Devil”.

Legend states that the devil himself is said to charge across the haunted realm of Dartmoor each night leading towards Shaugh Prior and the Dewerstone. The devil is known to chase lost travellers across the moor to meet their imposing death by being chased by the eerie haunt and falling 150ft from the devils rock straight off the top of the Dewerstone to their deathbed.
This area is a well visited beauty spot with the majority of visitors unaware of the spine chilling encounters that have been witnessed in the past by those unfortunate to have encountered the darker side of the moor.

Legend states that anyone who catches a glimpse of the Dewer and his pack of wist hounds will be dead within the year.
One well known legend states that a local farmer was returning home late one evening from The Warren House Inn, when all of a sudden out of the vivid darkness he saw approaching the menacing skirmish of a hunter being accompanied by gigantic hounds with glowing eyes penetrating through the swirling mists.
The farmer halted his horse as the huntsman drew closer, with enough confidence he enquired as to whether the dark cloaked huntsman had had a good night’s hunt, to which the cloaked figure tossed a small bundle towards him. The farmer did not ponder and hurried back home to unravel the bundle.
Once he had dismounted from his horse he carefully unwrapped the small bundle only to find a hideous sight of the farmer’s dead infant child.

Coffin Wood Dartmoor by Kevin Hynes

Coffin Wood

Coffin Wood is situated within the Lydford parish of Dartmoor, it was customary to travel upon tracks and pathways to carry the deceased across the moorland to their burial place at Lydford church. This sombre journey incorporated the deceased being unwrapped in a shroud and flung over horse back and taken to the area known as Coffin Wood. This was undertaken as the journey was indeed dangerous and it was deemed an easy option with the deceased being transported upon a horse rather than being placed in a coffin. Upon arrival the deceased would be transferred to a wooden coffin to then be transported the remainder of the journey to their resting place at Lydford.

Even today within this ancient wooded area there have been full blown apparitions of the ghostly procession of shadow like figures following a single horse with an eerie sighting of a figure of someone slung over horse back.

On stormy dark nights it is not uncommon to sight the flicker of lanterns within Coffin Wood and the sound of mumbling voices have been heard.

It was also customary during medieval times that the corpse of the deceased was to travel to its place of resting via river crossings as it was told that spirits could not cross open rivers or streams. It is therefore intriguing to know that Lych way (Lych meaning Corpse in ancient Anglo Saxon tongue) was the route the deceased took. The journey involved crossing a number of major rivers and streams on route to Lydford.

Brentor by Kevin Hynes

Brentor

Brentor Church

The church of St Michael of the Rock is located upon the ancient volcanic triangular hill of Brentor. This landmark church is 1,100 feet above sea level, the first church was constructed around 1130 by Robert Giffard, although legend stats a wealthy merchant built the church after his ship was caught in a treacherous storm off the coast of Devon. In the height of the storm it is believed that the merchant called out to Saint Michael to save him and as a thanks giving in return he would build a church upon the first sight of land he saw.

Another folk lore tale associated to Brentor is that the church was attacked by the devil who tried his upmost to cease the building of the church by stealing the foundation stones, although legend states an archangel intervened and threw a gigantic granite rock at the devil which struck him between the horns.

Brentor its self is located upon the well-known ‘ley line’ which is said to start at Land’s End in West Cornwall and continues through Brentor and onto Glastonbury in Somerset.

Miss Cornwall's Leap into the Unknown - VIDEO

by Jason Higgs

Here is a short video showing the activity we encountered at Whitsand Bay Fort with Miss Cornwall and Hidden Heritage.  We would love to hear what you think about this footage, so please let us know via twitter at @supernaturalinv or via comments on here.  Enjoy

Video created by Mikey Parkinson (c) 2015

Holy Trinity Church (Chris Manuell)

White Lady Road

by Kevin Hynes

'The White Lady of Radford is probably the most well known of all the ghosts that are said to haunt this very area. The suspected ghost is a former resident from the old Radford House. There are several different ghostly tales referring to who this phantom female is and where the haunting originates.

One legend states that during one particular summer dating back over many years, the lady in question secretly escaped from Radford House to meet up with her female acquaintance from a nearby village. Although the young lady was forbidden by her parents to meet with her friend due to the vast gap between the gentry classes and that she should not be mixing with anyone of a class below her due to being a lady of Radford House.

This very rendezvous was to end in disaster. The young lady was assisted to her escape by one of Radford’s servants. Free from the safety of her home she headed straight towards Radford Lake where she was united with her close friend. Upon the boating lake a tragic turn of events occurred as whilst in one moment of pure chaos the young lady fell overboard from her small wooden vessel, unable to swim and being weighed down by the material of her heavy white dress, which had become saturated by the lake. She slowly slipped into the dark waters of Radford Lake her lungs filling with cold fresh water. This was to become her watery grave.

Although the fable does not end hear, as the phantom presence of the White Lady has been sighted by many individuals over the years upon the ancient lake.

Her ghost has been spotted sitting upon the bank of the lake. It is also believed that she is the spectre that has also been sighted wandering aimlessly around the grounds where the old Radford House once stood.

The legend of The White Lady of Radford lives on today as ‘White Lady Road’ has been aptly named after her. It is quite intriguing that this location has indeed been named after the mysterious female ghost. This road can be found as you drive down towards Radford Dip, although I will say if you do venture and visit this very road, be on your guard as you may indeed come face to face with the elegant spirit. ' 

Featured in the book 'Haunted Plymouth' by Kevin Hynes

Miss Cornwall's Leap into the Unknown

by Jason Higgs

Earlier this year Liskeard based Briony-Mai Reynolds became 2015's Miss Cornwall Beauty Pageant Winner.  Since that date she has tirelessly been in pursuit to raise money for her worthwhile charity, "Beauty with a Purpose".  It is the Miss England Organisation that aids disadvantaged children across the globe, she is raising funds for Help For Heroes for which she has been made an ambassador for to support our troops!  Briony has thrown herself into many things for Charity since becoming Miss Cornwall including running the Plymouth half Marathon and visiting many Military bases around the South West.  However, she wanted to take things to the next level.  How far was Briony willing to go to raise money for a worthwhile cause?

On the 27th July we were contacted by the wonderful Miss Cornwall and we were asked if we would lead a Paranormal Investigation at Whitsand Bay Fort, for her to raise money for Charity. Naturally we agreed and on the 8th August the evening went ahead.

I would like to say the evening started like any other investigation, but that would be a lie. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, it was warm and summery and everything was still. Unusually there were no storms, wind or rain, the elements we are used to investigating in the UK. Would this make any difference to the night ahead?

We arrived and met Paul Diamond at the Hidden Heritage Hut at Whitsand Bay Fort. He explained to us the layout and areas we would be investigating. No-one from the SIUK team had ever been to Whitsand Bay Fort, so the night was going to be interesting and a new experience for all. We began by reckying the areas and determining where we were going to put the equipment. This was also Briony's first chance to see and feel the atmosphere that oozed from the hidden underground bunkers.

Kev explains the schedule to the team and Miss Cornwall

The Rempod lights up immediately to questions asked

We started in the recently dug out underground bunker.  Freshly opened to the outside world for the first time in decades, the entrance still shrouded in mud and old-age junk.  We made our way in to one of the rooms and placed a handful of gear on the dusty floor.  Included in this tech was a REMPOD, a static electricity sensor device that unwittingly proved to be the communication interaction surprise of the evening.  More on that later.

Once we had briefed Briony on the equipment, the techniques and plan for the evening, we went "lights out" and commenced the investigation.

Kev and Barry began by sensing and dowsing the room. They were quick to pick up on spirits that they said were willing to communicate with us. We had the name Edmond and various other details. At this point the REMPOD lit up and beeped repeatedly, something it does very rarely. We asked if that was Edmond communicating with us and the device lit up again. I said that we should all be quiet for a minute or two to make sure the device wasn't randomly lighting or faulting and in that 2 minutes nothing happened. Immediately following this Kev asked if Edmond was still with us and immediately, the REMPOD lit up and beeped again.

Amazing as this was, this was to be just a small part of the interactions we actually received that night. Angry and torturous Sergeants, continuous REMPOD and K2 reactions to questions and the Ovilus calling out one of our investigators names are highlights of the evening. All can be seen in the forthcoming video we will post on this site soon!

Needless to say the evening was a success and Miss Cornwall experience certainly opened her eyes. In fact, it had opened all of our eyes!