It’s that spooky time of year, All Hallows’ Evening, when the streets fill with garishly make-upped ghouls and toilet-roll-clad mummies. But if that’s not your bag, or even if it is, how about celebrating it in more traditional style by visiting a haunted crag or pulling on a ghostly route. Just remember to come back with a bone-chilling scary story!
The dreaded Dewerstone, Dartmoor
There’s an absolute wealth of creepy tales from the broad expanse of Dartmoor and not just from the depths of time, either. Rumours still surface today of walkers finding sacrificial offerings made to pagan gods, or of unnerving sightings of apparitions on the tors. But if we have to pick just one spot, there’s only one choice really: the Dewerstone.
For centuries, the Dewerstone has oft been classed as the Gem of Dartmoor. It’s a striking set of crags in a mystical, magical woodland, with fantastic climbing on it all year round. But watch out, even if you think you’re alone, you might have company.
The Dewerstone is said to be home to the Black Huntsman, who according to local legend in other guises is the Devil himself, who appears as a tall figure dressed in satanic black. The Huntsman would lure unsuspecting travellers up to the highest point of the crag before disappearing, leaving them to stumble over the edge and fall to their deaths, straight into the voracious jaws of his pack of spectral Wisht Hounds – the legend of which inspired the Sherlock Holmes novel, the Hound of the Baskervilles.
This legend goes back hundreds of years, and I’ll leave you with this bloodcurdling short story from an edition of the Folklore Journal that was published in 1897:
“A story is told of this phantom that a farmer, riding across the moor by night, encountered the Black Hunter, and being flushed with ale, shouted to him, ‘Give us a share of your game!’. The Huntsman thereupon threw him something that he supposed might be a fawn, which he caught and carried in his arms till he reached his home, one of the old moorland farms. There arrived, he shouted, and a man came out with a lantern. ‘Bad news, master,’ said the man; ‘you've had a loss since you went out this morning.’ ‘But I have gained something,’ answered the farmer, and getting down brought what he had carried to the lantern, and beheld – his own dead child! During the day his only little one had died.”
The Roaches
One of my favourite areas to climb in the Peak District, there’s a huge expanse of top-notch rock mixed with stunning vistas, and pleasant walks for those that prefer more grounded activities. But be warned, there are also a number of eerie areas in the whole Roaches Estate.
Rock Hall – the Don Whillans Memorial Hut
If you’ve ever been climbing or walking at the Roaches, you’ll have spotted this awesome and climbers’ hut already, which is carved into the very rock itself. Rock Hall was formed around a large natural cavern, which, until some score of years ago, was occupied by an old crone of great age known as Bess Bowyer.
The legend goes that Bess lived in this cave dwelling for nearly a century, with two rooms – one for day and one for night, and through which flowed an ice cold stream of water. Her notoriety was built upon the fact that, in her weird bedroom, she’d found a secret passage out into the wild crags, through which she allowed smugglers and deserters to escape those sent to capture them.
Her daughter, a young handsome girl, lived with her. She had a fine voice and often filled the summer nights and nearby rocks with sad songs that sounded foreign to English ears. But one winter morning she went missing; strange men had seized and carried off Bess’s child. The daughter never returned and, not long after, Bess was herself discovered dead in her lonely home.
Some say that Doxey’s Pool on the Skyline area was named after Bess’s daughter, and that her voice can still be heard around the pool and in the crags behind Rock Hall on a summer’s eve.
Lud’s Church
Gritstone steps from the light into dank Lud's Church. Photo: Bob Jones
Bess and Doxey aren’t the only unfortunate tale entwined in the Roaches Estate’s past, there’s also the famous legend of Lud’s Church, which lies further away from the Roaches crag just slightly south and to the west of Gradbach.
The instant you descend into the gloomy ravine that is Lud’s Church it’s clear where the inspiration for its myths and legends comes from. Condensation drips down sparsely illuminated walls and muted echoes fall heavily on the ears. It’s no surprise then that this natural church is believed to be the Green Chapel from the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.
Legend has it that this chasm was named after a horse: a huntsman was chasing down a deer and failed to spot the approaching danger, but Lud, his horse, did. When the chase got too close to the chasm the horse bucked and threw his rider to death.
It is said that, since then, a moss and leaf-covered figure continues to roam the woods in the area, the green man, and that he resides in the cavern of Lud’s Church, spying on its visitors from the stone.
Kynaston’s Cave, Nesscliffe
Don't get locked in Kynaston's Cave. Photo: Penny Mayes
Slap bang in the middle of the brilliant venue of Nesscliffe, the red sandstone quarry filled with superb technical, and sometimes bold, climbs, lies another story of a man and a horse: the story of the elusive highwayman Sir Humphrey Kynaston.
Nesscliffe, with its high wooded hill overlooking the road between Shrewsbury and Oswestry, was the perfect place for enterprising highwayman. It was here that Sir Humphrey, a former nobleman who was outlawed after inheriting a pile of debts, set up shop in the sandstone caves above the village.
In a similar vein to the infamous outlaw Robin Hood, Sir Humphrey is said to have stolen from the rich to give to the local poor, in return for protection and food. It was partly due to them that he managed to evade all attempts at capture, but, the legend goes, his evasiveness was mostly due to his (some say) demonic horse.
Kynaston’s horse is claimed to have accomplished incredible and impossible feats. Once, the local lawmen lay a trap by removing planks from a bridge, but sensing something wrong, the horse and Sir Humphrey jumped the gaping hole to escape.
There’s also a section of the Severn called Kynaston’s leap, where the highwayman and his horse is said to have jumped the river. It’s also 40-foot wide! Another legend has it that Sir Humphrey and the horse jumped from the top of Nesscliffe to land at Ellesmere, a ridiculous nine miles away.
But, after a lifetime of evading the law, Sir Humphrey died of illness in his cave, and his horse climbed the stone-cut steps on the left of his lair to join him in his last moments and to pass away together. Some say you can still hear his horse’s hooves in the cave today and people report seeing a towering figure of a huge man mounted on a gigantic black horse galloping in the hills.
Roche Rock, Cornwall
The chapel ruins rising out of Roche Rock, Cornwall. Photo: Darren Shilson
Home to a smattering of decent middle-grade adventurous routes, this solitary outcrop of black unique rock – not granite apparently, but schorl composed of quartz and tourmaline – spikes imposingly heavenward from the surrounding St Austell Moor. Roche Rock is home to the ruins of a small elaborate chapel built in the 15th century, which appears to sprout from the very rock itself.
Legend has it that Roche Rock was uncovered from layers of earth during the time of Noah’s flood, and by the Middle Ages, this foreboding saw-toothed chunk of splintered rock fast gained a fearsome reputation for being a place frequented by passing witches and malevolent demons, as well as for being the home of a restless spirit.
Visitors have reported being disturbed by hauntingly despairing cries, which are said to be the wails of the ghost of Jan Tregeagle, a 17th century corrupt local magistrate. The incredible story goes that Treagle, being a well-known villain and swindler, bribed the local clergy to bury him in consecrated ground when he passed. But, the earth rejected him and after his death, Tregeagle emerged from the grave to appear as a witness at court.
Despite the ghost’s testimony, Tregeagle was found guilty of fraud and as penance, the local clergy set the spirit tasks that could never be completed, in a bid to stop him from anymore wrongdoings by keeping him eternally occupied.
The poltergeist's Count House, Bosigran, Cornwall
Commando Ridge, Bosigran. Photo: Pete Burnside
A brief mention goes to the Count House hut at Bosigran, which has had many visitations by a ghostly presence known as the ‘Knocker’. Described as Bosigran’s poltergeist, this wandering but not apparently malevolent spirit emerges from the disused mines to disturb the inhabitants of the Count House.
Once, a couple heard the sounds of a person walking around upstairs that seemingly managed to walk through walls with no doors. When checking, the only person up there had been fast asleep since the day before. Others report hearing rattling and shuffling noises in the kitchen but, when checked, nobody was there.
Other sightings
If you’ve ever experienced a visitation or seen something ghastly (and we’re not talking about the remnants of your costume after a Halloween party) then share it with us in the comments below!
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