Dartmoor is rich in myth and legend, making it fertile ground for creative inspiration. Plenty of artists use the Moors’ mysterious and magical background as a starting point for new stories, and you can too. From ancient tales of witches to modern ghost stories, there’s plenty to pick from. Here are five Dartmoor legends to get you going. Pick one and try retelling it from a different character’s point of view, or from a different time frame. The only limit is your imagination. Happy writing!
- The ghost of Okehampton Castle
Nestled in the middle of the woods are the ruins of a medieval castle. It guards the crossing point of the West Ockment River and was once a sumptuous residence. These days, though, the bare stones of the castle are home to one of the oldest ghost stories in Devon. Lady Mary Howard was the daughter of a rich and cruel nobleman. She was married four times, and, if a local legend is to be believed, she murdered all four of her husbands. It is said that she finally died of a broken heart, just one month after the death of her only son.
Since then, the tale goes that at midnight, a ghostly carriage, made of the bones of her murdered husbands, travels across Dartmoor. Guarded by two fearsome black dogs, it stops at Okehampton Castle where Lady Howard must pluck a single blade of grass from the mound before dawn.This is the nightly torment of Devon’s Dark Lady and only once the Castle grounds are completely free of grass will her spirit finally find peace.
- The Crazywell Pool Myth
The black waters of Crazywell Pool are said to be bottomless. Some even claim that it ebbs and flows with the cycles of the moon, but while this mysterious natural pool is a beautiful place to swim, parishioners are warned never to go there on Midsummer’s Eve. It is said that its dark waters can foretell death. At dusk, the waters will call out the name of the next parishioner to die and if you stare into it by the light of a Midsummer Eve’s moon, it will reveal their face to you.
Not long ago, the legend was being told in a local inn. They made a challenge that no one would be brave enough to go to the pool next Midsummer’s Eve. Two young boys accepted the bet, and the following Midsummer’s Eve, they went to the Moor, but no one ever found out what they saw or heard there that night. On their way home, their motorbike sped off the road and they were both killed. No one has dared to challenge the myth since.
- The Mystery of Kitty Jay’s Grave
Kitty Jay was a young girl apprenticed to a farm in the 18th century. While working there, she fell in love and became pregnant by an unknown man. Some say he was the son of a local nobleman, some say he was a fellow farm worker, but when he found out about the child, he abandoned Kitty. Deserted by her lover and doomed to a life of impoverishment and shame, Kitty hanged herself. As a suicide, they buried her in unhallowed ground. They believed that the ghosts of restless spirits would find their way back to haunt the living and so they buried her at a crossroads.
And there the sad tale of Kitty Jay might have ended were it not for the mystery of her grave. Despite being disowned by her lover, fresh flowers are found on Kitty’s grave every morning. Some say they are left by the sympathetic pixies of the woods, others say it is the spirit of her guilty lover. No one knows, but even to this day, Kitty and her child still receive flowers.
This legend inspired the novel “The Apple Tree” by John Galsworthy.
- The Witches of Hound Tor
It has long been rumoured that witches use the Moors as a meeting place and gather here to cast their spells. 1,000 years ago, a local lord, Bowerman, was pursuing a hare across Dartmoor with his pack of hounds. Little did he know the valley he and his hounds were hunting through was full of witches performing a ceremony. Bowerman and his hounds burst into the clearing, disrupting their spell and knocking over their cauldron. Bowerman wasn’t frightened of witches. He laughed at their outrage and he and his hounds continued their chase, leaving the angry witches to plot their revenge.
The youngest witch, Levera, was unusually powerful and had the ability to shapeshift. She turned herself into a beautiful sleek hare and lured Bowerman and the hounds into a new chase. Bowerman pursued her for hours across valleys and tors all over Dartmoor. Each time he thought he would catch her, she seemed to fly ahead of him like smoke. At last, when Bowerman and his pack were almost mad with exhaustion, Levera lured him back to the clearing where he had ruined their ritual. Just when he thought he had caught her, she turned back into her human form and, using the combined power of the coven, they turned Bowerman and his hounds to stone.
Hound Tor and Bowerman’s Nose are two of the most recognisable landmarks on Dartmoor and can be found on the Northern slopes of Hayne Down.
- The Legend of the Hairy Hands
There are many tales of strange creatures that live on Dartmoor but none so malevolent towards travellers as the Hairy Hands. When driving the road near Dartmoor prison it is said that a large pair of demonic hands will grab your steering wheel and try to force you off the road. Inhumanly strong and covered in hair, the hands have been sending drivers to their deaths for decades. In 1921 a young prison worker was killed when he lost control of his motorcycle. His two children,who were riding in the sidecar at the time, told the story of their father shouting and wrestling with some unseen entity moments before he was killed.
Another motorist who survived his ordeal claims he saw a large pair of hairy hands take hold of his handlebars and forcibly try to steer his bike off the road.
A young couple who were camping in their caravan awoke to find a large hand crawling towards them across their window. The woman said the hand exuded a demonic intent to do her and her husband harm. She made the sign of the cross and the hands, seeing this, reared back in fear and vanished.
This is a tale that has arisen again and again with many people insisting that they have seen the hands with their own eyes. Some say it is the demonic spirit of an ex prison inmate, others claim they are the hands of the devil himself.
Moor Imagination 