I used to live in the nearby village of North Petherwin, in a converted barn by the pretty church of Saint Paternus. Before I lived there, I always thought I would find being so close to a graveyard unsettling, but nothing untoward was even seen amongst the headstones and I felt completely at ease there.

The village was quiet, with an old chapel now acting as a house, the local shop likewise, and both the pub and shop actually residing short drives away. There was an old schoolhouse that now served as the parish hall, and an adjacent playground that had long seen better days. The church rectory was by far the most handsome building in North Petherwin, but had been turned into a nursing home. A dirty old garage completed the community. The kind of place that never quite managed to fix your car properly.

Certainly, there were no ghosts or ghoulies!

North Petherwin Church: The Author Used To Live Next Door

The same is not true of South Petherwin which, as its name suggests, lies the other side of Launceston. For that tiny village, boasting also a church dedicated to the otherwise unheralded Saint Paternus, was once the scene of a very strange affair. A haunting so singular that it has become known throughout the land.

THE GHOST OF DOROTHY DINGLEY

We know the Reverend John Ruddle was once vicar at Saint Mary Magdalene church in Launceston, for there is a memorial to his leaving this world hanging upon one of its walls. There are the usual idle boasts of piety and claims he was a friend of the poor, but the tablet does him no justice in regards to his greatest adventure, which is strange, seeing as he wrote in detail about it himself. Indeed, much of the following tale is in his own words...

St Mary Magdalene Church, Launceston

Having preached at a funeral of a young boy on 20th June 1665, John found himself accosted by a gentleman who, "with an unusual importunity, almost forced against my humour, to see his house that night."

Now, the Reverend Ruddle was  man of strong character, and he resisted the demand,a greeing only to visit when it suited him. When eventually he did, he discovered that the gentleman's son was acting most melancholy. It was put to him that he might ascertain what lay behind his moods.

The boy confessed that he believed himself haunted by a ghost!

One Dorothy Dingley, sometimes referred to as Dinglet, had been a neighbour in life, so the boy knew her well. She had passed away some eight years previously, yet, according to the lad, he saw her daily. He said, "She never speaks to me, but passes by hastily, and always leaves the footpath to me, and she commonly meets me twice or three times in the breadth of the field."

Countryside Near South Petherwin

Such fear was beginning to sieze the boy's heart that John Ruddle determined to do something about the apparition. But if he had doubts about the veracity of his claims, they were soon dispelled. Walking alongside the boy in a field of some twenty acres or so, about three furlongs from any house, he saw the ghost for himself.

"We went into the field, and had not gone about a third part, before the spectrum, in the shape of a woman...met us and passed by. I was a little surprised at it, and though I had taken up a firm resolution to speak to it, yet I had not the power, nor indeed durst I look back."

Three weeks later, and his courage fortified by prayer, and perhaps something a little more of this world too, John returned to walk the field alone. Again he saw the ghost, but too far away to speak with it. The following day, in the company of the boy and his parents, he tried once more. The attempt was unsuccessful because the ghost travelled too quickly to be caught. Indeed, John wrote, "I dare aver, that the swiftest horse in England could not have conveyed himself out of sight in that short space of time."

He also noted two facts about the haunting.

"1. That a spaniel dog, who followed the company unregarded, did bark and run away as the sprectrum passed by; whence it is easy to conclude that it was not our fear or fancy which made the apparition.

2. That the motion of the spectrum was not gradatim, or by steps, and moving of the feet; but a kind of gliding as children upon the ice or a boat down a swift river."

The following morning, he finally succeeded in making contact with the ghost. More than that, for he enjoyed a conversation of sorts with Dorothy's spirit, which resulted in her disappearing once and for all. Curiously enough, John Ruddle was somewhat vague in this, the most exciting, part of his account, saying only, "...after a few words of each side it quietly vanished; and neither doth appear since, nor will ever more to any man's disturbance. The discourse in the morning lasted about a quarter of an hour."

Such strange reticence can be attributed to kindness and discretion. The Reverend John Ruddle was a man of the cloth and well used to hearing people's confession. Although in this case the voice was that of a ghost, he happily granted peace and absolution all the same. He never broke her confidence, but Dorothy's tale eventually became known throughout the area. An interesting tale it was too.

The young man haunted went by the name of Sam Bligh, the 16 year old son of a wealthy farming family, able to trace their line to the Norman conquest. Their seat was Botathan House in South Petherwin, which had come into their possession during the late 1300s, following a fortuitous marriage.

Dorothy Dingley, Before Tragedy Struck

Poor Dorothy boasted no such favours of birth. She is believed to have been a poor, illiterate serving girl who Sam's elder brother got into trouble. Tragically, she died in childbirth at much the same time he was sent away from the area.

The reasons for her haunting young Sam can only be guessed at, but it is thought that she needed to confess her 'sin' before feeling able to move over to the other side. An alternative explanation is that she required her former beau to make his own penance, for having treated her so appallingly. Only then could she find peace. Whatever the case, John Ruddle was able to satisfy Dorothy and she was never heard of again.

The name of this blog is true(ish) ghost stories of Devon and Cornwall, yet there can be no doubting the honesty of this tale. For as John Ruddle himself said, "...until I can be persauded that my senses do deceive me about their proper object, I must and will assert that these things are true."

The Ancient Capital of Cornwall

Travelling from the East, the first Cornish town visitors come across is Launceston. It is a small place, with very little happening, but was once the capital of the Duchy. An important town indeed, with a church founded by the legendary Black Prince, and a castle overlooking the roads to Cornwall. Once upon a time, Launceston also boasted a priory dedicated to St Augustine, whose possessions included vast estates on both sides of the Tamar. As with other rich religious houses, the priory was forced to close by King Henry VIII.

Needless to say, a town with such a long and turbulent history is home to more than one spectral tale.

Dockacre House

The most famous ghost story involves Dockacre House, an Elizabethan mansion on the old road into town. Just over three hundred years ago, Sir Nicholas Herle bought the house to reside in finery with his wife Elizabeth. However, before the year ended, she was dead. A memorial plaque in the town church claims she was killed by starvation or other unlawful means. Which wasn't enough to prevent her widower going on to become mayor of Launceston and the High Sherriff of Cornwall.

When he died, his own obituary included this startling statement. Nicholas had apparently endured “The misfortune to accidentally shoot his lady.”

Interestingly enough, another variant on the couple’s unhappy life has her suffering from madness and thus being boarded up in a locked room. A further tale reverses the roles quite unexpectedly. In this retelling, Sir Nicholas is the victim of her violent cruelty.

Whatever happened at Dockacre House (indeed, if anything tragic ever did) the historic residence is known to be haunted. The ghost of Nicholas Herle has been spotted playing a wooden flute. His tune is recognised as an Elizabethan song containing the following words:

Since that I saw your face I resolved,

To honour and renown you.

If I be now disdained I wish,

My heart had never known you.

As in life, so in death, the stories surrounding this mysterious house remain confused and contradictory. For a recent occupant told me it was actually a lady who haunted it. She told me the local postman was so sure he’d seen a ghostly woman in one of the upstairs bedroom windows, he now refused to deliver mail there.

That was during 2010 and Dockacre House has since changed hands. Whether the ill-fated Elizabeth Herle or her possibly murderous husband remain, I cannot say. Nor can I confirm whether the present owners still have to pick up their letters from the local post office!

The patron saint of Launceston is one Cuthbert Mayne, former priest and Catholic martyr. The town’s Catholic church is named after him and a stone on the old market square commemorates the spot where he lost his life. For Britain in the 16^th century was no place for the tolerance of other men’s faiths and Mayne, having secretly trained at a seminary in France, found saying Mass reason enough to be arrested for treason. His trial at Launceston was a sham, which even the notorious ‘Hanging Judge Jeffries’ called a miscarriage of justice.

Sentenced to being hung, drawn and quartered, Mayne suffered horribly at the hands of an especially sadistic executioner. Fixing the hangman with a stare, he claimed that he would himself be dead before the year was out. Sure enough, the curse was effective because he did indeed die shortly afterwards, having first gone insane.

When people talk about ghosts, they almost always refer to tales from days gone by. I wonder why this is, when there are still plenty of hauntings taking place now.

Merryn Turner's Haunted House

Remaining in Launceston, an interesting claim reached the ears of the local press in the August of last year. One Merryn Tuner, who’d recently moved into a 1950s house on the council estate of Lanstephan, said her new home was haunted.

Merryn and her partner noticed unusual sounds within a few weeks of living there. To begin with, they took the form of mumbling voices and people talking upstairs. It soon progressed to the sound of children singing, yet when they checked on their own little ones, they found them fast asleep. Lights started flickering, doors were rapped by invisible hands, and objects fell noisily of their own accord.

“I thought I heard my daughter getting out of bed,” Merryn told a reporter. “I expected her to knock at my bedroom door. There was a knock at my door and I opened it, but she wasn’t there. I went to check on her in her room and she was out cold asleep...Then I heard someone call ‘Mummy’.”

Of course, such a new building boasts little history, so who are these childhood spirits? Lanstephan is a modern estate; it was fields until recently, verdant Cornish countryside. One can therefore only speculate on their origin.

I like to think they are merely the innocent reminders of kids who once played in the fields the estate buried beneath concrete. Enjoying, as they did in life, games of chase or hide and seek. Spirits that perhaps play the timeless mischief of Nickanan Night, now that a modern house stands in their path.

The Most Famous Of All Devonshire Ghost Stories

DARTMOOR'S HAIRY HANDS

The most famous of all Devon's ghost stories is probably also her most bizarre. For high upon Dartmoor, amidst the wild and scenic splendour of this desolate place, a peculiar peril exists. It is a danger unique to this haunted corner of the island, a threat unheard of elsewhere. It is claimed that more than one person has been injured as the result of this apparition, some have even lost their lives.

What I speak of, are the notorious hairy hands.

A lonely road winds its way like a stream over the empty moorland above Princetown. Beside this remote turnpike, the ruins of powder mills can be seen, all that remains of an old gunpowder factory. The men behind the venture chose its location well, for they knew the risks involved in manufacturing their deadly product. It was therefore situated far from anyone else, lest it ever fall victim to a stray spark or stroke of ill luck. A wise decision, as it turned out, for there were a number of explosions in the 1850s, which resulted in the deaths of a handful of workers.

We know from newspaper reports that one poor soul left behind a wife and five children; that two others who were killed went by the English names Dodd and Hamlyn.

It is also claimed that an Italian lost his life during one of the accidents. Legend speaks of him as the source of all following troubles.

Moving forward a number of years, and local people have become wary of travelling the road alone or at night. They claim an unseen presence grips the handlebars of their bicycles and forces them off the road. Traps are upturned as leading ponies feel their reins pulled to the side. It is as though some unworldly malevolent force wishes revenge on the living for its own premature death. However, it is with the advent of motor vehicles that matters spiral beyond control.

Winter 1921 and Dr Helby from Princetown travelled by motorbike and side car, his two children passengers in the latter. The motorbike suddenly veered from the road where it crossed the Cherrybrook, a small river spanned by an old stone bridge. The children were thrown from the sidecar but poor Dr Helby was killed on impact. No mechanical faults were found on his vehicle. No explanation ever provided for the crash.

Not long afterwards, an army officer from the nearby Okehampton Camp experience something similar. Riding along the road at night, his motorcycle was suddenly forced from the tarmac. Although injured, he survived the incident. He told police and army superiors alike that as his handlebars were gripped by a pair of large, disembodied hands, that steered it into danger. The hands were described as muscular, and far too strong for him to wrestle off. Muscular, disembodied and hairy.

Modern minds might scoff at such claims, but they made headline news at the time. They were covered in no less a publication than the Daily Mail. The authorities took them seriously enough to send engineers to investigate. Those experts' prosaic conclusions were that the crossing over the Cherrybrook, involving an unusually sharp camber, was to blame.

And yet changes to the road did not prevent further incidents. A charabanc trip to the moor ended in tragedy when the coach swerved inexplicably off the road, resulting in several passengers being thrown from their seats. The driver claimed that a pair of ghostly hands grabbed his wheel and took malicious control of the coach.

A car was also found upturned at the site, with its driver dead at the wheel. No cause for the crash has ever been established.

Perhaps most alarmingly of all, in 1924, a woman holidaying in the area witnessed the hands try to gain access to her caravan. Her name was Theo Brown and she would later write about the experience in a book. In her own words then:

I knew there was some power very seriously menacing us, and I must act very swiftly. As I looked up to the little window at the end of the caravan, I saw something moving, and as I stared, I saw it was the fingers and palm of a very large hand with many hairs on the joints and back of it, clawing up and up to the top of the window, which was a little open.

I knew it wished to do harm to my husband sleeping below. I knew that the owner of the hand hated us and wished harm, and I knew it was no ordinary hand, and that no blow or shot would have any power over it.

Almost unconsciously, I made the Sign of the Cross, and prayed very much that we might be kept safe. At once the hand slowly sank down out of sight, and I knew the danger was gone. I did say a thankful prayer and fell at once into a peaceful sleep.

Most people nowadays laugh off such claims, for it is easy to mock from the safe distance of a centrally heated house, protected from the world by locked doors and double glazing. Yet there are those upon Dartmoor who remain convinced there is truth behind the legend. I was fortunate enough to meet one, an elderly widow who ventured inside my old pub one afternoon.

Her late husband had once farmed both Lydford and Cherrybrook way; when I heard the latter, I asked her jokingly about whether he believed in the Hairy Hands. Needless to say, I only teased her, for I didn't set much store myself by the stories being true. The woman's reply therefore startled me.

"He didn't just believe 'em, bey," she said, "He saw 'em for himself."

She went on to tell me that he'd been working upon the moor late one night, and drove back in his tractor, well after dark, to their Lydford farmhouse. At the Cherrybrook bridge, his tractor wheel was suddenly seized by the hairy hands, which proceeded to drive the vehicle off the road and overturn it.

Being a tractor, it was both heavily-built and driven slowly; he therefore survived the impact. However, he never returned to work that land after dark again.

"He was never frightened of anything in his life," the old woman insisted to me. "Except he was terrified of that place. And whatever evil thing it is that haunts it."