Dartmoor's Night of Fear

Halloween

All Souls Night, Night of the Dead, Halloween and unfortunately now - Trick or Treat, all names for the 31st of October, the night when the portal between the worlds of the dead and the living are opened. On this very night everything that hasn't got a pulse, and a few that have haunt the land in order to spread fear and mayhem, the old corpse roads are akin to the M25 on a Friday night with lost souls nose to tail. Black Magic is at its strongest and covens of witches meet to celebrate the night of the dead, even simple divinations are though to be at their most potent on this night. These days packs of screaming banshees lurk in the streets of the moorland towns and villages striking fear into the god fearing folk that are locked behind shuttered door as they wait for the dreaded cry of, "trick or treat".

Originally the night of the 31st of October was when pre-Christian pagans celebrated and communed with the souls of their ancestors. The following day, Samhain, was a quarter day of the Celtic calendar when the physical and supernatural worlds were at their closest and magic at its strongest - WRONG. This probably only applies to Ireland and in England, Scotland and Wales the dates of such an event varied from New Year's Eve to May the 1st if it ever occurred at all. However, it is to the Roman Catholic Church where one must look for the origins of Halloween, in particular the 1st and 2nd of November. Between AD 800 to 1000 the Catholic Church has celebrated All Hallows Eve on the 1st of November and All Souls Day on the 2nd of November, after which the dates appeared to have regressed back to the 31st of October and the 1st of December. It was at Hallowtide when the dead were commemorated and amidst much praying and bell ringing the souls of those in Purgatory were released into heaven. So, it is the soul responsibility of the Catholic Church (the Protestants abolished the concept) that the 31st of October is associated with things that go bump in the night.

As mentioned above it was/is the night when may folk would play various divination games in order to find out who they were to marry or what their fortune for the year would be. These rites involved hazel nuts, apple peel, apples, hemp seed and a whole host of other unlikely but edible things. Amongst the various games played was apple bobbin' whereby apples floating in a barrel of water were extracted by using only ones teeth. another variation being to drop a fork in an attempt to spear the apple. Another less pleasant tradition was that of the 'Three Platters' which would determine who a person would marry. Three dishes would be arranged on a table, one was filled with fresh water, another with sink slops and the last one left empty. Each person would then be blindfolded and asked to dip their fingers in one of the bowls, if they chose the clean water they would marry a maiden, the sink slop bowl signified a widow and the empty bowl meant they would have a lonely life. Should any child be born on All Hallows Eve then they were said to be 'blessed' with the ability to converse with all things supernatural and were often regarded in later life with superstition. If anyone wanted to find out what sort of luck they would have during the coming year then all they had to do was get two apples pips and stick one on each of their eyelids. Then they simply waited until one fell off, if it was the left eye then the following year would be lucky, however if the right one dropped first then it was best not to make too many plans.

A fairly modern and less well known tradition on Dartmoor was to walk the Lych Way or 'Way of the Dead' on Halloween night which certainly added atmosphere to the occasion. The Dartmoor National Park Authority have caught onto this one and this year (2007) there is a, "Ghosties, Goblins and Ghoulies" walk with the option for fancy dress around Burrator, even more scary is the fact that it's a 'Ranger Ralph' family fun event. There is a very strong possibility that even today covens of witches meet at some of the ancient stone circles of the moor, often there are the ashes from their fires to be seen the following day, the Ringastan being one such example. There have also been the suggestion that in previous years witches have met on the moor to hold 'tests of power' to establish who is the 'Queen of Black Witches'.

If ever you wanted a few apt places to visit on Halloween here are a few fitting places:

BLEAK HOUSE	SX 5598 8648	DRUIDS ALTAR, THE	SX 78?? 85??	JUMBO'S GRAVE	SX 612? 777?
BLOODY POOL	SX 7029 6262	DRUIDS CHAIR, THE	SX 533 735	LYNCH TOR	SX 565 807
BONEHILL ROCKS	SX 7315 7745	DRUIDS WELL	SX 7162 8621	MOUNT MISERY	SX 634 705
BUTCHERY STREAM	SX 58? 73?	ELEANOR'S GRAVE	SX 7687 7578	PIXIE GLEN	SX 507 844
CARRION POOL	SX 5841 6624	FAIRY CLAM	SX 6416 7250	PIXIES CAVE	SX 667? 729?
CHILLY WOOD	SX 530 805	FITZ'S GRAVE	SX 7318 6738	PIXIES CAVE, THE	SX 5650 6811
CLOVEN HILL, THE	SX 650 909	FIVE WYCHES CROSS	SX 8055 7830	PIXIES CROSS	SX 501 737
COFFIN MILL	SX 7541 7062	FRENCHMAN'S GRAVE	SX5450 8052	PIXIES HOLT	SX 6650 7255
COFFIN STONE, THE	SX 6770 7329	GALLOWS HILL	SX 514 851	PIXIES HOUSE	SX 6945 6805
COFFIN WOOD	SX 540 810	GIBBET HILL	SX 5121 8522	PIXIES PARLOUR	SX 649 891
DARK BROOK	SX 550 707	GIBBET'S CROSS	SX 501 737	PIXIES PARLOUR	SX 720 896
DEAD LAKE	SX 566 785	GORE HILL	SX 702 777	PIXIES PITS	SX 764 761
DEADMAN'S BOTTOM	SX 609 669	GRANDPA'S GRAVE	SX 6075 7049	PIXIES POOL	SX ??? ???
DEADMAN'S CORNER	SX 7055 7046	GRAVE, THE	SX 548 704	PIXIES POOL	SX 5848 8720
DEVIL'S BRIDGE	SX 5805 7288	GRAVEYARD, THE	SX 643 916	PIXIES RINGS	SX 674 614
DEVIL'S BRIDGE HILL	SX 586 732	GRAVEYARDS	SX 565 876	PIXIES WOOD	SX 667 729
DEVIL'S CAULDRON, THE	SX 5085 8457	GRIMS GRAVE	SX 6123 6640	PLAGUE MARKET, THE	SX 554 750
DEVIL'S ELBOW, THE	SX 5907 7349	GRIMS LAKE	SX 704 811	PUCKIE STONE, THE	SX 6837 8762
DEVIL'S ELBOW, THE	SX 5907 7349	HANGING ROCK, THE	SX 5657 7817	QUICKSILVER'S GRAVE	SX 674? 618?
DEVIL'S FRYING PAN	SX 5630 7687	HANGING STONE, THE	SX 5512 7629	ROMAN ALTAR, THE	SX 7013 8751
DEVIL'S GULLY	SX 582 732	HANGING STONE, THE	SX 5850 6365	SCAREY TOR	SX 6066 9230
DEVIL'S KITCHEN, THE	SX 5549 8320	HANGING STONE, THE	SX 5560 7769	SEPULCHRE, THE	SX 742 666
DEVIL'S POINT, THE	SX 5498 8300	HANGING STONE, THE	SX 6160 8620	STEVEN'S GRAVE	SX 5362 7813
DEVIL'S PUNCH BOWL, THE	SX 6420 7995	HANGMAN'S PIT	SX 6729 7150	TINY'S GRAVE	SX 6550 5935
DEVIL'S ROCK, THE	SX 5388 6380	HANGMAN'S STREAM	SX 600 820	TOAD ROCK	SX 7574 8206
DEVIL'S THROAT, The	SX 668 809	HORRABRIDGE	SX 51 69	TROLLS TABLE, THE	SX 6614 8642
DEVILS TOR	SX 5969 7962	JAWBONE VALLEY	SX 68 80
DRUID CROSS	SX 7433 7079	JAY'S GRAVE	SX 73235 79911

Amongst other weird things that have taken place on Dartmoor at Halloween was several attempts to exorcise the ghost of Kitty Jay by some group of paranormal enthusiasts, apparently it was an attempt to finally lay the poor girl's soul to rest.