The Storyteller: A busy autumn around the corner

It only seems like yesterday, that I was telling you about my plans for a busy August, during the Summer Holidays.

Now I’m going to tell you about the plans for a packed Autumn that I’ve got lined up, where has this year gone?

With still a few weeks left of my planned Summer itinerary of Ghost Walks, I’m already being asked to extend my Wednesday Brixham Haunted Harbour Walks, by people keen to join me, who are holidaying in the area in late September, and of course I’m only happy to oblige. Please get in touch if you would still like to join me too.

Also, before my season finishes, there are two further opportunities to join me on Ghost Walks, as part of this year’s Dartmoor Outdoor Festival, which runs from Friday 29th August, until Friday 5th September. My offerings will top and tail the week, with Ashburton on 29th, starting at 7.30pm, and Chagford on 5th at 6.30pm.

For further details, and how to book, please see the festival website, and book as soon as you read this, as the first of those walks, will be tomorrow! It is a great honour to have some of my work chosen for inclusion in this year’s event.

Another festival that I’m hoping to be involved in, is next year’s English Riviera Walking Festival, which will be held next June, and, just yesterday, as you read this, I will have been vetted to see if my Brixham Ghost Walk is suitable to be included. Fingers crossed!

I’ve also been asked to lead one of my moorland walks, as part of the DPA’s (Dartmoor Preservation Association) Walks On Dartmoor series, later on in October, Saturday 18th, to be precise, to give an early taste of Halloween, as it will feature my discovery of The Witches Triangle, which features Jay’s Grave, Granny Mann’s Altar on Easdon Hill, and Bowerman’s Nose.

Again, for further details, and to book, although tickets are free, in this instance, you need to contact the DPAs website, to book your place, as due to the nature of the walk, being along narrow, country lanes, numbers are limited.

As well as leading walks, another string to my bow is giving talks, to organisations and groups, who care to hire my services. I’ve given several, so far this year, and next month sees me entertaining the ladies of Paignton WI...so if you belong to a group in search of a new speaker, with a flair for the spooky, and you’d like to hear tales of local folklore, look no further,  and get in touch to secure me in your group’s diary, as I’m already booking into next year too.

As I mentioned above, plans are already coming together for this year’s Halloween Season, including an event that might become an ongoing fixture in the diary of The Wellington Hotel in Boscastle. As I hinted at, in a recent article, I’m in discussions with the manager there, regarding the possibility of hosting paranormal weekends, to include ghost hunts in the hotel itself, plus other local properties, and visits to other nearby locations of a spooky nature. Keep a look out for further information here, if that’s something you might like to get involved in, as details are still to be finalised.

These new ventures, require a certain amount of research, on my part, to make sure I’m armed with plenty of stories to regale my guests with. That for Boscastle, is still ongoing, but once my regular, weekly Ghost Walks for this season are done and dusted, I hope to start work on some new locations, to add to my repertoire, to be launched soon.

Last Halloween, I added Ashburton, thanks to the assistance of local author, Stephanie Austin. Back in January, I launched the new Brixham Ghost Walk, which has proved popular enough to hold one a month so far, and then in July, my Summer Season launched with my latest addition, Ivybridge. Now my sights are set on Buckfastleigh and Moretonhampstead.

Both towns are proving to be full of unique tales, worth sharing, and I’m currently seeking out venues to host my launching events, where I like to invite locals to come along to a free Evening of Storytelling, so I can share my stories, in a hope that the locals will contribute theirs, to help add to my knowledge and form the basis of a new ghost walk.

As I said, the research is already underway, so I thought I would finish this article, by sharing a few interesting titbits that I’ve already uncovered...

Buckfastleigh boasts several interesting hostelries, with stories to tell, including the King’s Arms, which used to be an old coaching house, and is said to be haunted by a grey lady, seen standing on a staircase, allegedly waiting for her lover to return...

It also has an unassuming residential street, with the quaint name of Elliott Plain, target of some more modern folklore, courtesy of my good friend, the writer, and fellow ghost walk host, Bob Mann. In a rather bored moment, whilst working for a newspaper in Totnes, he once engineered an elaborate April Fool’s joke, making out that Elliott Plain was the name of England’s worst writer ever!

He even compiled some examples of his work to prove it. His efforts were so convincing, that his editor, at the time, one Chips Barber, took Bob at his word, and printed up his article as gospel, even disbelieving Bob when he tried to confess it was a hoax!

Bob has embraced this happy accident ever since, by adding to the author’s tragic works, and even, once upon a time, visiting the street, to perambulate along it, celebrating his birthday, and every subsequent April 1st. However, I’m not sure if he still keeps up this tradition, but I have joined him on a couple of occasions, over the years.

The most obvious, spooky place, to head to in Buckfastleigh, is the ruined church of Holy Trinity, on top of the hill, overlooking the town, thanks to the machinations of The Devil himself.

If I was to include this in any subsequent ghost walk, it would necessitate climbing the nearly 200 steps to get there, but I can guarantee you, it would be worth the effort!

Here you would find the tomb of Squire Cabal, something I’ve written about many times before, especially as his story proved to be the inspiration behind Conan Doyle’s most famous novel, but I’m still surprising myself, by digging up other bits of intriguing information about the scoundrel, including the fact some locals regarded him as being a vampire, and his treatment of women earned him the nickname Dirty Dick, as he was the third generation of the clan to be called Richard...

I’ve also uncovered the fact that, at one time, body snatchers might have been at work in this graveyard, on behalf of unscrupulous medical practitioners, due to its remoteness, and the many creepy stories attached to it, and its attraction to Satanists...

From this vantage point, you can look down upon the beautiful structure of the tower of Buckfast Abbey, somewhere else I’m starting to learn, has its own share of ghost stories, including the sighting of bands of monks silently roaming the area.

There is also the tale of a long since deceased benefactor of the abbey, one Sir William Kingdon, who, upon his death, asked to be buried in the Abbey church, and for the monks to pray for him on the anniversary of his death, July 3rd. This the monks did, and, in return, Sir William’s ghost appeared to them each year, without fail. It is said that he still appeared on the anniversary, even after the dissolution of the monasteries. I would be intrigued to know, if he still appears to this day?

Moretonhampstead, on the other hand, is still a new work in progress. It has its fair share of pubs, including The Horse, that is allegedly haunted, and the old Bell Inn, now the Hippo cafe, with MED Theatre performance space above, which sports some very interesting examples of antiquarian artwork, that I would love to be able to show off to my guests.

The town also has the remains of an old Dancing Tree, that was said once, to be big enough to host tea dances, complete with a small orchestra, tables and chairs for diners, and plenty of space to dance in...

Other spooky areas of interest, lie just outside, and include a stretch of country lane, where a family was once driven off the road by a ghost car; a hillside, overlooking the town, boasts the grave of a giant, called Maximajor, and, if you go there at Midnight, you can hear his cries coming from deep underground; whilst it is said that King Arthur, no less, and The Devil, once opposed one another in a stone hurling contest, with King Arthur positioned on top of Blackingstone Rock, and The Devil, at Hel Tor...and that is how all the Tors in area were said to be formed...of course it was...

If you are as fascinated by these old tales, as much as I am, then please come and join me for my free Evenings of Storytelling, the locations for which I will announce here as soon as I’ve firmed up some dates. Meanwhile, if you’d like details of any of the other events, or services, that I’ve mentioned here, please feel free to contact me via my email address    davidtiptrips@gmail.com