Author recalls fond memories of Halloween celebrations on Dartmoor

When you read this, upon publication on November the 5th, I will be visiting the north Devon village of Shebbear, where they forgo bonfires and fireworks, in favour of a more important festival, the turning of The Devil’s Stone, to ensure that bad luck doesn’t befall the village, and its residents. I will be staying overnight, in the village pub, The Devil’s Stone Inn, offering up a free Evening of Storytelling to anyone who cares to join me, after witnessing a piece of traditional folklore in action.

Details of my expedition to Shebbear, will feature in a future article, but for now, I wish to share with you memories, and reminiscences, of my favourite time of the year...

Growing up, I always had a fascination with weird and spooky stuff. So when we were old enough to celebrate such things, my siblings and I (I’m the eldest of four), always made a big thing of Halloween. We would take over dad’s garage, decorate it in suitably creepy style, with pictures that we had spent time drawing and colouring, then, when it got near to teatime on the night, we set up a trestle table, upon which mum would put a buffet spread, to which our friends were also invited, and we would tuck in heartily, ahead of hitting the local streets dressed in our spookily best outfits, that we’d spent ages putting together. We didn’t indulge in Trick or Treating, that was for the younger kids, we just wanted to show off (somethings never change), and see what everyone else was wearing. If we were feeling really brave, we would head off to the nearby woods, in the dark, and scare ourselves silly. Shame it only happened once a year!

Sometimes, during the Halloween half-term week, we would go away for a family holiday, quite often down to Dartmoor, where my parents honeymooned, back in October 1962 (I was born nine months later), and they would celebrate their anniversary there. We usually stayed at the Dartmoor Lodge Motel, just outside of Ashburton, and if Halloween fell during our stay, we would always enter the children’s fancy dress competition, having chosen and packed our best costumes, in the hope that one of the four of us might win. The competition was fierce! We would then participate in all the other seasonal festivities that the Motel laid on. During the week, in the lead up to the big day, we would go on excursions around the area, and always be on the look out for carved pumpkins on people’s driveways, or witches and ghosts, hanging up in their windows. I think this is why, when I eventually found myself in Torbay, straight out of drama school in 1987, that I was so keen to visit Dartmoor, and immerse myself in its spooky atmosphere, that I remembered from those childhood holidays.

Once I had formed TIP, my paranormal investigation group, in 1995, I used to arrange a special trip at Halloween, for the members, and hire a minibus, to take us up to the moors, for the night, partaking of what I had dubbed The Devil’s Pub-crawl. This was based on one of my favourite stories, the pact between the tin miner, Jan Reynolds, and The Devil, himself. Nowadays, I’ve renamed the route, The Devil’s Quest, and it forms one of my Moors and More Tours trips. I changed the name, because I felt it might attract the wrong sort of customers!

Back in the day, we would pay a visit to The Tavistock Inn, in Poundsgate, where The Devil stopped to ask directions, on his way to Widecombe in the Moor church, where he planned on claiming Jan’s soul, as his part of the bargain, having heard he was often to be found there, playing cards with his mates, during a Sunday service. The Devil enjoyed the delicious irony of his plan. You can still see the mark he left on the bar top, after downing a pint there, before continuing his journey...

Our journey, would include a stop at Jay’s Grave, which always takes on a different atmosphere after dark, before making our way up on to the higher moor, and stopping at The Warren House Inn, where the fire, allegedly, never goes out. We would usually finish the night with a visit to the ruined Holy Trinity Church, overlooking Buckfastleigh and Buckfast Abbey, and pay our respects at Squire Cabal’s Tomb, to see if The Devil would show himself there, as per the legend of walking around the sepulchre thirteen times widdershins (anticlockwise), and then putting your finger through the keyhole. He never did make an appearance...I’m guessing he had better things to do at Halloween...

During these Halloween trips to Dartmoor, we would often feel a little disappointed at the lack of decoration, or seasonal spirit, at some of the hostelries we visited, on the night. That was until one stop at The Warren House Inn. Upon entering, there was nothing obvious to let you know what night it was, so we just brought our drinks, and sat around a table as I finished off Jan Reynolds’ tale, and regaled my companions with other spooky stories. We ended up being the last customers to leave, and as we all filed out, to hop back on the minibus, all the bar staff were standing silently behind the bar, watching us leave, wearing Halloween masks...it really was a creepy sight, and more than made up for the pub’s lack of decoration...

One place that never disappoints at Halloween (apart from once) is Boscastle, down in Cornwall, with its famous Witchcraft Museum. When I first read about the haunted Wellington Hotel, in the village, I told Dave and Adrian, my fellow co-founders of TIP, that we had to visit. As it was nearly Halloween, we made it our destination for a daytrip. We arrived in time for lunch at The Cobweb; explored the harbour area; paid a visit to the museum; and had an evening meal at The Welly. Afterwards, before reluctantly heading home, we ventured up the steep hill, to have a drink at The Napoleon, at the top, and I was completely blown away, for practically every little cottage we passed.

seemed to be celebrating the season, with carved pumpkins, and hanging decorations of ghosts and witches, and little baskets of sweets for Trick or Treaters. I fell in love with the place straightaway. On the car journey home, I made the lads promise that we would come back again the following year, only this time we would stay overnight at The Welly, so we could really immerse ourselves in the atmosphere.

Next Halloween soon came around, and we made the journey down, actually checking into the hotel, this time. We made a similar exploration of the shops and museum, as the previous year, and then again, after our evening meal, we made the trek up the hill to The Napoleon...but this time I was so disappointed. None of the cottages seemed to be decorated, no pumpkins glowed in the windows, and there were no treats outside for the children. In fact, the only sign that we saw, that it was Halloween at all, was when we returned to our accommodation, at The Welly, after our drink at The Napoleon, to find that the telephone box outside, had been egged!

We still had an enjoyable time in Boscastle, so much so, that we’ve made it our destination of choice to celebrate several milestones in our gang’s lives, such as my 50th birthday, and Dave’s stag do. A group of us used to attend the annual Dark Gathering, of various Morris Dance sides, that would perform there to celebrate the Samhain rituals for the ancestors. This event was always most enjoyable, especially when everyone would retire to the bar of The Welly afterwards, where they would continue to sing and dance, and I would get serenaded by a rendition of a song called Ugly Dave, which my so called friends thought highly amusing! Sadly, in recent years, since Covid, the event has been moved to nearby Tintagel, as it has outgrown the small square, outside the museum, where they used to perform. As a way to try and plug the gap, left by the event shifting location, and not to miss out on our annual visit to our favourite spooky village, I offered up free evenings of storytelling to the hotel’s guests, during our stay, and I’ve met some interesting people as a result.

Since I started hosting my Ghost Walks, I’ve held some on Halloween night itself. The other year, I launched my Ashburton walk, in the company of local author, Stephanie Austin, who now lives in the town, and whose books are murder mysteries, set in the local area, which I’ve read myself, and I can’t recommend them highly enough, if you enjoy the company of local people, solving crime in our part of the country. With Stephanie’s help, we uncovered some interesting stories, to go alongside the folklore I was already aware of, forming the basis of the walk for our guests, on that first night. Then, following my group’s investigation at The Old Exeter Inn, where the walks start, and thanks to some of my medium friends, encountering the spirit of a gentleman calling himself Elijah, who took them on a most enlightening trail around the town, I now have some further, most astounding information to share with my guests, on my walks, which now form part of my repertoire, and which I conduct solo, with Stephanie’s wholehearted blessing.

Last year, I launched my Buckfastleigh walk, drawing a reasonable crowd, that started at The Globe, at the top end of the town, with a storytelling session, and finished at The Valiant Soldier, that was already hosting a Halloween open evening. After more stories, we were allowed to have a look around the old pub, to see if we could pick up on any non-alcoholic spirits! I’ve subsequently hosted a similar event in Buckfastleigh, as part of a 40th birthday celebration, that produced some interesting results at The Valiant...but that’s a story for another time...for this year, I’ve got my evening at The Tavistock Inn to look forward to, along with the launch of our new Letterbox stamps, for collectors to come and stamp up, and hopefully have a drink, or maybe even a meal, whilst doing so, and of course, stopping to hear my stories. I’m also really looking forward to the stay at the Devil’s Stone Inn, in Shebbear, to witness a piece of folklore in action, with the turning of said stone. If anything of interest happens at either of these events, I will be sure to share it with you here, in one of my future columns.