Turning the Devil's Stone

[lizwilliams]

Shebbear, in North Devon, will be turning the Devil's stone tomorrow. The stone, a large lump of non-local quartz, sits in the village square. It measures 6 ft by 4 ft and weighs about a ton. Allegedly, it was dropped by Lucifer on his way to Hell and the devil lies under it. If the villagers don't move it, then the devil might escape and run amok. So they ring the church bells to confuse any lurking spirits and then shift the stone.

The local pub has been voted one of the most haunted pubs in Britain and has: a small girl who is said to have died in a fire in the 1780s, and a red jacketed coachman.

In other news, Bath (aka Caer Badon) is about to host its 10th Bardic Chair. I went to the Bardic Chair of Bristol some years ago and it was a lot of fun.

Also in Devon, there have been health and safety concerns about rolling blazing tar barrels through the streets. Just get on with it! Devoted readers of this blog will remember my annual posts about Lewes, who scorn namby-pamby concerns about insurance and go for it with the tar barrels. It is very, very unusual for anyone to be hurt because, surprise, in dangerous situations people are much more careful.

It's also Bonfire Night. Have a good one, those of you who indulge. And a safe one, despite the above.

One of the TV stations is recreating what would happen if the Houses of Parliament actually had been blown up. They've built a full scale model. Can't we, you know, just practice on the real thing?

Comments

[fastfwd.livejournal.com]

Ummm...now, you know I'm American so I'm not exactly clued up in this area but if the devil were under a one-ton stone, and you didn't want him to escape, the thing to do would be not to shift it?

Signed,

Just curious

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

Funny, you know I'm not American but the same thing occurred to me.

I suspect it is a paltry excuse for a piss-up.

I was reading yesterday about the Seven Whistlers - these are probably curlews, but if you hear a bird whistle seven times, it means very bad luck. Apparently if miners heard it, they would refuse to go down the pit for a day. Oddly, this often coincided with pay day, so they would be forced to spend their time in a local hostelry, or fishing.

Seven Whistlers

[cleopand.livejournal.com]

I'm sure there's a reference to the 7 Whistlers in a Malcolm Saville book - either Mystery at Witchend or Seven White Gates. It's set in Shropshire and scared the bejeepers out of me when I read it at age 7... It turned out to be the screeching of mine machinery and the crooks would've gotten away with it if it hadn't been for those meddling kids. Incidentally if you've got any Malcolm Saville books, hang onto them - they're as rare as rocking horse poo.

Re: Seven Whistlers

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

You know, I'm sure I've heard of the 7Ws in some other context too...thanks for the ref!

BTW, I am likely to be around towards the end of next week if you fancy a jar...