THE DEVIL IN DEVON

Evening Star, Issue 23123, 24 November 1938, Page 7

THE DEVIL IN DEVON

WIDEGOMBE FAIR Widecombe Fair has been held, and it is something of a Centenary year for this Devon village, says the ‘ Manchester Guardian.’ It was just 300 years on _ October 21 since Widecombe was visited by the Devil. The people were at afternoon service in the church when thunder and lightning broke loose and a ball of fire passed through the building, striking one man with such violence that he died the same night, and at the same time cleaving the head of another, who had “ his skull rent in tb ree pieces and his brains thrown upon the ground whole; but the hair of his bead, through the violence of the blow, stuck fast to a pillar near him, where it remained a woeful spectacle a long time after.” Who could have done all these evil deeds but the rider on the coal-black steed who had called for a glass of ale at Poundstock Inn, which hissed and sputtered as it went down

his throat as if it had been running over burning metal? Having drunk his ale, he asked the way to Widecombe. Arrived there—on horseback by air—he fastened his steed to a pinnacle, rushed into the church, and seized a poor lad whom the sermon bad sent to sleep, flew with him through the roof to where his horse was fastened, and rode off with a roar and rattle of thunder. At Widecombe thereafter it “ lamed ’em ” not to slumber in church.