The Devil Goes for a Pint, Tavistock Inn
We know that The Devil likes a drink, at least if the tale about his gigantic punch bowl (above) is to be believed, but one dark and stormy night he actually went to a pub. Locals at the Tavistock Inn of Poundsgate, Devon, were surprised enough to see a stranger come through the door of their lonely pub on 21st October 1638. But it wasn’t just the man’s unfamiliarity that drew attention. For he not only paid for his pint with solid gold coins, but had cloven hooves! Draining the flagon, he asked for directions to a nearby church.
He left on a black steed (of course), and headed for the church at Widecombe-in-the-Moor. Inside, locals were sheltering from the fierce storm without. One man, Jan Reynolds, was an unrepentant gambler, and played cards as he kept warm. Suddenly, the church was struck by a great ball of fire, and as the roof timbers fell, Jan was thrown against a pillar so hard that his skull was shattered and ‘the brains fell backward, entire and whole, into the seat behind him, and two pieces of his skull’. The Devil entered, and dragged poor Jan off across Dartmoor on horseback.
As they travelled through the storm at a supernatural pace, Jan dropped four aces he had hidden up his sleeve – he was a cheat as well as a gambler – and as they hit the moor, they formed four enclosures, known thereafter as ‘The Devil’s Playing Cards’. The fireball hitting St Pancras church is a true story, for this was part of an event known as The Great Thunderstorm, and was likely ball lightning. The ball lightning killed a few people, and the church bears the scars of being repaired. The four enclosures also exist – but are probably just livestock corrals.
