Wow. So things got very real very quickly, didn’t they? Only two weeks ago, I was chatting to a friend on the phone, saying how unlikely it’d be that we’d go into full lockdown – and yet here we are.
This week I came down with some lovely coronavirus symptoms, which means I’ve had the kids at home since Wednesday. I’m seeing it as a chance to spend some time with them, while doing some ‘kind of’ educational stuff too.
The coronavirus situation, as you all know, has got to the point where a lot of people are self-isolating at home. This isn’t the easiest of situations – particularly when you’ve got young children climbing the walls with frustration and boredom.
Recently, I’ve been delving into the works of Sabine Baring-Gould. Born in Exeter (hooray), he’s most famous for having written the hymn ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’. Less well-known is the fact that he was also a prolific writer of ghost stories… an odd choice for a man of the cloth, you might say.
Even better, he was also regarded as one of the world’s experts in werewolves. Eek!
In folkloric terms, Dartmoor has it all. Legends abound in this area; from red-eyed demon dogs, to eerie knockers, luring miners to their death in the tin-mines. Little wonder then that I so often turn to Dartmoor for inspiration!
Today’s focus is on the rather unusual legend of Crazywell Pool.