Devonshire Characters and Strange Events

Sabine Baring-Gould gathers stories of Devonshire people, customs and incidents, concentrating on lesser-known figures rather than the county’s celebrated historical worthies. The subjects range from Maria Foote and the impostor Caraboo to John Arscott of Tetcott, the pirates of Lundy and Joanna Southcott.

Alongside biographical sketches, the book records local traditions and reported marvels, including wife-sales, white witches, the Grey Woman, the Demon of Spreyton, the Bideford witches and the Sampford ghost. Its darker historical material includes Richard Parker the mutineer and the Stoke resurrectionists, while other chapters consider figures such as Jack Rattenbury, Captain John Avery and Bampfylde-Moore Carew. Historical illustrations accompany the accounts.