Wiltshire Folklore and Legends

Wiltshire Folklore and Legends gathers traditions connected with the county’s prehistoric landscape, rural communities and long-running local stories. Ralph Whitlock discusses the Devil’s supposed role in building Stonehenge and the tale of King Zel, whose ghost is said to ride across Silbury Hill in golden armour. The book also records the Odstock curse and other accounts linking place, memory and belief.

Alongside these darker traditions are stories of a highwayman modelled on Dick Turpin, Lyddie Shears and the Wiltshire Moonrakers, who reportedly fooled excise officers while smuggling brandy. Whitlock also considers calendar customs, oral traditions, ghosts and later reports of unidentified flying objects, placing supernatural claims within the broader folklore of Wiltshire’s villages, downs and ancient monuments.