The road trip has officially begun! We're hitting the tarmac for a journey through some of the West Country's most mysterious and legend-haunted spots. For our first day, we went from ancient henges and ghost bells to UFOs and the ominous silence of Dartmoor.
Knowlton Rings: Where a Ruined Church Hides a Pagan Heart
Our first stop was Knowlton Rings, a striking, ruined Norman church sitting right in the center of a massive Neolithic henge complex. This wasn't an accident. We learned that this was a classic move by early Christians to claim power over older, pagan beliefs. But the old power seems to have fought back. The village was wiped out by the Black Death, and the church itself has been left to crumble.
But that's not even the wyrdest part! Local folklore tells the grim tale of a bell from this very church that was either stolen by thieves, moved by an unseen force, or nabbed by the Devil himself. The story goes that those who tried to steal it met a grisly end, and to this day, you can supposedly hear its phantom tolling from the nearby river.
The whole place is a hotbed of paranormal activity, with reports of disembodied whispers, sudden temperature drops, and a whole host of apparitions, from a weeping nun to a menacing figure in black. It's a reminder that sometimes the oldest stories have the most powerful ghosts.
Wind Whistle Hill: The A30's Most Haunted Stretch
From Dorset, we headed to Somerset and the infamous A30, specifically the stretch around Wind Whistle Hill. This isn't your average road trip stop; according to UFO researcher Gloria Heather Dixon of BUFORA, this is a hotbed of supernatural sightings.
This road's history is as dark as its present. It was once a haunt for murderous highwaymen who hid both their treasure and their victims' bodies in the surrounding caves. Then there's the legend of a witch, supposedly killed by a passing stagecoach, whose spirit still lingers.
But the most mind-bending stories are modern. We talked about the Walker family, who not only saw a massive, silent, cigar-shaped UFO and experienced missing time, but also encountered a terrifying, abnormally tall cryptid with "horrendously long and thin" legs that forced them to swerve off the road. It's a tale that's not just an isolated anecdote, but a pattern of sightings that's been reported for decades, including by lorry drivers and others who have seen strange lights and non-human figures.
Wistman's Wood: Stepping into a Dartmoor Nightmare
We left the tarmac and plunged into the ancient, wild heart of Dartmoor, starting with Wistman's Wood. The name itself, from the Old Devon word "wished," means "eerie or uncanny," and you can feel it. The trees here are a gnarled, moss-covered, and ancient mess, a truly unsettling landscape that looks like it's straight out of a fairy tale—or a folk horror film.
This place is steeped in legends of the Wish-Hounds, spectral black dogs with glowing red eyes that hunt lost souls. And if that's not bad enough, you have to worry about being "pixie-led" by the mischievous local piskies.
We also scoped out Vixen Tor, a massive rock outcrop that we almost camped at. It's said to be the home of a terrifying witch named Vixana. Legend claims she lived in a cave beneath the Tor, which she had subjugated earth gnomes build for her. Her favorite pastime was to conjure thick mists to disorient travelers, luring them to sink in the boggy ground at the foot of the Tor while she cackled with glee from above. Her reign of terror ended when a handsome young traveler, who had the power to see through mists and make himself invisible, tricked her into falling into her own boggy trap.
Camping on the Moor: Beast, Burials, and Buckfast
For our final wyrd spot of the day, we pitched a tent on the moor to spend a long, dark night talking about some of Dartmoor's most famous legends. We dove into the mystery of the Beast of Dartmoor, a large predator that some believe is a big cat, while others think it's a native cryptid or even a supernatural entity responsible for the inexplicable, ritualistic-seeming mutilations of livestock on the moor.
We also discussed two haunting human stories. Jay's Grave, where fresh flowers mysteriously appear every day on the burial mound of a young girl who committed suicide. And Child's Tomb, a grim tale of an 11th-century nobleman who froze to death and whose will sparked a bitter race between monks and locals for his land.
To cap off the night, we tried some Buckfast, the caffeinated, fortified wine made by monks. It's got a reputation as a "wreck the hoose juice," but we were more concerned about the caffeine keeping us up all night while we listened for phantom bells and phantom beasts.
What a day. The journey has only just begun. Stay tuned for more wyrdness!