Folklore of Lincolnshire Read Online Free Page A

church screaming and when people came to see what was going on, they found him stone dead in the graveyard.
    The Devil is often blamed for people’s misdemeanours, unfortunate events or bad luck. One old belief in Lincolnshire was that every Michaelmas night the Devil would travel around and spit on all the blackberries, and so after this date they were not fit to be eaten. Michaelmas occurs on 29 September, which is naturally towards the end of the blackberry season – a convenient tale to explain their decay. Gutch and Peacock add that when Satan was thrown out of heaven he fell into a bramble bush and was sorely annoyed! 11 Thus every year he spoils the very bushes that remind him of his fall and the berries become ‘as hard as the Devil’s forehead’.
    Rudkin quotes a Mr Sibsey, who tells of another old belief that helps to explain the supposed power Old Nick has over crops:
    In the neighbourhood of Frieston, triangular corners of fields are filled with trees, and the groups were known as ‘Devil’s Holts’. The belief is still current that these were left for the Devil to play in, otherwise he would play in the fields and spoil the crops.
    Polly Howat relates an interesting story of the unfortunate farmer John Leech, who got on the wrong side of the Devil. 12 The legend says Leech was rather the worse for wear in his local tavern and his friend wanted him to go home. Leech, however, wanted to stay and apparently shouted, ‘Let the Devil take him who goeth out of this house today,’ and they both carried on drinking. Eventually Leech decided to leave, as he wanted to go to the local Whittlesey Fair, near Raveley. His friend was said to remind him of the oath he swore, but the farmer just laughed and started his journey. He was so drunk, however, that he lost his way and ended up riding round in circles until nightfall. Two griffins then appeared and barred the poor man’s wayand he heard a dreadful voice remind him of the oath he had broken. Leech was terrified and fell from his horse, whereupon two imps emerged from the bushes and began to beat him. They hauled him up into the sky and flew with him for miles, eventually dropping him and disappearing. The bloodstained farmer was found the next morning and taken to a local house, where a doctor was called. The poor man seemed to have lost his mind and tried to attack the parson, who was summoned after he had narrated his tale. The frightened locals tied him to the bed and locked his door overnight. All seemed very quiet in the morning, so they unlocked the door, but were faced with a horrible sight. Leech’s neck had been broken and his body was black and swollen all over, with every bone pulled out of joint. It was then that his story was believed and all who saw his body realised the awful consequences of making drunken oaths.

    What is left of the Melton Ross gallows today, in a field next to a lay-by along the A18, midway between Melton Ross and Wrawby.
    Rudkin tells the tale of another man, Tommy Lindrum, who sold his soul to the Devil. As the road was usually so bad between Wroot and Lindholme, he decided one day to make a causeway between the two. The Devil pledged to help his disciple, boasting he would make it faster than a man on a horse could gallop. For some reason, however, the Devil seemed to give up helping Tommy halfway through the job. It has been speculated that Tommy had tricked him somehow and thus escaped with his soul intact. People say there is still evidence of the beginnings of a cobbled causeway there now, although it is mostly grassed over. The legend states it is badluck to touch the stones, and one farmer, when he tried to move them, lost all his horses in the process – they just dropped down dead!
    Another well-known tale 13 is that of four boys who were playing at the site of the gallows at Melton Ross in the 1790s. With the thoughtlessness of youth they were playing at ‘hanging’, whereby each one would hang from the gallows