THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES

Did you know that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is thought to have been inspired for his book The Hound Of The Baskervilles by the Dartmoor legend of Squire Cabel - an evil huntsman said to have sold his soul to the Devil?  The Squire was buried in 1677 in Buckfastleigh churchyard and legend has it that phantom hounds surround his tomb on dark, stormy nights, filling the air with their unearthly howling. Stories circulate about a flickering red glow and the shadows of bars being cast on the church wall, with Squire Cabel's ghost rising from his tomb to hunt with his spectral pack along an ancient track known to locals as the Abbot's Way.

I shan't be visiting the grave after dark, since glimpsing the phantom is believed to mean death within the year!

Here's the Squire's grave - which I visited by daylight!

Locals created this inscription as the original one is now indistinct.