The Great Thunderstorm

Written accounts by eyewitnesses, apparently published within months of the catastrophe,[1] tell of a strange darkness, powerful thunder, and "a great ball of fire" ripping through a window and tearing part of the roof open.

The head of local warrener Robert Mead struck a pillar so hard that it left an indentation; his skull was shattered, and his brain hurled to the ground.

A "one Master Hill a Gentleman of good account in the Parish" was thrown violently against a wall and died "that night".

Another version of the legend states that the Devil arrived to collect the souls of four people playing cards during the church service.

The devil tethered his horse to one of the pinnacles at Widecombe Church, captured the sleeping Jan Reynolds, and rode away into the storm.