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From catching him by his nose to selling him your soul, discover the hellish mark the Devil has left on our myths and legends.
Saint Dunstan is famed for his cunning in defeating the devil.
Lucifer, Satan, Iblīs, Beelzebub – these are but some of the many names used to describe the arch-demonic enemy of mankind. A diabolical Devil-figure appears in history all across the globe. Whether such a monstrously evil being exists is up for debate. However, the hellish mark which the Devil has left on the legends and folklores of mankind is indisputable.
Many tales describe encounters with the beast – for the worse and for the better. As such, here are five historic encounters with the devil.
1. Richard Cabell
The reason for the squire's darkness, it was said, lay in a deal he had made with the devil.
Granted immortality by the Beast, Cabell did as he pleased, creating such an infamous legacy that he would later go on to provide the inspiration for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Hound of the Baskervilles.
However, eternal life was not to be his. Cabell died on the 5th July 1677 – with some saying that he was hunted to death by a pack of phantom hounds, bent on revenge. On the night of his interment into the family tomb, it is said that this same pack of phantom hounds came baying across the moor to howl at his grave. From then on, on the anniversary of his death, the hellish phantom of Richard Cabell could be seen stalking the moors and the area around his final resting place.
Terrified of the dark figure and his diabolical connection, local people built iron bars around the squire's tomb and placed a huge slab of stone on top of the grave. However, even after taking such precautions, some still report a strange red glow emanating through the iron bars. Some even claim that, on certain nights, a whole host of demonic creatures gather at his grave, trying to retrieve the promised soul of for their master.
According to legend, Dunstan encountered the devil numerous times. The most famous of these encounters occurred whilst he was living as a hermit in a cell at Glastonbury. A talented metalsmith as he was, Dunstan occasionally accepted commissions. One such commission came from an old man, who appeared at his window asking if Dunstan would make a chalice for him. Agreeing, Dunstan began working on the piece. However, when he looked up from his work, he noticed that his visitor had changed: one moment he was the old man, the next a young boy, then a woman.
It was then that Dunstan realised his visitor was the devil.
Concealing his distress, Dunstan continued to craft the chalice. He picked up his blacksmith's tongs and moved them to fire. Once they were red-hot, he pulled them from the flames, turned on his heel and seized the devil by the nose with the tongs. Despite the struggling and screams of the devil, Dunstan calmly cast the beast from his cell.
On another occasion, Dunstan was sat in his cell playing his harp. As the saint sang his melodious tune, a "tramping vagrant" approached. This was the devil, once again intent on deceiving the holy man. However, Dunstan was a man of cunning. He once again seized the devil, this time grabbing his diabolic hoof. The saint proceeded to shoe the beast, furiously nailing a metal horseshoe to the devil's hoof. The devil pleaded and cried in pain as Dunstan hammered nail after long nail into him. When he was done, Dunstan only agreed to remove the shoe and free the devil after he promised he would never pass through a door over which a horseshoe hangs.
From then on, the hanging of a horseshoe outside one's home has been associated with good luck and protection.
"Over your threshold, on your mast,
Be sure the horse-shoe's well nailed fast."
