The DevilFamous
The Great Thunderstorm
The cards fell out of his hand as he flew.
Stand where it happened
- What's there
- Tall granite church tower on a village green
- Legend from
- 1638 tracts / local legend
- Tone
- Dramatic
Lightning hit a full church. They said the Devil came for a card-player.
On 21 October 1638 ball lightning struck St Pancras during a service, killing four and injuring about sixty of some three hundred people inside. Tracts printed that year described it. Legend blamed the Devil, come for a gambler who had sold his soul: he stopped at an inn at Poundsgate, paid with coins that turned to leaves, tethered his horse to a church pinnacle and carried the man off. Four aces from the gambler's hand are said to have fallen near Birch Tor.