DARTMOOR is rich with stories and customs, witchcraft and legends, piskies, hauntings, black dogs and the Devil. Next year, at the Museum of Dartmoor Life, it wants to tell these tales, look at why they exist and investigate their relevance today.

Who is still superstitious and why? What are Dartmoor folk’s beliefs today and why is there such a growing interest in the old gods. 

The Museum would love for the local Dartmoor community to be co-curators of its 2024 exhibition entitled "Magic and Myth".

Do you have any stories to tell, perhaps handed down through your family?

Have you ever been Pixie led or was your great, great, grandmother or grandfather a witch, charmer or healer? 

Maybe you have objects you would be happy to loan to them like spell bottles, chimney shoes, protective charms, grimoires, witch balls, gifts from the piskies etc, anything with a story attached.

Are you superstitious? Do you avoid walking under ladders, throw spilt salt over your shoulder or watch out for black cats? They would love to hear your family traditions.

Perhaps you are a farmer who still carries out some of the old traditions of the land to improve the harvest. Or are you a practising pagan who can let the Museum know what that means today?

Please contact Manager/Curator Kristy Turner by emailing: [email protected]  in complete confidence if you can support this exhibition in any way. They are as interested in what Magic and Myth means today as well as what it meant in the past.

Kristy said: "Together we can create a fabulous exhibition. Locals and our visitors are so interested in the ancient rituals of Dartmoor and the stories behind the many fabulous myths that exist such as Lady Howard’s Ghost and the Hairy Hands.

"Our farmers carried out many pagan traditions and still do today such as wassailing.

"Old Crockern assisted with the Right to Roam fight this year and we know Dartmoor had many wise women and cunning men in the past who helped their local communities.

"Today these folk would be called midwives or herbalists, but then they lived solitary lives, afraid of what may happen to them and yet they still followed their calling. I cannot wait to hear from people to share their stories of Magic and Myth on Dartmoor."