A Grim Almanac of Devon

A Grim Almanac of Devon is a day-by-day catalogue of 366 ghastly tales from around the county. Full of dreadful deeds, macabre deaths, strange occurrences and heinous homicides, this almanac explores the darker side of the county’s past.

Among Devon’s more macabre claims to fame are England’s first documented serial killer, Robert de Middlecote, the murderous monk believed to have been executed in 1329; the hanging of three women in Bideford in 1682, thought to be the last women put to death for witchcraft in the land; and conversely the saga of John ‘Babbacombe’ Lee, the convicted killer who in 1885 became the man they could not hang’. All these, plus tales of murder, suicide, accidents by land, sea and air, and much more, are here.