Martin Hughes, in ‘Strange Tales of Lincolnshire’, Lincolnshire Life (September 1968), tells the tale of a woman from the parish of Wildmore (the biggest settlement within which is New York), who had a snake inside her, and eventually died as a result. Attempts were made to lure it out by having her lean over a bowl of milk, with a noose close to her mouth for when the snake’s head emerged, but this serpent was too wily for that and would always slip the noose and retreat to safety.

This was a common attempted cure for tapeworm (which doesn’t work), so that is presumably what ailed the woman, assuming this has any historical provenance. Snakes are of course embodiments of evil in Christian culture, and it is easy to read this symbolism into this brief tale, which then implies she had Satan inside her.

Words by RORY WATERMAN