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Sam’l’s Ghost
A young man called Samuel has burned to death, but his spirit rises, and hears a voice tell him to enter the earth, so a big worm can eat him and he can rest in peace. He does so, somehow, and finds himself in a stinking hole where a great worm is coiled on a…
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Coat o’ Clay
A lad goes to see a wise woman to get advice: his folks say he is a fool, and he wants to be wise, so he asks her what he should do. She tells him he will be a fool all his days until he finds a coat of clay…
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The Shepherd of Wansford Bridge
According to the tale, a local magician warns Barnaby, a shepherd who treats him kindly, that a flood is imminent, and that he should take his best sheep to the top of the church tower. He does so, and tolls the bell, which saves some of the villagers
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The Excise Officer
During late-nineteenth-century renovations, a male skeleton was discovered bricked into a cavity, alongside buttons bearing the Royal Insignia (or, according to some reports, wearing a full excise officer’s uniform). This has led to tales presupposing his (probable) grizzly demise, and reports of ghostly happenings.
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In My Pocket
A dim-witted giant and his clever, goodly dwarf friend go wandering, the dwarf in his friend’s pocket, and come across a field of sheep. Being hungry, they decide to eat some of them…
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The Lass that Saw her own Grave Dug
A lad called Fox courts a girl called Bessie, with sudden and apparently huge devotion, and arranges to meet her in the country by a tree. The night before they are to meet, Bessie has a strange premonitory dream, so she decides to get to the tree early and see what he is up to.
Lincolnshire Folk Tales Project 