September 7, 2021 10.47 am This story is over 30 months old

New book explores the paranormal history of Lincolnshire

A dive into the supernatural past of Lincolnshire
Lincoln Cathedral bathed in red lighting.
By Local Democracy Reporter

A new book which looks at well-known paranormal and other-worldly stories across Lincolnshire, including Satan’s alleged hatred of Lincoln Cathedral, will be published this month.

Paranormal Lincolnshire, written by Daniel J. Codd, looks deeper into stories of the supernatural in the county, from phantom war soldiers in Lincoln to a smoky cross that appears outside Scunthorpe hospital when someone is about to die.

It will be published on September 15, costing £15.99, and will be available in book stores as well as in Kindle, Kobo and iBook formats.

The book looks at the four corners of Lincolnshire and the many tales of paranormal sightings, plus fabled legends of The Lincoln Imp which can be found at the cathedral.

The original Lincoln Imp.

The following is an extract from the book, discussing the various tales of Lincoln Cathedral and the Lincoln Imp:

“Lincoln’s most famous legend is, of course, that of the Lincoln Imp. This grotesque little specimen, late thirteenth century in origin, with its broad grin, horns, hairy body and cloven hoofs, sits cross-legged high up on a pier in the Angel Choir.

“This writer has learned via witnesses of what may be a developing tradition within Lincoln Cathedral. Two visitors have independently explained to me that while they were taking photos using their mobile phones, a small blurry grey ‘thing’ flitted in front of them which, when they tried to spot it with the naked eye, couldn’t be located.

“Both witnesses have speculated, half-seriously, that this was the ‘Lincoln Imp’, the prism of their mobile phone camera somehow allowing them to see it moving about. In one instance the sighting was made while standing looking at Bishop Grosseteste’s tomb in the south-east transept.

“One of the witnesses even told me he saw the roped-off barriers in the nave thrown over ‘on their own’ during choir practice early one evening, shortly after seeing the flying ‘creature’.

“Presumably, bats or pigeons are responsible for the sightings of this ‘imp’, blurred observation via phone cameras, rather than the naked eye, allowing each witness to interpret their sighting as something ‘inexplicable’.

“Returning to the Devil, for centuries there has been a saying, ‘He looks as the Devil did over Lincoln,’ taken to be a reference to Satan’s outrage at the building of the cathedral.

“In the 1950s, the present writer’s grandfather would tell his children that the Devil ended up tricked and imprisoned in the conical chapter house St Anne Well building on the cathedral’s eastern side.

“If one were to run round it seven times, and peer through one of the six holes, the Devil’s red eyes would be seen glaring back at you.”

To order a copy of Paranormal Lincolnshire by Daniel J. Codd, visit the Waterstones website.