The Ghost of Dr Frederick Barnes

High on Colyton Hillhead, where Devon’s winds sweep across golden fields and ancient whispers cling to the twilight, a solitary stone—once a tombstone—marks the haunt of Dr. Frederick Barnes, a spectral figure in an old-fashioned coat, eternally puffing his pipe as he gazes over the countryside he loved. Once Chaplain to the House of Commons and sub-Dean of Christchurch, Barnes claimed the slab for his seat in life, but death bound him to it, his ghost appearing at dusk to guard his stolen perch, a quiet sentinel whose tobacco-scented presence warns against disturbing his rest. In 1985, a curious historian named Edward Fallow sought to unravel the myth, only to face the Doctor’s chilling admonition, leaving the stone untouched and the spirit’s vigil unbroken, a testament to a love for the land laced with a guilt that lingers in the Devon night.