Cornish Characters and Strange Events

Cornish Characters and Strange Events is a book by Sabine Baring-Gould, first published in 1909. This evocative volume transports readers into the wild and often mysterious land of Cornwall — a place whose Celtic roots, rugged coastline, and mineral-rich underground mines shaped a cast of extraordinary people and unforgettable stories.

Through a tapestry of tales spanning folklore, local history, and vivid biographies, Baring-Gould portrays miners and seamen, daring smugglers and hardened sailors, scientists, inventors, eccentrics, and even outlaws — all cast against Cornwall’s distinctive social and geographic backdrop. The stories range from accounts of religious fervour in the mines to smuggling adventures on storm-lashed shores, from scholarly inventors to ghostly legends and strange events passed down through generations.

Rather than focusing on famous national figures, Baring-Gould deliberately shines a light on “lesser luminaries”: men and women whose names might otherwise have been lost to time, but whose lives illuminate the character of Cornwall itself. For anyone fascinated by Cornish folklore, local history, ghost stories or the social history of rural Britain — or those drawn to the atmospheric mix of myth and reality — this collection offers a compelling journey into Cornwall’s past and the strange characters who shaped it.