Trail Off Tuesdays: The Haunting of Kitty Jay

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The mist-shrouded moors of Dartmoor harbor countless secrets, but few as poignant as the lonely grave at a windswept crossroads. Here lies Kitty Jay, a young woman whose tragic story bridges centuries and continues to haunt those who encounter it.


The legend has grown darker with reports of strange phenomena and several unsolved murders near the grave site. Shadowy figures glimpsed in the mist, ancient symbols found etched near victims, and the persistent feeling of sorrow that envelops visitors have transformed Kitty's resting place into something beyond a simple memorial. But should we associate her memory with these disturbing events? Or is she simply a victim twice over – first of society's cruelty and now of fearful superstition?

Today, Kitty's grave has become a place of pilgrimage and reflection. Visitors leave tokens of respect, and local children learn her story not as a ghost tale but as a lesson about compassion. Join us as we separate fact from folklore and explore how a young woman buried to be forgotten has instead achieved a kind of immortality in our collective memory. Listen now to discover why, after two centuries, we still speak her name.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
In today's episode we're heading to 1800s England,
onto the lonely, windswept moorsof Dartmoor, where mist clings
to the hills and shadows movewith the fog.
There lies a solitary grave, aplace locals still speak of in

(00:35):
harsh tones.
This is the resting place of ayoung woman whose sorrow, they
say, lingers to this day, awoman whose sorrow, they say,
lingers to this day.
This is the story of Kitty J, atale of love, loss and a spirit

(00:59):
that refuses to be forgotten.
Our story starts in NewtonAbbot, devon.
Kitty, sometimes referred to asMary Jane, was believed to be
an orphan.
In her early years she lived inthe local poorhouses,

(01:22):
institutions set up for thedestitute.
These were green places markedby hard labour and strict
discipline, where children wereoften separated from their
families.
For a young girl like Kitty,life would have been harsh and

(01:42):
lonely.
Life would have been harsh andlonely.
As she grew older, kitty leftthe poorhouse and sought work on
the surrounding farms ofDartmoor.
She eventually found employmentas a servant girl on such farm.
That's where the story takes adarker turn, as Kitty is

(02:05):
believed to have fallen in loveor perhaps was coerced into a
relationship with the farmer'sson when she became pregnant.
Everything changed In VictorianEngland, being an unwed mother
was considered shameful.

(02:26):
Society was quick to castjudgment, especially on women,
and Kitty, once a servant girlwith few rights to begin with,
now found herself completelyostracized, alone, heartbroken
and with no one to turn to.

(02:47):
She died by suicide.
According to the story, shehanged herself in the barn.
After her death, kitty wasgiven a proper burial.

(03:14):
Instead, her body was taken toa lonely crossroads on Dartmoor
and buried without a ceremony,not in a churchyard, just
beneath the dirt and gravelwhere two roads meet.
Why crossroads, you mightwonder.
Well, in Christian tradition ofthe time, suicide was viewed as

(03:37):
both a sin and a crime.
Those who died by suicide weredenied burial in consecrated
grounds.
Crossroads burials were meantto confuse the spirit, to trap
it, so it couldn't return totrouble the living.
It was also a form of publicshaming, punishment even in

(04:01):
death.
These crossroads were oftenplaces of execution or isolation
, far from town centres andalmost always forgotten.
But Kitty J's grave was neverquite forgotten.
For more than a century, freshflowers have appeared regularly

(04:24):
on the mound.
No one knows who places them.
There have been no publicrecords, no witnesses, just the
silent offering of flowers.
Day after day, it has becomepart of a legend, the idea that
someone or something stillhonors her.

(04:46):
Some locals believe it's thework of a benevolent spirit.
Others say it's a localtradition that simply carried on
anonymously.
The writer and poet JoanScalsworthy even wrote about her
grave, describing thepersistent presence of fresh
flowers and the weight of sorrowin the air around the site.

(05:11):
But her story doesn't end inthe 1800s.
Over the years, strange reportsbegan to emerge.
There were claims of unusualoccurrences or strange sightings
and even violent crimeshappening near her grave.

(05:32):
Several unsolved murders havetaken place near the site since
the late 19th century.
Victims were found with strangesymbols etched into the ground
nearby Marks resembling Celticprotection symbols.
The most famous of these caseswas a hiker found in the early

(05:56):
2000s.
Was a hiker found in the early2000s lying next to Kitty J's
grave with her eyes open, fixedon the gravestone?
The symbols near her bodymatched ancient warding signs,
suggesting either someone wastrying to protect themselves or

(06:17):
to trap something.
Locals tell of shadowy figureswandering in the moor at night.
Some say it's a woman in aperiod dress.
Others describe an almostformless shape heavy with grief.
Whatever it is, it adds to thelegend and it fuels the

(06:41):
speculation that Kitty's spiritis not at rest.
Of course, not everyonebelieves these stories.
Many historians and localskeptics caution against drawing
connections between folkloreand crime.
Against drawing connectionsbetween folklore and crime.

(07:03):
The moors are vast and isolated, perfect for anyone trying to
leave no trace.
The symbols, they argue, couldbe the work of someone familiar
with Dartmoor legends, maybeeven someone using them
deliberately to mislead.
As we know, copycats andcriminals often piggyback on
legends to blur their motives,and when a place like Kitty J's

(07:31):
grave gains a reputation, itbecomes ripe for obsession.
But should her name be linkedto these horrors?
I don't think so.
Kitty J was a victim, a victimof society, of shame and of
abandonment.
Her story is not one ofvengeance or haunting but of a

(07:56):
heartbreak.
If there is a spirit on themoor, perhaps it's not one of
violence but one calling out tobe remembered with dignity.

(08:18):
Today, kitty J's grave is one ofDartmoor's most visited and
respected sites.
It sits near Hound Tor, acraggy rock formation also
wrapped in legends.
Visitors lift coins, flowersand trinkets.
These are silent tokens ofrespect.
Local schoolchildren oftenlearn her story.

(08:41):
Hikers who pass by speak ofstrange stillness in the air.
Some even claim they hearwhispers.
Others feel nothing but sadness.
So that's the tale of KittyJane, an orphan servant, a
mother and a legend.
Her life ended in sorrow, buther memory lives in, through

(09:06):
whispers on the wind, flowers onher grave and the stories we
continue to tell.
Thanks for walking down thistrail with us today.
Thank you, you.