In 1979 Theo Brown reported in Folklore a rather curious incident that had happened some six years previously to two of her acquaintances, a vicar and his wife, who had at that time been living in a village in Devonshire. Brown described the cleric as an Oxford graduate who ‘had worked most of his ministry in a suburban parish and knew nothing of country life’. His wife was ‘artistic, very well-meaning and nervous’. Eager to fulfil her role in the community the aforesaid wife had been active in the community but had unknowingly offended a portion of the village by stumbling into village politics. What followed had been rather odd. Some objects had been moved around in their garage but nothing had been taken, a dead cat had appeared in their garden and some silent phone calls had been received. When bonfire night came, however, they had determined to follow tradition and host the event at the vicarage: