The Written Stone

DOESN'T QUITE FIT - A GENUINE DATED STONE, BUT THE MURDER IS FOLKLORE. Flagged via geograph.org.uk. This is a real, dated 17th-century stone (about ten feet long, fifteen inches deep) that gives its name to the surrounding farm and district, and is generally thought to have originally served as a boundary marker for Ralph Radcliffe. Local tradition separately holds that the spot was the scene of 'a cruel and barbarous murder', and that the stone was laid down specifically to appease the victim's restless spirit - with an old warning that ill fortune would befall anyone who tried to move it. No victim is named, no date is given for any killing, and no documentation beyond the oral tradition was found - the murder story reads as folklore attached after the fact to an already-existing boundary stone, rather than the stone having been raised to mark a killing.