The Lincoln Imp: A Brief History

The Lincoln Imp is a curious goblin-like stone creature, that lives in the Lincoln cathedral, in England. The Lincoln Imp legend dates all the way back to the fourteenth-century. It is a part of English folklore, and Lincoln has adopted the Lincoln Imp as their mascot.

The story goes, that Satan had sent two imps to Earth, so the mischievous creatures could cause destruction. The imps had been travelling along Northern England, causing as much chaos, and damage as they could. When the two imps arrived at the Lincoln cathedral, they started to damage the building. The imps had started smashing tables, and chairs. They had even tripped up the Bishop.

An angel (which had emerged from a hymn book) became upset with the imps for all the destruction they caused, and it told the imps to stop. One of the imps was terrified of the angel, and it cowered under the large pile of broken furniture. The other one was belligerent, throwing rocks at the angel. The angel turned the belligerent imp into stone, but it let the other one run away.

The legend states that even when the weather is quiet, and calm, it is always windy around the cathedral (and that the wind is the escaped imp running around the building, trying to get their friend back).

One version of the legend, states that the imp that had managed to escape, had gone…