The event:

'A Great Wonder in Heaven'

The location:

Edgehill, Warwickshire – January 1693

The legend:

Three months after the first major encounter in the Civil War at the Battle of Edgehill, the panphet entitled 'A Great Wonder in Heaven' described that around Christmas phantom armies re-enacted the battle in the skies.

It ended with the defeat of the Royalists. Several people of all classes gathered to watch the skies, and saw the same sights.

Reports of the affair having reached King Charles at Oxford, he sent six reliable officers to investigate; not only did they take sworn statements from witnesses, but they themselves saw the phantom armies, and recognised several people they knew who had died at Edgehill.