The grave is believed to contain the bones of an orphan called Kitty Jay (some reports name her as Mary Jay), who worked at Canna Farm near the village of Manaton. As a teenager, she was apparently raped by a young farmhand and became pregnant. Such was her shame that Kitty Jay hanged herself in a barn, or, according to a different version of the story, from the great kitchen fireplace lintel.
The three local parishes of Widecombe-in-the-Moor, North Bovey and Manaton all refused to bury her body within consecrated ground, so she was buried at a crossroads - a traditional practice for suicide victims at the time. This also happened to be the point at which the three parishes joined. Her remains were discovered in 1860, placed in a coffin and reburied.
There are always fresh flowers on the grave, the placement of which is the subject of local folklore - some claim they are placed there by pixies, but it is known that the author Beatrice Chase was one person who did this, before her death in 1955. Motorists, passing at night, claim to have glimpsed ghostly figures in their headlights, others report seeing a dark, hooded figure kneeling there.