Brown Willy is said to be one of "the UK's best-loved high points". The hill features in an annual race held on New Year's Day that starts and finishes at Jamaica Inn, an old coaching inn made famous by Daphne du Maurier's 1936 novel of the same name. The hill is regarded as a sacred mountain by members of the Aetherius Society, a UFO religion founded in 1954 by George King. They believe that Brown Willy was charged with "holy energy" on 23 November, which they celebrate each year as "Charging Day", and gather at the hill on that day each year
Jamaica Inn television adaptation in 2014 starring Jessica Brown Findlay directed by Philippa Lowthorpe. In addition to its use in literature, and film, the hotel is referenced in "Jamaica Inn", a song written by Tori Amos on her album "The Beekeeper", written while she was travelling by car along the road of the Cornwall cliffs, and inspired by the legend she had heard of the inn. The inn became a Grade II listed building in 1988. The hill named "Tuber" or "Two Barrows", , is close-by. Jamaica Inn is on Bodmin Moor, near Bolventor. Brown Willy is situated to the north, while