From the great city of Bath to the beautiful Cotswold villages of Castle Combe, Bibury and Chipping Campden, join us for a tour of ghosts, ghouls, murder and poisoning in the darker depths of the Cotswolds.
Also featuring a reading of Ancient Lights by Algernon Blackwood and the Room in the Tower by E.F. Benson, celebrate Halloween with us and escape into the twilight of days gone by.
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I’m Robin Shakra welcoming you to the cotwell Explorer Halloween live stream 20123 we’re starting this evening with haunted stories from the cotwell a couple of these you might have seen before but many of them you won’t and we start with one that has to do with my family slightly outside the godwell themselves We’ve been to many places in the past from the sprawling settlements of chelam bler and sancest to the picture postcard locations of stone on the world berford and Broadway we’ve discovered ghost stories of all kinds from Phantom boats and flying monks to demonic chariots and moving Stones this evening we’ll be taking you
On another tour with even more spine Chilling Tales from the heights of EDG Hill at the northern tip of the region right down to the city of bath at the Southern frontier of the kotwal ridge come with me if you Dare now some of you watching may be concerned that this is simply a repeat of the Haunted program we uploaded earlier in October but I can reassure assure you that on this live stream we are throwing in several new stories along the way we couldn’t resist including this
Little tale it appears there is a ghost involving my own family even if it does take us slightly outside the cotwell one of my ancestors was knighted by King Charles I before the Battle of Edge Hill and his home called Shakur is less than 20 mi north of EDG Hill in warshire
At Shakra possibly in the 18th century suely Shakra Bart deemed a certain leftenant sharp not worthy of cting his daughter we are told that this pushed sharp over the edge and that he shot chakra’s daughter before turning the gun on himself ever since ghostly figures have been reported wandering the corridors of
What is now called Shak brro Hall and it’s difficult to pinpoint their identity so it’s unclear whether it is sharp the Shakra daughter or both whether this horror actually took place in my family’s history I’m not sure it’s certainly the first time I’ve heard the Tale But congratulations to Ross for
Discovering it it’s certainly spooky I do remember when staying at Shak BR a small child finding the place more than a little scary very dark cold rooms and lots of UN explained noises in my bedroom there was a tapestry on the wall and I noticed the skeletal head of a blackbird poking out
From the material it had obviously got trapped somehow behind the tapestry and died trying to escape no one it seems thought it worth bothering to remove the corpse I wonder if it’s changed much since then probably not perhaps we should go and see one day we start this evening in a small village
Of Edge Hill at the very Northern tip of the gowells this place is highly significant because just behind me is the field of the first pitched Battle of the English Civil War on the 23rd of October 1642 as King Charles I marched with his army towards London with the intention of taking and
Occupying the capital Essex in command of the Parliamentary Army moved to intercept him it was obvious that a confrontation was inevitable and the two armies neither of them very experienced formed their lines against one another and prepared for battle after a brief exchange of artillery fire noisy but fairly ineffectual B battle was
Joined Prince rert the king’s nephew and in command of the Cavalry successfully drove the opposing Horsemen from the battlefield unfortunately he then allowed his soldiers to loot and plunder the parliamentarian baggage train in kinon rather than rejoin the battle the king for some while without his Cavalry lost his advantage and
Despite the eventual return of Rupert’s Horseman the B attle ended without a decisive result the following day the exhausted armies retreated the king to Oxford and the parliamentarians to London to fortify the city against any further attack it wasn’t until some months later that the events of EDG Hill returned
Literally to haunt The King The Story Goes that he’d heard rumors of terrible apparitions in the sky so convincing were these stories that he commissioned a report when it came this is what it said on Saturday which was in Christmas time between 12: and 1 the in the
Morning was heard by some Shepherds first the sound of drums a far off and the noise of soldiers giving out their last groans at which they were much amazed and amazed Stood Still until it seemed the noise did approach them closely at which point too much AF frighted they
Sought to withd draw as fast as possibly they could then the most incredible Vision filled the sky strange and portentious apparitions of two jarring and contrary armies the same incorporeal soldiers that had made those clamors the clattering of arms noise of cannons Enon display drums beating muskets going off
Cannons discharged horses nighing cries of soldiers and the two armies pmell to it they went so amazing and terrifying the poor men that they could not believe they were mortal or give credit to their eyes and ears run away they DST not for fear of being made a prey to these infernal
Soldiers but and so they with much fear and aright stayed to behold the success of the business the following night all the substantial inhabitants of that and the neighboring parishes Drew hither where about half an hour after their arrival on Sunday being Christmas night appeared in the same tumultuous
Warlike manner the same two adverse armies fighting with as much Spite and spleen as for formerly and so Departed the gentlemen and all the spectators much terrified with these visions of horror withdrew themselves to their houses beseeching God to defend them from these Anish and prodigious enemies King Charles’s Commissioners
That have been dispatched directly to kerton to report on these stories actually witnessed the phenomenon for themselves they went as far as to say they recognized officers partaking in the battle men they knew to have been killed there they concluded that these strange events were the result of God’s anger at
The Dreadful situation the country found itself in the locals believed it was because so many of the dead bodies after the battle had not been buried so they took it upon themselves to give each and every corpse a proper burial not long after this the extraordinary aerial haunting came to an
End and the peaceful lives of the residents of the nearby Villages returned to normal some claim however that each year on the night of the 23rd of October you can still see a faint ghostly reenactment of the first terrible Battle of the English Civil War as we travel down to chipping Norton a
Quick detour towards Shipton OnStar reveals a ghost that’s been seen crossing the b 4086 in front of heavy traffic before disappearing through a brick wall it’s thought this might be the ghost of a farmer who was killed in an accident on this spot many years before unfortunately the details of the
Accident are pretty vague we come across a similar story in Hook Norton not far away where the ghost of a man standing in the milcomm road has been spotted One driver reported seeing the figure slamming his brakes on anticipating the inevitable thud only to look up and find that the man had
Completely disappeared there was once a local man of hook Norton who was known to walk to bloxom and back every day could it have been his Spirit retracing his steps at the salfords and Lincoln Inn in the village a ghostly figure has been spotted it was seen by a previous owner
Walking across the bedroom to a cot where it bent down as if inspecting the sleeping child and leaving the room as quickly as it had appeared the Inn backs onto a graveyard and in the garden the owner described a cold forboding atmosphere that would discourage him and his dog from venturing out
There we head south now to chipping nor to the Church of St Mary the Virgin this lovely old building originates largely from the 12th century but our ghost story seems to have happened in the year 1549 the country was suffering an economic decline at the hands of Edward
V 6’s Lord protector Edward Seymour which prompted a reaction from the people referred to later as the Oxfordshire Rising legislation leading to the enclosure of public land and amendments to the Anglican Church by the introduction of the new book of common prayer fanned the flames and before long a rebellion was gathering
Momentum the vicer of St Mary’s chipping Norton Henry Joy joined the rising apparently because the chantries ACT had left him more than 800 parishioners to minister for entirely on on his own in mid July a mercenary force of German and swiss soldiers under the command of William Gray 13th Baron gray
De Wilton were dispatched to extinguish this resistance the mob was dispersed at enow Hill around 200 people were taken prisoner including the ring leaders one of whom was Henry Joy it was decided to make an example of these ring leaders and they were returned to their respective towns to be
Executed publicly on Market Day their heads were to be set at the highest point available for the more terror of the said evil people and so Henry Joy was strung in Chains from the church Tower in chipping Norton a deterrent to the other Rebels Joy’s ghost has been witnessed
Many times haunting the sight of his execution we are now on our way to Woodstock and along the way we pass Liam longbarrow from where we hear a truly peculiar Story one pitch dark night a man was walking home from chipping Norton to berford as he was passing the long
Barrow he felt rather than saw another man come up alongside him they walked and talked together covering some distance until they passed a cottage where a woman stood outside carrying a lantern grabbing the opportunity to see his traveling companion in the light our hero glanced round only to find to his
Astonishment that his fellow Walker was carrying his own head under his arm as soon as the Headless figure realized he’d been spotted he vanished Into Thin Air let’s now take a brief detour down padot Lane here a legend tells of an old lady known by all as Gran who was believed to
Live in a cave cave at the nearby Quarry despite her humble and unorthodox accommodation it was said she possessed a horde of gold sovereigns buried somewhere in the Quarry a ghostly figure has been spotted many times at the road Junction now known as the white lady she
Is believed to be Gran searching for her stash of gold we now visit in Woodstock the bare hotel by me in the Town Center started as a 13th century coaching in so it’s no surprise that the building has some haunting stories room 16 in particular has been associated with Supernatural
Manifestations one story recounts how a noble woman pregnant with an illegitimate child was traveling to Scotland where her giving birth could be kept a secret and the child could be adopted unfortunately having stopped at the Bear in and whilst staying in room 16 she gave birth prematurely and the child was tragically
Lost future guests in the room report hearing the sound of a crying baby despite no baby staying anywhere in the hotel a phantom lady has also been spotted drifting down on the hotel’s corridors as if searching for her crying child however in the 16th century a woman was strangled in the hotel and
Some think that the ghost could be this unfortunate woman otherwise ghostly footsteps have been heard and some say with absolute conviction that the hotel is haunted by the ghost of a Workman who fell from the roof and Di died over three centuries ago on the edge of the village stands
The huge and grandiose Palace of blim built for John Churchill Duke of mbra over many years from 175 in the center of a Royal Manor and park given to mbra as a reward for his victory over the French at the Battle of blenin there was a fine old house on the
Estate before the palace was built in which in the mid 17th century Poltergeist activity was extremely disruptive during the English Civil War in 1649 it was captured by The parliamentarians Who knowing how much it was valued by the King as a hunting estate wasted no time in converting
Charles’s bedroom into a kitchen and the royalist council rooms into a brewery but it was after they cut down an old tree known as The King’s Oak that the onslaught of pist activity began on a dark night in 1649 an unidentifiable animal was spotted entering the manor and shortly
Afterwards firewood cut from The King’s Oak was found all over the house over the next three weeks Furniture was overturned beds were Disturbed candles were blown out and objects were hurled about the place in a flurry of activity this culminated in the shaking of walls and the Smashing of Windows as
Well as loud dismal thunderings echoing around the manor the occupying parliamentarians were so terrified by all of this that they fled the Mana for more peaceful lodging in the town whether it was really a ghost or perhaps the pranks and harassment of locals loyal to the king we’ll never be quite
Sure we turn west now taking the road between charlbury and finstock this route is said to be haunted by a phantom coach and for usually only the sounds of horses hooves and clattering Wheels can be heard roughly following the route of the b422 it sometimes deviates from the road
Probably because modern alterations have changed the road’s course over the years on one occasion a party from charlbury attempting to get to the bottom of this phenomenon decided to block the ghostly coach by barricading the road they waited for some time before the unmistakable cacophony of the coach approach Ed but they saw
Nothing to their astonishment they heard the coach stop abruptly pause briefly as if in consideration and then they heard the sound of it turning around and setting off back for charb triumphant that their experiment had worked the party removed the barricade but their satisfaction was shortlived for as they were packing away
The Last Remnant of the barricade the unmistakable sound of the coach came clattering back down the road passed by them and carried on towards finstock another account tells of a mother and son out walking when they heard the infamous sound approach they paused to let the Phantom pass but to
The mother’s surprise the sound of the coach slowed and stopped her son pointed in the direction of the noises and said that lady in the carriage wants me to go over to her the mother could only see her son pointing Into Thin Air but she was able
To hear the sound of hols stamping on the road the boy entirely unfazed started towards the coach but his mother grabbed his hand before he could walk into the road shortly afterwards she heard the sound of the coach pulling away and receding into the distance across the river even
Load the child was able to give a surprisingly detailed description of what he’ witnessed there was a green Carriage driven by two men in hats and a woman inside with a black jacket white blouse and a hat with feathers in it she looked upset as if she’d been
Crying and had beckoned the boy into the coach her expression of become angry when the boy’s mother stopped him from going to her what one wonders would have happened if the boy had not been stopped by his mother it seems the roads around finstock have a large number of supernatural
Phenomena if we were to follow the Phantom coach further down the road we find local reports of a ghostly white stallion riding towards Ramden is it possible that this this is connected in some way to the story just a few miles back not far away another Phantom horse
And carriage has been seen in wilcut if it’s the same haunting then it could be attributed to Sir William and lady wilart who owned the manor at wilett in the 14th century like Lord and Lady tanfield in berford they were at odds with the locals during their lives and have
Featured in various haunting stories after their deaths they’ve been seen riding up and down the Avenue in front of wilker house in a coach and four on some occasions it’s been spotted flying through the sky above wilker and over their graves at North Lee we covered this story in slightly
More detail in our ghostly Trails of Oxford CH series over on our sister Channel but for now we’re sticking more strictly to the gowells moving West we take the A40 trunk road towards berford before this du carriageway was built the main road between Whitney and berford was the
B447 it’s along this stretch of road near Asel that a ghostly Highwayman has been spotted nicknamed black stockings by the locals he’s been seen on both horseback and on foot and one Theory suggests he is one of the Tom Dick and Harry D un and Brothers infamous Highwaymen well
Known for targeting berford in their notorious robberies the beautiful Village of Asel has a particularly strange story involving the ghost of a hitchhiker two separate accounts detailed two people that met a gypsy likee girl on the road near astal Manor on a dark October evening a driver passing through the village spotted a
Girl with dark shoulder length hair olive skin and a gypsy-like appearance who flagged him down climbed into the passenger seat and sat in Silence the driver told of how the girl was soaked through and when he asked her if she was all right she replied it’s too late he’s gone before Vanishing
Before the driver’s eyes on the second occasion on an afternoon in March when a young mother was on her way to collect her son from school she saw a young girl trying to flag her down she stopped and let her in as the young drenched girl climbed in
She said you got my message then the driver asked what the girl meant and she answered the water the river he’s gone and again vanished no one seems to have found any explanation for these peculiar encounters nobody has managed to connect the phenomena to any real world events the girl’s soaked condition and
Her mention of the river could indicate some tragedy at the nearby River Wind rush but there is no further information to go on continuing on fortunately with no Phantom hitchhiker in tow we passed through swinbrook the bridge that crosses the river wind Rush here is said to be
Haunted by the ghost of a woman in 15th century clothes carrying a bundle she looks frail and distressed as she crosses the bridge pausing in the middle before Vanishing Into Thin Air now we will revisit berford those of you who watched our first ever Halloween special may
Remember we told you the famous ghost story of the tanfield family many years ago a reverend George W Underwood had just moved in to begin his tenure at the beautiful Church of St John the Baptist his wife was upstairs one day in the rectory when a visitor
Arrived the guest was shown into the drawing room by a servant who then went upstairs to inform Mrs Underwood that she had a guest when she came downstairs the drawing room was empty she looked around the rest of the house and garden and found nothing the visitor had vanished Mrs Underwood servant described
The woman as wearing a brown dress with a peculiar somewhat forbidding face Friends of the Underwoods after hearing this description realized that it matched the description of a Mrs Thorp the wife of a previous Vicor Reverend John Thorp Mrs Underwood’s mind was confused at least was put at rest until it was
Explained that Mrs Thorp was not only long dead but that she had a Sinister reputation it seems some children under her care had gone missing in extremely mysterious circumstances could the ghost of Mrs Thor have returned to the scene of her crimes the former George Inn now an
Antique shop is also said to be haunted by the trio of high women we met earlier Tom Dick and Harry Dunston it was here they would often meet to plan their crimes of highway robbery and burglary dick went missing and was never seen again after a bungled robbery after
Which Tom and Harry were forced to amputate his arm he was assumed to be dead these latter two brothers were caught sent for trial and executed in Gloucester before their bodies were transported back to oxyer to be displayed as a deterrent for other footpaths on the journey the man
Transporting the bodies stopped at the George in for a drink is it possible he knew this was their favorite drinking spot we’ll probably never know but strange noises have been heard in the passages of the building and dogs are said to growl as if watching someone or
Something that is invisible to the human eye just before we start our journey South we’ll move Northwest a little to a famous Village on the false way it is perhaps the most famous tourist destination in the entire cwell Borton on the water here we have just two brief ghost
Stories the first is from the 1990s where three men were driving into the village just as dusk was falling they noticed in the rearview mirror a motorbike and side car driving close behind them it followed them for some distance and as they approached the village and the sun sunk below the
Horizon the bike mysteriously vanished Into Thin Air the second slightly more amusing tale is that of a practical joking ghostly brick in one of Bon’s many lovely tea houses people have reported stubbing their toe and tripping over something that feels like a brick protruding from the ground only to look down and find
Nothing there there are other more Sinister Tales of murder and Witchcraft in this Village but we’ll save those for another time we’re moving south now passing through North leech where the whe Chief Inn is said to be haunted by a ghostly child guests have reported hearing footsteps rushing around in the dead of
Night and lights coming on despite no one being around to flip the switch we’re on our way to the world famous tourist destination of B described by William Morris as the most beautiful Village in England even the most beautiful of places can be home to a ghost story or
Two Legend has it that many years ago a wealthy man moved to bbery to take stewardship of the mill but as a recent Widow with three grown-up Sons he was on the lookout for a new wife and found one in a young lady called Mary who was reluctant to marry
Him but it was difficult for her to refuse the wealth or the position the marriage would give her in the village so they settled in to married life in bbery he was a busy man and often away on business leaving home for long periods of time
But when he came home one evening he discovered to his horror his eldest son in bed with his wife Mary in a fit of rage he threw his son into the Mill Pond where he drowned and then he locked Mary out of the house to teach her a strong
Lesson the following morning when he went in search of his wife he found her frozen to death at the side of the pool it is said that every now and again on cold wintry Mornings in viy Mary still haunts The Village Lanes there are rumors of other ghosts
Here too a spectral cat in the Swan Hotel and Phantom faces pressing at the windows of the mill observed from the street in the dead of night if you’re enjoying our videos be sure to subscribe to the channel and follow us on Instagram at the cotsworld Explorer for behind the scenes
Access you can find many more ghost stories read by Me by following the link in the description and if you simply can’t get enough of our Halloween specials our sister channel has you covered head over to horrific tales and ghostly Trails where a whole team of us are embarking on the telling of
Supernatural stories a across the country we move Southwest now down to wooden under Edge where the ram in is widely regarded as one of the most infamously haunted buildings in the entire country built on the site of a pagan burial ground from over 5,000 years ago
One of the earliest Legends of the ram stems from a story that a witch was burned at the stake here in the 1500s she was sentenced to death for not practicing Christianity and one of the rooms in the Inn is known as The Witch’s room ever since her troubled Spirit has haunted the
Building Poltergeist activity has been reported here including shaking beds and tables and chairs flinging themselves across the room apparitions of monks a Cavalier a beautiful young woman and even a cat of have been witnessed amongst the twisting corridors and oppressive atmosphere of this ancient building but why have so many specters been spotted
Here one explanation suggests that the redirection of a natural water supply to the ancient ram opened up a portal of dark energy John Humphries the previous owner during the 20th century attested to this claiming that he’d been grabbed and dragged across the room by some kind of demonic
Force he later found skeletal remains of Children Under the Staircase with broken daggers lying within the bones evidence perhaps of devil worship and ritual sacrifice we’re moving south now to the picture postcard Village of Castle Kum this Village is a famous Center of cotwell Tourism and has some ghostly goings on
In the graveyard of St Andrews The Apparition of a young pale girl has been seen wandering solemnly around the gravestones a ghostly Miller has also been spotted hurrying across the Brook at the bottom of the village towards the Miller’s Cottages covered in white flower but it is up in parsonage woods
That the most frequently related haunting could be found people have reported voices accompanying them as they Trek up to the Woodland after dark stopping as soon as you pause or look behind you many have heard moans coming from amongst the trees which stops abruptly after a monstrous scream pierces the
Night some have suggested it is the recreation of a battle between Saxons and Vikings taking place here but there is no historical record of back this up others have said the noises can be attributed to ancient Pagan ceremonies and devil worship and another theory points to the
Romans before the castle was built after which The Village Castle Kum was named a Roman villa stood nearby when you visited this fifth century Villa as you walk down through parsonage Woods back into the village you may bump into The Village’s most famous ghost a Roman Centurion standing
Guard over a bridge across the brook apparently left behind after the great legion of Rome left the country a place as beautiful as this easily fires up the imagination and one could easily see how paranormal stories have taken hold here with the Roman Centurion on our mind we journey now to
The Final Destination in tonight’s ghostly Trail at the southern tip of the cwell ridge the city of B in the 18th century it saw a careful expansion that saw buildings in a neoclassical style harmoniously in keeping with the Roman vernacular two such buildings are the Garrick’s head and the theater Royal
Which are to be our first destination here one ghost takes the form of a spectral butterfly which reportedly flits around the theater every Christmas morning another is the gray lady a ter well used to hearing when listening to stories of female ghosts it is said that this gray lady
Was a young actress who despite being married had an affair with a handsome leading man Furious upon discovering her infidelity her husband challenged the leading man to a pistol duel to the young lady’s horror after blinding flashes and the thunderous sound of pistol shots her young actor lover lay dead at her
Feet totally distraught she fled to the Garrick’s head where well reports vary but she either flung herself from one of the top floor windows or hanged herself depending on whom you believe the most notable clue that connects this young actress to the spectral gray lady is The Feathered wrap
She wore during her final performance before ending her life those who have encountered the ghost have said that the delicate scent of Jasmine wafts from her and they do tell that if you look closely you can make out the feathered wrap against her Shady figure another chilling Apparition was
Experienced many years ago by by a theater employee as he was locking up for the night and walking down the corridor that led to the Stalls a poster for a play that one of his friends had starred in caught his eye pausing to check the billing and the
Name he became aware of a presence behind him as a prickling sensation and swept across his back pausing to check the billing and the name he became aware of a presence behind him as a prickling sensation swept across his back on turning around to confront whatever this was he was confronted by a
Demonic face at top a dark figure evidently formed of billowing black smoke swirling around as if trying to solidify into something less spectral the man immediately ran to find a colleague who suggested it was just an hallucination perhaps as a result of a few too many beers a short time later however this
Same colleague was in the same Corridor when he experienced exactly the same Apparition what could it have been we find another haunted hostelry in the Royal Crescent built in the late 1700s and a truly remarkable piece of Georgian architecture the Crescent is a grade one listed building and it’s not really
Surprising that it has a resident ghost several people have witnessed a phantom horse drawn carriage pulling up majestically outside as if to collect or receive an important guest from inside others have heard a lady singing from a far off room on Bennett street one of the most
Famous sightings is that of a man in the Hat this curious figure is thought to be Admiral Arthur Phillip a royal Navy officer who died in 1814 at his home at number 19 a lady who lived there more recently said she frequently saw his ghost and her maid one day rushed to her
Exclaiming that she’d seen a very extravagantly Dressed Man on the stairs the lady then pointed at the mantlepiece where a small painting of The Arrow hung wearing the same clothes the servant girl had described on one occasion he was seen sitting in front of the fire and when spoken to faded away to
Nothing he’s been seen outside too said to appear as a slightly hunched figure wearing a black robe and large black hat wandering with a rocking sailor’s gate around the assembly rooms not far from his home there are many other ghost stories to tell in Bath’s surrounding towns and
Villages and we will return another time but meanwhile come and see for yourselves here ends tonight’s ghostly Trail of the Cotswolds if you’ve only just discovered us and enjoyed tonight’s tour there are two more Halloween episodes in the channel for you to enjoy and be sure to press the Subscribe button and the
Little bell icon so we can keep you informed of all future videos you can find everything else we do by visiting our website the cotsworld explorer. co.uk and if you want to be kept up to date you can find us on Facebook and Instagram at the cwal Explorer a whole team of presenters
Including me can be found covering Supernatural stories beyond the cotswalds on our sister Channel horrific tales and ghostly trails so over there if you’ve enjoyed this video Happy Halloween and we’ll see you again somewhere in the cells very Soon I hope you enjoyed our little ghost stories read you another story it’s called ancient Lights by algenon Blackwood ancient Lights by alganon Blackwood from southwater where he left the Train the road LED Due West that he knew for the rest he trusted to luck being one of those born Walkers who
Dislike asking the way he had that instinct and as a rule it served him well a mile or so Due West along the Sandy Road till you come to a style on the right then across the fields you’ll see the Red House straight before you he glanced at the postcards
Instructions once again and once again he tried to decipher the scratched out sentence without success it had been so elaborately Inked over over that no word was legible Inked out sentences in a letter were always enticing he wondered what it was that had to be so very carefully obliterated the afternoon was boisterous
With a tearing shouting wind that blew from the sea across the Sussex wield massive clouds with rounded piled up edges tanned across the gaping spaces of blue sky far away the line of downs swept the Horizon like an arriving wave shankton brury ring rode their Crest a scudding ship how down before the
Wind he took his hat off and walked rapidly breathing great drafts of air with delight and exhilaration the road was deserted no Horsemen bicycles or Motors not even a tradesman’s cart no single Walker but anyhow he would never have asked the way keeping a sharp eye for the style he
Pounded along while the wind tossed the cloak against his face and made waves across the blue puddles and the yellow Road the trees showed their underleaves of white the Bracken and the the High new grass bent all one way great life was in the day High Spirits and dancing everywhere and for a
Cen surve’s Clark just out of an office this was like a holiday at the scene it was a day for high adventure and his heart rose up to meet the mood of nature his umbrella with the silver ring ought to have been a sword and his brown shoes should have been top boots
With Spurs upon the heels where hid the Enchanted Castle and the princess with the hair of Sunny gold his horse the style came suddenly into view and nipped adventure in the mud everyday clothes took him prisoner again he was a surveyor’s clerk middle-aged earning three pound a week
Coming from cuden to see about a client’s proposed alterations in a wood something to ensure a better view from the dining room window across the fields perhaps a mile away he saw the Red House gleaming in the sunshine and resting on the style a moment to get his breath he noticed a
Cops of Oak and hornbeam on the right aha he told himself so that must be the wood he wants to cut down to improve the view I’ll have a look at it there were WS up of course but there was an inviting little path as well I’m
Not a trespasser he said it’s part of my business this is he scrambled awkwardly over the gate and entered the cops a little round would bring him to the field again but the moment he passed among the trees the wind ceed shout and a Stillness dropped upon the
World so dense was the growth that the Sun shine only came through in isolated patches the air was close he mopped his forehead and put his green felt hat on but a low Branch knotted off again at once and as he stooped an elastic twig swung back and stung his
Face there were flowers along both edges of the little path glaes opened on either side ferns curved about in damper corners and the smell of Earth and foliage was rich and sweet it was cooler here what an enchanting little wood he thought turning down a small green Glade
Where the sunshine flickered like Silver Wings how it danced and fluted and moved about he suddenly found himself treading circumspectly and with caution the Stillness in the wood was so peculiar there was a rustle among the ferns and leaves and something shot across the path 10 yards ahead stopped abruptly an
Instant with its head cocked sideways to stare then dived again beneath the underbrush with the speed of a shadow he started like a frightened child laughing the next second that a mere pheasant could have made him jump in the distance he heard Wheels upon the road and wondered why the sound was
Good old butcher’s cart he said to himself then realized that he was going in the wrong direction and had somehow got turned round for the road should be behind him not in front and he hurriedly took another narrow Glade that lost itself in greenness to the right that’s my
Direction of course he said the trees have mixed me up a bit it seems then found himself abrupt ly by the gate he had first climbed over he had merely made a circle surprise became almost discomfort then and a man dressed like a gamekeeper in browny green leaned against the gate
Hitting his leg with a switch I’m making for Mr lumley’s Farm explained the Walker this is his wood I think then stopped dead because it was no man at all but merely an effect of light and shade and foliage he stepped back to reconstruct the singular illusion but the wind shook
The branches roughly here on the edge of the wood and the foliage refused to reconstruct the figure the leaves all rustled strangely and just then the sun went behind a cloud the whole would look otherwise yet how the mind could be thus doubly deceived was indeed remarkable
For it almost seemed to him the man had answered spoken or was this the shuffling noise the branches made and had pointed with his switch to the notice board upon the nearest tree the words rang on in his head but of course he had imagined them no it’s not his word it’s
Ours and some Village wit moreover had changed the lettering on the weather-beaten board for it read quite plainly trespassers will be persecuted and while the astonished Clark read the words and chuckled he said to himself thinking what a tale he’d have to tell his wife and children
Later the bluming wood has tried to Chuck me out but I’ll go in again why it’s only a matter of a square acre at most I’m bound to reach the fields on the other side of if I keep straight on he remembered his position in the office he had a certain dignity to
Maintain the cloud passed from below the Sun and light splashed suddenly in all manner of unlikely places the man went straight on he felt a touch of puzzling confusion somewhere this way the cops had of shifting from Sunshine into Shadow doubtless troubled Cit to his relief at last a new Glade opened
Through the trees and disclosed the fields with a glimpse of the Red House in the distance at the far end but a little Wicked gate that stood across the path had first to be climbed and as he scrambled heavily over for it would not open he got the astonishing feeling that
It slid off sideways beneath his weight and towards the wood like the staircases at harro’s and Earl’s Court it began to Glide off with him it was quite horrible he made a violent effort to get down before it carried him into the trees but his feet became entangled with the bar and
Umbrella so that he fell heavily upon the father side arms spread across the grass and nettles boots clutched between the first and second bars he lay there A Moment Like a Man crucified upside down and while he struggled to get disentangled feet bars and umbrella formed a regular net he saw
The little man in browny green go past him with extreme rapidity Through the Wood the man was laughing he passed across the Glade some 50 yards away and he was not alone this time a companion like himself went with him the Clark now upon his feet again watched them disappear into the the
Gloom of green Beyond they tramps not gamekeepers he said to himself half mortified and half angry but his heart was thumping dreadfully and he dared not utter all his thought he examined the wicked gate convinced it was a trick gate somehow then went hurriedly on again Disturbed
Beyond belief to see that the Glade no longer opened into Fields but curved away to the right what in the world had happened to him his sight was so utterly at fault again the sun flamed out abruptly and lit the floor of the wood with pools of silver
And at the same moment a violent gust of wind passed shouting overhead drops fell clattering everywhere upon the leaves making a sharp pattering as of many footsteps the whole cops shuddered and went moving Rain by George thought the clerk and feeling her his umbrella discovered
He had lost it he turned back to the gate and found it lying on the father side to his amazement he saw the fields at the far end of the Glade the red house too a shine in the sunset he laughed then for of course in his
Struggle with the gate he had somehow got turned around had fallen back instead of forwards climbing over this time quite easily he reach red his STS the silver band he saw had been torn from the umbrella no doubt his foot a nail or something had caught in it and ripped it
Off the Clark began to run he felt extraordinarily dismayed but while he ran the entire wood ran with him round him to and fro trees shifting like living things leaves folding and unfolding trunks darting backwards and forwards and branches disclosing enormous empty spaces then closing up again before he could look into
Them there were footsteps everywhere and laughing crying voices and crowds of figures Gathering just behind his back till the Glade he knew was thick with moving life the wind in his ears of course produced the voices and the laughter while sun and clouds plunging the cops alternately in Shadow and bright
Dazzling light created the figures but he didn’t like it and went as fast as ever his sturdy legs could take him he was frightened now this was no story for his wife and children he ran like the wind but his feet made no sound upon the soft musy
Turf then to his horror he saw that the Glade grew GRE narrow Nettles and weeds stood thick across it it dwindled down into a tiny path and 20 yards ahead it stopped finally and melted off among the trees what the trick gate had failed to achieve this twisting Glade accomplished
Easily carried him in bodily among the dense and crowding trees there was only one thing to do turn sharply and dash back again run headlong into the life that followed at his back followed so closely too that now it almost touched him pushing him in and with Reckless courage this was what
He did it seemed a fearful thing to do he turned with a sort of violent spring head down and shoulders forward hands stretched before his face he made the plunge like a hunted creature he charged Full Tilt the other way meeting the wind now in his
Face good Lord the Glade behind him had closed up as well there was no longer any path at all turning round and round like an animal at Bay he searched for an opening a way of Escape searched frantically breathlessly terrified now in his bones but foliage surrounded him bran es
Blocked the way the trees stood close and still unshaken by a breath of wind and the sun dipped that moment behind a great black cloud the entire wood turned dark and Silent it watched him perhaps it was this Final Touch of sudden Blackness that made him act so
Foolishly as though he had really lost his head at any any rate without pausing to think he dashed headlong in among the trees again there was a sensation of being stiflingly surrounded and entangled and that he must break out at all costs out and Away into the open of
The Blessed fields and air he did this ill-considered thing and apparently charged straight into an oak that deliberately moved into his path to stop him he saw it shift across a good full yard and being a measuring man accustomed to theodolite and chain he ought to
Know he fell saw stars and felt a thousand tiny fingers tugging and pulling at his hands and neck and ankles the stinging nettles no doubt were responsible for this he thought of it later at the moment it felt diabolically calculated but another remarkable illusion was not so easily explained for
All in a moment it seemed the entire wood went sliding past him with a thick deep rustling of leaves and laughter Mirad footsteps and tiny little active energetic shapes two men in browny green gave him a mighty hoist and he opened his eyes to find himself lying in the
Meadow beside the style where first his incredible Adventure had begun the wood stood in its usual place and stared down found upon him in the sunlight there was the Red House in the distance as before above him grinned the weather beaten notice board trespassers will be prosecuted disheveled in mind and body
And a good deal shaken in His official Soul the Clark walked slowly across the fields but on the way he glanced once more at the postcard of instruction and saw with dull amazement that the Inked out sentence was quite legible after all beneath the scratches made across
It there is a shortcut through the wood the wood I want cut down if you care to take it only care was so badly written it looked more like another word the c was uncommonly like a d that’s the cops that Spurs my view of the DS you see his client explained to
Him later pointing across the fields and referring to the ordinance map beside him I want it cut down and a path made so and so his finger indicated Direction on the map the fairy wood it’s still C and it’s far older than this house come now if you’re ready Mr Thomas we might
Go out and have a look at it If you’re really enjoying our wonderfully ghostly Tales I’ve recorded lots more you’ll find the links in the description of this video if you’d like to buy audio books or indeed just listen but now we’re going to listen to some horrific gruesome Tales From the kotwal’s Past hi there and welcome to the cwell Explorer I’m Robin chaper and tonight we’re starting an autumnal tour of the kwells chasing up a selection of grizzly and gruesome stories which have found their way to us sometimes from our lovely viewers but mostly from Ross’s great work searching out the Dark World
Of hauntings murders and villainy of all kinds we are of course used to seeing the postcard Villages and beautiful stone cottages of this wonderful region but tonight and over the next few weeks we will look at a different side of the god gowells from the city of B all the
Way up through familiar spots like tetbury siren cester Stow on the world and chipping Camden we will uncover Tales of unsolved murders Dreadful poisonings and inexplicable disappearances we start tonight in the amazing city of bath at the very southern end of the kotwal’s Limestone Ridge this stunning City certainly
Amongst the most beautiful in the entire country is the epitome of Gentile elegant City Life and has been since the time of the Romans not even B however is immune from the darker side of life our first story stems from the late 19th century evolves the murder of a young servant
Girl in August 1891 Elsie adelene Luke disappeared from her lodgings in bath she was known to be an outgoing sort of girl enthusiastically chasing her various love interests much to the irritation disapproval and perhaps even a smattering of jealousy of the other local girls and so when it was noticed
That she hadn’t been seen for a few few days it was assumed that she’d simply run off with another romantic attachment it was only after a few weeks the two men one by the name of John Dill found some Blood Stained cuffs and a gold watch and chain on the top of Hampton
Down Dill told his companion he would deliver the items to the local police station but decided instead to keep them for himself it was therefore years before before any connection to Elsie was made over 2 years later in September 1893 the skeleton of a young woman was
Discovered in a cave in the area of Hampton down on examining the skeleton the local doctor found that the scull had taken a serious beating and it became clear that the poor woman had been particularly brutally murdered to many locals the conclusion was obvious this must be the missing LC
Adelene Luke Not only was it the skeleton of a young woman in her 20s but it had also have been found wrapped in some linen bearing the mark of a certain Mrs Kerry Mrs kery had employed Elsie as a cook from March to July in 1891 but had sacked her as she turned
Out to be an irredeemable Thief she had stolen the L along with many other things ironically however it was thanks to her thieving habits that her skeleton was eventually identified just before her disappearance it was well known that an apprentice coachbuilder by the name of Arthur Stevenson kums had been one of Elsie’s
Latest bow the briefest of Investigations revealed that Arthur himself was in the habit of courting more than one lady at a time and so he became the prime suspect in the murder of Elsie adelene Luke he however insisted to the superintendent leading the case that he was entirely
Innocent I only kept her company after that I’m no use to he said despite his emphatic denial he was charged with her murder the suspicions of the police officers continued despite his denials many people had seen the lad with Elsie and said he had often spoken
Of her in violent terms she ought to be dead or killed he’d once been heard to say added to this shortly after Elsie’s disappearance he had turned up at the Royal United Hospital with an injured Thumb in the official documentation his injury was recorded as a human
Bite considering the timing this did not help the case further muddying the water however one of kum’s other girlfriends at the time paully sheeper had also made threatening remarks about Elsie perhaps naturally jealous of her arrival when the examining magistrate started his interrogation of Arthur kums on the 29th of September
1893 the young man was clearly very agitated as Witnesses took the stand a jury expecting answers ended up with more questions one of Elsie’s fellow servants remembered her smuggling a young man into the house shortly before her disappearance and she was certain it was not kums a search of kum’s Home revealed a
Large bag of letters from his various lady friends and strangely there were none to be found from Elsie despite Witnesses confidently stating that the two had written letters to one another many of the letters were actually from kum’s present girlfriend the aforementioned Polly Shephard they showed she was most distressed about Arthur’s romantic
Pursuits especially his affair with young Elsie more than once she rebuked kums for keeping company with her and made vague threats that something unpleasant might happen to her in fact on one occasion the two young women had scrapped during which Elsie knocked Polly to the ground the examination went on with no
Definitive results Arthur dismissed the importance of his hospital visit claiming he’d injured his thumb during an altercation of the recent liberal fate however a police officer who had been in attendance at the Fate testified that that event had been entirely peaceful eventually under considerable pressure from His earthwell companion John Dill
Came forward with the gold watch and cuffs that they had discovered on the down but rather than helping the case against Arthur it was hard to explain why had he been guilty he wouldn’t have kept the watch and chain almost certainly another of Elsie’s illg gotten gains for
Himself by this point two years had passed since the murder and all the evidence was circumstantial in nature the coroner attic that suspicion might hang over a man but it should not hang him the jury took note there was too little evidence to convict Arthur and the murder of poor Elie adelene Luke
Remains unsolved to this day continuing North not far away is the town known as the capital of the Cotswolds sirenes Life was challenging in the mid 18th century in a time where a small scale offense like petty theft could land you with the same consequences as murder there was little to stop desperate criminals killing out of sheer Panic they quite literally thought they might as well be hanged for a sheep as a
Lamb around sester in 1743 a group of three men committed many such crimes Thomas Cambry John Curtis and Thomas stepto worked as laborers during the day but by night they searched for other people’s valuables to steal just outside the town at Bowling Green Lane James Millington and his wife
Anne lived a peaceful life they’d been married for over 50 years and had endured much in an age of high mortality rate they had lost at least three children at tragically young agees fortunately their six surviving children went on to live healthy lives and the couple now were enjoying their Twilight years in
Peace sadly this Tranquility was to be shortlived on the 25th of October 1743 wrapped up around the open fire in the company of their grown-up daughter Esther they were shocked not to say horrified when the criminal Trio of Cambry Curtis and stepto burst through the door demanding money and
Valuables James scared out of his wits gave them what he had on him but this was not enough to satisfy the robbers they proceeded to beat him extremely severely in front of his wife and daughter as the villains grew increasingly frustrated they turned on Anne pushing her up against the wall and
Repeating their demands when the poor woman was unable to provide what they were looking for Camry stabbed her through the left breast with his knife and the three men then ransacked the whole house eventually they fled with 23 lb several bottles of alcohol a gun and a great coat belonging to
James poor Anne died just 3 days later from her injury and the Trio were quickly arrested despite their best efforts to fabricate aliis a handful of witnesses came forward to place the trio in San cesto during the time of the robbery unfortunately for Cambry and Curtis Thomas stepto a villain of the
Most despicable type gave his accompli away in a deal which provided him with a lighter sentence than his two companions Curt and Cambry were hanged in saren sester in March 1744 Cambry denying his guilt to the very end one onlooker who had met the two criminals whilst out drinking on many
Occasions asked how he could die with a lie in his mouth Cambry was unable to think of a rebuttle as the stool was kicked from under his feet and he went to his dark fate his chained by body was hung up in a prominent place near the home of the
Millington as a warning to other Criminals our next tale takes place not far from sancest in the town of fairford and the nearby Village of quenington in the mid 1800s a young girl called Anne in worked in service in Lech Hampton and later as a laborer in quenington she’d recently married her husband William and because the two
Didn’t have much money they lived with Anne’s father who also worked as a laborer there was never any sign that she had a poor relationship with her father strange then that on January the 5th 1858 she traveled into fairford and bought some ass snake she had to sign for the poison
Giving the reason for her purchase that she had some rats Hill she was served in the shop by someone she knew from her childhood and he clearly thought it important to point out that she could easily buy something much safer to kill Vermin but she ignored his advice and her childhood
Friend sold her the Arsenic just two days later on January the 7th her Father Joseph came home from work and Anne had prepared a pot of tea for him he normally drank four or five cups after a Long Day’s Work and wasting no time in tucking in as
Usual in the evening he began to feel stomach pains he went to bed in a bad State and got barely any sleep in the morning in an attempt to fortify himself for the day’s work he drank another cup of tea from the same teapot and minutes later was sick
Again later in the day he was sent home from work to recover and that’s when he told an that he had a suspicion what had happened she of course fed ignorance but despite her protestations eventually the police were called and Joseph related the tale explaining his
Suspicions I would not have any more tea out of the pot because I thought there was a trap set in it he told the police although unwell for a while he survived the attempted murder Anne however was arrested and prosecuted and found guilty of attempted murder and imprisoned in London for the
Rest of her life her Father Joseph remained alone in quenington until well into his 80s he had not died by Anne’s hand but it’s safe to say her actions may have dissuaded him from drinking as much tea as hitherto just before we head north to
Stow on the world we’ll stop off in the village of ched worth hidden just off the Foss way for a peculiar story concerning the murder of a postman at 7:00 in the morning on the 24th of December 1924 Postman William Gardner stepped into the morning air ready to begin his
Shift just as he was closing the door behind him the sound of a gunshot rang around the village and Gardner fell to the ground alarmed neighbors along with William’s wife rushed out to help the wounded man who was then taken to Sister Memorial Hospital living as they were in a close
Village community it wasn’t long before the ass salent was identified as a postman colleague of Williams Frederick broad who had resigned his job the day before superintendent Wyman from North Leach station soon arrived and a manh hunt for broad began he was tracked past a farm and down a lane towards chedworth Woods
Before the trail went cold but just hours later a railway worker happened upon a body lying next to the railway line not far from the Roman villa and a stone throw from the tunnel the corpse was highly dismembered and a double barrel shotgun lay nearby the body was taken to chedworth
Railway station and then to stoud where the following day an inquest was opened by the stad coroner Mr Morton Bell a jury was sworn in and Frederick’s brother William identified the body he also gave the police some information that would prove enlightening although Frederick was physically healthy he was somewhat
Strange at times and had been seeing a doctor for his fits the inquest was adjourned until the 1st of January and in the brief recess over Christmas the Press did some investigating of their own they interviewed a handful of local residents and found that Frederick broad had recently become extremely discontented at
Work his postal round had been changed and he’d been given a shorter route which meant he earned slightly less money William Gardner had taken over his former around and Broad had convinced himself that Gardner was responsible for the change the chelham postmaster released a statement in which he confirmed that
There was nothing personal in the changing of RS no report whatever had reached me of any unsatisfactory working on the part of broad which would lead to his being changed from one duty to another whatever action has been taken is not the outcome of any complaint about Duty
The fact of the matter is we have reorganized the whole of the Postal Service in The District in connection with the modernization and increased efficiency of the service William Gardner recovered in the hospital over the festive period despite having an extremely badly damaged face and jaw and on the 1st of January the
Inquest resumed and the first witness was Frederick broad’s father he said that at 6:30 on 24th of DEC December his son dressed in his postal uniform left home claiming he was going out to assist his replacement delivering the mail despite his father advising him to stay at home Frederick left and after
Breakfast when a gunshot rang out across the village they realized that Fred’s shotgun was not on the gun rack the next witness was train driver Peter James Mor a resident of chelham and in employed by Great Western Railway on the 24th of December he was the driver of the train leaving Andover
Junction at 8:00 a.m. he passed through chedworth station and sounded the whistle as he entered the tunnel as was customary at the time upon exiting the tunnel he thought the engine had struck a stone but later agreed he had likely knocked someone down this was confirmed by James Buttle
The railway worker who had discovered br ‘s Body by the tracks he’d first come across a hand and an arm and then the body to which they belonged about 800 yard away there was no public Crossing in the area it looked very much like a tragic accident the coroner summed up that bro
Had been killed by the passing train but the question remained as to whether he had stepped in front of it on purpose or not the jury concluded that broad was not of sound mind and expressed their sympathy with his family our next story is the room in the tower by EF
Benson it’s probable that everybody who is at all a constant dreamer has had at least one experience of an event or a sequence of circumstances which have come to his mind in sleep being subsequently realized in the material world but in my opinion so far from this
Being a strange thing it would be far odder if this fulfillment did not occasionally happen since our dreams are as a rule concerned with people whom we know and places with which we are familiar such as might very naturally occur in the awake and dait World true these dreams are often broken
Into by some absurd and fantastic incident which puts them out of court in regard to their subsequent fulfillment but on the mere calculation of chances it doesn’t appear in the least unlikely that a dream imagined by anyone who dreams constantly should occasionally come true not long ago for instance I
Experienced such a fulfillment of a dream which seems to me in no way remarkable and to have no kind of psychical significance the manner of it was as follows a certain friend of mine living abroad is amiable enough to write to me about once in a fortnight thus when 14 days or
Thereabouts have elapsed since I last heard from him my mind probably either consciously or subconsciously is expectant of a letter from him one night last week I dreamed that as I was going upstairs to dress for dinner I heard as I often heard the sound of the postman’s
Knock on my front door and diverted my direction downstairs instead there among other correspondents was a letter from him thereafter the Fantastic entered for on opening it I found inside the ace of diamonds and scribbled across it in his well-known handwriting I am sending you this for
Safe custody as you know it is running an unreasonable risk to keep aces in Italy the next evening I was just preparing to upstairs to rest when I heard the postman’s knock and did precisely as I had done in my dream there among other letters was one
From my friend only it did not contain the ace of diamonds had it done so I should have attached more weight to the matter which as it stands seems to me a perfectly ordinary coincidence no doubt I consciously or subconsciously expected a letter from him and this suggested to me my dream
Similarly the fact that me for a fortnite suggested to him that he should do so but occasionally it is not so easy to find such an explanation and for the following story I can find no explanation at all it came out of the dark and into the dark it is gone
Again all my life I’ve been an habitual dreamer the nights are few that is to say when I do not find on awakening in the morning that some mental experience has been mine and sometimes all night long apparently a series of the most dazzling Adventures befell me almost without exception these
Adventures are Pleasant though often merely trivial it is of an exception that I’m going to speak it was when I was about 16 that a certain dream first came to me and this is how it befell it opened with my being set down at the door of a big red brick house
Where I understood I was going to stay day the servant who opened the door told me that tea was being served in the garden and led me through a low Dark penel Hall with a large open fireplace onto a cheerful Green Lawn set around with flower beds there were grouped about the Tea
Table a small party of people but they were all strangers to me except one who was a school fellow called Jack Stone clearly the son of the house and he introduced me to his mother and father and a couple of sisters I was I remember somewhat astonished to
Find myself here for the boy in question was scarcely known to me and I rather disliked what I knew of him moreover he had left school nearly a year before the afternoon was very hot and an intolerable oppression rained on the far side of the lawn ran a
Red brick wall with an iron gate in its Center outside which stood a walnut tree we sat in the shadow of the house opposite a row of long windows inside which I could see a table with cloth laid glimmering with glass and silver this Garden front of the house
Was very long and at one end of it stood a tower of three stories which looked to me much older than the rest of the building before long Mrs Stone who like the rest of the party had sat in absolute silence said to me Jack will
Show you your room I’ve given you the room in the tower quite inexplicably my heart sank at her words I felt as if I had known that I should have the room in the tower and that it contained something Dreadful and significant Jack instantly got up and I
Understood that I had to follow him in silence pass through the hall and a great Oak staircase with many corners and arrived at a small Landing with two doors set in it he pushed one of these open for me to enter and without coming in himself closed it after
Me then I knew that my conjecture had been right there was something awful in the room and with a terror of nightmare growing swiftly and enveloping me I awoke in a spasm of Terror now that dream or variations on it occurred to me intermittently for 15
Years most often it came in exactly this form the arrival the tea laid out on the lawn the deadly silence succeeded by that one deadly sentence the mounting with jackstone after the room in the tower where horror dwelt and it always came to a close in the nightmare of
Terror at that which was in the room though I never saw what it was at other times I experienced variations on this same theme occasionally for instance we will be sitting at dinner in the dining room into the windows of which I had looked on the first night when the dream of
This house visited me but wherever we were there was the same silence the same sense of dreadful oppression and forboding and the silence I knew would always be broken by Mrs Stone saying to me Jack will show you your room I’ve given you the room in the
Tower upon which this was invariable I had to follow him up the oak staircase with many corners and enter the place that I Dre more and more each time that I visited it in sleep or again I would find myself playing cards still in silence in a drawing room lit with immense
Chandaliers that gave a blinding illumination what the game was I have no idea what I remember with a sense of miserable anticipation was that soon Mrs Stone would get up and say to me Jack will show you your room I’ve given you the room in the tower this drawing room where we played
Cards was next to the dining room and as I’ve said was always brilliantly illuminated whereas the rest of the house was full of Dusk and shadows and yet how often in spite of those bouquet of Light have I not poured over the cards that were dealt me
Scarcely able for some reason to see them that designs too were strange there were no red suits but all were black and among them there were certain cards which were black all over I hated and dreaded those as this dream continued to recur I got to know the greater part of the
House there was a smoking room beyond the drawing room at the end of a passage with a Green bay door it was always very dark there and as often as I went there I passed somebody whom I could not see in the doorway coming out curious developments too took place
In the characters that peopled the dream as might happen to living persons Mrs Stone for instance who when I first saw her had been blackhaired became gray and instead of rising briskly as she had done at first when she said Jack will show you your room I’ve given you the
Room in the tower got up very feebly as if the strength was leaving her limbs Jack also grew up and became a rather ill-looking young man with a brown mustache while one of the sisters ceased to appear and I understood she was married then it so happened that I was
Not visited by this dream for six months or more and I began to Hope in such inexplicable dread did I hold it that it had passed away for good but one night after this interval I again found myself being shown out onto the lawn fa tea and Mrs Stow was not
There while the others were all dressed in black at once I guessed the reason and my heart leapt at the thought that perhaps this time I should not have to sleep in the room in the tower and though we usually all sat in silence on this occasion the sense of relief made
Me talk and laugh as I had never yet done but even then matters were not altogether comfortable for no one else spoke but they all looked secretly at one another and soon the foolish stream of my talk ran dry and gradually an apprehension worse than anything I had
Previously known gained on me as the light slowly faded suddenly a voice which I knew well broke the Stillness the voice of Mrs Stone saying Jack will show you your room I’ve given you the room in the tower it seemed to come from near the gate in the red brick wall that bounded
The lawn and looking up I saw that the grass outside was sewn thick with gravestones a curious grayish light Shone from them and I could read the lettering on the grave nearest me and it was in evil memory of of Julia Stone and as usual Jack got up and again
I followed him through the hall and up the staircase with many corners on this occasion it was darker than usual and when I passed into the room in the tower I could only just see the furniture the position of which was already familiar to me also there was a dreadful odor of
Decay in the room and I woke screaming the dream with such variations and developments as I have mentioned went on at intervals for 15 years sometimes I would dream it two or three nights in succession once as I’ve said there was an intermission of 6 months but taking a reasonable average I
Would say that I dreamt it quite as often as once in a month it had as is plain something of nightmare about it since it always ended in the same appalling Terror which so far from getting less seemed to me to gather fresh fear every time that I experienced
It there was too a strange and Dreadful consistency about it the characters in it as I’ve mentioned got regularly older death and marriage visited this silent family and I never in dream after Mrs Stone had died said eyes on her again but it was always her voice that
Told me that the room in the tower was prepared for me and whether we had tea out on the lawn or the scene was laid in one of the rooms overlooking it I could always see her gravestone standing just outside the Iron Gate it was the same too with the
Married daughter usually she was not present but once or twice she returned again in company with a man whom I took to be her husband he too like the rest of them was always silent but owing to the constant repetition of the dream I had ceased to attach in my waking hours any
Significance to it I never met jackstone again during all those years nor did I ever see a house that resembled this dark house of my dream and then something happened I had been in London in this year up till the end of the July die and during the first week in August went
Down to stay with a friend in a house he’d taken for the summer months in the Ashton forest district of Sussex I left London early for John Clinton was to meet me at Forest row station and we were going to spend the day golfing and go to his house in the
Evening he had his motor with him and we set off about 5: in the afternoon after a thoroughly delightful day for the drive the distance being some 10 miles as it was still so early we didn’t have tea at the clubhouse but waited till we should get
Home as we drove the weather which up till then had been though hot deliciously fresh seemed to me to alter in quality and become very stagnant and oppressive and I felt that indefinable sense of ominous apprehension that I’m accustomed to before Thunder John however did not share My
Views at attributing my loss of lightness to the fact that I had lost both my matches events proved however that I was right though I do not think that the thunderstorm that broke that night was the sole cause of my depression our way lay through deep High
Banked lanes and before we had gone very far I fell asleep and was only awakened by the stopping of the motor and with a sudden thrill part ly of fear but chiefly of curiosity I found myself standing in the doorway of my house of dream we went I half wondering whether
Or not I was dreaming still through a low Oak panel wall and out onto the lawn te was laid in the shadow of the house it was set in flower beds a red brick wall with a gate in it bounded one side and out beyond that was a space of rough
Grass with a walnut tree the facade of the house was very long and at one end stood a three stored Tower markedly older than the rest here for the moment all resemblance to the repeated dream ceased there was no silent and somehow terrible family but a large assembly of exceedingly
Cheerful people all of whom were known to me and in spite of the horror with which the dream itself had always filled me I felt nothing of it now that the scene of it was thus reproduced before me but I felt intensest curiosity as to what was going to
Happen te pursued its cheerful course and before long Mrs Clinton got up and at that moment I think I knew what she was going to say she spoke to me and what she said was Jack will show you your room I’ve given you the room in the
Tower at that for half a second the horror of the dream took hold of me again but it quickly passed and again I felt nothing more than the most intense curiosity it was not very long before it was amply satisfied John turned to me right up at
The top of the house he said but I think you’ll be comfortable we’re absolutely full up would you like to go and see it now but Jo I believe that you’re right and that we are going to have a thunder th storm how dark it’s become I got up and followed him we
Passed through the hall and up the perfectly familiar staircase then he opened the door and I went in and at that moment sheer unreasoning Terror again possessed me I didn’t know what I feared I simply feared then like a sudden recollection when one remembers a name which has long
Escaped the memory I knew what I feared I feared Mrs Stone who’s graved with a Sinister inscription in evil memory I had so often seen in my dream just beyond the lawn which lay below my window and then once more the fear passed so completely that I wondered
What there was to fear and I found myself sober quiet and sane in the room in the tower the name of which I had so often heard in my dream dream and the scene of which was so familiar I looked around it with a certain sense of proprietor ship and
Found that nothing had been changed from the dreaming nights in which I knew it so well just to the left of the door was the bed lengthways along the wall with the head of it in the angle in a line with it was the fireplace and a small bookcase opposite
The door the outer wall was pierced by two ltis pained windows between which stood the dressing table while ranged along the fourth wall was the washing stand and a big cupboard my luggage had already been unpacked for the furniture of dressing and undressing lay orderly on the washstand and toilet table while my
Dinner clothes were spread out on the covet of the bed and then with a sudden start of unexplained dismay I saw that there were two rather spicuous objects which I had not seen before in my dreams one a lifesized oil painting of Mrs Stone the other a black and white
Sketch of jackstone representing him as he had appeared to me only a week before in the last of the series of these repeated dreams a rather secret and evil looking man of about 30 his picture hung between the windows looking straight across the room at the other portrait
Which hung at the side of the bed at that I looked next and as I looked I felt once more the horror of nare sees me it represented Mrs as I had seen her last in my dreams old and wed and whired but in spite of the evident
Feebleness of body a dreadful exuberance and vitality Shone through the envelope of Flesh an exuberance holy malign a Vitality that foamed and froed with unimaginable evil evil beamed from the narrow learing eyes it laughed in the demon-like mouth the whole face was instilled with some secret and appalling
Mirth the hands clasped together on the knee seemed shaking with suppressed and nameless Glee then I saw also that it was signed in the left hand bottom corner and wondering who the artist could be I looked more closely and read the inscription Julia Stone by Julia
Stone there came a tap at the door and John Clinton entered got everything you want he asked rather more than I want want said I pointing to the picture he laughed hard featured old lady he said by herself too I remember anyhow she can’t have flattered herself
Much but don’t you see said I it’s scarcely a human face at all it’s the face of some witch of some devil he looked at it more closely yes it isn’t very pleasant he said scarcely a bedside manner eh yes I can imagine getting the nightmare if I
Went to sleep with that close to my bed I’ll have it taken down if you like I really wish you would I said he rang the bell and with the help of a servant we detached the picture and carried it out onto the landing and put it with its face to the
Wall by Jo the old lady’s a wait said John mopping his forehead I wonder if she had something on her mind the extraordinary weight of the picture had struck me too I was about to reply when I caught sight of my own hand there was blood on it in considerable quantities covering the
Whole Palm I’ve cut myself somehow said I John gave a little startled exclamation why I have too he said simultaneously the footman took out his handkerchief and wiped his hand with it I saw that there was blood also on his handkerchief John and I went back into
The tower room and washed the blood off but neither on his hand nor on mine was there the slightest tra of a scratch or cut it seemed to me that having ascertained this we both by a sort of tacit consent did not allude to it again something in my case had dimly
Occurred to me that I did not wish to think about it was but a conjecture but I fancied that I knew the same thing had occurred to him the Heat and depression of the air for the storm we had expected was still undischarged increased very much after dinner and for
Some time most of the party among whom we were John Clinton and myself the Heat and oppression of the air for the storm we had expected was still undischarged increased very much after dinner and for some time most of the party among whom were John Clinton and myself sat outside
On the path bounding the lawn where we had had tea the night was absolutely dark and no twinkle of star or Moon Ray could penetrate the pole of cloud that overset the Sky by degrees our assembly thinned the women went up to bed men dispersed to
The smoking oilid room and by 11:00 my host and I were the only two left all the evening I thought that he had something on his mind and as soon as we were alone he spoke by Dent of telling myself that I was not going to think about it I had
Succeeded in not doing so and I didn’t want especially just at bedtime to be reminded of it I don’t know said I and I don’t really care so long as the picture of Mrs Stone is not by my bed he got up but it’s odd he said ah now you’ll see another odd
Thing a dog of his an Irish Terrier by breed had come out of the house as we talked the door behind us into the Hall was open and a bright oblong of light Shone across the lawn to the Iron Gate which led onto the rough grass outside
Where the walnut tree stood I saw that the dog had all his hackles up bristling with rage and fright his lips were curled back from his teeth as if he was ready to spring at something and he was growling to himself he took not the slightest notice
Of his master or me but stiffly and tensely walked across the grass to the Iron Gate there he stood for a a moment looking through the bars and still growling then of a sudden his courage seemed to Desert him and he gave one long howl and Scuttle back to the house
With a curious crouching sort of movement he does that half a dozen times a day said John he sees something which he both hates and fears I walked to the gate and looked over it something was moving on the grass outside and soon a sound which I
Could not instantly identify came to my ears then I remembered what it was it was the purring of a cat I lit a match and saw the purra a big blue Persian walking round and round in little circles just outside the gate stepping high and ecstatically with tail
Carried aoft like a banner its eyes were bright and shining and every now and then it put its head down and sniffed at the grass I laughed the end of that mystery I’m afraid I said here’s a large cat having wall purges night all alone yes that’s Darius said John he
Spends half the day and all night there but that’s not the end of the dog mystery for Toby and he are the best of friends but the beginning of the cat mystery what’s the cat doing there and why is Darius pleased while Toby is Terror stricken at that moment I remembered the
Rather horrible detail of my dreams when I saw through the gate just where the cat was now the white Tombstone with the Sinister inscription but before I could answer the rain began as suddenly and heavily as if a tap had been turned on and simultaneously the big cat squeezed
Through the bars of the gate and came leaping across the lawn to the house for shelter then it sat in the doorway looking out eagerly into the dark it spat and struck at John with its paw as he pushed it in in order to close the door somehow with a portrait of julus
Stone in the passage outside the room in the tower had absolutely no alarm for me and as I went to bed feeling very sleepy and heavy I had nothing more than interest for the Curious incident about our bleeding hands and the conduct of the cat and
Dog the last thing I looked at before I put out my light was the square EMP Space by my bed where the portrait had been here the paper was of its original full tint of dark red over the rest of the walls it had faded then I blew out my candle and
Instantly fell asleep my Awakening was equally instantaneous and I sat bolt upright in bed under the impression that some bright light had been flashed in my face so it was now absolutely pinked dark I knew exactly where I was in the room which I had dreaded in dreams but
No horror that I ever felt when asleep approached the fear that now invaded and froze my brain immediately after a peel of Thunder crackled just above the house but the probability that it was only a flash of lightning which awoke me gave no reassurance to my Galloping
Heart something I knew was was in the room with me and instinctively I put out my right hand which was nearest the wall to keep it away and my hand touched the edge of a picture frame hanging close to me I sprang out of bed upsetting the
Small table that stood by it and I heard my watch candle and matches clatter onto the floor but for the moment there was no need of light for a blinding flash leaped out of the clouds and showed me that by my bed again hung the picture of Mrs
Stone and instantly the room went into Blackness again but in that flash I saw another thing also a figure that leaned over the end of my bed watching me it was dressed in some close clinging white garment spotted and stained with mold and the face was that of the
Portrait overhead the Thunder cracked and roared and when it ceased and the Deathly Stillness succeeded I heard the rustle of movement coming nearer me and more horrible yet perceived an odor of corruption and Decay and then a hand was laid on the side of my neck and close beside my ear
I heard quick taken eager breathing yet I knew that this thing though it could be perceived by Touch by smell by eye and by ear was still not of this Earth but something that had passed out of the body and had power to make itself manifest then a voice already familiar to me
Spoke I knew you would come to the room in the tower it said I’ve been long waiting for you at last you’ve come tonight I shall Feast before long we will Feast together the quick breathing came closer to me I could feel it on my neck at that the terror which I think
Had paralyzed me for the moment gave way to the wild Instinct of self-preservation I hit wildly with both arms kicking out at the same moment and heard a little animal squeal and something soft dropped with a thud beside me I took a couple of steps forward nearly tripping up over whatever
It was that lay there and by the meest good luck found the handle of the door in another second I ran out on the landing and had banged the door almost just at the same moment I heard a door open somewhere below and John Clinton candle in hand came running
Upstairs what is it he said I sleep just below you and heard a noise as if good Heavens there’s blood on your shoulder I stood there so he told me afterwards swaying from side to side white as a sheet with the mark on my shoulder as if a hand covered with blood
Had been laid there it’s in there I said pointing she you know the portrait is in there too hanging up on the place we took it from at that he laughed my dear fellow this is me nightmare he said he pushed by me and opened the door I standing
There simply inert with Terror unable to stop him unable to move who what an awful smell he said then there was silence he had passed out of my sight behind the open door next moment he came out again as white as myself and instantly shut it yes he said the portraits there he
Said and on the floor is a thing a thing spotted with Earth like what they bury people in come on away quick Come Away how I got downstairs I hardly know an awful shuddering and naer of the spirit rather than that the flesh had seized me and more than once he had to
Place my feet upon the steps while every then he cast glances of Terror and apprehension up the stairs but in time we came to his dressing room on the floor below and there I told him what I have here described the sequel can be made short indeed some of my readers have perhaps
Already guessed what it was if they remember that inexplicable Affair of the churchyard at West Foley some eight years ago where an attempt was made three times times to bury the body of a certain woman who had committed suicide on each occasion the coffin was
Found in the course of a few days again protruding from the ground after the third attempt in order that the thing should not be talked about the body was buried elsewhere in unconsecrated ground where it was buried was just outside the Iron Gate of the garden belonging to the house where this woman
Had lived she committed suicide in a room at the top of the tower in that house her name was Julia Stone subsequently the body was again secretly dug up and the coffin was found to be full of blood it’s been fantastic having you along for our live stream this evening
It’s such fun this time of the year as you can tell we have a lovely time ourselves don’t forget to subscribe to the channel you can find on all the normal platforms of course visit our website the cworld explorer. co.uk where you will find details of all the other stuff we’ve done
26 Comments
Brilliant
Sitting in my local pub, with a gunniess, listening to this….what a bliss! 🍻👍🏻👌🏻👏🏻
Happy halloween everyone 🦇🦇
Always a pleasure to watch these videos. Thank you Robin, much ❤
🏃🏻♂️ 🏃🏼♀️ 👻👻🏰
So happy I found your channel, I'm loving this
Trick or treat? This is definitely a 'treat'! This is a classic and should become an annual tradition. Love it. Kind regards from British Columbia, Canada.
Thank you.😊🙏
Outback wear for the Upback.💕 I’m absolutely building a wall map of places to see when I at last get to cross the Pond, largely based on your posts.
Always look forward to to Robins spooky tales. Your voice is perfect for this genre and the atmosphere is spot on 🎃 thank you
Love your stories. Thank you. You sound just like John Hurt or he sounds like you 😆 a great voice for storytelling either way!
What a great time I’ve had listening while making dinner Thank you so much
Very good, Great voice to fall asleep to. (no offence)
Take it Back.. too many ads 😢
Love your voice and accent……you are my friend on a lonely Sunday afternoon.
Awesome Stories. I gotta say.
Always enjoy listening to your spooky stories. Get well soon. ❤
My fav.so classic most awaited thnk you for sharing so amazing.godbless.
I worked at Shuckburgh Hall for years! I was wondering if you were related to them… It terrified me there, had some really spooky experiences and I still have actual nightmares about the house. Love all your content, have been watching for a couple of years now 😊 thanks for what you do
I'm an old fellow now, living in Scotland. However, I spent my youth working on a dairy farm just outside Stow on the Wold. I remember chats in the Bell Inn pub regarding local ghosts and phantoms. These videos bring back great memories of stories told on winter nights next to a roaring fire over a pint (or two) with fellow workers. The Cotswolds I found to be a beautiful area with the friendliest of people. I have fond memories of my time there.
watched this on thanksgiving in usa and it works ….!!!
Sounds slightly like Ronnie Corbett, the way he is sat facing the camera too, leaning in as he talks lol
Thank you for including Algernon Blackwood's "Ancient Lights"! It tis a favorite of mine. Your reading is the finest that I have heard. The including of the video enactment is appreciated. The phenomenon of "spiritual realms" interpenetrates our earthly realm. All proved in The Biblical Scriptural accounts.
I adore your stories and how you present them. Thank you for all your hardwork!!
Many thanks Robin for your Xmas podcast on the haunted stories in the old settlements around the Cotswold, and brining a haunted story relating to your own family in times of old brings a very interesting twist to these tales. Happy Xmas Robin & Ross.
I've heard the expression, "every Tom, Dick and Harry" all of my life and not until today have I ever heard they were an actual group of highway men. 🤣🤣
Excellent ghost stories