M.J. Wayland's Blog, page 8

The Horseman’s Word in Print

After purchasing “The Society of the Horseman’s Word” edited by Ben Fernee, I have been interested in this ancient order / early trade union / mystical society and its representation in the media. During my researches I found it interesting how the coverage is both negative and positive to the order, evidence I believe that the journalists themselves were hesitant to make negative accusations in case the order did indeed practise witchcraft. This excerpt dates from 19th October 1934 and was published by the Evening Telegraph; “It is comforting to live in Britain, where such “secret societies” as are known, are more rationally minded. The nearest to home apart from the Freemasons is the “Horseman’s Word,” which operates among farmers and ploughmen in Aberdeenshire, Banff, Elgin and certain parts of Angus. The society is very ancient, but their activities have never been devoted to political strife. The members meet in the open at night, and hold a kind of circus, using horses which are usually purloined from their master’s stables. Here they learn the inner secrets of their work, and the result is that a member of the “Horseman’s Word” is always a more efficient worker than any outwith the […]

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Haunted Chest of Stanbury Manor

In March 1950, an auction at Stanbury Manor, Morwenstow in Cornwall brought an unusual item to the fore – a haunted chest. Sadly the chest did not raise its reserve price and after a desultory bid of £5, it was pulled from the auction. The chest had for many years hit the headlines of the Cornish newspapers with associations with poltergeist activity.. The owner at the time, Trevor Ley claimed to have purchased the trunk from an antique dealer in Cornwall who complained that since she had it in her shop things would be thrown about without apparent reason. Intrigued with its reputation it was Trevor purchased it for his new home, Stanbury Manor. Soon after arriving at the manor, the poltergeist began its work, Mrs Ley witnessed twelve guns from the armoury clattering across the floor – yet their restraining wires had not broken. When the chest was moved to the bedroom, pictures repeatedly crashed to the floor, Mr Ley was in fact hit by one when he was sitting in a chair two feet from the wall. The Leys decided to lay the ghost and called in a spiritualist from Lostwithiel, the exorcism was apparently successful and no […]

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The Haunted Chest

In March 1950, an auction at Stanbury Manor, Morwenstow in Cornwall brought an unusual item to the fore – a haunted chest. Sadly the chest did not raise its reserve price and after a desultory bid of £5, it was pulled from the auction. The chest had for many years hit the headlines of the Cornish newspapers with associations with poltergeist activity.. The owner at the time, Trevor Ley claimed to have purchased the trunk from an antique dealer in Cornwall who complained that since she had it in her shop things would be thrown about without apparent reason. Intrigued with its reputation it was Trevor purchased it for his new home, Stanbury Manor. Soon after arriving at the manor, the poltergeist began its work, Mrs Ley witnessed twelve guns from the armoury clattering across the floor – yet their restraining wires had not broken. When the chest was moved to the bedroom, pictures repeatedly crashed to the floor, Mr Ley was in fact hit by one when he was sitting in a chair two feet from the wall. The Leys decided to lay the ghost and called in a spiritualist from Lostwithiel, the exorcism was apparently successful and no […]

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Who Killed the King?

At 7 o’clock on the evening of August 2nd 1100, the King of England William II, nicked named “Rufus” because of his red hair made his last drive of the day’s hunting. According to records Walter Tyrrel, a friend of the king, loosed off an arrow at a stag that the king had tried to hit, Walter also missed but his arrow deflected by the thick hair on the animal’s back and ricocheted directed into Rufus’s heart. Horror-struck, his friends gathered round and it was pointed out that Rufus had been slain by the arrow belonging to Tyrrel. He denied responsibility claiming based on the angle of the shot it would have been impossible for him to hit the King. Realising that the suspicion was falling on to him, he ran for his horse and took a ship for Normandy. The rest of the friends also dispersed leaving William’s body lying alone in the approaching dusk. Two hours later the body was found by a charcoal burner who loaded it on to this cart and carried it 20 miles to Winchester, it was said that the king’s blood watered the earth all the way. The Divine Victim? Many researchers believe […]

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The Bishop’s House, Sheffield

One of the first cases I investigated transpired at a medieval building in Sheffield called “The Bishop’s House”. As well as being one of the oldest buildings in Sheffield it claimed to be the most haunted. Myself and another investigator, Valerie Salim investigated multiple sightings of a grey lady who would touch visitors to the tourist attraction. Often the lady would be seen standing beside the 16th Century windows, in one sighting she walked past an old rocking chair, moving it to and fro. Numerous witness reports were gathered but after two months the sightings died down. Soon after, the then curator of Bishop’s House, Mr Smythe*, released to the press a tale about an old box in the house’s museum. Every night the curator would lock the box and place it in the room where the grey lady is seen. The next morning, without fail the box would be unlocked and in some cases open! I was too busy at the time to investigate the case, so Valerie interviewed Mr Smythe and published the account in her book “Ghost Hunter’s Guide to Sheffield.” For over sixteen years the box had been the centrepiece of the house’s museum, many visitors […]

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Silbury Hill

Silbury Hill in Wiltshire just a few miles from Avebury is a place of mystery for both historians and new agers alike. The ‘hill’ is the largest man-made mound in Europe, being 130 feet high and covering 5 acres at its base and is estimated to have taken 18 million man-hours to construct. A broad, deep ditch surrounding it has become filled with silt but originally would have been full of water. Could it have been some form of Neolithic temple, with the water reflecting the night’s sky? Recent research confirms a Neolithic origin for Silbury. Various excavations over the centuries (the most thoroughgoing being in 1968-70) have failed to reveal a burial. The purpose of the mound, like much of prehistoric activity, is unknown. According to folklore the mound was the final resting place for King Sil, who sat upright on a golden horse or within a golden coffin, depending on which version you prefer. Legends also suggest that the mound was dropped by the Devil after hearing the prayers from the Druids of Avebury. In the Alexander Keiller Museum in Avebury village are samples of the winged ants excavated from the centre of Silbury Hill in 1969, showing […]

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Royalist Devil of Woodstock

From Woodstock Manor House comes the tale of the “Royalist Devil of Woodstock”, whether the spirit was the devil or an ingenious follower of the King, it disturbed the Parliamentarians so much, they refused to occupy the building again. Formerly Woodstock Palace, Woodstock Manor House was visited by Cromwell’s commissioners on 13th October 1649, with order to remove all evidence of the King’s occupancy there. During their stay they were victims of sever poltergeist activity, believed at the time to be the disembodied spirit of a Royalist. Three days after their arrival at the Manor House, paranormal activity began. Two of the commissioners, and members of their staff, saw a phantom dog entering the room they were using as a bedroom. It went over to their beds and started gnawing at the cords. The next night was even more eventful, their beds were hoisted up and down so violently by invisible hands that they were said to be a mass of bruises the following morning. The wood from the King’s Oak, which by then had been cut into small pieces, was found scattered around the dining room, and furniture was found overturned. Objects were hurled about various rooms and candles […]

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The Ghosts of Repton, Derbyshire

Despite their macabre associations, churchyards are not normally more liable to ghosts than anywhere else, for in normal circumstances churchyards are simply resting places which should not contain any restless spirits or echoes of a troubled past. Repton’s Saintly Past In Derbyshire, Repton village churchyard has certain distinctive features which make such echoes slightly more possible. The Church of St Wystan contains a unique Saxon crypt which is one of the most important surviving pieces of Saxon architecture in England. It dates from around 750 AD and contains the tombs of King Ethelbald of Mercia (757AD) and King Wiglaf (840AD). When Wystan (Grandson of Wiglaf) a Saxon prince, was treacherously murdered he was buried in the crypt with his ancestors. Soon after the crypt became a shrine where miraculous cures were claimed to take place. Historians claim the site of the church was previously occupied by the Old Saxon Abbey, with a secret passage leading to Anchor Church nearly three miles away. As the capital of the Kingdom of Mercia, Repton had a fairly active history which culminated in 874 when the town and Abbey were sacked by Danes. The Abbey was completely destroyed, but the crypt partly survived to […]

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The Devil’s Arrows

Standing nearly 22 feet in height, the three Bronze age monoliths, The Devil’s Arrows are the tallest standing stones in the United Kingdom apart from the Rudston Monolith. The stones are devilishly black with deep grooves running from top to bottom, the victims of countless years of corrosive rain on their millstone grit. The grooves are a testament to their age and mystery, many believe the stones were created with grooves to add phallic symbolism or that they stand on a cross roads of ley lines through North Yorkshire. Originally four stones, their name has been traced back to 1721 when they where known locally as The Devil’s Bolts. Legend claims that one day the Devil stood on Howe Hill and fired our arrows to destroy Fountain’s Abbey near Ripon but they fell short of their intended target. Since Antiquarian William Stukeley’s time it has been believed that the arrows are in a straight line, running North to South. The fact is that they’re visibly not. When they were dragged across from miles of countryside from Knaresborough (seven miles away), the stones where constructed to not be in line, but to be slightly “westward.” In the 1970’s Paul Devereux wrote […]

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Painswick’s Hidden Folly

More than three hundred years ago a lodge was built high above the Gloucestershire village of Painswick, this was no ordinary folly, and it was built in the name of Greek God Pan. For many years  I have received many reports of supposed occult activity occurring in and around Painswick. Local churchyards have been the scene of vandalism in its most obscurest, strange people have been witnessed on nearby land performing rituals but strangely the general consensus is that the villagers know who are behind these deeds. During my research time in Stroud and Gloucestershire I stumbled on a number of documents about Painwick and particular about a mysterious lodge. Luckily I was able to obtain details of its construction and its possible usage. Pan’s Lodge once stood within the grounds of Painswick House where an ivy clad statue of the god Pan can still be seen.  Pan is seen poised on a stone plinth, raising his pipes as if to summon nearby nymphs and satyrs, unfortunately this statue is the only surviving remnant of one of the Cotswold’s most intriguing lost buildings. Our quest for this lost building begins just a mile away where we find another lost relic […]

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