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Blue Bell Hill

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Anonymous

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I have mentioned this elsewhere on the board, but thought it would be better to post here in the Ghosts section..

I moved to Medway in Kent for a while in the winter of 1994 and at that time I was seeing a bloke who's parents lived in Ashford ... we would usually drive over to see them every weekend and as any of you with any local knowledge will know this mean't driving down the A229 Bluebell Hill for part of the route.

Everytime we drove past the bit close to the petrol station (where there is a tunnel under the road) I used to get Pins and needles quite badly.. this happened about three or four times in succession and occaisionally after that... but it wasn't until a long time after this that I realised that that stretch of road was famous for the Bluebell Hill road ghost - was I ever freaked out when I realised this !!

I'd like to know if anyone else has has similar feelings while passing this spot ??


Haarp
 
Thanks Neil... have done ... and very interesting it was too...

I remember the author of the article in Fortean Times a few years ago speculated that the sightings were linked to folklore and the disruption of earth spirits - and may have been a result of the road works being carried out at Bluebell Hill in the early 90's..

He also speculated that we may anticipate more activity with the construction of the Channel Tunnel rail link in the area.

As this work is being carried out at the present time has there been any news of more recent encounters in the area ?
 
I'll leave it to Sean to explain, but whilst the phantom hitchhikers and road aparitions of some areas may be mere urban legends and friend-of-a-friend tales, there is far more to the BBH history which is why the website goes into great depth to explain it.
 
HAARP said:
I remember the author of the article in Fortean Times a few years ago speculated that the sightings were linked to folklore and the disruption of earth spirits - and may have been a result of the road works being carried out at Bluebell Hill in the early 90's..

He also speculated that we may anticipate more activity with the construction of the Channel Tunnel rail link in the area.

As this work is being carried out at the present time has there been any news of more recent encounters in the area ?

Hi HAARP. The website and the FT articles were written by yours truly. I've researched and written on the BBH case for many years now. The site represents only around 25% of a manuscript that I hope will at long last find a publisher to enable the full and fascinating story to be told: about the Ghost sightings and the real-life tragedy with which they are associated), and the story's evolution from localised urban legend to conceivably the foremost case of its kind today. (Neil, BTW, who posted the site link, runs an independent research programme, Kent Big Cat Research, which covers the same area from the crypto angle).
The section of the A229 you mention, near the petrol station, is indeed at the centre of things as far as reported sightings are concerned. Perhaps more relevant to your experience, however, is the crossing of the A229 here of an overhead power-line. I've felt the skin-tingling effects of the field whilst standing beneath the cables - although I will admit I don't know how you might feel the same inside a passing vehicle.
You're correct about my speculations regarding a resurgence of activity with environmental disturbance/road construction - which has been held up at BBH and numerous other road ghost localities. I hear anecdotes claiming new sightings, but nothing like the press-reported, police-investigated name-witness accounts that sparked the case's widespread exposure in 1992/3.
Either they're not happening, or it is a function of the reports not coming to our attention due to lack of press/media interest, and/or the staff of the Kent Messenger who knew of my work and exchanged info in the early 90s having all moved on).
If I hear anything knew, I will post it on roadghosts.com, and of course, this forum.
Meanwhile, I would like to extend my appeal to all readers of these boards for road ghost encounters whereever they may be found. Please post them to me via http://www.roadghosts.com.
 
Thank you for your reply Hermes !

Very interesting about the overhead power lines - I expect that was what caused my 'tingley' feeling..

Aside from the 'pins and needles' caused by the power lines, have you experienced any other unusual occurences while doing your research at Bluebell Hill ??
 
Hi HAARP.
I can't say I've personally had any really odd experiences on the hill. I think that's expected when the mind is wholly focused. That distraction that seems so necessary to paranormal experience just isn't there for me. However, without making any great claims for it, I at one time experienced a strong, car-filling scent of flowers when driving over the crest of the hill - much stronger than I thought the normal carry of air should give, I thought. I recall even saying aloud something like, "hullo?".
Otherwise, I've been on the hill late at night alone, and seen or sensed nothing.
My sister one year heard the loud wrap of what she described as knuckles tapping rapidly on her driver's side window when coming down the hill - the same thing as happened to a later correspondent.
However, these events are a far cry from the vivid, close-range and totally shocking accounts of full apparitions that I have personally heard from a number of witnesses, which together add up to a convincing pattern of events that strongly suggest that there is something genuinely odd about the place.

Hermes
 
It is. Thanks Yithian. I'll reply in more detail when I get a little more time. By the way, tonight (8. Nov.) is the anniversary of coach driver Ian Sharpe's dramatic encounter at Blue Bell Hill in 1992 (11.50pm), which this year will occur under the eerily waning light of the moon under eclipse (commences 11.32pm).
 
Solar storm records have been smashed over the last 2 weeks, have you had any increase in ghostly activity noted, Hermes?
 
Hermes said:
It is. Thanks Yithian. I'll reply in more detail when I get a little more time. By the way, tonight (8. Nov.) is the anniversary of coach driver Ian Sharpe's dramatic encounter at Blue Bell Hill in 1992 (11.50pm), which this year will occur under the eerily waning light of the moon under eclipse (commences 11.32pm).

If I hadn't had a drink already, I might be tempted to take a trip over there, it's not far.

Have got binoculars at hand, but will I see the moon at all with Maidstone's light pollution?

Drove past Water Lane on my way home from Leeds Castle tonight.

Nothing to report. :cool:
 
Sweet Young Ghostly Things and Hags

The single most comprehensive article I've yet seen on the Blue Bell Hill area "road ghosts" and "road hags" is Sean Tudor's "Hell's Belles," which appeared in FORTEAN TIMES for December, 1997, Issue 104, pages 36-40.

This is "footnoted Fortean" writing and research at its very best and single-handedly convinced me that what transpires at and near BBH is a genuine Phenomenon and not merely another collection of urban legends.
 
Agreed - and Sean is a darn nice bloke too- we had an afternoon getting bladdered in the Student Union bar at my first Uncon, where he gave a lecture. Missed all the afternoons lectures, but what the hell...!

He wasn't too happy that the preceeding talk by Jenny Randles overran, so he had to cut down on his talk drastically....moderators take note!
 
Any physicists out there can surely correct me, but wouldn't a car insulate against any electrical field from the overhead power lines...I would have thought that it would act as a Faraday Cage?
 
Trust me, I'm NO physicist - but I've occasionally noticed minor electrical effects inside automobiles as they pass beneath high-voltage power lines, a sort of near-subliminal "crackling" in the air and the hair on my arms ruffled.

But I have an additional question for our physicist - why aren't people electrocuted when they walk beneath such power lines during drenching rainstorms?
 
Well seeing as the engine in a car works like the things that spin or rotate like a clock so fast inside of car engines, it's believable.

The speed of whats inside them would create electricity.
 
MaxMolyneux said:
Well seeing as the engine in a car works like the things that spin or rotate like a clock so fast inside of car engines, it's believable.

The speed of whats inside them would create electricity.
That's an interesting way of putting it.

Must admit, I always thought they acted as Faraday cages too (I remember seeing cars being tested in a lightning chamber, where they were subjected to repeated bolts - all that happened was that the rear windscreen wiper involuntarily twitched - could have been on Top Gear.)
 
OldTimeRadio said:
why aren't people electrocuted when they walk beneath such power lines during drenching rainstorms?
Interesting question!

I suppose you imagine that some electric charge is transferred to any raindrop which hits the powerline cable, and that this charge would be transferred to any person the raindrop happened to hit.

Firstly, I'm not sure you can charge a raindrop, which is mostly pure water. (You can pass a current through water, and electrolyse it into its constituents, hydrogen and oxygen, but that's a different process involving two oppositely charged conductors, the anode and the cathode.)

The empirical proof of my idea is that you don't hear of massive energy losses every time a heavy rainstorm hits a power cable, as zillions of raindrops carry away the charge. (Power cuts might be caused by associated lightning strikes, but that's a different matter again.)

But let's assume that raindrops can pick up some charge. When they hit a person standing below, dripping wet in the rain, the charge would instantly run direct to earth via the outside of his clothing, since water is a good conductor.


As for cars making good Faraday cages, well, maybe not. There's a lot of window space, for one thing, and convertibles might have soft or fibreglass tops as well.

And the rapidly moving parts of a car engine would only generate electromagnetic effects if these parts were either electrically charged or magnetised. Since engines are mostly metal, any electrical charge would rapidly dissipate. And most magnetic materials would rapidly lose their magnetic properties under the constant percussion of the engine firing.

I'm not saying you couldn't make a magnet that would retain its properties under these conditions (modern materials are pretty clever in the world of magnets), but why would anyone want to? The only effect I can see would be to cause interference on the car radio! :D
 
stuneville said:
Must admit, I always thought they acted as Faraday cages too (I remember seeing cars being tested in a lightning chamber, where they were subjected to repeated bolts - all that happened was that the rear windscreen wiper involuntarily twitched - could have been on Top Gear.)

That's sounds exactly like the programme I was thinking of...I think it was on QED years ago, although I remember they always put a hefty chain hanging off the rear bumper to ground the car. I also remember that they had some poor sucker sitting in the car whilst it was struck by enormous bolts of electricity.
 
I'm not claiming any connection to the famous phantom, but I did find another rather grisly incident that took not far from Bluebell Hill. The story was reported widely and I attach this version only as it is the most complete. It's dated Sat Sept 30th 1916 [Click Image and select the magnifying glass for a - just about - readable image]:

*EDIT: Image removed as Photofuckfaces shrank and watermarked it to ensure illegibility.*
 
I was born and grew up on blue bell hill, comman lane right up the top, never saw nothing, just my luck
 
I'm not claiming any connection to the famous phantom, but I did find another rather grisly incident that took not far from Bluebell Hill. The story was reported widely and I attach this version only as it is the most complete. It's dated Sat Sept 30th 1916 [Click Image and select the magnifying glass for a - just about - readable image]:

The discovery of the remains of Emily Maria Trigg, a resident of Blue Bell Hill - and one of the candidates in the Blue Bell Hill story discussed in my book on the subject (The Ghosts of Blue Bell Hill & other Road Ghosts) - available now.
 
The discovery of the remains of Emily Maria Trigg, a resident of Blue Bell Hill - and one of the candidates in the Blue Bell Hill story discussed in my book on the subject (The Ghosts of Blue Bell Hill & other Road Ghosts) - available now.

And an excellent book it is too. Highly recommended reading and so pleased to see it available after stumbling across roadghosts.com about 7 years ago, which itself is an intriguing site full of witnesses to all manner of roadside hauntings
 
And an excellent book it is too. Highly recommended reading and so pleased to see it available after stumbling across roadghosts.com about 7 years ago, which itself is an intriguing site full of witnesses to all manner of roadside hauntings

Seconded.

I wasn't really expecting anything quite so hefty - in physical size or in detail: this isn't the pumped up local history effort that some books of this type can turn out to be - this is some serious business.

I've not finished it yet – in fact I’m not even half way through - but I’ll admit to a comprehensive skim of witness accounts; I was of course aware of the Blue Bell Hill story, but I had absolutely no idea of the number of incidents, or the variety.

This satisfies both ends of my personal spectrum of desires when reading such a book: researched and referenced in a way which satisfies the bespectacled student of life (and death) who lives in one cluttered garret of my mind, but with enough shityerpants scary moments amongst the witness accounts to satisfy the adolescent thrill seeker in the next room.

Very impressed - I'm really enjoying it.

Well done Hermes – clearly a serious amount of work, and a labour of love, which I’m very happy you've now shared it with a wider audience.
 
Thank you Paul and Spookdaddy for your kind comments. If any fellow Forteans find themselves in the area, I'll be happy to arrange a personal tour!
 
Hermes -

Just ordered the book. I've been a fan of your website for a number of years now and am looking forward to reading the culmination of all your research and other efforts.

CAL.
 
Hermes -

Just ordered the book. I've been a fan of your website for a number of years now and am looking forward to reading the culmination of all your research and other efforts.

CAL.

Had forgotten of its existence, but I think I may make it a Christmas purchase.
Need some mist and a nip in the air to draw out the correct ambiance.
 
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