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Gnomes In Little Red Cars? (Wollaton Park Gnomes; 1979)

BS3 said:
http://magoniamagazine.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-case-of-liverpool-leprechauns.html

I've just been reading this article, printed in Magonia in the 1980s, which talks about a case in 1964 where hundreds of children ended up rampaging through Liverpool parks looking for leprechauns (some of whom actually claimed to have seen leprechauns). Scale aside, I think there are a few interesting parallels. The possible partial solution, in the 'confession' given by Mr Jones in 1982, also points towards how - maybe - children could misperceive a quite normally sized person as a gnome, or leprechaun.
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I am always rather cautious of belated confessions, especially if they involve a local 'wag' or 'character' as people like reassuring answers to difficult questions and such a person may have been under gentle pressure from locals to 'confess':

"Is Brian’s belated confession then the solution to the great Liverpool leprechaun panic? More than a brief glance at his statements will show that he simply makes matters more complicated rather than clearing them up. His story is full of contradictions and errors when compared with the contemporary press reports. For a start, Brian claims that the leprechauns were first seen on Thursday and Friday, and that on the Saturday crowds gathered near his grandfather’s home; yet the press tells us that the creatures were first seen on Tuesday, 30th June. Perhaps with the passage of time he just forgot the correct days and dates of the sightings, and just remembered the dates of the newspaper reports?"

'It seems odd that the newspaper descriptions of the leprechauns do not tally with Mr Jones’s description of his elegant outfit. None of the children noticed his red waistcoat, the red bobble on his hat, his navy trousers or his denim shirt. The ten-foot-high wall is of interest too. It could not have been the most simple thing in the world to climb, either for the children, or particularly for Mr Jones considering his short height and Wellington boots"

http://magoniamagazine.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-case-of-liverpool-leprechauns.html

The same goes for the belated 'confession' that the alleged 1977 Welsh Triangle silver-suited alien spacemen were all down to a couple of hoaxers in fire suits despite them not having so much as a single photograph to prove it. I just feel it may have been no more than pub talk two or three decades later and then gentle, friendly pressure on two men known for practical jokes to 'own up'. The subsequent 'owning up' then gets these individuals the attention and fleeting fame they knowingly or unknowingly seek

Edit: just to add that if you have ever worked in a pub as I have you will probably understand how this alcohol-fuelled process of remembering events of the past and then attributing them to this and that local prankster/wag works
 
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SimonBurchell said:
I believe it was even later than that.
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Also, if I remember correctly, it was quite late in the evening on a Sunday night. When children may have been expected to be in bed getting ready for a school day (it was September, so just after the start of the new Autumn term).
 
catseye said:
Also, if I remember correctly, it was quite late in the evening on a Sunday night. When children may have been expected to be in bed getting ready for a school day (it was September, so just after the start of the new Autumn term).
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It says something tat at no time that I am aware of did any of the parents deny their young children were out late that night, not even after the media interest
 
WeirdExeter said:
It says something tat at no time that I am aware of did any of the parents deny their young children were out late that night, not even after the media interest
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I think it was about 9.30, which might be regarded as late, and would have been by my parents when I was that age. But I guess that different families have different priorities, so it may be a red herring in the whole tale.
 
WeirdExeter said:
I am always rather cautious of belated confessions, especially if they involve a local 'wag' or 'character' as people like reassuring answers to difficult questions and such a person may have been under gentle pressure from locals to 'confess':

"Is Brian’s belated confession then the solution to the great Liverpool leprechaun panic? More than a brief glance at his statements will show that he simply makes matters more complicated rather than clearing them up. His story is full of contradictions and errors when compared with the contemporary press reports. For a start, Brian claims that the leprechauns were first seen on Thursday and Friday, and that on the Saturday crowds gathered near his grandfather’s home; yet the press tells us that the creatures were first seen on Tuesday, 30th June. Perhaps with the passage of time he just forgot the correct days and dates of the sightings, and just remembered the dates of the newspaper reports?"

'It seems odd that the newspaper descriptions of the leprechauns do not tally with Mr Jones’s description of his elegant outfit. None of the children noticed his red waistcoat, the red bobble on his hat, his navy trousers or his denim shirt. The ten-foot-high wall is of interest too. It could not have been the most simple thing in the world to climb, either for the children, or particularly for Mr Jones considering his short height and Wellington boots"

http://magoniamagazine.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-case-of-liverpool-leprechauns.html

The same goes for the belated 'confession' that the alleged 1977 Welsh Triangle silver-suited alien spacemen were all down to a couple of hoaxers in fire suits despite them not having so much as a single photograph to prove it. I just feel it may have been no more than pub talk two or three decades later and then gentle, friendly pressure on two men known for practical jokes to 'own up'. The subsequent 'owning up' then gets these individuals the attention and fleeting fame they knowingly or unknowingly seek

Edit: just to add that if you have ever worked in a pub as I have you will probably understand how this alcohol-fuelled process of remembering events of the past and then attributing them to this and that local prankster/wag works
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One thing I found interesting about the leprechauns was that the Magonia article did in fact prompt a number of recollections from participants - reproduced below the article at the link. These ranged from vague incomprehension, to a memory of the collective 'panic', to an assertion of a tall tale, to a clear memory of small gnome like figures. I wonder if the Wollaton witnesses would have a similar range of memories today?
 
The most recent Folklore Podcast (the one about Boggarts), also touches on this subject again. Mostly in connection with how thorough documentation of an event can help researchers going back over older events, but, in this case, leading the presenter to cast disbelief on the story once again.
 
I just took a parcel to our village shop/Post Office for Mrs T. Said Post Office is next to a nursery school and to enter the shop you walk up some steps (or a ramp) which overlooks the nursery.

It must have been playtime or something because about a dozen stickies were there all bombing about in small plastic cars or bikes. They were all remarkably quiet given the row stickies usually make. There were no adults in sight, I’m sure they were there just not in my view.

It was a strange sight and for a passing second reminded me of Gnomes in cars.
 
Tunn11 said:
I just took a parcel to our village shop/Post Office for Mrs T. Said Post Office is next to a nursery school and to enter the shop you walk up some steps (or a ramp) which overlooks the nursery.

It must have been playtime or something because about a dozen stickies were there all bombing about in small plastic cars or bikes. They were all remarkably quiet given the row stickies usually make. There were no adults in sight, I’m sure they were there just not in my view.

It was a strange sight and for a passing second reminded me of Gnomes in cars.
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Stickies?
 
Mythopoeika said:
Stickies?
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After Bart Simpson referred to Maggie as "Sticky" I adopted a classification for young children. Stickies, Stropies, Snotties and Spotties. To be fair these were probably past the sticky stage but were very quiet which was partly why it was all rather surreal.

Lest you judge me too harshly for my views on younger children I offer a quote from Richmal Crompton author of the William books "The young man liked children, this was because he didn't know many."

Also hundreds of Library baby rhyme times have unnerved me horribly. I still get an uncontrollable twitch when I hear "The Wheels on the Bus."
And I bet you don't know how many verses there are to "Greensleeves." *:worry:

Sorry, very off topic. My point was that there was something vaguely unsettling about a group of small children in small cars racing around a playground in comparative silence. They weren't talking or interacting with each other they each seemed focussed on propelling a small plastic car/bike/ tractor on a set course. When I came out there was the normal mix of activities, noise, etc. a little odd but it just put me in mind of Gnomes in cars.

* Eight, with the chorus repeated eight times - all off key, and loud.
 
Tunn11 said:
After Bart Simpson referred to Maggie as "Sticky" I adopted a classification for young children. Stickies, Stropies, Snotties and Spotties. To be fair these were probably past the sticky stage but were very quiet which was partly why it was all rather surreal.

Lest you judge me too harshly for my views on younger children I offer a quote from Richmal Crompton author of the William books "The young man liked children, this was because he didn't know many."

Also hundreds of Library baby rhyme times have unnerved me horribly. I still get an uncontrollable twitch when I hear "The Wheels on the Bus."
And I bet you don't know how many verses there are to "Greensleeves." *:worry:

Sorry, very off topic. My point was that there was something vaguely unsettling about a group of small children in small cars racing around a playground in comparative silence. They weren't talking or interacting with each other they each seemed focussed on propelling a small plastic car/bike/ tractor on a set course. When I came out there was the normal mix of activities, noise, etc. a little odd but it just put me in mind of Gnomes in cars.

* Eight, with the chorus repeated eight times - all off key, and loud.
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I would guess that they have very limited outdoor time, and were making the most of it by pedalling their chosen vehicle with that particular brand of ferocious silence that small children can have when they concentrate very hard.
 
The darkening autumn evenings have drawn me back to this case, given that it took place on a dark evening in late September.

A while back I mentioned the Nottingham researcher Frank Earp (a contributor to the recent book on the 'gnomes') making a few comparisons with his own 'boggart' sighting (as he described it) in the 1960s, in terms of atmospheric conditions, local geology, time of day / year, etc.

He's now written it up, and it's a good one to say the least (readers of Paul Devereux's stuff may recognise it):

https://nottinghamhiddenhistoryteam.wordpress.com/2022/04/12/the-boggart/
 
To clarify, I should say that the area of the 'boggart' sighting (although redeveloped heavily since the 1960s) is just a few hundred yards away from the place where the 'gnomes' were seen some years later.

It is possible to pinpoint the site with the very useful NLS old map service, which you can put as an overlay on a modern street map:

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16.8&lat=52.95884&lon=-1.21796&layers=168&b=1
 
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Here are a few pictures found online to give an idea of the setting of the 1967 'boggart' sighting. Here's the derelict canal and towpath, along which the witnesses were pursued, at Wollaton:

3970720b52d38ec0907969a337e05a86.jpg


And here's the colliery and basin in 1966, the year prior to the 'boggart' account. The basin is the spot from where the mist initially arose:

62284.1.320.320.FFFFFF.jpeg


Finally this aerial shot appears to show the canal running from the colliery (bottom) past the Old Coach Road bridge mentioned in the account - the road crossing the canal on a slant - along with the point where the entity itself appeared further up in, or by, a clump of trees at Woodyard Lane:

EAW012067.jpg


Today the location of the entity sighting is, as best as I can make out, about here:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/p5ooNra1JbBvqVvj6
 
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BS3 said:
Here are a few pictures found online to give an idea of the setting of the 1967 'boggart' sighting. Here's the derelict canal and towpath, along which the witnesses were pursued, at Wollaton:

View attachment 59995

And here's the colliery and basin in 1966, the year prior to the 'boggart' account. The basin is the spot from where the mist initially arose:

View attachment 59996

Finally this aerial shot appears to show the canal running from the colliery (bottom) past the Old Coach Road bridge mentioned in the account - the road crossing the canal on a slant - along with the point where the entity itself appeared further up in, or by, a clump of trees at Woodyard Lane:

View attachment 59997

Today the location of the entity sighting is, as best as I can make out, about here:

https://maps.app.goo.gl/p5ooNra1JbBvqVvj6
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From the 1/10,000 OS map, 1949-1971:

89180B4E-E6E9-40A9-A8DB-3DFCBDF3ED3F.png


maximus otter
 
Note that Wollaton Park is literally just south of that section of map; the canal used to curve round very close to one of the eastern lodges. While I'm quite firmly in the 'golf carts / rag week prank' camp on the gnomes issue, this proximity is quite interesting.

Elsewhere on the Hidden History site Earp also relates that his grandfather's house on Woodyard Lane was haunted by an entity described as a black, shadow-like mass and the sound of footsteps: his grandfather used to tell him to go to sleep early on those occasional nights when "Charlie is walking" (dunno about you, but I wouldn't have slept a wink after that). Wollaton Hall was also associated with a similar manifestation: oddly this was also called "Charlie" by staff. It may be that for some reason - sociological, maybe even physical - this small area has a particularly Fortean aspect to it (or maybe it just has a diligent recorder of such events).
 
It's an unverifiable story on the internet, but the following reminded me that other people do, occasionally, claim to see pointy-hatted gnomes in marshes:

https://www.reddit.com/r/nonmurdermysteries/comments/o4di39/_/h2icm2e

What's nice about this one is that it was in response to a question about cryptozoology generally rather than gnomes, which makes me slightly more inclined to think it hasn't just been made up.
 
BS3 said:
It's an unverifiable story on the internet, but the following reminded me that other people do, occasionally, claim to see pointy-hatted gnomes in marshes:

https://www.reddit.com/r/nonmurdermysteries/comments/o4di39/_/h2icm2e

What's nice about this one is that it was in response to a question about cryptozoology generally rather than gnomes, which makes me slightly more inclined to think it hasn't just been made up.
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A great find, thanks. There does seem to be a 'feel' about genuine posts (posters who actually believe they saw something) as opposed to the outright fiction on Reddit that always has far too much structure and detail. Interesting that the sun was setting, making it a liminal time of day
 

Here's a video on Wollaton Park and the Gnomes featuring two of the authors who contributed to Simon Young's book.
 
I mean it's so bizarre it has to be true, but is it any more bizarre than black panthers roaming around the bucolic British countryside? Or a plethora of other Fortean tales ?
 
I think it's as much a 'classic' as any other Fortean tale - maybe it's just the cars that mean people take it a bit less seriously. In reality it's no weirder than Earp's glowing ball of mist and strange hairy figure.
 
BS3 said:

Here's a video on Wollaton Park and the Gnomes featuring two of the authors who contributed to Simon Young's book.
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Well its interesting to see the location but a root that looks like someone's imagined drawing of a fairy is just a root and probably safe to touch...
 
While re-reading the lovely booklet "It Happened to Me" (vol. 1) edited by Fortean Times several years ago, in the chapter devoted to "The Little People", I came across this first-hand report that might (or not) be of interest in this thread.

“THE MINIGOLFERS

One evening during May 1994, I was walking home from Askham Bog natural reserve, across Pike Hills golf course, near York. The sun was still shining behind me, so visibility was reasonably good. My attention was drawn to some figures roughly 100 yards (90m) ahead of me, apparently putting a balla round on an otherwise deserted golf course. There were five or six very small figures, which I presumed to be children, quite engrossed in their game. When I was about 50 yards (45m) away, they appeared to become aware of me and I could see that they were not children but very small adults, about 4ft (1m) tall. At this moment one of them appeared to prepare to strike the ball hard in my direction. I ducked behind a nearby tree for a few seconds. When I looked again, the green and fairway were empty. They couldn’t have run away in so short a time and my search of the nearby area revealed no sign of them.

J Bardet, by email, 2002”
 
ginoide said:
While re-reading the lovely booklet "It Happened to Me" (vol. 1) edited by Fortean Times several years ago, in the chapter devoted to "The Little People", I came across this first-hand report that might (or not) be of interest in this thread.

“THE MINIGOLFERS

One evening during May 1994, I was walking home from Askham Bog natural reserve, across Pike Hills golf course, near York. The sun was still shining behind me, so visibility was reasonably good. My attention was drawn to some figures roughly 100 yards (90m) ahead of me, apparently putting a balla round on an otherwise deserted golf course. There were five or six very small figures, which I presumed to be children, quite engrossed in their game. When I was about 50 yards (45m) away, they appeared to become aware of me and I could see that they were not children but very small adults, about 4ft (1m) tall. At this moment one of them appeared to prepare to strike the ball hard in my direction. I ducked behind a nearby tree for a few seconds. When I looked again, the green and fairway were empty. They couldn’t have run away in so short a time and my search of the nearby area revealed no sign of them.

J Bardet, by email, 2002”
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Pike Hills Golf Club

Tadcaster Road,
Askham Bryan
York
YO23 3UW

IMG_1414.jpeg


maximus otter
 
The story was nicked for the book from the old FTMB, as were they all.
Here's a link to it -

#1

Sadly the text has gone now but could be retrieved, and we have it again now anyway. :)
 
ginoide said:
While re-reading the lovely booklet "It Happened to Me" (vol. 1) edited by Fortean Times several years ago, in the chapter devoted to "The Little People", I came across this first-hand report that might (or not) be of interest in this thread.

“THE MINIGOLFERS

One evening during May 1994, I was walking home from Askham Bog natural reserve, across Pike Hills golf course, near York. The sun was still shining behind me, so visibility was reasonably good. My attention was drawn to some figures roughly 100 yards (90m) ahead of me, apparently putting a balla round on an otherwise deserted golf course. There were five or six very small figures, which I presumed to be children, quite engrossed in their game. When I was about 50 yards (45m) away, they appeared to become aware of me and I could see that they were not children but very small adults, about 4ft (1m) tall. At this moment one of them appeared to prepare to strike the ball hard in my direction. I ducked behind a nearby tree for a few seconds. When I looked again, the green and fairway were empty. They couldn’t have run away in so short a time and my search of the nearby area revealed no sign of them.

J Bardet, by email, 2002”
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That's really quite wonderful in it's bizarreness and to be fair that's the sort of behavior we have come to expect from whoever or whatever it is, it's pure paranormal slapstick thanks for bringing that to everyone's attention, and you can understand people for not reporting it, perhaps that's why it changes tac every now and again, appearing as a black panther in a bucolic English pasture
 
cycleboy2 said:
What the hell were they putting in the water back in '79?
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Children's TV in the 1970s was a complete trip. It was bizarre and very, very strange at times. Garish psychedelic colours and odd stories. You didn't need drugs, you just watched Bagpuss or Jamie and the Magic Torch.

 
Fascinating story. Just jumping in to say that when I was a student at York in the 1980s one of the "things" for rag week would be to pay for students dressed as gnomes to follow someone around for the day. If someone was particularly popular they could have several gnomes in tow.
 
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