Wow. That brings back memories!
That was indeed contributed to FT by my very good friend Karl Audley. It was seen on a council estate in Gorleston (where we both grew up), East Norfolk. Probably around 1993? Maybe 1994. He was about 19.
He witnessed it whilst he stood at one end an alley one afternoon. He described it as being like a projection. It would flicker...it would repeat movement, a leg coming forward as if walking, but then moving back, then forward...the figure never moved forward.
Interestingly, another friend of ours saw it a few days before and had told him about it, he went there to see it.
It had a profound effect on him too be honest, all of us. And the figure seeped into the consciousness of our small group of friends. We were all very much into heavy drugs at the time and the figure became known to us as Dr. Mumbo. It became something of a totem to us. We were at an outside party with pretty extreme debauchery a few years later and a photo was taken...it was a photo of us friends on a field, bright sunny day...in the background, between some trees, could be seen a very tall figure, somewhat blurred...reminded us somewhat of an Emperor's Royal Guard from the Star Wars series...it was very tall, red all over, seeming masked or faceless, stockier than a Royal Guard. None of us saw it on the day, because in the photo it was behind us. It made us all feel shocked, somewhat repulsed...not a good feeling. We considered it another possible visit of Dr. Mumbo.
Seeing that image today, for the first time in, I dunno...15 years? Has stirred up a mix of emotions, for sure.
Dark yet wonderful days at that time...and that figure became very much a part of our consciousness. We were musicians at the time, and another version of that drawing was on the cover of our demo album...called "Urban Voodoo", named after the book on Afro-Caribbean magic by S. Jason Black and Christopher Hyatt. As well as being drug addicts and musicians, we were all practising magic...a variety of eclectic forms. It seems that the figure, and our magical workings, and our extreme liminal states were all connected in some sense...something that was never apparent until today.
