Tunn11
Justified & Ancient
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2005
- Messages
- 2,233
- Location
- Under the highest tree top in Kent
Don’t know where to post this but as it happened to me I’ll put it there but if any Mods want to move it please feel free.
About 25 years or so ago we (Mrs T and I ) decided that we were fed up with the endless round of shopping for Xmas presents near home which usually resulted in not buying something because we weren’t sure then ending up making another trip to get it. We decided to have a weekend away in North Yorkshire and spend a day in York where we would get the presents, one day and that’s it. In those days there were shops in York that weren’t in the South, so there was a chance of buying something different.
We stayed in Hawnby on the North York Moors and as it was November the trip back to Hawnby was in darkness . It was also quite misty. I’m guessing that we were somewhere on the road that joins the b1257 to Murton Bank
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place...b00de94fe77e0a3!8m2!3d54.2995962!4d-1.1676728
we saw what looked to be a phantom sheep. The road twisted and dropped at the point and I was using main beam, which throws strange shadows on roadside tussocks of grass, etc. But at one point while turning left a white shape went from left to right across the road.
Mrs T saw it as well. As there was nothing else on the road I reversed and tried it again. Sure enough an illusion, although I couldn’t work out how it worked. After several tries I could see another car so had to give up.
Other trips were made but not in the mist, which must have been a factor, although a couple of years later we did visit Helmsley with some friends (who liked the Xmas shopping idea) and returned to Helmsley in similar conditions to our first encounter. I mentioned the “phantom sheep of the North York Moors” was somewhere around where we then were; soon after we reached the spot and saw it again, albeit not as convincingly as the first encounter.
Never worked out how the illusion worked but I wonder whether some motorist, on their own, on a dark lonely road, saw it and is convinced they saw a road ghost?
About 25 years or so ago we (Mrs T and I ) decided that we were fed up with the endless round of shopping for Xmas presents near home which usually resulted in not buying something because we weren’t sure then ending up making another trip to get it. We decided to have a weekend away in North Yorkshire and spend a day in York where we would get the presents, one day and that’s it. In those days there were shops in York that weren’t in the South, so there was a chance of buying something different.
We stayed in Hawnby on the North York Moors and as it was November the trip back to Hawnby was in darkness . It was also quite misty. I’m guessing that we were somewhere on the road that joins the b1257 to Murton Bank
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place...b00de94fe77e0a3!8m2!3d54.2995962!4d-1.1676728
we saw what looked to be a phantom sheep. The road twisted and dropped at the point and I was using main beam, which throws strange shadows on roadside tussocks of grass, etc. But at one point while turning left a white shape went from left to right across the road.
Mrs T saw it as well. As there was nothing else on the road I reversed and tried it again. Sure enough an illusion, although I couldn’t work out how it worked. After several tries I could see another car so had to give up.
Other trips were made but not in the mist, which must have been a factor, although a couple of years later we did visit Helmsley with some friends (who liked the Xmas shopping idea) and returned to Helmsley in similar conditions to our first encounter. I mentioned the “phantom sheep of the North York Moors” was somewhere around where we then were; soon after we reached the spot and saw it again, albeit not as convincingly as the first encounter.
Never worked out how the illusion worked but I wonder whether some motorist, on their own, on a dark lonely road, saw it and is convinced they saw a road ghost?
Nice account, thank you for sharing.
