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There Is Something In The Woods

Sid said:
Midges! Cow's that suddenly go mad and stampede! People! Ticks! Old unseen shafts! Rock falls! Lightning! Dodgy food! Accidentally electrocuting yourself when tinkering with electrics! etc. :)
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Falling tree branches and wasps' nest. <nods>
 
Random bits of clothing, unmarked wells and shafts, Low flying Owls.

the latter really spooked me one autumn morning walking dog- Flew across path about 5ft off the ground- presumably hunting. They are silent.
 
Frideswide said:
tell us more please!
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From the link above:

Chiddinglye Wood, West Sussex​

For weird legends​

East of Wakehurst Place – Kew Gardens’ Sussex outpost – is this rich, deep wood, where wolves once howled and hunter-gatherers used to roam. Expect sandrock cliffs weathered into fantastic forms, and evocative ghyll woodlands full of rare filmy ferns.

On a triangular sandstone spur is a mysterious Iron Age earthwork known as Philpots Promontory Camp. The sculpted sandstone cliffs of the spur are deeply undercut at their base by rock shelters and small caves where Mesolithic microliths and flint arrow heads have been found. Isolated from the main cliff, Great-upon-Little (or Big-upon-Little) is a massive 400-to 500-ton block that has been undercut on all sides. It was once thought to be the meeting place of witches and Druids, and for many years merely to touch it meant sure death. Centuries of carved initials indicate such warnings were ignored.

Just west of Great-upon-Little is the ‘Executioners Rock’. Perhaps an ancient site of sacrifice, it features weird, well-worn steps to the top, and a deep groove from top to bottom – but, bizarrely, no carved initials. Was this, in fact, the untouchable rock?

Even if none of this worries you, tales of the woods’ ghostly black dog may do. It certainly scared the poacher who once said: ‘There’s one thing I dare not do; I’d be afear’d to walk through that girt valley below Big-on-Little after dark. It’s a terrible ellynge [eerie] place and a gurt black ghost hound walks there o’nights.’ For a really spooky experience, visit when there’s a full moon.
 
Dering woods are near Pluckley - supposedly very haunted, and a big cat sanctuary
Chiddinglye woods are not far from East Grinstead, which we have a thread about.

Don't know if that means anything as they are probably both near a Sainsbury's as well. :dunno:
:)
 
Stormkhan said:
Nowt wrong wi' Dalby Forest, eh? No Black Dog?
What about that Barry Prudom, known as The Phantom of The Forest? Killer of three who went on the run in Dalby Forest.
Surely, he might be haunting it somewhere?
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Dalby is mostly Forestry Commission though. All deliberately planted conifers. I think, for your proper haunted woodland you need mixed beech birch and scrubland, with patches of old oak. Dalby is a bit manufactured.
 
'S still trees though.
Lots of trees!
Me, t'wife and our dogs love the place. We know the people who're running the cafe at the visitors centre.
 
Stormkhan said:
'S still trees though.
Lots of trees!
Me, t'wife and our dogs love the place. We know the people who're running the cafe at the visitors centre.
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I like popping over there, and the dog loves it, but I've never found it very atmospheric. Too many nutters in lycra cycling about all over the place. I've even been there at night (used to have friends who lived in the village there) and not found it filled with anything spooky.

Not all trees are created equal.
 
I'm collecting accounts of weird stuff experienced in Healey Dell. Anyone want to contribute just message me here! Ta.
 
frankiefelix said:
I'm collecting accounts of weird stuff experienced in Healey Dell. Anyone want to contribute just message me here! Ta.
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The only (slightly) weird stuff thing that I could find online, it something called the 'fairy chapel.' So I guess the question is - why was it named the fairy chapel? Might be worth chasing up.
 
Venkmans on the case said:
" I will have to add my experience of visiting the Conygar tower in Dunster in the 1990's to the forum."

I hinted at this following experience briefly in the big cat thread a while ago but due to a number of reasons including a recent health scare I did not get around to writing about the visit my family made to the Conygar tower in the woods of Dunster....

Well here it is. I have always felt a little awkward about talking about this experience as my family all felt rather uncomfortable when it happened.

On our annual summer holidays to North Devon and Somerset we always looked in interest at the tower poking out from the woods near Dunster Castle. I would often ask my Dad what the tower was for as we passed by on the West Somerset Railway steam hauled trains or along the main road through Dunster. My Dad didn't know what it was but he did say that one day we would go and investigate it.
On the day that we decided to explore Dunster in the early 1990's it was a gloomy August day. We eventually found a way up to the Tower through the surrounding woods. There was a wooden fence around the tower but a section of it was pushed down with a well worn path going over the section of fence lying on the ground. My Dad led the way to the centre of the imposing tower which was hollow. While we stood inside the tower all was quiet and we enjoyed this moment of calm. Then shortly afterwards we could hear a number of different sounds in the distance; Gunshots and what sounded like metal clanging and scraping together and men shouting.
"What the hell is that?" I asked. "Must be a shoot on somewhere" my Dad replied. "I think we should be going now" my Mum added looking rather worried. "We shouldn't be up here" she said as she walked off in a hurry with my sister. My Dad and I followed swiftly behind. Later, on the journey back to our B & B I said to my Dad it sounded like we had heard a battle in full swing. He said that perhaps there was a battle re-enactment going on at Dunster Castle. We looked into this but couldn't find any information about any events on at the time of our visit.

Some time later I found a report about an incident that occurred in the 1950's when people visiting the tower heard the sound of marching and they also left in a hurry. This didn't make me feel any better about the experience my family had at the Conygar tower!

Has anyone else had any unusual experiences in Dunster I wonder?
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There's a new book coming out this month apparently called ‘Witches, Giants and a Ghost Cat – a travel guide to the mystery tales of Dunster’. The book launch is at Dunster’s Luttrell Arms from 7pm on Saturday, on September 30th. Sounds like there's a few new ghost stories in it, no doubt there'll be some previously unrecorded Conygar Tower tales as well.

https://www.somersetcountygazette.co.uk/news/23776226.travel-guide-dunster-ghostly-goings/
"Once the word got around the area, though, and people realised that I was collecting the stories so that they would not be lost, I was very pleased by the amount of people who came forward to share their personal experiences and the stories they had heard.”
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https://www.wsfp.co.uk/news/journal...l-guide-to-dunster-with-a-spooky-twist-620610
Nina, who owns Scandi-British lifestyle shop Dunster Living, said: “When contemplating writing a book, it was clear from the start that I did not wish it to be a traditional travel guide, but something with an interesting twist.”

Finnish-born Nina, who achieved minor honours in comparative religions and cultural history, as well as a masters degree in English, decided to approach the topic by incorporating historical facts with centuries-old British superstitions and present-day stories of local ‘otherworldly’ encounters.

She said: “The book is written with a dual purpose in mind, It can be read as a collection of fascinating stories, or used as a walking guide to Dunster".
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This one of the illustrations from the book (of Conygar Tower):

435389841.article-962.jpg
 
I regret to say I've very rarely experienced a change of atmosphere, emotion or 'feeling' related to a place or location.

The nearest I ever got was feeling very edgy at Chesil beach, fishing at night one time with my fishing bro 'C'. I'm respectful and wary of the sea all the time, but this was an extra layer of something, probably because it's a mildly hazardous place to be at night.

I'm not out roaming anywhere at night much these days as being a bit disabled means that unless it's well lit and/or flat/even then I won't bother, the falling risk is too high - it's a right ball-ache having to call 999 cos I've gone into a ditch and bust my leg brace.

People, however - I've learned to trust any glimpses or fleeting traces of any kind of feelings and get meself out of their vicinity ASAP if so prompted; and sometimes I 'know' things about people without knowing how. I can instantly 'feel' if something is slightly 'off' or if I should be wary or circumspect around people.
 
I am not spooked easily,but as a kid the hair on the back of my neck would crinkle when walking into this strip of woodland even in the daylight.It’s dark and foreboding,locals call it dead man’s valley.There was a small shrine nailed on the rock face wall inside the woods,had been there many years,I was young when I left the area,I always had a feeling someone was watching me in there.
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Druk said:
I am not spooked easily,but as a kid the hair on the back of my neck would crinkle when walking into this strip of woodland even in the daylight.It’s dark and foreboding,locals call it dead man’s valley.There was a small shrine nailed on the rock face wall inside the woods,had been there many years,I was young when I left the area,I always had a feeling someone was watching me in there.View attachment 69770
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Who was/is the shrine to/for?
 
There is a smallish wooded area near me where I sometimes walk my dogs, there are several paths running through it, I must admit that on one particular path (the most overgrown one) I always get a strange feeling, almost like I am unwelcome, it's almost as if the trees are sentient (perhaps they know I have a log burner :eek: )
 
We have a thread on Places that scare you or summat. Many are woodland areas.
Also possibly one on Panic, which term has a specific meaning in such places.
 
Floyd1 said:
Who was/is the shrine to/for?
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I was a kid when I left the area,I just remember that strip of woods was called dead man’s valley as people had died in there,the shrine was an old small thing fixed on a rock face in the woods,I would like to think it is still there and not vandalised,I never feel creeped out at all,I even went to Isla del fuego (Siquijor) and went to Larena cemetery at midnight to see the Puti babae (white lady)alone,didn’t feel nervous but even now thinking of dead man’s valley I remember the unease.
 
Druk said:
I was a kid when I left the area,I just remember that strip of woods was called dead man’s valley as people had died in there,the shrine was an old small thing fixed on a rock face in the woods,I would like to think it is still there and not vandalised,I never feel creeped out at all,I even went to Isla del fuego (Siquijor) and went to Larena cemetery at midnight to see the Puti babae (white lady)alone,didn’t feel nervous but even now thinking of dead man’s valley I remember the unease.
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That’s quite a small stretch of woods for people to die in - must’ve been murder or suicide..
 
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