Brickett Bottom by Amyas Northcote

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Everybody dies. That doesn't that? So you've tried to get
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into the long room today, didn't you try?
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How do the gate come back?
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Brick it bottom?
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By Amyas Northcote, the Reverend Arthur made you as the
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hard working incumbent of a large parish in one of
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our manufacturing towns. He was also a student and a
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man of no strong physique, so that when an opportunity
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was presented to him to take an annual holiday by
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exchanging parsonages with an elderly clergyman, mister Roberts, the squawson
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of the parish of Overbury, and an acquaintance of his own,
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he was glad to avail himself of it. Overbury is
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a small and very remote village in one of our
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most lovely and rural counties, and mister Roberts had long
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held the living of it. Without further delay, we can
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transport mister Maydia and his family, which consisted only of
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two daughters, to their temporary home. The two young ladies,
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Alice and Maggie, the heroines of the narrative, were at
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that time aged twenty six and twenty four years respectively.
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Both of them were attractive girls, fond of such society
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as they could find in their own parish, and the
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former especially always pleased to extend the circle of their acquaintance.
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Although the elder in years, Alice in many ways yielded
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place to her sister, who was more energetic and practical,
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and upon whose shoulders the bulk of the family cares
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and responsibilities rested. Alice was inclined to be absent minded
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and emotional, and devote more of her thoughts and time
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to speculations of an abstract nature than a sister.
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Both of the girls, however, rejoiced at the prospect.
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Of a period of quiet and rest in other pleasant
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country neighborhood, and both were gratified at knowing that their
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father would find in mister roberts library much that would
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entertain his mind, and in mister Roberts's garden an opportunity
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to indulge freely in his favorite game of croquet. They
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would have, no doubt preferred some cheerful neighbors, but mister
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Roberts was positive in his assurances that there was no
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one in a neighborhood whose acquaintance would be of interest
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to them. The first few weeks of their new life
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passed pleasantly for the Maydew family. Mister Maydew quickly gained
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renewed vigor in his quiet and congenial surroundings and in
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the delightful air, while his daughters spent much of their
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time in long walks about the country and exploring its beauties.
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One evening late in August, the two girls were returning
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from a long walk along one of their favorite paths,
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which led along the side of the Downs.
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On their right.
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As they walked, the ground fell sharply away to a
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narrow glen named Brickett Botter, about three quarters of a
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mile in length, along the bottom of which ran a
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little used country road leading to a farm known as
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Blaz's Farm, and then onward and upward to lose itself
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as a sheep track.
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On the higher downs.
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On their side of the slope, some scattered trees and
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bushes grew, but beyond the lane, and running up over
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the farther slope of the glen, was a thick wood
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which extended away to carryou caught the seat of a
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neighboring magnate, Lord Carrieu. On their left, the open down
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rose above them, and beyond its crest lay Overbury The
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girls were walking hastily, as they were later than they
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had intended to be and were anxious to reach home.
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At a certain point at which they now arrived, the
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path forked, the right hand branch leading down into Bricket
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Bottom and the left hand turning up over the down
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to Overbury. Just as they were about to turn to
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the left hand path, Alice suddenly stopped and, pointing downwards, exclaimed,
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how very curious, Maggie, look, there's a house down there
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in the bottom which we have, or at least I
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have never noticed before often as we have walked up
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the bottom. Maggie followed with her eyes her sister's pointing finger.
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I don't see any house, she said, Why, Maggie said
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her sister.
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Can you see it?
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A quaint looking, old fashioned red brick house just there
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with the road bends to the right. It seems to
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be standing in a nice, well kept garden too. Maggie
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looked again, but the light was beginning to fade in
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the glen, and she was short sighted to boot. I
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certainly don't see anything, she said, But then I'm so
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blind and the light is getting bad. Yes, perhaps I
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do say a house, she added, straining her eyes. Well,
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it is there, replied her sister, and tomorrow we will
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come and explore it. Maggie agreed readily enough, and the
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sisters went home, still speculating on how they had happened
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not to notice the house before, and resolving firmly on
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an expedition thither the next day. However, the expedition did
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not come off as planned. For that evening, Maggie slipped
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on the stairs and fell, spraining her ankle in such
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a fashion as to preclude walking for some time. Notwithstanding
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the accident, to her sister, Alice remained possessed by the
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idea of making further investigations into the house she had
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looked down upon from the hill the evening before, and
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the next day, having seen Maggie carefully settled for the afternoon,
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she started off for Bricket Bottom. She returned in triumph
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and much intrigued over her discoveries, which she eagerly narrated
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to her sister. Yes, there was a nice, old fashioned
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red brick house, not very large, and set in a
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charming old world garden.
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In the bottom.
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It stood on a tongue of land jutting out from
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the woods, just at the point where the lane, after
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a fairly straight course from its junction with the main
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road half a mile away, turned sharply to the right
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in the direction of Blaize's farm. More than that, Alice
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had seen the people of the house, whom she described
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as an old gentleman and a lady, presumably his wife.
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She had not clearly made out the gentleman who was
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sitting in the porch, but the old lady, who had
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been in the garden busy with her flowers, had looked
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up and smiled pleasantly at her as she passed.
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She was sure.
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She said that they were nice people, and that it
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would be pleasant to make their acquaintance. Maggie was not
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quite satisfied with Alice's story. She, who was of a
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more prudent and retiring nature than her sister.
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She had an uneasy.
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Feeling that if the old couple had been desirable or
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attractive neighbors, mister Roberts would have mentioned them, and, knowing
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Alice's nature, she said what she could to discourage her
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vague idea of endeavoring to make acquaintance with the owners
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of the red brick house. On the following morning, when
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Alice came to her sister's room to inquire how she did.
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Maggie noticed that she looked pale and rather absent minded,
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and after a few commonplace remarks had passed, she asked,
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what's the matter, Alice, You don't look yourself this morning.
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Her sister gave a slightly embarrassed laugh. Oh I'm all right,
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she replied, only but I didn't sleep very well. I
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kept on dreaming about the house. It was such an
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odd dream too. The house seemed to be home and
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yet to be different. What that house in bricket Bottom.
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Said Maggie.
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Why what is the matter with you? You seem to
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be quite crazy about the place. Well, it is curious,
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isn't it, Maggie, that we should only have just discovered it,
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and that it looks to be lived in by nice people.
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I wish we could get to know them. Maggie didn't
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care to resume the argument of the night before, and
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the subject dropped, Nor did Alice again refer to the
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house or its inhabitants for some little time. In fact,
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for some days the weather was wet and Alice was
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forced to abandon her walks, But when the weather once
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more became fine, she resumed them and Maggie suspected that
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Brickett Bottom formed one of her sister's favorite expeditions. Maggie
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became anxious over her sister, who seemed to grow daily
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more absent, minded and silent, but she refused to be
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drawn into any confidential talk, and Maggie was nonplussed. One day, however,
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Alice returned from her afternoon walk in an unusually excited
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state of mind, of which Maggie's sought an explanation.
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It came with a rush.
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Alice said that that afternoon, as she approached the house
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in bricket Bottom, who was as usual busy in her garden,
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had walked down to the gate as she passed and
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had wished her good day. Alice had replied, and, pausing,
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a short conversation had followed. Alice couldn't remember the exact
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tenor of it, but after she had paid a compliment
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to the old lady's flowers, the latter had rather diffidently
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asked her to enter the house for a closer view.
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Alice had hesitated, and the old lady had said, don't
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be afraid of me, my dear, I like to see
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young ladies about me, and my husband finds their society
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quite necessary to him. After a pause, she went on,
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of course nobody has told you about us. My husband
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is Colonel Paxton later the Indian Army, and we've been
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here for many, many years. It's rather lonely for so
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few people ever seer us do come in and meet
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the colonel. I hope you didn't go in, said Maggie,
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rather sharply. Why not, replied Alice. Well, I don't like
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Missus Paxton asking you in and that way, answered Maggie.
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I don't see what harm there was in the invitation,
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said Alice. I didn't go in because it was getting
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late and I was anxious to get home. But what,
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asked Maggie. Alice shrugged her shoulders. Well, she said, I
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have accepted missus Paxton's invitation to pay her a little
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visit tomorrow, and she gazed defiantly at Maggie. Maggie became
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distinctly uneasy on hearing.
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Of this resolution.
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She didn't I like the idea of her impulsive sister
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visiting people on such slight acquaintance, especially as they had
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never heard them mentioned before. She endeavored by all means
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short of appealing to mister Maydew to dissuade her sister
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from going at any rate until there had been time
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to make some inquiries as to the pastons. Alice, however,
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was obdurate. What harm could happen to her? She asked,
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missus Paxton was a charming old lady. She was going
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early in the afternoon for a short visit. She would
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be back for tea and croquet with her father, And anyway,
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now that Maggie was laid up, long solitary walks were unendurable,
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and she wasn't going to let slip the chance of
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following up what promised to be a pleasant acquaintance. Maggie
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could do nothing more. Her ankle was better, and she
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was able to get down to the garden and sit
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in a long chair near her father, but walking was
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still quite out of the question, and it was with
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some misgivings that on the following day she watched Alice
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depart gaily for her visit, promising to be back by
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half past four at the very latest. The afternoon passed
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quietly till nearly five, when mister Maidew, looking up from
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his book, noticed Maggie's uneasy expression and asked, where's Alice
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out for a walk? Replied Maggie, and then, after a
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short pause, she went on, and she has also gone
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to pay a call on some neighbors whom she has
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recently discovered.
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Neighbors.
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Ejaculated mister Maidie. What neighbors. Mister Robertson never spoke of
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any neighbors to me. Well, I don't know much about them,
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answered Maggie. Only Alice and I were out walking the
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day of my accident and saw, or at least she saw,
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for I'm so blind I couldn't quite make it out
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a house in Brickett Bottom. The next day she went
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to look at it closer, and yesterday she told me
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that she had made the acquaintance of the people living
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in it. She says that they're a retired Indian officer
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and his wife, a colonel, and Missus Paxton. And Alice
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describes Missus Paxson as a charming old lady who pressed
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her to come in and see them, and she's gone
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this afternoon, but she would be back long before this.
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Mister Maidieu was silent for a moment and then said,
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I am not well pleased about this. Alice should not
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be so impulsive in scrape acquaintance, as absolutely unknown people.
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Had there been nice neighbors in bricket Bottom, I'm certain
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mister Roberts would have told us. The conversation dropped, but
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both father and daughter were disturbed and uneasy, and tea
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having been finished, and the clock striking half past five,
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mister maidew asked Maggie, when did you say Alice would
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be back before half past four at the latest?
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Father, Well, what can she be doing?
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What can have delayed her? You say you didn't see
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the house, he went on. No, said Maggie, I cannot
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say I did. It was getting rather dark, and you
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know how short sighted I am. But surely you must
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have seen it some other time.
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Said her father.
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That's the strangest part of the whole affair, answered Maggie.
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We have often walked up the box, but I never
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noticed the house, nor had Alice till that evening. I wonder,
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she went on, after a short pause, if it would
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not be well to ask Smith to harness the pony
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and drive over to bring her back. I'm not happy
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about her. I'm afraid afraid of what, said her father,
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in the irritated voice of a man who is growing frightened.
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What can have gone wrong in this quiet place. Still,
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I'll send Smith over for her, so saying, he rose
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from his chair and sought out Psmith, the rather dull
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witted gardener groom attached to mister Roberts's service. Smith, he said,
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I want you to harness the pony at once and
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go over to Colonel Paxton's in bricket Bottom and bring
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miss Maidew home. The man stared at him. Go were, sir,
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he asked. Mister Maidjew repeated the order, and the man,
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still staring stupidly answered, I never heard of Colonel Pason, sir.
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I don't know what else you mean. Mister Maidew was
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now growing really anxious. Well, harness the pony at once,
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he said, and going back to Maggie, he told her
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of what he called Smith's stupidity and asked her if
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she felt that her ankle would be strong enough to
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permit her to go with him and Smith to the
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bottom to point out the house. Maggie agreed readily, and
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in a few minutes the party started off Brickett Bottom,
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although not more than three quarters of a mile away
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over the downs, was at least three miles by road,
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and as it was nearly six o'clock before mister Maidu
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left the vicarage, and the pony was old and slow.
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It was getting late before the entrance to Brickett Bottom
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was reached. Turning into the lane, the cart proceeded slowly
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up the bottom, mister Maidew and Maggie looking anxiously from
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side to side, whilst Smith drove stolidly on, looking neither
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to right nor left. Where's the house, said mister Medio.
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Presently at the bend of the road, answered Maggie, her
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heart sickening as she looked out through the failing light
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to see the trees stretching their ranks in unbroken form
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along it. The cart reached the bend. It should be here,
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whispered Maggie. They pulled up just in front of them.
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The road bent to the right round the tongue of land, which,
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unlike the rest of the right hand side of the road,
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was free from trees and was covered only by rough
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grass and stray bushes. A closer inspection disclosed evident signs
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of terraces having once been formed on it, but of
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a house there was no trace. Is this the place,
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said mister Maidiew in a low voice. Maggie nodded, But
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there's no house. Here, said her father. What does it
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all mean? Are you sure of yourself?
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Maggie? Where is Alice?
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Before Maggie dancer, a voice was heard, calling Father, Maggie.
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The sound of the voice was thin and high, and paradoxically,
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it sounded both very near and yet as if it
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came from some infinite distance. The cry was thrice repeated,
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and then silence fell. Mister Maide and Maggie stared at
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each other. That was Alice's voice, said mister Meidew, huskily,
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she is near and in trouble at is calling us?
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Which way do you think it came from?
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Smith?
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He added, turning to the gardener. I did near anybody call?
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In? Said the man.
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Nonsense, answered mister Maidew, and then he and Maggie both
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began to.
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Call Alice, Alice, where are you?
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There was no reply, and mister Maiduw sprang from the
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cart at the same time, bidding Smith to hand the
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reins to Maggie and come and search for the missing girl.
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Smith obeyed him, and both men, scrambling up the turfy
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bit of ground, began to search and call through the
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neighboring wood. They heard and saw nothing, however, and after
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an agonized search. Mister Maiduw ran down to the cart
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and begged Maggie to drive on to Blaze's farm for help,
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leaving himself and Smith to continue the search. Maggie followed
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her father's instructions and was fortunate enough to find Missus Rumboldt,
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the farmer, his two sons, and a couple of laborers,
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just returning from the harvest field. She explained what had happened,
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and the farmer and his men promptly volunteered to form
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a search party. Though Maggie, in spite of her anxiety,
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noticed the queer expression of mister Rumble's face as she
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told him her tale. The party, provided with lanterns now,
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went down the bottom, joined mister Maidow and Smith and
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made in exhaustive but absolutely fruitless search of the woods
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near the bend of the road. No trace of the
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missing girl was to be found, and after a long
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and anxious time, the search was abandoned, one of the
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young Rumbold's volunteering to ride into the nearest town and
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notify the police. Maggie, though with little hope in her
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own heart, endeavored to cheer her father on their homeward
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way with the idea that Alice might have returned to
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Overbury over the downs whilst they were going by road
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to the bottom, and that she had seen them and
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called to them in jess when they were opposite the
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tongue of land. However, when they reached home there was
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no Alice, and though the next day their search was
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resumed and full inquiries were instituted by the police, all
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was to no purpose. No trace of Alice was ever found,
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the last human being that saw her having been an
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old woman who had met her going down the path
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into the bottom on the afternoon of her disappearance, and
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who described her as smiling but looking queerlike. This is
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the end of the story, but the following may throw
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some light upon it. The history of Alice's mysterious disappearance
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became widely known through the medium of the press, and
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mister Robarts, distressed beyond measure at what had taken place,
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returned in all haste Overbury to offer what comfort and
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help he could give his afflicted friend and tenant. He
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called upon the maids, sat for a short time in silence,
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Then he said, have you ever heard any local gossip
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concerning this? Colonel and missus Paxton. No, replied mister Maidieu.
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I never heard their names until the day of my
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poor daughter's fatal visit. Well, said mister Roberts, I will
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tell you all I can about them, which is not
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very much, I fear. He paused, and then went on.
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I am now nearly seventy five years old, and for
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nearly seventy years no house has stood in bricket Bottom.
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But when I was a child of about five, there
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was an old fashioned red brick house standing in a
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garden on the bend of the roads, such as you
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have described. It was owned and lived in by a
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retired Indian soldier and his wife, a Colonel and Missus Paxton.
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At the time I speak of certain events having taken
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place at the house, and the old couple having died,
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It was sold by their heirs to Lord carry You.
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He shortly after pulled it down on the ground that
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it interfered with his shooting. Colonel and Missus Paxton and
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were well known to my father, who was the clergyman
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here before me, and to the neighborhood in general. They
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lived quietly and were not unpopular. But the colonel was
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supposed to possess a violent and vindictive temper. Their family
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consisted only of themselves, their daughter, and a couple of servants,
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the colonel's old army servant and his Eurasian wife. Well,
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I cannot tell you the details of what happened. I
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was only a child. My father never liked gossip, and
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in later years, when he talked to me on the subject,
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he always avoided any appearance of exaggeration or sensationalism. However,
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it is known that Miss Paxton fell in love with
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and became engaged to a young man to whom her
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parents took a strong dislike. They used every possible means
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to break off the match, and many rumors were set
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on foot as to their conduct. Undue influence, even cruelty
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were charged against them.
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I do not know the truth.
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All I can say is that Miss Paxton died and
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a very bitter feeling against her parents sprang up. My father, however,
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continued to call, but was rarely admitted. In fact, he
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never saw Colonel Paxton after his daughter's death, and only
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saw missus Paxson once or twice. He described her as
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an utterly broken woman and was not surprised at her
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following her daughter to the grave. In about three months time.
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Colonel Paxton became, if possible, more of a recluse than
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ever after his wife's death, and himself died not more
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than a month after her under circumstances which pointed to suicide. Again,
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a crop of rumors sprang up, but there's no one
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in particular to take action. The doctors certified death from
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00:21:41.799 --> 00:21:45.799
natural causes, and Colonel Paxton, like his wife and daughter,
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was buried in this churchyard. The property passed to a
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distant relative who came down to it for one night
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00:21:52.400 --> 00:21:56.799
shortly afterwards, but never came again, having apparently conceived a
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violent dislike to the place, but arranged a pension of
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00:22:00.039 --> 00:22:02.599
the servants, and then sold the house to Lord Carriyeu,
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who was glad to purchase this little island in the
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middle of his property. He pulled it down soon after
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he bought it, and the garden was left to relapse
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into a wilderness. Mister Robarts paused, those are all the facts,
396
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he added, but there is something more, said Maggie. Mister
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00:22:21.880 --> 00:22:25.240
Robarts hesitated for a while. You have a right to
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00:22:25.279 --> 00:22:28.799
know all, he said to himself. Then louder he continued,
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00:22:30.079 --> 00:22:33.720
what I'm now going to tell You is really rumor,
400
00:22:34.039 --> 00:22:38.440
vague and uncertain. I cannot fathom its truth or its meaning.
401
00:22:39.680 --> 00:22:42.440
About five years after the house had been pulled down,
402
00:22:42.920 --> 00:22:45.759
a young maidservant at Carry You Court was out walking
403
00:22:45.799 --> 00:22:48.759
one afternoon. She was a stranger to the village and
404
00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:52.160
a new coiner to the court. On returning home to Tea,
405
00:22:52.240 --> 00:22:54.839
she told her fellow servants that as she walked down
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00:22:54.880 --> 00:22:58.559
brick at Bottom, which place she described clearly, she passed
407
00:22:58.559 --> 00:23:01.160
a red brick house at the bend of the road,
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00:23:01.640 --> 00:23:04.240
and a kind faced old lady had asked her to
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00:23:04.279 --> 00:23:07.400
step in for a while. She didn't go in, not
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00:23:07.599 --> 00:23:10.799
because she had any suspicion of there being anything uncanny,
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but simply because she feared to be late for Tea.
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I do not think she ever visited the Bottom again,
413
00:23:17.000 --> 00:23:20.440
and she had no other similar experience so far as
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00:23:20.440 --> 00:23:24.640
I'm aware. Two or three years later, shortly after my
415
00:23:24.759 --> 00:23:27.799
father's death, a traveling tinker with his wife and daughter
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00:23:27.880 --> 00:23:29.720
camped for the night at the foot of the Bottom.
417
00:23:30.319 --> 00:23:33.680
The girls strolled away up the glen to gather blackberries,
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00:23:34.480 --> 00:23:37.359
and was never seen or heard of again. She was
419
00:23:37.400 --> 00:23:40.599
searched for in vain. Of course, one does not know
420
00:23:40.720 --> 00:23:43.759
the truth, and she may have run away voluntarily from
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00:23:43.799 --> 00:23:47.400
her parents, although there was no known cause for her doing. So,
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00:23:48.759 --> 00:23:52.599
that concluded, mister Roberts, is all I can tell you of,
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00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:56.039
either facts or rumors. All that I can do now
424
00:23:56.880 --> 00:24:08.279
is pray for you and for her. So that was
425
00:24:08.519 --> 00:24:11.839
bricket Bottom by Amius Northcote. And I think you probably
426
00:24:11.880 --> 00:24:17.079
do pronounce it ams am Amus sounds more amiable. And
427
00:24:17.599 --> 00:24:21.119
I got this from the Project Gutenberg homepage. I don't
428
00:24:21.119 --> 00:24:23.000
know if you know, but there are two. There's Project
429
00:24:23.039 --> 00:24:26.599
Gutenberg and Gutenberg Australia. There are other ones fadedpage archive
430
00:24:26.680 --> 00:24:28.759
dot org where you can get a lot of these
431
00:24:28.799 --> 00:24:31.440
as ebooks if you want to read them. And that's
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00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:34.480
where I got it. But I was alerted to its
433
00:24:34.519 --> 00:24:38.160
existence by Jay Rothermel, who's a patron of the show
434
00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:44.880
and also a great commentator and learned gentlemen about ghost stories.
435
00:24:45.759 --> 00:24:49.880
He's got a blog called Easily Distracted. So i'll if
436
00:24:49.880 --> 00:24:51.680
I remember, I'll put a note to it in the
437
00:24:52.119 --> 00:24:57.279
in the link to it in the notes. So basically,
438
00:24:59.440 --> 00:25:01.519
if you look at the bookshops or of Amazon and
439
00:25:01.519 --> 00:25:05.920
things like that, you see that Amous Northcote is compared
440
00:25:05.920 --> 00:25:10.680
with Mr James Arthur Macken and Algernon Blackwood. This story
441
00:25:10.799 --> 00:25:15.359
was published by him in nineteen twenty one in a
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00:25:15.400 --> 00:25:19.640
book called In Ghostly Company. I don't have many biographical facts.
443
00:25:19.680 --> 00:25:21.839
I see that he was born in eighteen sixty four
444
00:25:22.279 --> 00:25:24.440
died in nineteen twenty three, so he published his two
445
00:25:24.480 --> 00:25:28.200
years before he died. And he was the youngest child
446
00:25:28.279 --> 00:25:31.559
and seventh son of Sir Stafford Northcote, the first Earl
447
00:25:31.599 --> 00:25:34.359
of Idsley, and it was the Chancellor of the Chequer
448
00:25:34.400 --> 00:25:38.680
and at Israeli. So and his mother was the daughter
449
00:25:38.720 --> 00:25:41.440
of a baron. He had two children, a daughter of
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00:25:41.519 --> 00:25:45.720
Cecilia and a son, the Reverend Dudley Northcote, who was
451
00:25:45.720 --> 00:25:48.640
a vicar clearly. And he spent some time in Chicago,
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00:25:48.880 --> 00:25:52.160
running a small business there, and he was a Justice
453
00:25:52.160 --> 00:25:56.400
of the Peace in Buckinghamshire. So he was You might
454
00:25:56.440 --> 00:25:59.200
say that he didn't necessarily need to write for a living,
455
00:25:59.240 --> 00:26:02.200
but vote for a hobby, and there's nothing wrong with that.
456
00:26:02.920 --> 00:26:07.680
Jay Rothermel and his blog makes the great comment. He says,
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00:26:07.880 --> 00:26:11.319
of course, not all dead writers in the genre are classic,
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00:26:11.640 --> 00:26:14.119
and amy As Northcote is a good example. And he
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00:26:14.200 --> 00:26:16.839
says that most of the stories in this collection in
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00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:21.559
ghost the company we just mentioned is not very good.
461
00:26:21.920 --> 00:26:25.240
And Jay also mentions Matt Cowan. Now, Matt Cowan is
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00:26:25.279 --> 00:26:28.400
also a follower of the podcast and is an author
463
00:26:28.920 --> 00:26:31.039
in his own rights, and you can find him on
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00:26:31.160 --> 00:26:37.079
Facebook and he often comments on the podcast, but certainly
465
00:26:37.079 --> 00:26:40.359
he's in touch with me. So both Jay Rothermel and
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00:26:40.400 --> 00:26:43.519
Matt Cowan, Guys, if you're interested in this genre, are
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00:26:43.559 --> 00:26:46.920
people worth following for the commentaries. You can actually find
468
00:26:46.960 --> 00:26:50.200
a lot of stuff on the Facebook group which is
469
00:26:50.279 --> 00:26:54.000
Classic ghost Stories. It's not the Classic ghost Stories podcast,
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00:26:54.680 --> 00:26:58.279
which is one of my promotional vengines. Engine is a
471
00:26:58.279 --> 00:26:59.599
bit of a posh word for it. It's not really
472
00:26:59.640 --> 00:27:04.000
an edgine. It's more like a faltering broken bicycle. But
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00:27:04.759 --> 00:27:09.039
this one, the Classic ghost Stories group, has got lots
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of people talking about ghost stories.
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00:27:10.880 --> 00:27:12.319
If you're interested in this kind of thing.
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00:27:12.400 --> 00:27:15.640
It's worth checking into the Facebook group Classic ghost Stories
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00:27:15.680 --> 00:27:18.839
and there you will find Matt Cowan and Jay Rothermel,
478
00:27:18.880 --> 00:27:22.160
amongst other people. So, yeah, going back to Jay's comments,
479
00:27:22.400 --> 00:27:25.200
I'm going to rely on these. He says that basically,
480
00:27:25.279 --> 00:27:28.920
you know, of the most of Amyas Northcote's stories aren't
481
00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:33.119
much cop really, but he he singles out two which
482
00:27:33.279 --> 00:27:35.960
are and hence me reading this one, and one is
483
00:27:36.000 --> 00:27:39.359
bricket Bottom clearly, which we've just read, and the other
484
00:27:39.599 --> 00:27:44.680
is the Late Missus Folk. And he also Jay talks
485
00:27:44.680 --> 00:27:49.559
about how this story certainly late Missus Folks, but I
486
00:27:49.599 --> 00:27:53.279
also see in this story connections with Arthur mack and
487
00:27:53.319 --> 00:27:55.319
he says it will strike a chord with those who
488
00:27:55.400 --> 00:27:59.240
appreciate Arthur macken. So we're going to talk about bricket Bottom.
489
00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:02.400
And I also reading this. If you read Arthur mac
490
00:28:02.440 --> 00:28:05.839
and stuff, the Hill of Dreams, et cetera, loads of stuff,
491
00:28:06.160 --> 00:28:09.200
the white people and all of those great God pan
492
00:28:09.680 --> 00:28:13.000
they're about the kind of rural countryside at the end
493
00:28:13.079 --> 00:28:15.759
of the nineteenth century in the beginning of the twentieth century,
494
00:28:15.920 --> 00:28:20.279
when it's still fairly rural and people are still following
495
00:28:20.400 --> 00:28:22.279
the old ways, as it were. And of course this
496
00:28:22.440 --> 00:28:26.119
is a glance at folk horror, because folk horror has
497
00:28:26.119 --> 00:28:29.039
the premise that in the deep countryside all over the world,
498
00:28:29.039 --> 00:28:32.960
but particularly in the British Isles, people are still following
499
00:28:33.480 --> 00:28:37.119
the old ways, which are full of folklore. And I
500
00:28:37.119 --> 00:28:40.559
guess we were recently yesterday in fact, at Olderly Edge
501
00:28:40.759 --> 00:28:41.759
in Cheshire, blessed.
502
00:28:41.759 --> 00:28:43.359
I've wanted to go for a long time. I'm gonna.
503
00:28:43.640 --> 00:28:46.839
I hope it don't get too distracted here so Olderly Edge.
504
00:28:47.240 --> 00:28:49.839
If you've ever read Alan Garner's books The Weirdstone of
505
00:28:49.880 --> 00:28:53.119
brising Aimen and The Moon of Gomrath, they're set on
506
00:28:53.160 --> 00:28:56.720
this big outcrop of sand sun heavily wooded out, which
507
00:28:56.839 --> 00:28:59.400
was a mining site back to the Bronze Edge, and
508
00:28:59.440 --> 00:29:02.359
it's really spooky atmosphere. So I'd wanted to go. I've
509
00:29:02.359 --> 00:29:03.920
read the books when I was a kid, loved them,
510
00:29:04.200 --> 00:29:05.799
and I wanted to go. And we happened to coming
511
00:29:05.880 --> 00:29:10.640
up through Staffordshire back home to Cumberland, and so we
512
00:29:10.640 --> 00:29:13.599
thought we'd stop off in Cheshire. I'm very keen on
513
00:29:13.680 --> 00:29:16.119
counties and I like to know which county I'm in.
514
00:29:16.640 --> 00:29:20.200
Sheila says, why, I said, no, we're in Warwickshire. Now
515
00:29:20.359 --> 00:29:23.680
we've just left Oxfordshire. We're in Warwickshire and now we're
516
00:29:23.720 --> 00:29:26.599
going into Staffordshire and then we're going into Cheshire and
517
00:29:26.640 --> 00:29:30.160
then we're going into Lancashire. And so we were away
518
00:29:30.160 --> 00:29:32.240
for a week down in Somerset. So we did a
519
00:29:32.240 --> 00:29:40.279
few Somerset Gloucestershire. There you have them Somerset, Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Cheshire, Lancashire,
520
00:29:40.519 --> 00:29:41.720
Cumbria and home.
521
00:29:42.240 --> 00:29:45.160
So I like to know because.
522
00:29:45.279 --> 00:29:46.680
And she said, they're just lines on that map, and
523
00:29:46.680 --> 00:29:49.039
I got yeah, but they're like, not Cumbria particularly, but
524
00:29:49.200 --> 00:29:51.519
some of the others, I like a thousand years old,
525
00:29:51.559 --> 00:29:53.599
more than a thousand years old, so they've got account
526
00:29:53.640 --> 00:29:59.000
for something. Anyway, we're at Alderley Edge and I don't
527
00:29:59.000 --> 00:30:04.160
know if you know much about Alexandrian witchcraft. So basically
528
00:30:04.759 --> 00:30:11.200
Wicker started in in the middle of the twentieth early
529
00:30:11.240 --> 00:30:13.640
middle just before the middle of the twentieth century, by
530
00:30:13.680 --> 00:30:17.240
a guy called Gerald Gardner. And Gerald Gardner claimed that
531
00:30:17.400 --> 00:30:21.000
he had been he'd come across a coven and existing
532
00:30:21.079 --> 00:30:26.599
coven in the new Forest in Hampshire, the counties again
533
00:30:27.079 --> 00:30:30.240
and the day had initiated him into the covent and
534
00:30:30.279 --> 00:30:33.680
he claimed that this was a these were peasant women, basically,
535
00:30:33.920 --> 00:30:37.240
that this was a survival of old pagan beliefs, and
536
00:30:37.279 --> 00:30:39.599
so Wicker came, I don't know how many of them
537
00:30:39.640 --> 00:30:42.240
really believe this now, and claimed that it was a
538
00:30:42.240 --> 00:30:45.440
continuation of an old pagan religion.
539
00:30:45.440 --> 00:30:47.480
There's the witch cult in Western Europe there was. It
540
00:30:47.559 --> 00:30:49.119
was a big deal in those days.
541
00:30:49.160 --> 00:30:53.920
Point and even people like Robert Graves in The White
542
00:30:54.000 --> 00:30:59.680
Goddess and The Golden Bough by James Fraser, they have
543
00:30:59.759 --> 00:31:03.640
this idea that with less or a greater conviction, that
544
00:31:03.720 --> 00:31:08.119
there is this unbroken tradition of pagan belief going back
545
00:31:08.160 --> 00:31:11.920
to pre Roman times that has never been broken, has
546
00:31:11.960 --> 00:31:15.640
been gone into hiding for fear of persecution. So Gerald
547
00:31:15.640 --> 00:31:19.799
Gardner in the nineteen forties, I think Ronald Hutton wrote
548
00:31:19.799 --> 00:31:22.200
a great book about this, called The Triumph of the Moon,
549
00:31:23.160 --> 00:31:24.759
and he is a bit of a historian about these
550
00:31:24.839 --> 00:31:28.319
kind of things, the occult and these movements. But anyway, Wicker,
551
00:31:29.000 --> 00:31:32.440
So basically it seems to me that Gerald Gardner made
552
00:31:32.440 --> 00:31:37.480
it up and he concocted it. And his Book of Shadows,
553
00:31:37.480 --> 00:31:39.759
which is the great book of rituals and stuff, was
554
00:31:39.839 --> 00:31:43.880
ghost written by Aleister Crowley, who was clearly a magician,
555
00:31:44.319 --> 00:31:48.000
and Gardner knew him. Anyway, I'm going to get to
556
00:31:48.039 --> 00:31:51.079
where I'm going. So if you think about folk horror,
557
00:31:51.119 --> 00:31:54.880
it also plays on this belief that in the backwards
558
00:31:54.920 --> 00:31:57.960
of the British Isles, and you know, other places as well,
559
00:31:58.240 --> 00:32:01.960
where that influence has traveled. So certainly we see like Midsommer,
560
00:32:02.119 --> 00:32:05.319
certainly the Nordic countries, but you know, you could imagine
561
00:32:05.319 --> 00:32:07.319
being in Germany and in certain parts of the USA,
562
00:32:07.720 --> 00:32:10.680
so the the east and northeastern parts of the USA
563
00:32:10.759 --> 00:32:15.880
possibly maybe maybe northwestern as well, you like the Pacific coast,
564
00:32:15.880 --> 00:32:18.680
which would have a different flavor. But again, I am
565
00:32:18.720 --> 00:32:24.279
going to get back to my point honestly, But so men,
566
00:32:24.440 --> 00:32:28.559
there was a guy called Alex Sanders who started off
567
00:32:28.640 --> 00:32:32.079
as a medium trans medium and then he's from Liverpool,
568
00:32:32.079 --> 00:32:34.480
from a working class family in Liverpool, and then he
569
00:32:34.559 --> 00:32:38.440
got initiated into Wicker Gardenerian. I don't know how you
570
00:32:38.440 --> 00:32:42.039
say that wicker that Gerald Gardner had made up and
571
00:32:42.079 --> 00:32:45.559
he thought, yeah, he did a bit ceremonial magic as well,
572
00:32:45.799 --> 00:32:48.799
Alex Sanders, and he loved if you look at his pictures,
573
00:32:48.799 --> 00:32:50.960
he's going for the hammer horror of Iby really is
574
00:32:51.000 --> 00:32:56.039
going for the occult master. And there's another connection. Jonathan Sharp,
575
00:32:56.200 --> 00:32:59.200
who is the Heartwood Institute, who does who is behind
576
00:32:59.279 --> 00:33:02.240
the music at the beginning of this podcast, has done
577
00:33:02.240 --> 00:33:04.960
lots of other stuff where he samples some of Alexander's
578
00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:07.680
words and it says some crazy things like you know,
579
00:33:07.759 --> 00:33:10.240
I could destroy all life on this planet just that
580
00:33:10.279 --> 00:33:15.000
don't want to. Well, Alexander's created his own brand of
581
00:33:15.039 --> 00:33:19.279
witchcraft called alexandri and Witchcraft, which incorporated more ritual magic,
582
00:33:19.319 --> 00:33:22.839
more ceremonial magic, a lava, golden dawn, and people like this.
583
00:33:23.920 --> 00:33:27.400
So we were at Olderly Edged some of a great
584
00:33:27.440 --> 00:33:30.920
deal of Alexander's fame in the sixties and seventies. If
585
00:33:30.960 --> 00:33:33.759
you see those pictures of the beautiful naked women with
586
00:33:33.880 --> 00:33:36.640
knives and stuff and on Dennis Weekly covers, that is
587
00:33:36.720 --> 00:33:40.759
Maxine Sanders's wife. So he teamed up with Maxine, who
588
00:33:41.000 --> 00:33:43.319
happened to be blonde and beautiful and naked a lot
589
00:33:43.680 --> 00:33:46.279
and this you know, he can imagine the papers at
590
00:33:46.279 --> 00:33:48.640
that time really loving it, and all the photographs.
591
00:33:48.680 --> 00:33:51.680
They just loved it. Rather prurience, wasn't it. But there
592
00:33:51.720 --> 00:33:52.000
we are.
593
00:33:52.839 --> 00:33:58.119
Anyway, she was initiated at Olderly Edge where I was yesterday.
594
00:33:58.319 --> 00:34:02.440
That is the connection, long way of telling a short story,
595
00:34:02.720 --> 00:34:05.880
but that's me all over. And of course it was
596
00:34:05.920 --> 00:34:08.000
one of the reasons I went there because I like
597
00:34:08.920 --> 00:34:13.039
places that have a sense of the supernatural. I suppose
598
00:34:13.599 --> 00:34:15.039
you know that's not going to be a surprise to you.
599
00:34:15.639 --> 00:34:20.519
And so did Arthur Macken, And he wrote these stories
600
00:34:21.800 --> 00:34:26.599
basically early folk horror, whereby there are still the fairy
601
00:34:26.719 --> 00:34:32.800
folk and beliefs, and he is Arthur Macken isn't particularly ghosts.
602
00:34:32.840 --> 00:34:37.760
He's more like these lingering presences and spiritual auras and things.
603
00:34:37.760 --> 00:34:41.159
And that's what I see in bricket Bottom. And as
604
00:34:41.199 --> 00:34:42.920
I was reading it, I was thinking, this is a
605
00:34:42.960 --> 00:34:45.559
really nicely done story. Until I got to the end.
606
00:34:46.159 --> 00:34:48.599
I still think it's okay. But I don't think it's
607
00:34:48.599 --> 00:34:50.480
a bad story at all. But the first thing is
608
00:34:50.679 --> 00:34:53.079
I quite like. So there's the frame. It's full of
609
00:34:53.119 --> 00:34:55.880
the cultural things if it's time. So basically, these girls
610
00:34:55.880 --> 00:34:56.840
have to go with their father.
611
00:34:57.039 --> 00:34:59.480
In modern story, you wouldn't have their dad there, would you.
612
00:34:59.480 --> 00:35:01.480
You just have two girls going to stay in some
613
00:35:01.519 --> 00:35:04.039
house in the country. But in those days, And also
614
00:35:04.119 --> 00:35:06.440
I like the fact that she isn't allowed to search.
615
00:35:06.519 --> 00:35:11.400
The dim witted servant and the vicar father go searching
616
00:35:11.800 --> 00:35:14.480
for the missing girl. But you know, Maggie isn't allowed
617
00:35:14.480 --> 00:35:18.480
to search. She is she can stay on the on
618
00:35:18.519 --> 00:35:21.320
the trap because ladies can't do things like that, and
619
00:35:21.320 --> 00:35:22.800
they have to go and get robust men to do
620
00:35:22.800 --> 00:35:25.079
it again. That wouldn't that wouldn't be the case these days.
621
00:35:25.159 --> 00:35:28.519
It would be the girls, the powerful girls, the strong,
622
00:35:28.599 --> 00:35:30.960
independent women would be out doing it for themselves. Sisters
623
00:35:31.079 --> 00:35:34.159
would be searching the woods for themselves. They don't need
624
00:35:34.199 --> 00:35:38.320
no man, you know, But there we are. So yeah,
625
00:35:38.400 --> 00:35:41.559
so I thought, yeah, And I'm thinking, like, this is
626
00:35:41.840 --> 00:35:45.280
fairy tales, isn't it. Forget the fact. Also, we need
627
00:35:45.280 --> 00:35:47.119
to say something about the Indian Army for those who
628
00:35:47.119 --> 00:35:52.119
don't know. Clearly, the British Empire maintained a presence in
629
00:35:52.239 --> 00:35:56.079
the Indian subcontinent for three hundred years or so, and
630
00:35:56.159 --> 00:35:58.400
there was an Indian army, a separate army.
631
00:35:59.000 --> 00:35:59.880
That was British.
632
00:36:00.280 --> 00:36:05.000
It had British offices and Indian soldiers and a lot
633
00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:08.400
of them, when they returned home, would retire in country
634
00:36:08.440 --> 00:36:11.239
places like this. So this is the background. And these
635
00:36:11.239 --> 00:36:13.880
were not they're not, you know, the class structure is
636
00:36:13.880 --> 00:36:18.079
evident here. They are reasonably respectable people, these people, and
637
00:36:18.159 --> 00:36:20.719
you know how it is really interesting how made you
638
00:36:21.039 --> 00:36:23.440
They're not allowed just to scrape an acquaintance with anybody
639
00:36:23.559 --> 00:36:26.199
till they find out what their quality is. Where they
640
00:36:26.199 --> 00:36:28.440
are in the social pecking order because you couldn't be
641
00:36:28.440 --> 00:36:29.920
friends with other people.
642
00:36:31.920 --> 00:36:33.840
Yeah. I was reading Girt.
643
00:36:34.280 --> 00:36:39.400
In June Sorr as a young Verter and he talks
644
00:36:39.400 --> 00:36:41.000
about this as well. So it was in the Germans
645
00:36:41.039 --> 00:36:43.559
as well, not just the English. But okay, so I
646
00:36:43.599 --> 00:36:46.159
was thinking, yeah, this is good. These If I was
647
00:36:46.199 --> 00:36:49.079
going to write it, I would have made them more
648
00:36:49.559 --> 00:36:54.400
fairy like, but you know, the faye and at the end,
649
00:36:56.480 --> 00:36:59.280
perhaps the story is better because it isn't like that.
650
00:36:59.760 --> 00:37:02.440
So the end, what we see is the.
651
00:37:02.480 --> 00:37:07.599
Loss of the daughter, because the Paxton's daughter that disappeared
652
00:37:07.599 --> 00:37:09.559
the red brick cottage, it was knocked down. These are
653
00:37:09.639 --> 00:37:12.480
kind of ghosts on they're ghosts, are not fairies. They're ghosts,
654
00:37:12.480 --> 00:37:14.519
as it turns out. And I was a bit disappointed
655
00:37:14.519 --> 00:37:17.119
because we're all set up for fairies. I like fairy stories,
656
00:37:17.840 --> 00:37:21.519
dark fairy stories, and the Paxtons appear to be ghosts
657
00:37:21.599 --> 00:37:26.840
at But on reflection, I think, actually possibly that makes
658
00:37:26.840 --> 00:37:31.400
it stronger. Perhaps it would have been too well, it
659
00:37:31.440 --> 00:37:33.119
would be a different story, wouldn't it. I would have
660
00:37:33.159 --> 00:37:36.079
written it as fairies, but he wrote it as ghosts.
661
00:37:36.280 --> 00:37:41.920
And it appears that their daughter faded away because she
662
00:37:41.960 --> 00:37:45.239
wasn't allowed to marry the man she loved. That's a
663
00:37:45.280 --> 00:37:48.559
classic theme in all stories, isn't it. In Western stories?
664
00:37:48.599 --> 00:37:51.960
I think this idea that romantic love is the most
665
00:37:51.960 --> 00:37:54.599
important thing, and we need to look at that why
666
00:37:54.679 --> 00:37:57.639
that is because this wasn't always the case. And then
667
00:37:57.679 --> 00:38:00.159
in the medieval period you have the troubadours and you
668
00:38:00.199 --> 00:38:02.920
have this idea of quarterly love. So you know, we
669
00:38:02.960 --> 00:38:06.320
think of the King Arthur stories whereby Gwinevere and Lancelot
670
00:38:06.639 --> 00:38:10.559
you basically have your husband and then a knight can
671
00:38:10.639 --> 00:38:12.880
fall in love with the wife and they have this
672
00:38:13.840 --> 00:38:17.480
courtly loved thing. And I think the idea that romantic
673
00:38:17.559 --> 00:38:19.840
love is the most important thing rather than just an
674
00:38:19.960 --> 00:38:24.440
arranged marriage, the idea that romantic love is so important
675
00:38:25.280 --> 00:38:27.599
in Western culture, it's like the big be all and
676
00:38:27.679 --> 00:38:30.079
end all, isn't it. It goes back to the Middle
677
00:38:30.159 --> 00:38:32.639
Ages to courtly love, and we see it. It's not
678
00:38:32.719 --> 00:38:36.039
just us who thinks that. Our ancestors. Our Edwardian of
679
00:38:36.119 --> 00:38:39.400
Victorian ancestors thought that as well, clearly in this story.
680
00:38:39.400 --> 00:38:41.679
And if you don't get to meet to be with
681
00:38:42.079 --> 00:38:44.039
the one you love with all your heart, you wither
682
00:38:44.079 --> 00:38:46.400
and die. And this is what happened. And of course
683
00:38:46.440 --> 00:38:51.639
then that killed the mother, which killed Colonel Paxton through grief.
684
00:38:52.000 --> 00:38:54.199
So it's a very sad ending for them all because
685
00:38:54.480 --> 00:38:59.519
they wouldn't let her marry some thick, feued working class
686
00:38:59.639 --> 00:39:03.360
farmer labor because he was beneath them. What a terrible mistake.
687
00:39:04.079 --> 00:39:07.239
But it appears, and this leads us on to stone
688
00:39:07.239 --> 00:39:12.880
tape theory. We just started a Discord server. It's really easy.
689
00:39:12.920 --> 00:39:15.280
It's just like a chat thing. Don't be don't be
690
00:39:16.519 --> 00:39:20.280
frightened by discord. Basically, if you look in the YouTube,
691
00:39:20.280 --> 00:39:24.400
a's comments and I can. I've kept it to members
692
00:39:24.400 --> 00:39:27.119
and things supporters because that's what I promised them ages ago.
693
00:39:27.119 --> 00:39:28.559
We're going to have a book club. We're gonna look
694
00:39:28.559 --> 00:39:30.880
at stories anywhere. I've set up a Discord server, which
695
00:39:30.920 --> 00:39:33.119
basically is a chat server, you know, like you type
696
00:39:33.119 --> 00:39:35.280
your messages in, and it's also got a voice service
697
00:39:35.320 --> 00:39:37.519
so we can talk. And that's what I want to do. Anyway,
698
00:39:38.159 --> 00:39:40.800
We're going to discuss stories. So we talk about the
699
00:39:40.800 --> 00:39:43.480
stone tape theory. And the reason for me mentioning the
700
00:39:43.519 --> 00:39:46.079
Discord server was that somebody on the Discord service said
701
00:39:46.079 --> 00:39:49.880
to me, Tony, that's me, what other podcasts do you
702
00:39:50.000 --> 00:39:50.400
listen to?
703
00:39:50.719 --> 00:39:53.440
And I listened to a lot of the YouTube stuff.
704
00:39:53.119 --> 00:39:55.440
As podcasts as I'm driving. Obviously don't watch it because
705
00:39:55.440 --> 00:39:58.920
of crash, but I listened to stuff. But I do
706
00:39:59.000 --> 00:40:03.480
listen to Uncanny on BBC Sounds, which is Danny I
707
00:40:03.480 --> 00:40:05.800
can't Mary's second name now is a fantastic presenter and
708
00:40:05.840 --> 00:40:09.360
he looks at real life hauntings and stuff and he's
709
00:40:09.480 --> 00:40:11.840
very infectious presenter. And we were listening to that and
710
00:40:11.920 --> 00:40:15.039
somebody mentioned stone tape theory. So stone tape theory is
711
00:40:15.079 --> 00:40:19.400
the idea that if I think it's rubbish, probably but me,
712
00:40:19.440 --> 00:40:23.880
it's an idea that heavily emotional events such as this
713
00:40:24.199 --> 00:40:27.599
where the girls died and then her mother and father died,
714
00:40:28.519 --> 00:40:33.280
that it imprints itself in the stone and the stone
715
00:40:33.360 --> 00:40:35.679
and there are various elaborations on this to make it
716
00:40:35.719 --> 00:40:40.639
more kind of scientific in air quotes that if it's
717
00:40:40.639 --> 00:40:43.760
a sandstone with a high mica quartz content, then the
718
00:40:43.840 --> 00:40:46.599
quarts because we use quarts vibrat. I think it is
719
00:40:46.639 --> 00:40:51.639
all bull to be fair, but this is the idea
720
00:40:51.760 --> 00:40:57.840
that that surroundings somehow recorded the trauma of the girl
721
00:40:58.079 --> 00:41:00.280
and then the mother and the father die and it
722
00:41:00.360 --> 00:41:04.760
has a hunger or the ghosts are projected with a
723
00:41:04.840 --> 00:41:07.920
hunger for young women. And I don't mean in that way.
724
00:41:08.280 --> 00:41:10.960
I mean in they want to replace their daughter. They're
725
00:41:11.000 --> 00:41:13.239
so hungry for her. And this is what happened to
726
00:41:13.360 --> 00:41:17.920
both the Tinker's daughter and the mister Maydew's daughter. I
727
00:41:17.920 --> 00:41:20.719
think it was It wasn't, Maggie. I get mixed up.
728
00:41:20.719 --> 00:41:23.000
There's two of them, isn't there? But anyway, there we are.
729
00:41:23.079 --> 00:41:25.800
So on reflection, I don't think it's a bad story,
730
00:41:25.840 --> 00:41:27.679
and I think Jay concluded that as well.
731
00:41:27.760 --> 00:41:30.559
It wasn't bad. So what else to say.
732
00:41:30.639 --> 00:41:33.440
I've been away for a week again, so the podcast
733
00:41:33.440 --> 00:41:37.400
has been coming out on a schedule. Oh said, schedule,
734
00:41:37.480 --> 00:41:41.679
shoot me, schedule schedule, And yeah, so I haven't been here.
735
00:41:41.719 --> 00:41:46.039
We've been to Glastonbury and roll Ride Stones in Oxfordshire
736
00:41:46.440 --> 00:41:49.239
and we stayed in the Cotswolds. I was lovely, and
737
00:41:49.239 --> 00:41:51.480
then we came up through Cannock Chase. Canic Chase has
738
00:41:51.480 --> 00:41:59.199
got loads of whereof sightings, mysterious huge woods, cryptids and UFOs.
739
00:41:59.239 --> 00:42:00.079
I didn't see any of that.
740
00:42:00.159 --> 00:42:01.840
We had a lovely time that we wandered in the
741
00:42:01.880 --> 00:42:04.280
woods and nearly got lost, and then we came and
742
00:42:04.320 --> 00:42:06.760
I left my tripod behind in the car park. That
743
00:42:06.840 --> 00:42:09.159
was sad. That was very sad. I didn't realize till
744
00:42:09.159 --> 00:42:11.639
I was eighty miles further on. And then we got
745
00:42:11.679 --> 00:42:15.079
to Cheshire. Olderly Edge stayed in a tiny house that
746
00:42:15.239 --> 00:42:19.280
was basically somebody's garage but converted. You can actually look
747
00:42:19.320 --> 00:42:22.239
it up as on AIRB and B, and it was converted,
748
00:42:22.280 --> 00:42:26.760
basically fantastically converted to get two bedrooms and a living
749
00:42:26.800 --> 00:42:29.320
room and a kitchen and a shower out of of
750
00:42:29.320 --> 00:42:31.519
a garage and a small.
751
00:42:31.239 --> 00:42:33.280
Garage at that and so.
752
00:42:33.320 --> 00:42:35.440
But the stairs were a bit dodgy, but it was
753
00:42:35.519 --> 00:42:38.320
immaculately kept. And it was only a couple of miles
754
00:42:38.320 --> 00:42:40.119
from olderly Edge, which is where I wanted to visit.
755
00:42:40.199 --> 00:42:41.679
And I've already talked about that.
756
00:42:42.119 --> 00:42:44.480
And I've got lots of pictures of mushrooms because I
757
00:42:44.480 --> 00:42:48.519
think the damp brought up these fly garrets and stink
758
00:42:48.599 --> 00:42:51.079
horns and shaggy caps and all sorts. I'm not a
759
00:42:51.119 --> 00:42:55.000
massive mushroom man, really. I don't even know if Sheila's
760
00:42:55.039 --> 00:42:57.960
into She's into all sorts of other herbs, but not
761
00:42:58.280 --> 00:42:59.639
mushrooms anyway, So.
762
00:43:01.079 --> 00:43:02.960
News calls to action.
763
00:43:03.480 --> 00:43:08.639
Yeah, go and subscribe to my Haunted Places channel please
764
00:43:08.679 --> 00:43:10.840
on YouTube. I need to get over a thousand. I'm
765
00:43:10.840 --> 00:43:13.199
nearly there. I've had a good response start from fifty
766
00:43:13.239 --> 00:43:14.519
and I put the appeal out and we're up to
767
00:43:14.519 --> 00:43:17.239
about eight hundred and there's some organic growth because it
768
00:43:17.320 --> 00:43:19.840
isn't there are useful things there. And that is basically
769
00:43:20.039 --> 00:43:25.159
me talking about so called real hauntings, and I moderately
770
00:43:25.199 --> 00:43:28.320
skeptical about some of them. But if you let me
771
00:43:28.480 --> 00:43:30.760
droning on, then I'll put a link to that. So
772
00:43:30.800 --> 00:43:33.719
I'm going to do now, I remember, link to my
773
00:43:33.760 --> 00:43:34.719
new channels.
774
00:43:34.360 --> 00:43:36.239
All three all three or three.
775
00:43:36.360 --> 00:43:40.400
Jay Rothermel's blog, because he's worth reading. He's very modest
776
00:43:40.440 --> 00:43:42.880
as well, but he knows a lot about ghost stories.
777
00:43:43.360 --> 00:43:48.519
And I'll probably trying to sell you something. I don't
778
00:43:48.559 --> 00:43:48.719
know what.
779
00:43:49.519 --> 00:43:53.639
I might put my Dracula book up because I've streamed it,
780
00:43:53.800 --> 00:43:56.639
but the stream broke so it's only about eleven hours,
781
00:43:56.679 --> 00:43:58.599
which is still a fair bit of listening, but the
782
00:43:58.679 --> 00:44:00.840
full thing is sixteen hours. Well you can have those
783
00:44:00.880 --> 00:44:03.119
sixteen hours. I've got them in my coffee shop, so
784
00:44:03.159 --> 00:44:05.599
you can get them it's only five ninety nine, so
785
00:44:05.639 --> 00:44:07.280
if you want to, you can download them and listen
786
00:44:07.280 --> 00:44:09.800
at your leisure. I enjoyed doing Dracula, but it was
787
00:44:09.840 --> 00:44:12.480
a huge bit of work. But yes, so three things
788
00:44:12.639 --> 00:44:15.960
Jay Rothermel's blog, Go and listen. Please sign up to
789
00:44:16.119 --> 00:44:19.480
my Haunted Places site. That's very kind of you, And
790
00:44:19.920 --> 00:44:24.440
if you're so minded, please buy my Dracula just in
791
00:44:24.480 --> 00:44:25.239
tern for Halloween.
792
00:44:25.320 --> 00:44:37.000
Why not everybody dies? Everybody?
793
00:44:37.079 --> 00:44:39.599
Doesn't that sort?
794
00:44:40.480 --> 00:44:42.719
You've tried to get into the Long Drow today?
795
00:44:42.800 --> 00:44:43.679
Didn't you try?
796
00:44:43.840 --> 00:44:47.000
How do that they'd come back? What's the secret