Michael Zorora

There has been some growing concern over the past couple of decades that something mysterious is happening at the Swinton Druids Temple in the forest near the town of Ilton, North Yorkshire. Several ‘animal offerings’ have been found on the Altar Stone raising questions again about dark rituals and witchcraft.

In 1820, the folly that has now come to be known as the “Druid’s Temple” was commissioned by the then-sheriff of Yorkshire and owner of Swinton estate, William Danby. He claimed that he created the stone temple in order to produce work for the local population of the nearby town of Ilton, many of whom were paid one shilling (approximately five pence nowadays) a day to do the work.

The idea that wealthy landowners would pay local unemployed men to build these follies purely out of the goodness of their hearts needs to be challenged. For example, Sir Francis Dashwood of West Wycombe also used unemployed locals to dig out a network of caves and tunnels supposedly as an act of charity. He later used this underground lair as the headquarters of his notorious Hellfire club.

Other wealthy landowners that used their private estates to live out their more eccentric views included Charles Howard, third Earl of Carlisle, Richard Temple, 1st Viscount Cobham and parson Thomas Eyre who recreated the Druid Caves at Rowter rocks.

From his own writings, Ideas & Reasonings 1876, we can see that Danby was torn between the call of good and evil. He warns that: “How watchful ought we to be over the humour of the moment.” “There are things in the sacred writings that are beyond our comprehension.” He also accuses the church of being more concerned about creating fear and awe rather than dealing with the inherent weakness of man and ‘our’ attraction to evil. He also said: “one must feed the mind, or it will prey on itself.”

It seems odd that a man so philosophical and conscious of classical literature and moral values should choose to build a temple to pagan gods.
Danby also offered a regular salary to a person who would live at the temple as a hermit for seven years; however, the longest a person has stayed at the temple was reportedly just over five years.

A SECOND STONEHENGE

Much of the Druid’s Temple’s architecture and aesthetics were influenced by the then popular Stonehenge. The same size stones were used and were placed in order to create a room that measures around 30 metres by 15 metres, with some of the stones being over 3 metres tall.
The temple also features a central sacrificial stone altar, which had been placed according to the positions of similar stones at other similar historical temples scattered around the country.

The temple also features pillars of flat stacked stones, much like similar ones seen at the classic Stonehenge. The layout of the stones is said to be extremely accurate for the Neolithic period. Again, this is bizarre as Danby writes that any religion that combines violence with ritual is abhorrent.

SACRIFICAL OFFERINGS OR STUDENT SILLINESS?

According to the Megalithic Portal, Baroness Masham of Ilton allegedly claimed that her secretary was walking past the stones and found a pig’s head on the Altar stone. According to the Baroness, on another occasion she found a small group of Leeds University students who had spent the night at the druid’s temple. They were cold and frightened. The claimed to have seen shadows amongst the stones and together with the night country noises, such as owls hooting, they had fled.

One of our researchers visited the site in 2012 and took the photos in this article including the one of the Altar stone. He also spoke to several local visitors who claimed the site had an urban legend reputation for dark magic and pagan offerings but disputed that anything sinister actually went on in the area. They attributed the strange happenings to local pranksters. Even so rumours persist to this day. The site was recently featured in the BBC programme – The Mysterious Moors of Yorkshire.

It’s the question that sceptics love to ask – “Have you ever seen a ghost?” Naturally, it’s a trick question. If you answer yes, then they look at you as if you’re crazy and need to be locked up. If you say no, then they usually say something like – “well there you go, of course ghosts aren’t real”.

It’s hard to convince a sceptic that ghosts are real until they experience it for themselves – like I did at Woodchester Mansion.

The old building is a Gothic Revival Country House commissioned by William Leigh in 1857 and designed by Benjamin Bucknall. It’s located in the hidden valley of Woodchester Park near Nympsfield, Gloucestershire. The building appears reasonably complete from the outside but is largely a shell with many unfinished rooms, missing floors and open ceilings that reveal the complexity of the timber supported roof. Many questions about its design, purpose, positioning and occupants still remain unanswered.

When William Leigh died in 1873 work on the house was discontinued and his descendants seem to have lacked the funds and William’s passion to see the project completed. The architect, Benjamin Bucknall even wrote to William’s son in attempt to encourage him to complete the project. He is said to have written:

“There is nothing sadder to the sight than an unfinished work and it is even more forlorn than a ruin of a building which has [at least] served its purpose.”

Although William Leigh had hoped to sire a great Catholic family with Woodchester at the heart of a new catholic community, the last of his line, Beatrice Leigh, died in 1949. After passing through several owners, the unfinished mansion was acquired by Stroud District Council, who leased it to a building restoration organisation, the Woodchester Mansion Trust, in 1992.

We do know that for a while the house was used as hideaway for William’s brother, Vincent Leigh who was considered to be a borderline recluse and very odd fellow.

It was later used as a secret training ground for soldiers who would storm the French beaches during D-day when the Americans and British fought to recapture France.

It has been highlighted in television programmes such as Most Haunted Live (2003 and 2005), Hauntings and Ghost Hunters International.

in 2006, it was used as the location for a horror film based on the story of Dracula.

Ghosts believed to haunt the area include a phantom horseman, a floating head and a poltergeist said to shove the unwary. These phantoms are largely believed to relate to an earlier building, Spring House that was demolished prior to the construction of the mansion.

I didn’t see any of these restless spirits when I visited during May of 2011. In fact, I found the property both charming and peaceful. I was inside the ruin when I heard the singing. It was beautiful! A girl’s voice with the lilting Somerset accent that is so endearing and recognisable. I looked around for the singer and, when I couldn’t find her, I assumed it was being broadcast on a hidden audio system and sat on a block of masonry near the inner courtyard just enjoying the folk songs. Most of these I didn’t recognise, but one reminded me very much of the tune Scarborough Fair but with different lyrics.

Eventually the music stopped, and I wandered over to a window.  There was a light mist in the courtyard that quickly evaporated. I headed back to the main entrance where I met up with my wife and my son who were both highly annoyed. According to them I had been away for at least an hour though to me it seemed like less than 20 minutes.

As we left, I mentioned to the volunteers at the entrance what a great Idea it was to have a hidden music system. They looked surprised and told me that they didn’t. I explained about the singing and an old local man on gate duty just nodded and just said I was lucky to have heard it and I wasn’t the first.

One of the old men did say that there had been some accidents with training down on the lakes and that there were still unrecovered amphibious tanks at the bottom of the water with the bodies of the soldiers still inside. Maybe he was just trying to spook me.

Swimming in these lakes is strictly forbidden and yet people still do it. Allegedly, several people have drowned over the years.

Since my visit, Woodchester Mansion has been in the news for paranormal events. As recently as 2012 the mutilated carcasses of at least two deer and three pet wallabies  were found nearby leading to speculation that a ‘beast’, probably a large cat, was on the loose in the estate. The story was featured in several British newspapers including the Guardian and the Daily Mail. In 2013, it was portrayed as a commune for wiccans in the novel ‘Caballito’ by Robin Baker.

In 2018 a teenage boy went into the lake and soon felt a terrible pain in his foot. His friends dragged him out and found a serous crescent shaped wound. According to Bristol Live he needed nine injections into his foot and antibiotics. The cause of the wound is unknown. According to a spokesperson for the grounds, “”We do not allow swimming in the lakes. The water is deep and hides many dangers.” (https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/local-news/warning-not-swim-popular-lake-1756410)

There’s no doubt that the area is seen as a paranormal hotspot and although I started out as a sceptic, I can’t help feeling that I really did experience the ghosts of Woodchester Mansion. I’m sure there are many who will read this and scoff at this story. All I can say is this – wait till it happens to you.

Contributed by Paul V.
Worcester
Full name withheld by request

Ghosts and Other Mysteries of the Moscow Underground

Underground railways can be scary places at the best of times, but some are definitely worse than others. At the top of the list of weird and disturbing underground rail networks is the Moscow Metro.

The metro has long been a great way of getting around the city. There are hundreds of stations and countless miles of rail lines. In fact, the majority of Moscow residents go down to the subway every day. They also have to deal with a ton of potentially weird and disturbing legends from ghosts to secret underground military bases.

As with any older metro system there are plenty of forgotten places, walled up stations and half-finished tunnels leading nowhere. There are rarely used sections where slime slides down the walls and stations built directly under cemeteries. The Moscow network is also supposed to have a complete second set of underground lines linked to sealed up military facilities all built during the nightmare WW2 days of Stalin, Beria, and Molotov.

It’s a strangely complex system and old enough that few if any people know exactly what’s down there. Located underground, in eternal darkness, and only lit by the occasional dying bulb, the metro and Subway II has become the source of many legends, stories of strange events and unexplained incidents.

Urban explorers and paranormal investigators are convinced that much of the Moscow Metro is still hidden from the eyes of both passengers and even employees. They believe that deep underground dreadful things lurk, living according to their own rules and purpose far from the ordinary train routes.

Stations of the Dead

Its widely believed that some stations on the Moscow subway were built either on or directly under graveyards and that this was kept quiet so as not to put people off using them. One of these stations is Sokol, where the graves of those who fought on the battlefields of the First World War were buried. To make things worse, this was the same place later used for state executions. Workers at the station say they often feel as if they are being watched. At other times they claim to have seen wounded people walking around with some partially dressed in prison clothing.

Savage Dogs and Maybe Worse

Another location built on a cemetery where ghosts are seen is Vladykino Station. According to the staff they sometimes hear terrified howling late at night. They are unsure whether the sound is from an animal or a human. Still, the area around Vladykino Station is known for packs of feral dogs and in 2005 a woman by the name of Valentina Arkhipova was bitten to death. There are those that believe her ghost now haunts the area.

The Lonely Lineman

One of the most famous legends of the Moscow metro is the Lineman. It is said to be the ghost of a man who worked as a lineman for forty years. He died at the age of 82 but continues to come to work to check the tunnels and the systems. His ghost has been seen many times.

Black Machinist

A train once derailed, and the first carriage burst into flame. The driver was able to bring the train to the station, but after a few days he died of his burns which covered his entire body. Apparently, the authorities blamed the driver even though it wasn’t his fault and refused to pay compensation and support to his widowed wife. Soon, the ghost of the driver began to be seen in the metro in the form of a man burned black. Paranormal researchers claim that he will haunt the metro until his reputation has been cleared.

The Bunker Children of Chistye Prudy Station

Many people claim to have seen children and young teenagers looking lost at Chistye Prudy station. When approached these youngsters simply vanish – usually through the marble of the east wall. The story goes that Stalin wanted an ultra-secret bunker built and used orphans and abandoned street children to do much of the work. They chose Chistye Prudy as it was the deepest part of the metro in 1939 at the start of WWII.

When the Bunker was finished the children simply disappeared and were never seen again. People speculate that they were killed and buried near the station to keep the location of the bunker secret. Researchers believe that the ghosts of those children still roam the subway tunnels until their bodies are found and given a proper burial.

Radioactive Rats

New York may have albino alligators in the sewers but many people who use the Moscow metro believe that they share the tunnels with huge radioactive rats. The story goes that a second covert metro was built under the first so Stalin, and the soviet leadership of the old USSR, could move about in secret if the need arose.

Part of the network was a series of bunkers that were later used for experiments involving radiation. It was a perfect place to hide Russia’s secrets from the prying cameras of the American U2 Spy planes. As it was part of the metro, people could come and go in their hundreds and never be noticed. Then something went wrong, and part of the system had to be closed in the late 1950’s.

Alone in the dark the rats were exposed to chemical and radioactive leaks. Over the decades they have grown to the size of large dogs which incidentally is their main source of food. Although some claim that, from time to time, the odd railway worker will also mysteriously go missing.

Moscow tabloids actually ran a number of stories about sightings of the rats which seemed to peak during the late 1990’s. Famous Russian urban explorers like Vadim Mikhailov actually claim to have seen giant rats close to where he believes is the entrance to the Secret Soviet metro.

Commuter Dogs

The whole idea that a tribe of giant rats could live off stray dogs isn’t as weird as it sounds. Moscow has long had a problem with feral dogs. The crazy thing is that they’ve learned to use the metro to get around the city.

There are an estimated 25,000 stray dogs in Moscow and many of them have ties to the subway. They’ve learned how to travel the lines, trick people into giving them food and even know how to use pedestrian crossings. The authorities have largely given up trying to cull them and now just neuter them as it’s believed they are effective at keeping down the rat populated and cleaning up old food. Maybe sometimes that rats bite back.

METRO 2

For many decades Muscovites have believed that there is a vast network of tunnels, bunkers and secret railways hidden under the existing Moscow Metro. There was apparently accommodation for 15,000 people as well as vast stocks of food, weapons, and defence laboratories. The fact that government officials rarely deny the existence of the network has added fuel to the fire.

Rumours circulate about urban explorers – known as diggers – that have mysteriously disappeared. One digger has even claimed to have seen her friend shot by shadowy guards that lurk in the depths of the tunnels.

According to researchers, the Metro 2 network is still operating and functions as a government underground communication system that connects all strategic assets not only in the city but also outside the city. Subterranean passages and railways are said to go as far as Ramenki, Pushkin, Fryazino, Odintsovo, Krasnoznamensk, Vnukovo and Barvikha.

Many people doubt it actually exists as there are no photos or video recordings, but many senior Russian officials believe it that it’s true. A US intelligence report from 1991, even verified its existence.

Some of the dangers of the Moscow metro are clearly real and some are probably no more than soviet inspired horror stories. The problem is nobody knows which is which.