The Curious Fortean Vol 5 January Issue

THE WISDOM OF RICHARD THE VIKING RETURNS

Crypto zoology The

An Odyssey of The Strange Vol. 5 January 2016

ISSUE

BLACK

DOGS

101 BYMARK NORMAN

PROPHET OF THE KRAKEN Richard Freeman A R E F LY I N G S N A K E S R E A L LY P E A C O C K S ?

Richard Muirhead T E E N AG E M U TA N T NINGEN CRYPTID Matt Cook THE INVISIBLE B R E AT H E R Brian Ratcliffe THE ENFIELD P O LT E R G E I S T Kieran Begg & Jessica Nichol and more . . .

Who Was Charles Fort?

“Charles Fort (1874-1932) fancied himself a true skeptic, one who opposes all forms of dogmatism, believes nothing, and does not take a position on anything. HeCharles Fort, ca.

1920 claimed to be an "intermediatist," one who believes nothing is real and nothing is unreal, that "all phenomena are approximations one way or the other between realness and unrealness." Actually, he was an anti-dogmatist who collected weird and bizarre stories.

Fort spent a good part of his adult life in the New York City public library examining newspapers, magazines, and scientific journals. He was looking for accounts of anything weird or mysterious which didn’t fit with current scientific theories. He collected accounts of frogs and other strange objects raining from the sky, UFOs, ghosts, spontaneous human combustion, the stigmata, psychic abilities, etc. He published four collections of weird tales and anomalies during his lifetime: Book of the Damned (1919), New Lands (1923), Lo! (1931), and Wild Talents (1932).

Fort was skeptical about scientific explanations because scientists sometimes argue “according to their own beliefs rather than the rules of evidence” and they suppress or ignore inconvenient data. He seems to have understood that scientific theories are models, not pictures, of reality, but he considered them to be little more than superstitions and myths.

Fort had very few friends, but one of them, Tiffany Thayer, created the Fortean Society to promote and encourage Fort-like attacks on science and scientists.

The Curious Fortean 2

When Fort died in 1932, he left over 30 boxes of notes, which the Fortean Society began publishing in the Fortean Society Magazine (later Doubt magazine). In 1959 Thayer died and the Fortean Society came to an end.

Others, however, took up the torch. The Fortean Times is advertised as exploring “the wild frontiers between the known and the unknown” and features articles on topics such as the government’s alleged suppression of evidence regarding crashed UFOs, synaesthesia, a mysterious undersea structure, and other things the editors think are strange or weird.”

@CuriousFortean

The Curious Fortean ~ Jan 2016

From http://skepdic.com/fortean

An Odyssey of The Strange

www.thecuriousfortean.com

Jan 2016 ~ The Curious Fortean

3

Welcome To TCF’s

CRYPT An Odyssey of The Strange Vol. 5 January 2016

20

contents

Paranormal

Foreword Happy New Years

7

Welcome to 2016. Our FB users voted this month to focus on Cryptozoology and by god we have delivered!

By Matt Cook

Richard The Viking’s

World Of The Paranormal

8

Richard The Viking Returns with some Viking history and some sound advice for researchers in the field.

By Richard The Viking

14

More Fortean newspaper clippings that echo the voice of Christmas past to the present day.

By Matt Cook

38

A visual story of cryptids that have ensnared our fascination most profoundly.

By Melissa Martell

4

The Curious Fortean~ Jan 2016

cryptozoology Teenage Mutant Ningen Cryptid

Fortean News Clippings

36

28

In this article,Torchlight Paranormal team members revisit two of the most prolific poltergeist cases in history.

By Kieran Begg & Jessica Nichol

Monthly

Popular Cryptids infographic

The Poltergeists Of Enfield and Pontefract

The mysterious creature from the ocean’s depth is discussed in this short essay.

By Matt Cook

11

Were Some Flying Snakes Really Peacocks?

12 10 Explore the origins of flying snakes in this fascinating article.

By Richard Muirhead

O

O Z O O L O G Y ISSUE 32

Feature: Black Dogs 101:

An Introduction To Phenomena of spectral Canines 20 Our feature article outlines all the basics of the Black Dog phenomena that has been reported for centuries.

By Mark Norman

34

Pierre Denys de Montfort: Prophet of the Kraken 32 Histories little known researcher of cephalopods gets some focus in this months issue.

By Richard Freeman

28

11

The Invisible Breather

34

What would you do if you encountered a creature only detectable by it’s breath?

By Brian Ratcliffe

Killer Congers: 12

36

Killer Congers, Kidnap & Memory Loss 36 Explores a tale of a bizarre encounter with a deadly conger.

By Matt Cook

34 8 Jan 2016 ~ The Curious Fortean

5

In This Issue Produced by The Curious Fortean Matt Cook, Founder CREDITS: Matt Cook, Project Manager, Promotions, Social Media Marketing and Marketing.

Melissa Martell, Art Director, Senior Graphic Designer, Director of Photography, Marketing and Production Editor.

Russell Hall, Junior Graphic Designer and Assistant Production Editor.

Luke Woodfield, Melissa Martell Content Editor Special Thanks To These Contributors: Kieran Begg, Matt Cook, Richard Freeman, Richard The Viking, Melissa Martell, Richard Muirhead, Mark Norman, Jessica Nichol and Brian Ratcliffe.

Copyright Š 2015 The Curious Fortean.

This magazine was created for electronic publishing only.

Resale of this magazine is prohibited.

Photo Credits: Torchlight Paranormal Invesigations, Adobestock, Shutterstock, Google, Melissa Martell, Colette Coleman, Richard Muirhead, Mike Werth and Freepix.

6

The Curious Fortean ~ Jan 2016

Foreword Greetings, my fellow forteans and welcome to Januaries edition of The Curious Fortean, a cryptids special. As usual we have some fantastic articles from our fantastic writers, in particluar I’d like to give a warm welcome to Mark Norman.

Mark has provided us with this months feature article on Black Dogs and will be our regular folkloric correspondant.

With the New Year now upon us we have some exciting plans and the wheels are all ready in motion for our own investigation into sasquatch on Cormorant Island in British Columbia, Canada. In just a few days Melissa and I will be visiting the location which has been home to very recent sightings and recorded vocalisations reportedly from the hairy man himself. With a bit of luck we will be speaking with wittnesses and hopefully seeing what we can unearth.

So it just remains for us all here at TCF to wish you a very happy and prosperous New Year and we hope you enjoy this edition. And remember if you like please do share it.

Peace & Love, The Curious Fortean xx

Jan 2016 ~ The Curious Fortean

7

MONTHLY: Richard The Viking’s World Of The Paranormal:Thoughts From The Fiord!

RICHARD THE

Viking's World Of The Paranormal Thoughts From The Fiord!

JANUARY GREETINGS!

G

reetings to all of you fellow perusers of the paranormal, from our longship of the weird seas! In this, the second of our monthly chats, I thought I would delve a little into the way in which my Viking culture has influenced your English way of life.

Let's start with a simple thing, the names of the days of your week. Did you know that four of your days are named after our Viking gods? No?Okay, well let's see!

Tuesday (Tius day): Tius was the English/Germanic god of war, but is identified with the Norse God Tyr.

Wednesday (Woden's day): Woden was the chief Anglo Saxon God. The leader of the wild hunt. However, he is also identified with the Norse god Odin!

Thursday (Thors day): Thor is the Norse God of thunder, who rides in a chariot drawn by goats.

Friday(Freya's day): Freya was the leader of the Valkyries in Norse legend.

So, there you have it, my friends. Our Viking influence has indeed spread far into your English way of life. But of course, it is not alone in shaping your modern land. Britain is an island country which has been invaded and conquered many times in its history. At first, the ancient Celts lived in your land. They had there own religion and way of life. Then came the Romans, they conquered much of Britain, with the exception of Cornwall and Scotland. They brought with them a decree of civilization, presented through roads, villas, towns and when they left the land was invaded by Angles and Saxons, from the Germanic lands. Then, Ha! Came we Vikings!

But, we did not just raid and plunder in your lands, we also settled in places. We brought our own culture to your shores, along with our own religion. Much of which has disappeared today, but if you look closely enough, you can still glimpse our heritage in there!

This page: Image from Adobestock

8

The Curious Fortean ~ Jan 2016

WE ALL MAKE MISTAKES Even with years of practical experience in the field, seasoned paranormal and cryptozoological investigators can make bad mistakes. These mistakes need not be of a severe kind, but they can lead to a case of very red faces all round. Allow me, if I may, to share with you all two of the ones that I have come across in my years in the field, and maybe by doing so, I can help others out there avoid doing the same.

1.THE CASE OF THE FAKE CROP CIRCLE(OH NO IT'S NOT): In 1997, I was writing a regular paranormal column for my local paper. It was during a large UFO wave in our area, and one morning my pipped received a report of a new crop circle, which had appeared overnight in a nearby field. I was asked to go out and report on it. I admit I was excited by this event, since crop circles had hardly ever occurred in our area, least of all in the middle of a U.F.O wave, so off I went.

When I first saw the circle, I was slightly disappointed to be honest. It was just a round, plain mark, no frills or fancy patterns. However, I examined the stalks, which seemed to be bent not broken, at the roots. A good sign, since I'd read that this indicated that the crop had not been crushed by foot or roller. However, upon further questioning of the witness who had reported it, who lived in a cottage at the edge of the field, I discovered the nearby college of agriculture had just broken up for the summer holidays. I pondered over the evidence and with due concern for absolute honesty, I went ahead and wrote the story up as a fake. It was probably done as a student prank I declared, to celebrate the end of the term. Thus, it went to print.

The report had only been out in the public domain for one day when I received a rather irate phone call from the witness. It was, it appeared, the case that I had not been told the whole story by her. On the night that the circle appeared in the field, she had seen several white bright lights circling above the field before the circle had appeared. Her report of bright lights in that part of the sky did tie in the with U.F.O reports from other sources when I checked.

With a very embarrassed persona, I was forced to write a retraction of my story in the following weeks paper. So, you see, it really does not pay sometimes to be so sure of one's facts!

2.THE GHOST TRAIN THAT NEVER WAS: I wish I could, in all honesty, write that the above mistake was the only one I ever made, whilst writing my old column in our local rag. However, it was not. The following story is also true and just goes to prove that, even with first-hand witness accounts of any event, one should never take the case as solved!

I lived at that time, on a large housing estate on the outskirts of our town. At the bottom of this estate ran a disused railway line, which had been the victim of the Beeching cuts of the 1960’s. This line had ran between our town and the next seaside town up the coast from us.

Jan 2016 ~ The Curious Fortean

9

MONTHLY: Richard The Viking’s World Of The Paranormal:Thoughts From The Fiord!

It had been disused for many years, but there were many who still remembered it running. One day, as I strolled back home from the local shops, I was approached by a young lady who I knew was a friend of my wife's. She enquired if I knew of the story of the ghost train, which was heard, and even seen on the odd occasion, running along this disused line at the bottom of our housing estate? I had not and so, with journalistic aplomb, I set to work, questioning her about the ghostly goings-on. That day, and a few days after, I asked my friends in the area, all of whom I had known for years. They all confirmed the story. I had the scoop and so it was, I wrote up the story and it had a grand show in the following weeks paper.

Then, the following week, I received a letter from the lady who had first told me the tale. She confessed that she had, when a young girl, made up the tale to frighten several young children who had played with her in the then, disused station on the edge of the estate. It had been a harmless childish prank, but now I was the one who had to eat humble pie, again! So I did, I wrote an explanation of the false tale for the following weeks paper.

The moral of this tale? Never, ever, take just a few witnesses stories as gospel. Check, double check and then triple check all sources.

AND FINALLY May I just take this opportunity to wish all of you kind readers the very best wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year!

See you next month, Bye for now!!

10

The Curious Fortean ~ Jan 2016

CRYPTOZOOLOGY: Teenage Mutant Ningen Cryptids By Matt Cook

Ningen Teenage Mutant

Explore the depths of the Antartic with Matt Cook for an elusive cryptid.

N

ingen in the Japanese language literally means human, but what's in a name? Well, the word doesn't go far in explaining this mysterious sea creature at all.

The Ningen is a cryptid that has been reported in the frigged seas of the Antarctic as well as the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. It is said to measure somewhere between 70 and 90 feet in length and, its waxy pigmented slightly bulbous form is said to be practically humanoid. It is also reported by some to have five fingers on the end of each of its arm-like appendages, and a mermaid like a flipper instead of legs and feet. Its face is said to be blank save a flat mouth and eyes, which has got some researchers wondering if sightings could have been of an unknown type of giant ray.

Although it is unknown exactly when fishermen were supposed to have started seeing these creatures of the deep but one of the first documented sightings was made by the crew of a Japanese whale research ship. They were on deck one evening observing what they first thought to be a submarine, whilst they were sailing in the Antarctic "researching" some poor whales. But as the object came closer they soon realized from its inconsistent shape that it was in fact not a submarine but, some sort of living creature that soon disappeared beneath the icy waves. I think it can safely be assumed that if the researchers story is true then they would have been able to recognize such a large creature if it was something that was known by science to inhabit those waters.

Cryptids

the creature taken from google earth. Make of that what you will. Although personally I think the picture is rather suspect and there has been the talk of it being a poor fake.

There have also been rumours bouncing around the internet that the crew of the research ship managed to take some photos of the creature but in the true conspiratorial fashion they were suppressed by the Japanese government who had taken an interest in the creature.

Of course, after Mu published the article there was a rush of sightings reported but I'm unsure as to how many of them actually carried any weight to them.

Sadly, unlike lake or land cryptids, monsters from the deep are seldom reported and are generally out of reach to the average researcher. However, if anyone would like to charter me a good ship with a fine crew then I'd be up for going to have a look. Argghh, a shiver me timbers pieces of eight, and another pirate like sayings...

The story about the whale research ship and the tales of the Ningen, in general, came to light around the turn of the 20th century via an online Japanese forum called 2Channel, slender man anyone?

Then in 2007, a story ran in a popular paranormal magazine called Mu from the same country. The article in Mu even displayed what they claimed was a picture of

This page background: Image from Adobestock This page map: Google Maps possible Ningen caught This page bottom top: Google images of Ningen

Jan 2016 ~ The Curious Fortean

11

CRYTPTOZOOLOGY: Were Some Flying Snakes Really Peacocks? By Richard Muirhead

Flying Sna Were S o me

Really Peacocks?

Explore the origins of Flying Snakes with Richard Muirhead

I

wish to talk here about the possibility that some flying snakes were actually peacocks, rather than pheasants as suggested by Dale Drinnon, although to be fair on Dale, he did mention peacocks. (1) I am not ruling out the possibility that some flying snakes were really pheasants mistakenly identified as flying snakes, but I am suggesting that the possibility that the flying snakes reported to inhabit the woods and culverts around Penllyne Castle in Glamorgan, wales were very probably pet peacocks which have at one point in time escaped from the immediate grounds of the castle. After all the ring-necked pheasant, of the kind normally seen in Wales doesn’t have the upstanding feathers on its head as in the flying snake depicted in ‘America’ by Crispijn de Passe as does the peacock, nor would there be anything exceptional and surprising about a rustic person in the late 19th/ early 20th century South Wales seeing a pheasant, so why make any comment on it to visiting folklorists such as Marie Trevelyan who made the be-jeweled “snakes” popular amongst contemporary cryptozoologists? The pheasant has been known in Wales since Tudor times, 1485-1603.(2) “In Glamorgan, the pheasant was evidently scarce or unknown until towards the close of the eighteenth century since in 1781 Thomas Mansel Talbot was awarded a gold medal by the Glamorganshire Agricultural Society for his spirited endeavours to introduce the English Pheasant into this county…” (3) It is a well-known fact that even up to the present day peacocks have been kept as attraction in the gardens of British country estates and it is by no means beyond the bounds of possibility that during a story, or civil unrest, or deliberately fo one reason or another, a number of these wonderful peafowl escaped and even bred.

Pheasants may have been kept and raised as the game. Admittedly, officially there never have been peafowl in North America. But could they not have been transported there as pets or food? The first Welsh are rumoured to have reached N. America in the form of the Welsh prince Madoc in 1170. He founded a colony which mixed with Native Americans. Interestingly, the painting or engraving ‘America’ mentioned above, shows the flying snake/ “peacock” in it’s proper context, that of just one animal amongst many. Does this mean that rather than peafowl, flying snakes were common in N.America in the 1600’s?

Between 1541 and 1556 the Italian naturalist Hieronymus Benzo wrote in his journal during a visit to Florida: “ I saw a certain kind of serpent which was furnished with wings, and which was killed near a wood by some of our men. Its wings were so shaped that by moving them it could raise itself from the ground and fly along, but only at a very short distance from earth” (4)

12

The Curious Fortean ~ Jan 2016

Adam Kukoleck: How about it being a once commonly known basilisk?

akes

“Its wings were so shaped that by moving them it could raise itself from the ground and fly along...”

Peacocks can only fly short distances. Also, remember the long snake-like tails of peacocks.

On May 7th, 2013 I posted an image on the (above) ‘Cryptozoology’ Facebook forum with the question: “Has anyone worked out what the ‘flying snake’ /basilisk here could be (in Crispijn de Passe’s America)? It is usually not seen in its context with other animals commonly known.”

Here are the most relevant responses: Stuart Paterson: It’s a 16th-century mannerist painting by van De Passe, idealising the American continent.

Therefore, the bestiary is partially imagined, partly based on the reports of others and partly indicative of the sort of things imagined to be there.

This Page: Image courtesy of Richard Muirhead Background: Image from Adobe photostock

Victor Vasquez: Because they look like they may be cannibals of some sort I would imagine that they are a European representation of Central American Natives such as the Aztec. The flying serpent under the foot might represent Quetzalcoatl or even Lucifer since they were seen as evil for their blood sacrifices. Maybe even a reference to Isaiah 30:6. That bible quote was often used against a people to say their riches do not belong to them and can be taken away because they are evil and against God. I find the imagery some sort of propaganda against the First People of the Americas.

Martin Kilmer-True: To be fair, the Aztec empire WAS absolutely batshit insane.

Mike Richardson: To be boring, what if it was just the remains of a bat? I could see how a description of a bat plus some remains could be the inspiration for a winged snake.

Richard Muirhead: Have there ever at all been any reports of peafowl in America?

Stuart Paterson: Not til the late 19thC. However, as I said earlier, European mannerist painting at that time imagined animals and ‘cryptids’ in little-explored lands. I suggest that is that. What’s more intriguing is Gauguin’s mystery bird, some sort of rail perhaps, as he painted at Hiva Oa. Rowson Zhen: I believe that is exactly what it is depicting, a snake with wings. Ancient historians quite often depict dragons as reptiles, especially as pythons and boas, but a few have mentioned “dragons with wings”. If you were to look at the “evolutionary record” of snakes, you’d find that prehistoric snakes came in a plethora of forms and possessed different physical traits. Some had legs, some had flippers (specimens of both have been discovered) and these ancient historians mention them as well. Along with this, there are varieties of ones with wings. Unfortunately, snakes do not fossilize easily, so much of the fossil record remains incomplete and there are many missing links and branches depicting their lineage. But it is quite conceivable that some might have wings, for either gliding or flying.

Btw, it is also worth nothing that here has been and sill exists snakes with beaks.

Jan 2016 ~ The Curious Fortean

13

CRYPTOZOOLOGY: Were Some Flying Snakes Really Peacocks? By Richard Muirhead Rowson Zhen: Even contemporary snakes have horns, tentacle protrusion, leaf-like protrusions, etc. I wouldn’t doubt it at all if prehistoric snakes heaving feather-like protrusions. As of now, only a few species of contemporary snakes have beaks and all are ocean dwelling so they don’t have feathers.

John DeSilva: I believe the quetzal (from Central American folklore) was described as a feathered flying and is in actuality a long-tailed bird…

Article by Richard Muirhead originally viewed on vol 2 no 2 July 2013 in The Flying Snake magazine.

Mannerist: An artistic style of the late 16th century characterized by distortion of elements such as scale and perspective.

There are reports of feral peacocks in Britain, (see: http://www.thewatchform. co.uk/index.php?showtopic=79312) about a case in December 2012 in Cambridgeshire. On December 4th, 2007, Wales Online reported that peafowl was escaping into Cardiff from Cardiff castle.

1.Dale Drinnon. Flying Snakes Parts 1 and 2 in Flying Snake vol1 no 1 pp 20-23 and vol 1 no 2 pp 13-17.

2. The Pheasant in Wales http://britishbirds.co.uk/search?model=pdf&id=3742 3. Ibid 4. Yahoo question and answer forum: http://answers.yahoo.com/questions/index?qid=20110823054106AAH9bLj

Top Image: Courtesy Google Bottom Image: Courtesy of Richard Muirhead

14

The Curious Fortean ~ Jan 2016

Panzer Kaserne Military Barracks By Raymond Gray

REPORT YOUR SIGHTINGS & EXPERIENCES

@

www.thecuriousfortean.com/ report-your-sightings

COMING SOON

OR SUBMIT An Original Photo of the month To appear in TCF Magazine.

@

info@thecuriousfortean.com Or on our FB Page.

The Curious Fortean

@CuriousFortean

Jan 2016~ The Curious Fortean

15

Fortean N

MONTHLY: Fortean News Clips: Cryptozoology From History

Cryptozoology

This page: Image from shutterstock

Lake Spirit: Kafue Rivers

Y

Legend of the Honyip: Austrailia

ou, the readers, asked for an Ezine full of Cryptozoology and TCF has delivered the goods! We had so many “cryptoesque” reports that this months News Clips got an extra spread!

We hope you enjoy.

TCF 16

The Curious Fortean ~ Jan 2016

Homicide: Worcester, Englan

News Clips:

y From History

nd

Subterranian Monster: Brazil

Sea Monster: Ship arrived in N.Y

This page and next: Adobe photostock

Jan 2016 ~ The Curious Fortean

17

MONTHLY: Fortean News Clips: Cryptozoology From History

Sea Monster: Loch Broom, N.

Fish Skyfalls: Albedare & Rural Dean

Yeti Report: Katmandu

18

The Curious Fortean ~ Jan 2016

.W Scotland

Sea Monster Corpse: Cairo, Egypt

Moth Invasion: New York, U.S.A

Jan 2016 ~ The Curious Fortean

19

COVER FEATURE: Black Dogs 101: An Introduction to the Phenomena of Spectral Canines By Mark Norman

DOGS

101 A n i n trodu c t io n t o th e p h e n omena o f s p e c tra l c a n ines

BY MARK NORMAN

BLACK

T

he appearance of ghostly Black Dogs is a well-known one in tradition and folklore, yet for many people their knowledge of the subject may extend no further than the creature described in The Hound of the Baskervilles which, although based on the legends of the animals, bears little resemblance to actual Black Dogs in any of their forms.

The phenomena of the Black Dog ghost is not a British one, or indeed attached to any particular country, religion or any other social group. It is however in the United Kingdom that the widest diversity of the types of Black Dog ghost can be found and, therefore, they provide the broadest possible set of case studies which can hope to inform anyone experiencing them or with an interest, wherever in the world they may come across the motif. For here we can find Black Dogs that may be good, evil or portentous, attached to a road, a house or a family, protective, mythological, normal looking or really rather strange.

The dog is unique in folklore terms. All domesticated animals functioned as an extension of man and many still do to a lesser extent. In ancient times they supplied hides for warmth or protection, they gave food for strength and to prolong life. Bones were used as weapons or tools and horns provided a more varied voice before the natural one was developed. In later developments, cats killed the vermin which evaded human capture and horses lent speed and strength for journeys, or in times of war. But the dog is somewhat different.

20

The Curious Fortean ~ Jan 2016

The dog is unique in folklore terms. All domesticated animals functioned as an extension of man and many still do to a lesser extent. In ancient times they supplied hides for warmth or protection, they gave food for strength and to prolong life.

Bones were used as weapons or tools and horns provided a more varied voice before the natural one was developed. In later developments, cats killed the vermin which evaded human capture and horses lent speed and strength for journeys, or in times of war. But the dog is somewhat different.

Dog ghosts appear to have been seen all over the world. The interpretation of them, of course, depends on the religious views of each community. Certain races, such as the Jewish, Arab and the Protestant movement in Europe, hold the dog to be unclean. Others - the Celtic, the Roman and the Africans - regard ghostly dogs as part of the family. Phantom dogs are common in Europe and hence wherever there are European settlers in other continents. The West African slaves took their ghostly dogs to America and, in Texas, at least, these dogs are never black but usually appear white, or sometimes yellow.

In Protestant Germany and Scandinavia the ghost dog is nearly always diabolic; in the former case, for example, the devil is said to appear in the form of a black dog. In Britain, there are two types of creature: Firstly, there is the Black Dog, which is usually just like any ordinary large dog to look at; and secondly there is the Barguest type. The Barguest appears in various shapes, but generally that of a dog. It is dangerous and ominous to meet it, especially head on. Sometimes it lacks a head; sometimes it has only one eye in the middle of its forehead. The Barguest occurs in wide areas of East Anglia and in the North of England, from Cumberland down to the Yorkshire Dales - as far south as the Peak District.

There are some overlaps between the traits of these two types of ghostly dog, but for the most part, we can consider them as separate genera (to borrow a scientific term from their living counterparts).

The ordinary looking Black Dog occurs sporadically all over Britain, and we can be thankful that a small number of folklorists from the early and mid parts of the twentieth century collected a wealth of reports. Theo Brown attempted a distribution map as part of her seminal article on the subject for the journal Folklore in 1958, but this is of limited use. The map showed thicker concentrations where researchers had collected sightings: Mrs E.H. Rudkin in Lincolnshire; Miss Ruth L. Tongue for West Somerset and herself in Devon. The Rev. W.P. Witcutt collected many accounts for Staffordshire and Warwickshire where the dog is often called the ‘Padfoot'. As there are pockets of Gaelic elements in this area he surmised that the word might derive from badda fuath, the Gaelic for ‘fairy dog', but it is more likely an onomatopoeic word to describe its character in the same way as the Lancashire ‘Trash' or ‘Gytrash' is believed to be adopted from the curious sound made by the hound's footfall.

This Page: Adobe photostock

Jan 2016 ~ The Curious Fortean

21

COVER FEATURE: Black Dogs 101: An Introduction to the Phenomena of Spectral Canines By Mark Norman In more recent times collections of sightings and analysis have been undertaken by another small group of researchers in the main, notably Janet Bord, Ivan Bunn, Michael Burgess (who manages the excellent Shuckland website for East Anglian examples), Bob Trubshaw (who compiled the useful collection of articles comprising the book Explore Phantom Black Dogs), Dr Simon Sherwood and myself. There are, of course, others who have written on the subject but time does not permit name-checking them all. Suffice to say their work is easy to track down and extremely valuable.

The breed of dog sighted varies from vast Newfoundlands to quite small terriers or spaniels, but they are usually reminiscent of retrievers or mastiffs. In these cases, they are commonly described as larger than any normal dog. “As big as a calf” or “as big as a donkey” are typical similes. Just a few are not seen but heard, felt or smelt.

Although it is usually alone when it is sighted, there are several reports of ghost dogs accompanying their deceased masters. Whereas the Barguest type of dog (or Shuck as it is called in East Anglia) is invariably horrific in some way, the Black Dog is either neutral or friendly and protective.

This is the case, for example, in Lincolnshire which seems strange when it adjoins the East Anglian Shuck area.

There are six main categories that are frequently reported upon in sightings and stories of ghost dogs, which were originally highlighted by the folklorist Theo Brown. Some of these refer to the Black Dog, some to the Barguest and some apply to both types of the apparition.

1. Size:

There is often something unusual about the size of the animal. As previously mentioned it is often uncommonly large.

2. Colour:

The usual tone is black, although there are some variations in reports where dogs have been white, yellow and in one case red. It may seem a misnomer to be discussing apparitions of Black Dogs and yet to include these other reports. It would be more accurate to use the term ‘ghost dogs’ for the field of study as these other cases are included because there is no real difference in details apart from the colour of the coat. Virtually all dog apparition reports are black and so over the hundreds of years that the phenomena has been observed, the term Black Dog has naturally been adopted.

3. Physical details:

The coat observed on the apparition may be gleamingly smooth or it may be remarkably rough and shaggy. When It is important to bear in mind these differences in it is felt only and not seen the hair may feel bristly - more character to fully understand the subject, particularly like a pig’s than a hound’s. The tail is usually long and given the propensity for less knowledgeable writers to thin. The eyes, if they appear to be abnormal, are huge. always use the Barguest type of animal when referring to A recurring key phrase in many reports from the early the tradition. Journalists, in particular, will always tend to move to the “hound of hell” description if they need to and mid parts of the twentieth century describes them reference Black Dog legends – it is far more exciting than a as “like tea-saucers” or “as big as dinner plates” shining brilliantly, or glowing red. It is of significant interest that friendly animal. these phrases come up again and again, both in traditional reports and in eyewitness accounts as it shows how the The popular superstitious conception of the Black Dog is symbolism travels and passes from person to person, that it is an omen of death, but collating the reports and without anyone realising that it is happening. traditions actually shows that at least half the dogs are harmless. They are frequently protectors of lonely women In point of fact, we find the expression in what is probably and timid men walking along sinister roads (or in older reports when passing footpads and robbers). There are two the earliest recording of a sighting in Britain. This comes from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the earliest known distinct areas that these protective dogs seem to favour history of England written in the native tongue. The the North part of Lincolnshire and Tyneside – although document was probably first compiled for King Alfred this is not to say that people experiencing a meeting with before being sent to monasteries across Britain for copying a Black Dog in other areas do not report these traits and around 892AD. Its first version spanned the period from there are examples from this area. the birth of Christ to Alfred’s reign and comprised an official history of the country, but the individual copies were then kept updated in each location and began to take on more independent histories.

22

The Curious Fortean ~ Jan 2016

This page: Photo courtesy of Melissa Martell

“Although it is usually alone when it is sighted, there are several reports of ghost dogs accompanying their deceased masters.”

This Page: Courtesy of Melissa Martell

Most versions end around the Norman Conquest of 1066 but one continues until 1154 and it is in this version that we find the mention of the Dog. Many writers quote a common translation of this passage, which reads that: “many men both saw and heard a great number of huntsmen hunting. The huntsmen were black, huge and hideous, and rode on black horses and on black he-goats and their hounds were jet black with eyes like saucers and horrible” Even in this very early mention, we find the mention of the size of the eyes. We also, however, must note an interesting etymological problem here, as the word saucer derives from the 14th century and hence cannot be a direct translation from the original document. The correct translation, in fact, reads that the hounds were "black and big-eyed and loathsome". The meaning carries, though, with the later recurring description having been juxtaposed onto the original translation, highlighting again its significance. Unfortunately, most writers still tend to quote the mistranslated version.

We find the size of the eyes also being commented on in other places, such as the children’s tale The Magic Tinderbox. Even now, in a number of more recent reports from the early part of the twenty-first century the size of the eyes is still commented on, but often a yellow hue is described.

4. Head:

If the ghost is not realistic then there may be something odd about the head. In one case at least, at Kildonan in Scotland, a treasure hidden in a pool is said to be guarded by a dog with two heads.

5. Oddities:

Some ghost dogs appear to have a chain attached to their collars, although the other end never seems to be secured. One or two are reported as standing or walking on their hind legs and some speaking dogs are known.

Jan 2016 ~ The Curious Fortean

23

COVER FEATURE: Black Dogs 101: An Introduction to the Phenomena of Spectral Canines By Mark Norman

6. Function:

This may amount to almost anything, from standing still to accompanying a pedestrian or pacing a vehicle along a road.

It may arrive suddenly from nowhere, it may leap over a wall, you may meet it, be overtaken from behind by it, or it may just cross in front of you. When it leaves it may vanish or sink slowly into the ground, generally by some landmark such as a tree, gap in the hedge or into a solid object.

Although these six aspects are often mentioned, as we have just noted with the descriptions of the eyes they have tended to vary over time. It is interesting to note that in the reports gathered by the folklorists of the twentieth century, the language used is very accepting of the phenomena witnessed or felt. The witnesses seem generally quite informed about the nature, legend or folklore of the Black Dog and in their correspondence, they tend to start quite matter-of-factly: "I saw the Black Dog a few weeks ago. I was out riding on my horse‌" On the other hand, more recent reports often start with the witness stating that they had got in touch because they had been searching the internet for information on ghostly dogs, or that they were unaware that other people had seen them.

This seems to suggest that the Black Dog is no longer so well known as it was as a folkloric image. Bearing in mind the fact that the language of symbolism has been lost in these modern times, is there still a folk memory surviving in the collective consciousness, or is something else at work?

Methods of comparison are important when we look at these shifting descriptions. Size has already been discussed as an attribute worthy of investigation and by this, we mean that the Black Dog often appears to be larger than a domestic animal. In accounts from eyewitnesses in the early to mid part of the twentieth century, for example, people often used phrases such as "as big as a calf" or "as big as a Newfoundland" when describing the size of the dog. The recurring descriptions are essentially embedded in the commonplace of the time. Many more people lived on and worked the land and so the calf as a comparator is quite natural.

Many of the more recent reports are tending to use a different comparator and have phrases such as "big as a wolf" or that the dog resembles a wolf in some way. Historically, aside from the saucer-ness, the eyes are often described as glowing or fiery and where they are abnormal they are red. More recent accounts have jet black and yellow eyes added to these descriptions and many describe them as having evil intent.

Another interesting change goes along with these more modern reports. There are descriptions of growling, snarling and scratching claws. These auditory phenomena are of great interest as it is very rare in all of the collected historical accounts for sound to accompany Black Dog sightings. In the odd occasions where it does, it is usually the padding of the feet that is described. There is only the very sporadic bark or growl.

What might be happening here? We can perhaps argue that modern entertainment is playing a part. Historically, television and film dealt with tamer subjects and from the penny dreadfuls through to the mid part of the twentiethcentury horror stories in literature tended to deal with different themes to the modern day. Horror films and books have become much more prevalent

24

The Curious Fortean ~ Jan 2016

and much less ‘tame' and themes such as lycanthropy, demonism and the like are not only dealt with more often but are far more blatant. In his book, Tracing the Chupacabra, Benjamin Radford suggests that reports are much influenced by modern movies and the same may be true here. Modern consumers of entertainment have much more of a stomach for horror themes and may draw on these entertainments more in the decoding of the symbolism surrounding Black Dog folklore.

In speaking of the Black Dog, we cannot ignore The Hound of the Baskervilles because that is what comes first to the minds of most people when Black Dog ghosts are mentioned. Oddly enough, the Hound is not typical but quite exceptional to the usual run of such creatures. No family hound chases the head of the house to his death,

By far the most numerous quantity of Black Dog apparitions are on roads or pathways. Various reasons can be suggested for this. They are usually sighted at night when humans would naturally be following a road and, therefore, would see only what occurred in their path. A dog wandering home from a day’s business would be just as likely to use the road.

Some specimens are traditionally believed to patrol certain stretches of road. The Cornish ‘carrier’ is believed to be the ghost of a dog that always accompanied a carrier on his life-long journeys between Liskeard and Launceston.

The carrier is compelled to travel as many Saturdays after death as before and it has been suggested that the dog acts as his protector. Seen near Berriow Bridge, in North Hill, Middlewood, miners tied a rope across the road to check the dog, but at midnight, there was such a commotion that people had to get up and cut the rope. Many of the reports of patrolling dogs may be the guardians of such carriers.

A similar example of a guardian is found at Roborough in Devon and was described by folklore collector Sarah Hewett in her 1900 book Nummits & Crummits: A man was walking from Princetown to Plymouth on a December evening. On the Plymouth side of the reservoir, he heard and saw a black dog, the size of a Newfoundland.

He tried to pat it, but his hand passed straight through.

Frightened, he hurried on, with the dog staying with him until he reached the crossroads. There was a loud report at this point, and a blinding flash and the man fell senseless to the ground. There is a tradition of murder at this point, and the victim’s dog tries to kill every passerby in the hope of catching the murderer. The dog is described as having “great glassy eyes” and sulphurous breath.

There are also many cases reported of huge black dogs that run alongside horses and carriages, and suddenly disappear when they come to the end of their patrol.

This Page: Black Dog sculpture stock photos.

that is quite certain, and so the Hound is not based directly upon any known prototype in Devon or elsewhere.

However, the development of the legend in a fictional form is of great interest, since legends in general sometimes come to birth by a similar mental process.

The Hound of the Baskervilles was published in serial form in the Strand Magazine between August 1901 and April 1902. John Dickson Carr, in his Life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, tells us that in March 1901 Doyle was in a low state of health and went down to Cromer for four days, accompanied by his friend Fletcher Robinson. The weather was bad, and on Sunday they stayed in their sitting room and Fletcher Robinson entertained Doyle with “legends of Dartmoor, the atmosphere of Dartmoor. In particular, his companion’s imagination was kindled by the story of a spectral hound.” And so the idea for a plot was born.

Fletcher Robinson’s family lived at Ipplepen in South Devon. In a few days only, April 2nd, Doyle was staying at Princetown exploring the moor for himself. He went to view Fox Tor Mire and this was to become Grimpen Mire in the story.

Jan 2016 ~ The Curious Fortean

25

COVER FEATURE: Black Dogs 101: An Introduction to the Phenomena of Spectral Canines By Mark Norman At some early period, Doyle went to Ipplepen to stay with the Robinsons and was met at the station by a smart young coachman called Harry Baskerville, descendent of a family that had once owned two manors locally but had fallen on hard times. Doyle was impressed by the name and asked to be allowed to adopt it. Harry Baskerville drove Doyle about to further sites, which in old age he named for a reporter.

However, no hint has ever been brought as to the identity of the spectral hound apparently known to Fletcher.

There are many vague stories of hounds on the edges of Dartmoor, the best known probably being that of Lady Howard of Tavistock and her spectral coach.

Another possible source could be that of the legend of the Demon of Spreyton, this being located on the fringe of Dartmoor National Park, although the mention of the Black Dog in this is a relatively small part of the story. The events took place in Spreyton in 1682 and were recorded in a wonderfully named pamphlet of the time, “A Narrative of the Demon of Spraiton. In a Letter from a Person of Quality in the County of Devon to a Gentleman in London, with a Relation of an Apparition or Spectrum of an Ancient Gentleman of Devon who often appeared to his Son’s Servant. With the Strange Actions and Discourses happening between them at divers times. As likewise, the Demon of an Ancient Woman, Wife of the Gentleman aforesaid. With unparalleled varieties of strange Exploits performed by her: Attested under the Hands of the said Person of Quality, and likewise a Reverend Divine of the said County. With Reflections on Drollery and Atheism, and a Word to those that deny the Existence of Spirits.”

You wonder if the contents of the pamphlet were as lengthy as the title!

In summary, the Demon of Spreyton was a series of poltergeist-type events where the second wife of Philip Furze of that Parish infested the house, tearing clothes and moving household items. Reading the full account, it is obvious that the happenings were all down to the young servant, Francis Fey, who related the incident. But in the course of these events, it is reported in the pamphlet that the spirit of the woman appeared in various forms, including “a dog, belching fire”.

It is curious that no one enquired about the origin of Conan Doyle’s Hound at the time of publication, nor can members of the Sherlock Holmes Club throw any light on the problem for certain. One member, Dr Morris Campbell, wrote a paper claiming it is the Black Dog of Hergest in Herefordshire.

26

The Curious Fortean ~ Jan 2016

The family was that of Vaughan, related by marriage to the Baskervilles on an adjoining estate. However, the Hergest creature has no features in common with Doyle’s Hound.

The Black Dog of Hergest is associated with “Black Vaughan” who was killed at the Battle of Banbury in 1469.

There are two versions of the story. In the first, Vaughan is said to have returned and appeared in various forms such as a fly and a bull until he was exorcised. Campbell states that Vaughan upset farmers’ carts and the like. He was reduced in size, stage by stage, until he could be shut in a snuff box. This was buried in the bottom of Hergest Pool in a wood, with a big stone on top, and so he was bound for a thousand years.

In the second version, Vaughan is supposed to have been accompanied in life by a demon dog. This haunts Hergest Court and is seen before a death in the Vaughan family.

Also, he inhabits a room at the top of the house and can be heard clanking his chain. He is also seen wandering, minus the chain, particularly in the vicinity of a pond, the “watering place” on the high road from Kington. The dog is supposed to have been seen by many people, according to a witness recounting in 1909.

It is tempting to ask whether the coachman, Harry Baskerville, was distantly related to the Herefordshire family. There was a real Hound of the Baskervilles, reflected in the family crest, but it was a friendly one. It does not terrorise or chase the head of its house - indeed nor does any other family dog in England. Apart from the name, there is really nothing to connect the Hergest dog with the Dartmoor Baskerville hound.

There is a stronger possibility for the original of Conan Doyle’s beast which was suggested by a writer in Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries. Ipplepen, where Fletcher Robinson lived, is not very far from Buckfastleigh, on the edge of Dartmoor. The parish runs up the great slopes northward, and these are scored by long, deep, narrow valleys, cut by the streams hurtling down to join the River Dart on the in-country. Tucked away in these remote areas are mysterious little old farms, manors and cottages.

One of these is Brooke, where Richard Capel (or Cabell, spellings vary from report to report) lived and died in 1677.

Local tradition credits him with a reputation not unlike that of “Black Hugo” in the novel, though no details are given. His death was said to be suitably unpleasant for a hunter of village maidens: he was chased across the moor by the whisht hounds until he dropped dead.

Another version of the story says that as he lay dying in his house, whisht hounds bayed outside. If we accept the last, then it could be seen to be a death warning as is found in many families and which we will examine in a later chapter. But if we accept the former, then this is a local story that Robinson may well have known and passed on. The equation of the pack and a single hound occurs commonly in folklore.

In 1972 Cecil Williamson, recognised as one of the founders of modern British witchcraft as well as being responsible for amassing much of the collection housed by the Museum of Witchcraft in Boscastle, Cornwall, visited the churchyard at Buckfastleigh. Whilst there he saw a dog which he described as being quite substantial looking, but when he tried to touch it he found that his hand passed straight through.

There is a postscript to the legend which is worth repeating. The remains of Buckfastleigh church, which was almost completely destroyed by fire in an act of vandalism in July 1992, are perched on the top of the hill overlooking the village. It is here that Squire Capel is buried outside the south door in an altar tomb. It is said that the parish was in a quandary about how to bury such an evil man in such a manner that his brutal spirit would not rise up and continue to plague them. Finally, they buried him deeply with a heavy stone on his head.

They piled the large altar tomb over his grave and then constructed what appears to be a symbolic prison to contain the tomb. It is solidly built, with a wide iron grill on the side facing the church, and on the opposite side is a strong wooden door with a locked keyhole. Young boys used to dare each other to walk clockwise around the building thirteen times and insert a little finger into the keyhole, which the prisoner would then gnaw at the tip. This is an example of a typical playground ghost-type game in the same vein as Bloody Mary or, following the film of the same name, Candyman.

There are, as is plain, some small parallels between the Hergest and Buckfast legends, but this is not uncommon in folklore as stories develop over time and become attached to differing locations from a common root theme.

It is most likely that Conan Doyle would have used an amalgamation of information and legend to base his story on, from those cited here as well as general examples of spectral dogs such as the whisht hounds, yeth hounds, and others. This is the general way in which stories develop after all, both from a fictional and from a folklore perspective.

Mark Norman is a folklore researcher and writer who lives on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon. He holds what is generally considered to be the country’s largest archive of Black Dog traditions and eyewitness accounts, which also includes the complete transcriptions of Theo Brown’s work and the recently donated archives from Janet Bord. He receives new eyewitness contact on a regular basis.

Mark’s book on the subject “UK Black Dog Folklore” will be published worldwide in early 2016 by Troy Books. He welcomes followers to interact with his work via his Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ marknormanfolklore where you can also contact him for writing work or public speaking.

Along with a small team of colleague, Mark also produces audio books on both esoteric and non-esoteric subjects, which can be found at

www.circleofspears.com/store

February’s Issue Ancient Myster ies Month

Jan 2016 ~ The Curious Fortean

27

PARANORMAL: The Enfield Poltergeist By Kieran Begg and Jessica Nichol

The

POLTERGEISTS OF ENFIELD & PONTEFRACT

By Kieran Begg & Jessica Nichol

The word Poltergeist is a German word meaning "noisy ghost", a ghost which is invisible but causes noises and moves objects around. There have been many supposed Poltergeist hauntings reported through the ages, however, many have been proved to be hoaxes and some still remain a mystery. In this article, I will be looking at two such cases, one that was a hoax and the other which is still open to interpretation and is still causing issues to this day. So join me as I look into two of the most famous hauntings in the world, The Enfield Poltergeist and The Black Monk of 30 East Drive, Pontefract.

The Enfield Poltergeist The Hodgson Family lived in a Semi-Detached council house in the Enfield area of London in the 1970s. Peggy Hodgson was a single mother to four children, Margret (13), Janet (11), Johnny (10) and Billy (7). During earliest reports of the hauntings, the names of the children were changed, in an attempt to protect their identity, but as the phenomena increased the children were thrust into the limelight.

It began with Janet and Johnny telling their Mother that their bed was shaking by itself, with them on it, to knocks and bangs and even their chest of drawers sliding across the room. As the experiences intensified, Mrs Hodgson was forced to call the police to the property. A female police officer attended the property where she witnessed a chair slide across the room, to which she was unable to determine a cause. The following day she noticed that there were pieces of Lego and marbles appearing from thin air and flying across the room. Shortly after, witnesses began to ask questions and began to focus their questions to Janet, who all the trouble seemed to revolve around. The media was then contacted in the vague hope they could record and explain what was happening in the home. The Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror sent reporters around to speak to the family and to try and capture some of the evidence for themselves.

28

The Curious Fortean ~ Jan 2016

FEATURE FORTEAN: Jim Harold of The Paranormal Podcast After the two news articles appeared in the press, it caught the attention of a member of The Society for Psychical Research, Maurice Gross, who attended the home to try and help the family with their troublesome poltergeist problem. His research would lead him to believe that what was happening to the Hodgson's was the result of a poltergeist that had latched itself to the youngest daughter, Janet. He spent eighteen months with the family, collecting evidence and conducting experiments to try and find the truth. He recorded a now famous conversation with the poltergeist that was supposedly communicating through Janet and was apparently that of an elderly man, who called himself Bill. The voice would tell crude jokes, swear and shout at the investigators.

As the experiences intensified, Gross asked a fellow investigator, Guy Lyon Playfair to come and aid him in his investigation. Gross had concluded that all of the poltergeist experiences were revolving around the youngest daughter, Janet. Interestingly, although Playfair did think that some of the phenomena was just the girls playing tricks, he did believe that there was a poltergeist haunting taking place in the home as he could not fully explain some of the phenomena as pure tricks. Although on numerous occasions Gross and Playfair caught the girls playing tricks, such as bending spoons, hiding their tape recorder and banging a broom on the ceiling, but they still believed they had caught on other occasions, genuine poltergeist activity.

Background Image: stockphotos Left Image: The Pontefract lounge courtesy of Colette Coleman Right Image: The Fireplace courtesy of Colette Coleman

During Gross and Playfair’s ongoing investigation into the haunting, a number of other paranormal investigators, psychologists and sceptics reviewed the evidence and completed their own investigations. Sceptical investigator Joe Nickell stated the two paranormal investigators, Gross and Playfair were often overly keen to attribute events to the poltergeist, particularly regarding the supposedly demonic voice communicating through Janet, with Playfair saying that ‘as always Janet’s lips hardly seemed to be moving.’ Nickell and another investigator called Melvin Harris also viewed The now infamous pictures portraying Janet levitating over her bed. They concluded that the camera used was designed to take pictures every fifteen seconds, remotely with no cameraman present and that Janet, being an athletic girl, was simply jumping on her bed as if it were a trampoline.

Furthermore, professors of psychology, Anita Gregory and John Beloff investigated the home separately and found numerous evidence of the girls faking many incidents and concluded that there were no paranormal or unexplainable phenomena happening in the home. Gregory and Beloff also stated that Gross and Playfair had not completed a thorough investigation and had become caught up in the frenzy of the story and that most investigators in the paranormal field thought their evidence was unusable.

The story of The Enfield Poltergeist has been immortalised in films, books and TV and is one of the most prolific haunting stories in history.

Jan 2016 ~ The Curious Fortean

29

PARANORMAL: The Enfield Poltergeist By Kieran Begg and Jessica Nichol

30 East Drive - Pontefract When you hear a story of a haunted house, you think of a large gothic mansion or a rickety old wooden house that creaks and moans in the wind, you don't think of a normal three bedroom semi-detached house in a small market town in Yorkshire called Pontefract. The house is situated on East Drive and was the scene supposedly of one of the most horrendous poltergeist hauntings in Europe.

In the summer of 1966, the Pritchard family had moved into their new home in 30 East Drive in Pontefract, Yorkshire. During an unusually hot summer bank holiday, the family began to notice strange occurrences happening around their home. It began with strange noises from knocks and bangs which they were able to forget about.

The eldest son, Phillip noticed that there was chalk dust appearing in strange places around the house and that it was appearing from thin air and falling from the ceiling. Along with his auntie, Phillip noticed that it was appearing from below head height and was appearing as if from nowhere. He felt it was very strange and told his mother, who at first didn’t believe in what he was telling her. It wasn’t until she noticed green foam oozing from the taps and the toilet, even when the water was not turned on, that she began to realise that their new family home was not what they thought. Mrs Kelly, Phillips auntie noticed pools of water were appearing the in the kitchen from no noticeable source. As she tried to mop it up, another pool would appear in another location, then another and another. This was just the beginning, they were plagued with knocks and bangs, lights turning on and off, plants being thrown from their pots and even furniture being moved.

The strange phenomena took a seemingly dangerous turn when the focus of the haunting attached itself to the daughter Diane. From the knocks, bangs, chalk dust and pools of water, the haunting became physical, in a terrifying event which saw Diane get dragged up the stairs by her neck and thrown from her bed. The haunting culminated when the entity materialised in front of Diane as a large back mass, which the family described as looking like a monk without a face. From then on the haunting seemed to cease and the family returned to relative peace. The entity became known as the Back Monk.

The Pontefract story was popular in the local area, but did not make it into the national newspapers, therefore, became somewhat a local legend. It was not until writer Colin Wilson wrote – Poltergeist!

A Study in Destructive Haunting, Including the Black Monk of Pontefract that the story began to be picked up by the media.

This page: Diane’s bedroom image courtesy of Colette Coleman Opposite page: Staircase image courtesy of Colette Coleman

30

The Curious Fortean ~ Jan 2016

An interesting comparison between the Enfield Haunting and the Pontefract case is that the Pontefract case had seemingly not contacted any national press at the time of the hauntings, implying that there was no monetary or celebrity gain from telling a fake story. Although we must remember that there is no first-hand evidence, video, tape recordings, photo or medical reports, as well as no third party accounts of what happened, it, unfortunately, is purely stories from the family.

Today the families' house in Pontefract has on going paranormal activity associated with it. This could on one hand be some contributing evidence to the original story, but the cynical among us may think the story associated with the house is now just being used to make someone a bit of money!

“The haunting became physical, in a terrifying event which saw Diane get dragged up the stairs by her neck and thrown from her bed.�

10 years following the activity, Paranormal Investigator Tom Cuniff, visited the home and researched the history of the area. At the mention of the monk, Tom researched the history and proposed in his reports that the spirit was possibly of a monk that was hanged during Henry VIII’s reign for the rape of a young girl. This could explain as to why the activity was focused on the youngest daughter Diane.

Recently various paranormal investigation groups have investigated the location and several have reported varying levels of poltergeist activity, from knives being moved to doors closing and sounds being heard. On the other hand, other groups have reported no activity at all.

In my opinion, from reading about the experiences of everyone who investigated it, it seems apparent that The Enfield Haunting was simply a hoax. A hoax that seemingly easily fooled a couple of experienced investigators of the paranormal, who were blinded by a lust to find evidence that they could not see what was happening right in front of them.

In regards to the Pontefract case, I think it remains interesting today due to the current reports of ongoing paranormal activity. However I still remain sceptical of the haunting, with no evidence or outside witnesses of the original events and the currently scattered reports from investigators, it would be a place I would like to investigate for myself.

Jan 2016 ~ The Curious Fortean

31

CRYPTOZOOLOGY: Pierre Denys de Monfort Prophet of the Kraken By Richard Freemann

Pierre Denys de Montfort Prophet of the

Kraken

“He was born in 1764 and was fascinated by nature from an early age.

Sadly, he was of a generation that lost many scientists to due to the French Revolution.”

Histories little known researcher of cephalopods gets some focus in this months issue. By Richard Freeman

I

n 1820 a man died of starvation in a cold Parisian gutter. He was given a pauper’s burial and the few who attended did so only to snicker at the feeble-minded fool that believed in sea monsters. The man was the French zoologist Pierre Denys de Montfort. Had he lived until 1857 he would have seen his ‘wild stories’ vindicated.

Pierre Denys de Montfort was a malacologist, an expert in mollusks. He was also a scientific heretic, for he dared to research something that the high priests of science deemed to be an old wives’ tale, giant cephalopods.

He was born in 1764 and was fascinated by nature from an early age. Sadly, he was of a generation that lost many scientists to due to the French Revolution, and a republic that stupidly, in the words of public prosecutor Antoine Quentin Fouquier-Tinville - “Did not need scientists”.

He faired better than most. After serving in the army for a while, and after a stint as assistant to the geologist Barthelemy Faujas de Saint-Fond, he became attached to the Jardin des Plantes, the main botanical garden in Paris.

For a time he was a much sought after scientist, being offered places on a number of expeditions. He travelled to Egypt and Germany to study geology, where his gift for languages did not go un-noticed, and he became attached to the Museum of Natural History as a translator. He narrowly missed receiving the chair in mineralogy.

32

The Curious Fortean ~ Jan 2016

He wrote an addendum for Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon’s Histoire naturelle générale

et particulière. Comte de Buffon had been the director of Jardin des Plantes and this was a feather in the young naturalist’s cap. Suites a Buffon was devoted to mollusks.

During this time he investigated the origins of ambergris (the indigestible beaks and claws of cephalopods vomited up by sperm whales like gigantic owl pellets) and became interested in the idea of huge cephalopods. He interviewed American whalers who had settled in France about the evidence for such creatures.

One such man, Ben Johnson, told of a monstrous tentacle found in the mouth of a sperm whale they had killed. The tentacle was 35 feet long and had been severed at both ends, De Montfort reckoned another 10-20 feet of it had been lost. It was as thick as a mast with suckers the size of hats.

Another man, Reynolds, told of seeing what he thought was a red sea serpent laying next to a whale they had killed.

It was discovered to be a massive tentacle 45 feet long with suckers as large as plates.

Writing in his Histoire Naturelle Générale et Particulière des Mollusques, de Montfort classifies two giant cephalopods, the colossal octopus and the kraken octopus, the latter referring to gigantic squid.

He writes of a votive painting (now long lost) in the chapel of St Thomas in Brittany. The painting showed a titanic octopus attacking a ship. It was supposedly based on real events that occurred to a ship from that port whilst anchored off Angola. A giant octopus has supposedly attacked the ship, wrapping its arms about the rigging and causing the ship to list dangerously. The crew attacked with cutlasses and managed to get the monster to relinquish its hold by hacking off some of the arms. The painting was made to commemorate the events, the scared sailors having prayed to Saint Thomas.

Such huge creatures had been mentioned by Louis Marie Joseph O’Hier, Comte de Grandpre in his book Voyage a la cote occidentale d’ Afrique written between 1786 and 1787. The natives told him that a giant octopus known as Ambazombi would often attack their boats and canoes dragging them to the bottom. They believed the monster to be an evil spirit. The name Ambazombi may be linked to Nizambi, the supreme god of the Bakongo people of Angola.

Captain Jean-Magnus Dens, a Danish man and former employee of the Gothenburg Company now retired to Dunkirk, told a similar story. He had once been becalmed off the coast of West Africa, and took advantage of the situation to scrape barnacles off the side of the ship. Men were lowered by ropes whilst sitting on planks. As they worked, a huge cephalopod rose from the water and wrapped tentacles around two of the men dragging them under. Another arm coiled about a third man who clung to the rigging. His shipmates managed to save him by hacking off the monster’s writhing member. The unfortunate man later died of shock. The Captain informed de Montford that the portion severed was 25 feet long and the whole arm had been 35 to 40 feet long. It tapered to a point and was covered with suckers. The Captain felt that if the monster had attached all its arms onto the ship it would have capsized it.

Another captain by the name of Anderson told de Montfort of finding two huge tentacles, still connected by part of the mantle, on some rocks near Bergen, Norway.

They were so thick he could barely put his arms about them, and were around 25 feet long.

Delving into maritime disasters, de Montfort thoughtthat many disappearances of ships could have been caused by attacks from giant cephalopods. One in particular was the disappearance of ten ships in 1782. Six French ships had been captured in the West Indies by British Admiral George Rodney during the Battle of the Saintes, and were being taken to port under the escort of four British ships. All ten vessels vanished and de Montfort postulated that an attack by a kraken was to blame. In fact, the ships had been lost in a hurricane. This rash and rather gullible statement was to be the beginning of the end for de Montfort, who became a scientific pariah. He had not helped matters when he jokingly suggested that the kraken’s arms were so vast they could bridge the Straits of Gibraltar (8.9 miles). Some humorless zoologists had taken him seriously. From then on, his name was mud in scientific circles.

Out of work in scientific agencies, he retreated to the country and wrote books on bee keeping and linguistics before returning penniless to Paris, where he scratched the most meager of livings identifying shells for naturalists and collectors. He became a wretched, ragged figure and finally a destitute alcoholic. He was found dead of starvation in 1820, a pitiful end for a man once associated with the most august scientific institutes in Paris. Pierre Denys de Montfort has been largely forgotten. Despite having created 25 genera still in use today, de Montfort’s career barely merits a footnote whilst his better off contemporaries such as Georges Cuvier are still celebrated today.

Gallingly, after his death, de Montfort was proved correct when parts of gigantic squid began to fall into the hands of scientists. Danish zoologist Professor Johannes Japetus Smith Steenstrup published the first scientific description of the giant squid.

To this day de Montfort has been given little, or no, credit despite having amassed the greatest number of accounts, and carrying out the most research into giant cephalopods.

It is time for that to change and for the scientific community to recognize him for the ground-breaking and dedicated researcher he was, and to realize that the same pigheaded arrogance and prejudice still rides high in the world of science this very day.

First Page: Image Shutterstock This Page: Shutterstock

Jan 2016 ~ The Curious Fortean

33

CRYPTOZOOLOGY: The Invisible Breather By Brian Ratcliffe

The

Invisible Breather What would you do if you encountered a creature that was detectable only by it’s breath?

C

olwick Heights is situated on part of Nottingham’s Southern perimeter. A member of our newly formed investigation team, who lived in the Colwick area, was contacted by members of the public during the Autumn of 1973, informing him dog walkers and canoodling couples were being frightened off of the Heights at night, by some kind of a ‘something’ with deep, heavy breathing. We couldn’t have that, especially the latter, so members of the team, including myself, decided to have a look round the area.

We arrived on the Heights at approximately 11 p.m.. The dark sky was heavily overcast with hardly any wind. We parked the Dormobile van in the center of a large open field, it’s rear doors facing towards the not-too-distant Nottingham City lights. There was a small wood away on our right, while to our left there was another small wood containing a small disused quarry. Each of the woods was half a field away from the van. Our equipment consisted of a pair of walkie talkies, a large tape recorder and several torches while the team members present were John C. John H., the team member who was originally informed of the situation on the Heights, - Graham M., Syd H. Ron G. Peter J. and myself. Six gallant stalwarts, who in all truth, were not expecting to find anything unusual on the Heights. If only.

This Page: Image Shutterstock

34

The Curious Fortean ~ Jan 2016

We took it in turns, a pair of us at a time with a walkie talkie in hand and two torches, to patrol the circumference of the field and through the small woods. Shortly after midnight it began to rain, so all of us went back to the van and tea or coffee flasks opened, the rain pitter-pattering on the van roof.

We still sat motionless and not till the breathing noise melded in once more with the sound of the falling rain again did we spring into action. We all vacated the van, dashing to its rear doors.. Our torch-lights showed the grass at the back of the doors was no-more squashed down than the rest of the grass in view. Yet something had been at the back of the van. We flashed our combined torchGeneral conversation ensued for some time, It was pitch lights in the direction of the receding loud breathing noise black outside of the van windows. Suddenly, the driver of and though we should have been able to see ‘Whatever’, the van sitting in his seat, with the rest there was nothing visible at all. It was there, we could hear of us sitting on seats attached to the side of the van, it, but we couldn’t see it. In our ‘excitement’, we forgot to shouted for us to listen. All the rest of us could hear was the switch the tape recorder on. Duh. rain falling on the van roof. It was approximately 12:30 a.m.

“Listen,” he shouted again. We listened. For some long Five minutes later, the engine sparked to life and we left seconds,there was only the sound of the falling rain on the the area. The whole incident was logged as ‘unknown’. You roof. Then we heard it, mingling in with the sound of the can say that again................... rain. It was a nearby medium sound of deep, rough, heavy breathing. The breathing sound got louder as it went by the side of the van towards the back.

At the back of the van were two doors, each with a foot square window near the top.

We sat immobile but now fully alert. The sound turned towards the two doors, the heavy, deep breathing was now so loud, it completely drowned out the noise of the rain falling on the tin roof. The breathing sounded around the height or higher, than the roof of the van and literally filled the van with its sound. We all sat petrified, staring at the back doors. Then the sound lowered in height, till it was level with the left door window. We could see nothing through the window pane, but something was looking through that window at us in our lit-up van.

Ron G., sitting nearest the back doors, about a foot from them and next to me, raised a foot-long rubber torch up high, ready to strike if those door handles turned downwards and the doors began to open. He held that torch firmly, even if his arm and hand was shaking like jelly. We all stared at those door handles apprehensively, waiting and scared rigid. After what seemed like an eternity, but was in fact only around a quarter of a quarter of a minute, the breathing noise rose upwards again to its seeming full height of around the 8- 9 foot mark. Then the heavy breathing moved across the width of the van’s back doors and towards the small quarry wood to our left.

Jan 2016 ~ The Curious Fortean

35

CRYPTOZOOLOGY: Killer Congers: Killer Congers, Kidnap & Memory Loss by Matt Cook

K ILLER C ONG E R S :

Killer Congers, Kidnap & Memory Loss

By Matt Cook

S

o this evening I'm thumbing through a back copy of Fortean Times (FT 85) and I notice a small article in the Strange Days section of the magazine that took my interest. The story was taken from the Aberdeen Press and Journal and the Daily Telegraph September 2, 1995.

Now the story goes that a 32-year-old diving instructor by the name of Cameron Bell was on Loch Long, a sea loch on the western coast of Scotland, he was there to give three of his pupils a lesson in diving at night. When somehow he became detached from his students and nothing more was heard of him for a further 9 hours.

He later claimed that whilst swimming into an area 90ft below the surface aptly named Conger Alley, he was attacked by a giant 6ft foot conger eel. The eel had apparently been startled by the divers light and in the confusion that followed, some fishing line that was trailing out of the congers mouth had become entangled around his neck. Mr. Bell then said that he was dragged at high speed a further 60ft into the cold dark depths before managing to use his knife to cut himself free.

Unfortunately for the unlucky sub-aqua swimmer whilst he was cutting himself free from his eel lead leash, he accidentally cut through his own oxygen line.

With no oxygen, Mr. Bell was forced to make haste towards the surface, an action that no diver wants to do from such depths in a hurry and the result was a case of the bends, or decompression sickness, caused by his rapid ascent to the surface.

Suffering as he was from the bends he somehow struggled towards the shore, where he passed out on terra firma. Luckily some 9 hours later he was found by a passing cyclist and after 4 hours in a decompression chamber at Faslane Navel Base, he was sent home to Glasgow to recover.

Now it was whilst I was double checking the facts of this article that I came across another bizarre chapter in the life of Mr. Bell. It seems that a few years later in February 1998 the diver once again found himself in turbulent water.

36

The Curious Fortean ~ Jan 2016

Mr. Bell was attending a conference for divers in Marseilles in France when he suddenly went missing, only to turn up again 5 days later, when he staggered into a petrol garage with razor cuts and bruises to both his head and body. Naturally detectives tried in an interview him, but he could only say that he had been held against his will and apart from that he had no memory of any other events.

A spokeswoman for French CID said, "He has been injured so something must have happened. He is the only one who can help us."

But it seems that some people who know Mr. Bell think that perhaps he might be rather liberal with the truth. An un-named source from the Scottish diving community was quoted in the Daily Mirror as saying “It sounds as though he’s been up to no good. His Loch Long story was a load of nonsense - and didn’t do the diving industry any good. In fact, I’ll give you a tenner for every diver you find who believes the conger man’s story.”

Also, one of the divers who accompanied Mr. Bell on his “eel” fated dive in Loch Long said the eel story “seemed unlikely” and “He was laughed out of the park by everyone in the industry.

He only gained sympathy from people not involved in diving.”

Even his ex-diving partner Mike Nisbett had this to say “I have nothing to say about Cameron Bell. I don’t want to be associated with the man.”

So It looks like poor Cameron has had a hard time whichever way you look at it. Did he encounter an angry eel from the deep? Did he even get kidnapped? Well, the only person who knows for sure is Cameron Bell himself.

“He later claimed that whilst swimming into an area 90ft below the surface aptly named Conger Alley, he was attacked by a giant 6ft foot conger eel.”

Top Image: Illustration of Conger eel Adobe stock Bottom Image: illustrated antique fish print albion prints.

Jan 2016 ~ The Curious Fortean

37

MONTHLY: Popular Cryptids Infographic By Melissa Martell

POPULAR

CRYPTIDS INFO B MELISSA

GRAPHIC Y MARTELL

7

2

1. Sasquatch:

Other Names: Bigfoot, Skookum, Yeren, Mapin Location: North America (with variances worldw Description: A roughly 8 ft. tall, hairy bipedal h

2. Dragon:

Other Names: Dinosauroid, Reptoid.

Location: Worldwide.

Description: Reptilian quadraped with various anatomies, powers and represenations.

3. Mermaid:

Other Names: Merman, Merpeople, Jalpari.

Location: The Seven Oceans and several seas Description: Human-Fish.

4. Lycanthrope:

4 This Page: Graphics by Melissa Martell Inforomation: courtesy of Smashing Lists & Wikipedia.

38

The Curious Fortean ~ Jan 2016

Other Names: Werewolf.

Location: Worldwide.

Description: A human with the ability to shape into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like crea

5. Loch Ness:

Other Names: Nessie, Nessiteras rhomboptery Location: Loch Ness, Scotland.

Description: Lake animal (Plesiosaur?).

5

nguari. wide). hominid.

6. Chupacabra:

Other Names: Goat Sucker.

Location: Mexico/Puerto Rico/Texas, United States/ Kerala, India.

Description: Reptile/Mammal/Canine.

1

7. The Yeti:

Other Names: Abominable Snowman, Mande Barung.

Location: Himalayas.

Description: Tall, bipedal creature covered with long white hair.

8. The Goat Man:

Other Names: The Maryland Goatman, Chevo Man. Location: Wisconsin, Maryland and New York (United States).

Description: Bipedal. It is described as a hybrid creature; part man and part goat.

9

9. Giant Anaconda:

Other Names: Sucuriju Gigante.

Location: South America.

Description: Giant snake up to 60 ft long.

10. Mothman:

3

Other Names: The Grinning Man. Location: West Virginia, United States.

Description: Man-sized creature with large reflective red eyes and large wings.

s.

10

eshift ature.

yx.

8

6

Jan 2016 ~ The Curious Fortean

39

You can be a Fortean Too! Join us on Facebook and watch for our updates on Twitter.

Nothing is too strange for The Curious Fortean. www.thecuriousfortean.com

The Curious Fortean

@CuriousFortean