Tuesday, 18 January 2011
Young ghosts
Fortean Times reader recounts sighting of ghostly Edwardian schoolchildren. Somewhere in Britain but unfortunately doesn't state where. Read the account at http://is.gd/ksDFHC
Monday, 17 January 2011
Hair-raising film in salon
The ThisisDerbyshire website reports that a ghost has been caught on camera in a salon in Derby. Staff viewed CCTV footage after a member's mobile phone went missing but were startled to see a ladder apparently moving on its own - unless you count the ghostly hand some say they can see in the vid. The hairdressers say that they have long been aware of a friendly presence in the salon and the footage hasn't overly spooked them. You can view the video at: http://is.gd/2eEaZM
Thursday, 13 January 2011
Jailhouse shocks
Beware the Black Fox!
After the recent news about a 'giant' fox shot in Maidstone, Kent - it was about twice the size of a normal fox, that is to say the same size as a coyote (see picture) - I have found something else of foxy interest on a bottle of booze.
From my local independent retailer of fine inebriates I picked up a bottle by perhaps my favourite cider manufacturers, Dunkertons in Herefordshire. Dunkertons make the finest perry I've ever tasted and grow alomost-extinct apple and pears in their own organic orchards, pressing them in an 18th century mill. But I digress (in fact, I'm drooling) - this particular brand, previously unknown to me, is a 7% cider called 'Black Fox'.
The name comes, states the label, from a piece of rural folklore - also unknown to me. Dunkertons informs us: 'From earlier times, rural communities have told stories of fantastic creatures which have supposedly lived in their location. The lush rolling countryside of North West Herefordshire is no exception. Here stories tell of an animal which has evaded capture by farmer and huntsman alike: a Black Fox. The red fox has always existed but belief grew that there was a fox 'as black as night, so that it might live in man's shadow and never be seen'. A favoured haunt of the Black Fox is... the cider orchard.'
Genuine folk belief or a bit of cider-fuelled fantasy? I'd be interested to learn more.
Friday, 7 January 2011
Joanna Lumley and the Demons of the Nile
I recorded the four 'Joanna Lumley's Nile' programmes over the Christmas break and have just got round to watching them. I was intrigued by the conversation Lumley had (through an interpreter) with a felucca owner on the Nile near Aswan, southern Egypt. Echoing many a new age/Von Daniken style fantasy, the boatman told Lumley:
'The ancient Egyptians used to levitate a stone by pointing a wand at it ... each stone was as big as this boat and they would lift them with incantations. The stones would fly up on their own and stack one on top of the other.'
Lumley looked highly dubious at this information but listened politely while the boatman, who has fished the Nile for more than 50 years, told her about the demons haunting the river.
'There are deep whirlpools which are haunted,' he told her. 'Yes, I saw demons with my own eyes. They appeared to me not once, not twice, but three times. One of them attacked this boat, while I was holding the rudder, and set fire to it. My boat went up in flames.'
Lumley asked him what the demons looked like, and he replied: 'He could look like anything. He could look like a rabbit. He could look like a horse or a very big wild cat. He can even appear in human form. He dresses in clothes but, guess what, this demon's feet look like a donkey's.'
The similarity of belief in such djinn with the pwca etc of Celtic Britain and with appearances of the Devil in British folklore is striking. The only difference is in the eyes, which the felucca owner indicated were set vertically in the face rather than horizontally.
It's worth remembering how many people in primarily Muslim countries earnestly believe in the djinn. After all, many of the strange spooks from our own folklore, and weird things still reported today, such as poltergeists and Black Dogs, may have the same origin - entities created of smokeless fire who inhabit a parallel world which sometimes intrudes on our own.
'The ancient Egyptians used to levitate a stone by pointing a wand at it ... each stone was as big as this boat and they would lift them with incantations. The stones would fly up on their own and stack one on top of the other.'
Lumley looked highly dubious at this information but listened politely while the boatman, who has fished the Nile for more than 50 years, told her about the demons haunting the river.
'There are deep whirlpools which are haunted,' he told her. 'Yes, I saw demons with my own eyes. They appeared to me not once, not twice, but three times. One of them attacked this boat, while I was holding the rudder, and set fire to it. My boat went up in flames.'
Lumley asked him what the demons looked like, and he replied: 'He could look like anything. He could look like a rabbit. He could look like a horse or a very big wild cat. He can even appear in human form. He dresses in clothes but, guess what, this demon's feet look like a donkey's.'
The similarity of belief in such djinn with the pwca etc of Celtic Britain and with appearances of the Devil in British folklore is striking. The only difference is in the eyes, which the felucca owner indicated were set vertically in the face rather than horizontally.
It's worth remembering how many people in primarily Muslim countries earnestly believe in the djinn. After all, many of the strange spooks from our own folklore, and weird things still reported today, such as poltergeists and Black Dogs, may have the same origin - entities created of smokeless fire who inhabit a parallel world which sometimes intrudes on our own.
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
Welcome to a new year, with John Stoker
Monday, 20 December 2010
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