UnseenI
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Post by UnseenI on Sept 10, 2018 18:34:06 GMT
Cashing in on Cannock Chase?
“Paranormal investigator” and local resident Lee Brickley has written a book about some of the phenomena that are alleged to have been seen in and around Cannock Chase. A quick look at some reviews has made me decide to forget it. Not only is the grammar and spelling said to be very bad, but the content does not look too good either. From Amazon: “Utter rubbish and full of fabricated stories made up by a supposed journalist. I am born and bred in Cannock and have asked countless people if they have ever heard of the legend of the pigman...which sounds more and more like South Parks 'Man/bear/pig'' but without the originality or humor. Avoid like the plague and just wait for his next installment of the legend of the T-rex man who is half dinosaur half man and lives over Cannock Chase.” “Lee Brickley mixes badly researched stories, repeating claims which have been proven to be false (like the lazerbeaming Indian UFO's of the Mahabharata), and fringe opinion (scientists as pen pushers sitting in their ivory towers) into a poorly written attempt at mythologising his home-town.” The good reviews are badly-written too! I couldn’t take them seriously.
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Post by magpiejack on Sept 10, 2018 19:55:54 GMT
I've only been to Cannock Chase once, went on a hike there and didn't like it, creepy energies. I didn't see any pig men though... It's funny with one of the reviews that it says that none of the locals know anything about it. One story is going around about Shady Lane in Evington where I grew up and a ghostly nun - I think I would have got to hear about that if it were true! This story originated on a website called Leicester Chronicle which seems to have bitten the dust, but it has been copied in various places on the internet, even on the Leicester Mercury's website: www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/leicester-news/terrifying-tale-ghostly-nun-seen-1322161No indication of the date of this event... The truth of Shady Lane is that it has a straight stretch and then a very bad bend (or used to have, maybe it's been evened out now) and it was a notorious accident blackspot for speeding motorists. I guess that inventing a ghost is a lame excuse for bad driving!
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UnseenI
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Post by UnseenI on Sept 11, 2018 6:11:49 GMT
“I've only been to Cannock Chase once, went on a hike there and didn't like it, creepy energies. I didn't see any pig men though...“ Creepy energies? Lee Brickley mentions ‘ancient vibes’ in an interview: "There have been hundreds of reports of UFOs and big cats on the Chase over the years. I don't know what it is about the place. There 's an iron-age hill fort site, Castle Ring, at its highest point which is thought to have been occupied around AD 50 by the Celtic Cornovii tribe who are supposed to have carried out satanic rituals and human sacrifices there. It's where I choose to stand when I go UFO-spotting. Maybe it's got something to do with the ancient vibes.” www.expressandstar.com/editors-picks/2014/10/22/if-you-go-down-to-the-chase-today/‘Satanic ‘is not the right word for 50 AD! The proud author:
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UnseenI
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Post by UnseenI on Oct 30, 2018 18:49:56 GMT
The Devil’s footprints
The Devil’s Foot in Conan Doyle’s story, which has been featured recently and is set in Cornwall, was a poisonous plant root. Now we have real Devil’s footprints - in Devon. A DM article from 2009 is about some mysterious footprints connected with a local legend. This sounds like something from Good Omens“A 150-year-old mystery has reared its head after a woman woke to find 'Satan's hoofprints' dotted across freshly fallen snow in her back garden. The single track of cloven-like prints - which appear to have been made by a two-legged creature - precisely resemble footprints recorded in the area in 1855. The phenomenon, which has never been explained, became known as the 'Devil's foot prints' in a local legend.“ And this looks like a Charles Dickens illustration: “Legend: The original 'Devil's Footprints' appeared after light snowfall in 1855 and travelled from Exmouth to Topsham in Devon, even scaling rooftops “ www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1161765/Ancient-mystery-returns-Satans-hoofprints-spotted-Devon-garden.htmlAnimal tracks? A hoax? Or this:
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UnseenI
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Post by UnseenI on Nov 12, 2018 20:11:44 GMT
Wolpertinger!
Bavaria has appeared in many posts recently. It has a mythical creature of its own: “In German folklore, a wolpertinger (also called wolperdinger) is an animal said to inhabit the alpine forests of Bavarian Germany. It has a body comprising various animal parts — generally wings, antlers, tails and fangs, all attached to the body of a small mammal. The most widespread description portrays the Wolpertinger as having the head of a rabbit, the body of a squirrel, the antlers of a deer, and the wings and occasionally the legs of a pheasant.” This makes a change from the same old black panthers. The Wolpertinger has even got into WoW:
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Post by magpiejack on Dec 8, 2019 10:08:01 GMT
Creepy Clapham WoodI revisited this blog yesterday and had a look at it in greater detail, I came across it ages ago when I read a passing mention of the strange death of police officer Peter Goldsmith in 1972. sjhstrangetales.wordpress.com/2011/06/11/the-clapham-wood-mystery/Clapham Wood in West Sussex has a wealth of stories of high strangeness; cryptozoology, strange lights, UFO sightings, occult meetings and practices, birds no longer singing there - you name it. The blog belongs to author Sarah Hapgood and I feel that she deals with stories of weirdness in an even-handed way, not believing everything at face value. It's worth looking around the blog at other interesting articles. One other thing to note - the location in Sussex, I thought of posting it in the Sussex thread as it relates to the county, but maybe it's more appropriate here.
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UnseenI
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Post by UnseenI on Dec 8, 2019 19:05:23 GMT
I made a note to investigate Clapham Wood a while back, but other things have taken all my attention.
Maybe if the royals go quiet for a while I will get a chance to return to some other topics.
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Tsar
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Post by Tsar on Jun 12, 2020 17:54:16 GMT
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UnseenI
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Post by UnseenI on Jun 12, 2020 20:02:44 GMT
The name Spring-Heeled Jack sounded familiar. I immediately thought of an eighteenth century highwayman, but must be remembering someone else with a similar name.
I do wonder how much of the story is true, and of that how much was embellished. It is very interesting to see that he operated in many places in SW London.
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UnseenI
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Post by UnseenI on Jun 13, 2020 7:13:27 GMT
I was thinking of ‘Sixteen String Jack’, a celebrity highwayman who was hanged in 1774 - at the age of 24. He was famous for his fine clothes and polite manner.
There are no supernatural elements in his case.
It is interesting that both men have at least one band or group named after them. This keeps their names alive.
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Tsar
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Post by Tsar on Jun 14, 2020 0:19:13 GMT
I first came across Spring Heeled Jack in a video game called Assassin's Creed a few years ago. Been years since I played but this page gives a pretty good summary of his role in it: assassinscreed.fandom.com/wiki/Spring-heeled_JackI just remember finding the idea so strange, googling it, and finding it was actually based on a real case.
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UnseenI
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Post by UnseenI on Jun 14, 2020 19:52:28 GMT
Dracula or Batman? A dramatic depiction of the man that looks familiar:
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aletheia
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Post by aletheia on Jun 29, 2020 18:38:33 GMT
Blackheath, Plagues, and Jack the Ripper connexion
Blackheath, London has long been believed to be a mass burial plague pit in use from 1348 to 1666. Although there appears to be no etymological link between 'Blackheath' and the Black Death, it is likely that many thousands of plague dead were buried under the village. A further association with death is the Jack the Ripper connexion, as Ripper suspect Montague John Druitt (1857–88) lived and worked as an assistant schoolmaster at a Blackheath boarding school.
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UnseenI
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Post by UnseenI on Jun 30, 2020 7:25:59 GMT
There was a theory that Spring Heeled Jack was a gentleman who was just having fun, but the places he was said to have been seen in say otherwise.
Blackheath is a strange place. Highwaymen frequented this barren wilderness in the 17th and 18th centuries.
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Tsar
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Post by Tsar on Jul 5, 2020 22:53:20 GMT
Not sure if this is the right thread for it, but the disappearance of Lord Lucan is another fascinating one.
He was a good-looking bloke; looked a lot like Tsar Nicholas II. The Windsors are related to the Romanovs, so if Lord Lucan was related to the Queen which seems likely, he would be a distant relative of Nicholas II.
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UnseenI
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Post by UnseenI on Jul 22, 2020 18:39:41 GMT
Lord Lucan and the last straw
“Not sure if this is the right thread for it, but the disappearance of Lord Lucan is another fascinating one.” Tsar Avacyn started a thread or two about mysterious deaths but some examples are not easy to classify and may be relevant to several threads. Our leader can move this if he wants to. I found an old DM article where a witness describes what he thinks was the trigger for the murder of the nanny and subsequent disappearance - a huge gambling loss: “Mr Hitchin said he watched in astonishment that night at the Ladbroke Club in Mayfair as so-called Lucky Lucan, a notorious gambler, lost £8,000 – roughly equivalent to £50,000 today – in just over an hour playing blackjack, before exploding with rage and attempting to overturn the card table. The game started at 7.40pm and Lucan left in a fury at 8.50pm – ten minutes before detectives believe 29-year-old Mrs Rivett was killed at Lucan’s Belgravia home, an eight-minute drive away.” www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2196925/Lord-Lucan-tipped-edge-gambling-debt-fury-losing-50-000-exploding-rage-minutes-nanny-bludgeoned-death-reveals-croupier.html
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Post by UnseenI on Jul 22, 2020 18:41:37 GMT
Lord Lucan and Lord McAlpine
Lord Lucan used to play cards with Lord ‘Bobby’ McAlpine, who was a person of great interest on the old David Icke forum. He is often confused with other members of the McAlpine family. They played together a few days before the murder. “McAlpine played bridge with Lord Lucan a matter of days before he went missing in November 1974. They were both members of the Portland Club which counted politicians and peers of the realm among its members. ‘He looked terrible,’ Mr McAlpine says. ‘I'd never seen a handsome man look so dissipated. He had been drinking for days on end and was at the end of his tether.’" www.shropshirestar.com/news/2013/01/31/the-remarkable-life-of-bobby-mcalpine/If the DIF ever comes back, I will see what I can find about the two main McAlpines. In the meantime, you can see Lucan playing Bridge with Robert McAlpine, who is on the left with the wing of shiny hair over his face:
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Post by UnseenI on Jul 24, 2020 7:31:33 GMT
Lord Lucan and Robert Maxwell
Lord Lucan and Ghislaine Maxwell’s father Robert have more in common than mysterious deaths: they gamed in the same clubs. Not only that, but Robert Maxwell was present when Lord Lucan exploded with rage as described above: “The outburst caused a deathly hush on a nearby roulette game with Robert Maxwell, owner of the Daily Mirror… Seething with rage and pushing people from his path, sending tables and glasses crashing to the floor on the nearby Maxwell game, Lucan left the building.” www.somerset-life.co.uk/people/barri-hitchin-gambling-addiction-coach-1-6620306
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Post by UnseenI on Jul 24, 2020 7:32:50 GMT
Two bouncers
Robert Maxwell, who originally came from Czechoslovakia, was given the nickname “The Bouncing Czech’ by the then Prime Minister Harold WIlson. Fellow Mayfair club gamer Lord Lucan was also a bouncer: “A series of bounced cheques that illustrate the scale of Lord Lucan's gambling debts before he disappeared have come to light after 42 years. The troubled aristocrat signed the 11 cheques totalling almost £20,000 - about £250,000 in today's money- as he desperately tried to reverse his spiralling losses at a leading London casino. All of them either bounced or were not even presented to the bank as it became obvious that Lucan - who was declared officially dead earlier this year - had little money left. Five of the cheques cover a total of £15,000 and were written over a two day period - three in one epic gambling session - to the Ladbroke Club in Mayfair.” www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3515529/Huge-scale-Lord-Lucan-s-gambling-debts-emerged-42-years-disappeared-Troubled-aristocrat-owed-250-000-fled-family-s-nanny-murdered.html
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UnseenI
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Post by UnseenI on Jul 25, 2020 18:36:49 GMT
Lord Lucan and Prince Philip
“ ...if Lord Lucan was related to the Queen which seems likely, ...” I don’t know about this, but Lord Lucan certainly had royal connections: “After his marriage, the newly titled Duke of Edinburgh was to be found revelling in the wild company of such figures as John Aspinall and Lord Lucan.” news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1351548.stm
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Post by UnseenI on Aug 18, 2020 7:03:55 GMT
Lord Lucan and Spring-Heeled Jack Tsar it is interesting to see the names of your two very different people of interest in the same sentence - in a Tweet made by a writer called Jon Richter: “In today’s blog post I’m bringing you two more unsettling unsolved mysteries... specifically the legend of Spring-Heeled Jack, and the disturbing circumstances surrounding the disappearance of Lord Lucan.“ Jon Richter is a new name to me. He is a writer of dark fiction. Here is a link to his blog post: www.jon-richter.com/post/two-more-unsolved-mysteries-lord-lucan-spring-heeled-jack
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Post by UnseenI on Aug 18, 2020 7:10:09 GMT
Spring-Heeled Jack the graphic novel
Philip Pullman, author of the Dark Materials trilogy, wrote a children’s book in which Jack is a super-hero who helps to save some orphans. It is available in many versions:
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UnseenI
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Post by UnseenI on Aug 21, 2020 7:02:36 GMT
Jack Be Nimble
There is no connection between Spring-Heeled Jack and Jack Be Nimble from the nursery rhyme, but this picture reminds me of the Victorian villain:
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UnseenI
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Post by UnseenI on Aug 30, 2020 7:38:13 GMT
Spring-Heeled Jack ale
Spring-Heeled Jack has had an ale named after him: “Spring Heeled Jack Oakham Ales IPA - Black / Cascadian Dark Ale A Black IPA. A deep, dark complex beer for the winter featuring four different US hops - Columbus, Amarillo, Cascade and Mosaic. One of four special one-off keg beers being brewed by Oakham Ales in 2015 - catch it while you can !”
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Tsar
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Post by Tsar on Aug 30, 2020 23:38:16 GMT
Kinda ironic how a being famous for jumping great heights gets a drink made from hops!
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UnseenI
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Post by UnseenI on Aug 31, 2020 7:09:31 GMT
Kinda ironic how a being famous for jumping great heights gets a drink made from hops! I didn't think of that! I didn't know that this character had inspired so many products. This looks good:
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UnseenI
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Post by UnseenI on Sept 2, 2020 7:36:57 GMT
Jumping jack toy
Spring-Heeled Jack has reminded me of the jumping jack toy, a sort of jointed puppet that moves when strings are pulled. Such toys said to go back to ancient Egypt. There is evidence in the form of this cartoon from 1818 that Jumping Jack pre-dates Spring-Heeled Jack:
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UnseenI
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Post by UnseenI on Sept 10, 2020 7:10:09 GMT
Sherlock Holmes and Spring-Heeled Jack
There is no end to Sherlock Holmes tribute novels. There is even one that mentions Spring-Heeled Jack, who was reported to have been seen in Liverpool: “The legendary detective Sherlock Holmes and his trusted associate Dr. Watson investigate one of the strangest cases in their career! With mauled bodies appearing on the streets of Liverpool, rumors circulate that the culprit might be an inhuman monster known as Spring Heeled Jack. “
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UnseenI
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Post by UnseenI on Sept 11, 2020 7:39:56 GMT
Jack of all trades?
Spring-Heeled Jack made me think of jumping jacks. There is also Jack Flash the UK comic hero, Jumping Jack Flash, Jack-be-Nimble, the jack-in-the box toy that jumps out at people...is there some connection, some common factor, something that they all derive from? There is a sinister and evil character in Thrilling Murder Comics called Jumping Jack Flash:
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UnseenI
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Post by UnseenI on Sept 12, 2020 8:03:21 GMT
Wing-heeled Jack!
Flying boy Jack Flash comes from the planet Mercury. Just like the god Hermes/Mercury, he has wings on his heels:
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