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| Ghosts Archive 1969 |
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 Ghosts news, views, gallery and archive brought to you by Weird Wiltshire Introduction Latest News News Archive Longleat House Sign of an Angel Bewley Court Red Lion Westbury Pool Maud Cunnington Wardour Castle Manor House Hotel Devizes Castle Kings Arms Malmesbury Abbey Lacock Abbey Avebury Manor Littlecote Manor Lydiard House Gallery Postcards Wallpaper Links |
First Published Novemeber 5 1969 A TEENAGE Highworth girl fainted after being touched by a drifting apparition; dogs confronted by a nameless horror stopped dead in their tracks; a horse shied and refused to any further down a lonely country lane. These were some of the claims I investigated last night in Highworth, now buzzing with spine-chilling tales of the hunchback ghost of Pentylands Lane. According to excited teenagers it had been seen lurking in the hedgerows, gliding across fields flanking the desolate, twisting path and sitting atop a tractor bogged down in the mud. It has revealed itself so they say, to more than 20 of them. It all started nearby three weeks ago when youth club members were returning from a charity hike along Pentylands Lane. Starting in the newly-built Home Farm Estate, it leads only to a solitary farm. A white figure was seen flitting across the fields. The story is taken up by 19-year-old David Edwards of Cherry Orchard one of the young ghost-hunters of Highworth. He returned later to investigate. 'It was about 10.30pm and there was a full moon, he told me. 'We saw this thing lying flat out on the top of the tractor. 'Then it got up. It looked disfigured, deformed, It was a kind of shining white. 'It could have been a boy or a small child, about 4ft 6in tall. It seemed to stand by the tractor and then it started moving towards us. 'We were scared. It seemed to know what we were doing. 'We walked up the lane and it followed us along the hedge. Then it followed us back again. We got out quick.' Strong stuff. But evidently not for young David. The next night he admitted he returned to Pentylands Lane and put a sheet over his head to scare his friends. But they were not fooled. They said he looked nothing like what they had seen before. Anyway according to other reports, the ghost was seen in another field at the same time. His brother Philip (16) was in the first group returning from the hike. There were seven of them who said they saw the ghost. Similar reports came from the second group who followed an hour later. The figure was bent and white, he said. He put it about a foot taller. It was floating a couple of feet from the ground and Ôjust drifted' towards the hedge. The most recent manifestation was just two nights ago. James Davies (18) of Oak Drive, Highworth took his girlfriend on his motorcycle down Pentylands Lane. They were among a group of ghost hunters. When it was time to go, James could not start his machine and the others went ahead. Then, both he and the girl saw the ghost. 'I saw this shape. It was about 4ft tall,' he said. 'It was just a grey shape on the verge. It did not move. 'Imagination? No, it was definitely there. It was not a reflection I did not have the lights on.' As his girlfriend urged him to go, he ran with the motorcycle to get is started. They left Pentylands Lane in a hurry. One of the most intriguing accounts of the spectre came from a 14-year-old girl whose mother refused to allow her name to be disclosed. I assessed her as intelligent and level-headed. She admitted that she went down the lane in the dark with a mixed group out of curiosity. 'It was about 3ft from the ground and all hunched up,' she said. 'One arm was outstretched, pointing at us and its head was tucked into its shoulder. Then it seemed to be sitting on a gate. It did not have any legs. It was all a kind of grey mist.' On a second occasion a 13-year-old girl was in the group. She fainted in the lane and was brought round by her friends. She said she had seen the ghost and it had touched her. She also told of a girl she knew who rode a horse down Pentylands Lane in daylight with fiends alongside on foot. They claim they saw 'the thing' touch her on the head - but she saw and felt nothing. But the horse shied, refusing to go further, so she had to turn back. Such are the tales now freely circulating in Highworth. Last night in the sharpening frost I walked down Pentylands Lane with a few companions. We had only the stars and the black velvet night for company. It was creepy and I would have thought an excellent opportunity for the ghost to show itself. I remembered the tales of death in Pentylands Lane. One man drowned in a pond; another killed by a tractor, a third dying after being kicked by a horse. But we saw nothing. Highworth adults are scoffing. The kids saw a cow or a freak mist. They may be right, but would they risk a lonely walk in the dark down Pentylands Lane? Back to 1969 index |
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