...You had
better be prepared to experience more than you bargained for. Especially if the
woods in question are in the vicinity of the Kent village of Pluckley.
Properly known as Dering Woods, this forest is more commonly known as the
Screaming Woods – and for very good reason.
The area
itself is situated just south of England’s (arguably) most haunted village –
Pluckley – where it seems almost every building and piece of land has its own
ghost story to tell. Pinnock Bridge has its Gypsy or Watercress Woman who is
supposed to have set herself on fire from a combination of the pipe she was
smoking and the gin she was drinking at the same time. She wafts around as a
misty figure.
The Elvey
Farm has a haunted dairy where an 18th century farmer – Edward Brett
– fatally shot himself. He is still heard, muttering ‘I will do it.’
A black
silhouette of a miller haunts the site of an old windmill, while a red lady
walks her small white dog around the churchyard and a white lady wanders around
inside the same church. The locals at the time of her death must have really
feared her. She was buried inside not one, but seven coffins AND an oak sarcophagus. She’s still pacing around there though!
An
unfortunate love affair led to the suicide (by poisoning) of the Lady of Rose
Court, and a poor man who fell into a clay pit still screams in agony. A
schoolmaster who hanged himself is still apparently trapped at the site of his
demise.
Now,
after experiencing all that, you could well be forgiven for deciding to retire
to the local hostelry (the Black Horse Inn). Surely here you could kick back
and relax over a pint of foaming ale or a glass of comforting wine? Not a bit
of it! After the phantom coach and horses have thundered by outside, expect things
to start flying around you as the resident poltergeist gets to work.
But I
digress. Back to the woods.
In the 18th
century, a highwayman called Robert du Bois was tracked down and run through
with a sword while he hid in a tree in these very woods. Another version states
that he was dragged to the woods before being lynched. Either way, his are the
screams which give the woods their name - along with a couple of other
unfortunates, such as the army colonel who hanged himself and still can be seen
dangling from his tree, and the ghostly soldier who wanders the woodland paths.
Others who have simply lost their way - and never found it again - add their desperate
voices to the cacophony from beyond the grave.
Sceptics
might say it’s just foxes. Everyone knows foxes can make a terrible racket. As
if hell itself had opened and let the screams of the damned escape.
But those
of us who know about such things, don’t need any such explanations.
Do we?
These woods do look eerie.
ReplyDeleteThey certainly do, Tea!
DeleteThere are so many questions in our world that have no answer, Cat. That wood looks scary enough to house a dozen or more ghosts. Good post!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sue!
DeleteWow, this is fantastic! That's an swful lot of misery and suicide for one area!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Somer. You're right, that IS an awful lot for one little place. Don't think I'll be moving there anytime soon...
DeleteOOH I enjoyed finally getting down to the woods today my darling. Absolutely loved it xxxxxxx
ReplyDeleteThank you, Shey :)
Delete