A spooky encounter on Allt yr Esgair.
13th July 2016
Near where I live there is a hill named Allt yr Esgair and hidden away deep in the woods surrounding it is an old derelict hunting lodge which has stood there for almost two hundred years, gradually falling to ruins. It is a spooky place on a bright day but on an overcast and gloomy day I find it particularly eerie. I have often felt uneasy when I have been there - as if I’m not totally alone - but I’ve always told myself not to be so silly and just carried on.
However, yesterday morning I intended walking to the hilltop but near to the final ascent I felt myself being inexplicably drawn down into the woods, down the path leading to this old hunting lodge. The day seemed to darken and to become more foreboding as I made my way through the dense summer foliage, the light dimming with every passing step. I kept telling myself that there wouldn’t be any point in taking photographs because of the gloom, and that I should turn back.
Ridiculous as it may seem, I could not resist the force that appeared to inexorably draw me closer and closer to the overgrown copse where the old lodge stood. I arrived at the last junction where I could possibly take another path, a path leading to the open hill and daylight. I hesitated, but no, the attraction remained too strong and demanding, I had to see the old lodge once again.
To my relief when I finally arrived everything seemed normal, why wouldn’t it? I erected my tripod and camera and shot a few images and then slowly but surely, that old intangible feeling of being watched crept over me. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I must admit to feeling singularly disinclined to remain there - but this was ridiculous, or was it? were there indeed a pair of eyes from the distant past observing me?
Finally I could stand it no longer and I quickly packed up my kit. As I was leaving I looked back over my shoulder and predictably there was nothing to see. I hurried back through the woods and out once more into the welcome daylight.
However, the final chilling part of this encounter was yet to be revealed because when I processed the images I had taken I was shocked to my very core. In one of the doorways of the old lodge there appeared to be a very unpleasant figure, in fact a dreadful apparition of a woman, just standing there, watching - watching me?
It will be a long time before I venture anywhere near that place again………….
However, yesterday morning I intended walking to the hilltop but near to the final ascent I felt myself being inexplicably drawn down into the woods, down the path leading to this old hunting lodge. The day seemed to darken and to become more foreboding as I made my way through the dense summer foliage, the light dimming with every passing step. I kept telling myself that there wouldn’t be any point in taking photographs because of the gloom, and that I should turn back.
Ridiculous as it may seem, I could not resist the force that appeared to inexorably draw me closer and closer to the overgrown copse where the old lodge stood. I arrived at the last junction where I could possibly take another path, a path leading to the open hill and daylight. I hesitated, but no, the attraction remained too strong and demanding, I had to see the old lodge once again.
To my relief when I finally arrived everything seemed normal, why wouldn’t it? I erected my tripod and camera and shot a few images and then slowly but surely, that old intangible feeling of being watched crept over me. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I must admit to feeling singularly disinclined to remain there - but this was ridiculous, or was it? were there indeed a pair of eyes from the distant past observing me?
Finally I could stand it no longer and I quickly packed up my kit. As I was leaving I looked back over my shoulder and predictably there was nothing to see. I hurried back through the woods and out once more into the welcome daylight.
However, the final chilling part of this encounter was yet to be revealed because when I processed the images I had taken I was shocked to my very core. In one of the doorways of the old lodge there appeared to be a very unpleasant figure, in fact a dreadful apparition of a woman, just standing there, watching - watching me?
It will be a long time before I venture anywhere near that place again………….