Tragic History and Lingering Questions

Welcome to season two of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder. Jamie Reynolds. He's supposed to testify against Max. And then he goes missing two days before the trial starts. Oh, nothing's to do with me. You're lying, Max. Do this again? People I care about. Stop pushing people away. Why couldn't you just leave everything on? What if I'm not good enough? The new series of A Good Girl's Guide to Murder. Watch on BBC iPlayer. While cycling to work in the early hours of the morning, a young man found himself confronted by a chilling apparition near the dark waters of Trench Pool. What began as a single terrifying encounter soon escalated into something far more disturbing. as the figure continued to stalk him for weeks afterwards. A haunting presence he would come to know. as the Wraith of Trench Pool. Town of Telford Situated in the English county of Shropshire. is one of the United Kingdom's newer urban centers. Officially designated as a new town during the nineteen sixties. It was developed to absorb population overspill from nearby industrial citi such as Birmingham and Wolverhampton. Yet whilst the town itself is relatively modern, The landscapon which it stands carries a far older and more significant history. In the south of the town lies Ironbridge Gorge, widely regarded as the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. It was here in 1779 that the world's first cast iron bridge was constructed across the River Seven. A symbol of the technological transformation that would reshape Britain. Eventually. the wider world. For generations the surrounding region was dominated by mines, foundries, and brickworks. industries that left their mark not only on the local economy but on the landscape itself. Today, Telford is home to more than 170,000 people. and remains one of the fastest growing towns in the United Kingdom. Housing estates, retail parks, and transport links now occupy ground that was once carved open for all manner of resources. traces of that past remain scattered across the municipality. particularly in districts such as Trench, where the industrial history of the area is still visible in its geography. One of the most recognizable landmarks in this district is Trench Pool. broad body of water situated close to the centre of the community. Bordered by trees and low embankments, the lake sits quietly amongst the surrounding housing estates and bushlands. To those unfamiliar with the area, it appears to be little more than an ornamental stretch of water set within an otherwise ordinary semi-rural landscape. In reality, however, it performs an important engineering function. Trench pool is what is known as a balancing lake. These reservoirs are designed to regulate water levels during periods of heavy rainfall. temporarily storing excess runoff that might otherwise overwhelm drainage systems and cause flooding. Once the pressure on those systems subsides The water is gradually released back into nearby waterways. Throughout the day, Trenchpool attracts a steady stream of quiet activity. Anglers can often be seen casting their lines from the banks, whilst dog walkers follow the winding footpaths that trace the water's edge. The pathway running along one side of the pool forms part of the Silken Way. An old railway line that has since been converted into a long distance walking route that runs the entire length of the town and beyond. and sees a steady flow of people travelling to and from work. But in the autumn of twenty fifteen A cyclist passing the dark waters of Trenchpool would experience something he struggled to explain. An encounter that would remain with him. for the rest of his life. In November of that year. A young man named Reese Matthews made the same early morning journey five days a week. He lived in Telford and worked at the Muller Dairy Processing Plant in Donington Wood. one of the town's largest industrial employers. His shift began before dawn. And like many others in the area's manufacturing sector His day started long before most of the town had awoken. Each morning he travelled to work by bicycle. The route was a little over five miles in length, and for the most part followed a series of quiet roads and pedestrian paths that cut across the town. At that hour the streets were largely deserted, with only the occasional passing vehicle breaking the silence. The journey usually took around 2 minutes, depending on the weather and road conditions. On the morning in question. Matthews left his home shortly before 5 a.m. Sunrise would not arrive until after six, and the town remained completely dark. Rain had been falling steadily through the night, and continued to drizzle as he set off. like a cold droplets striking his face as he rose. Conditions like this were not unusual for the time of year, and he was more than accustomed to cycling in poor weather. Like many regular commuters, the routine had long since become second nature. For the first part of the ride, he followed the main roads linking several of Telford's residential districts. The journey was straightforward. The roads were mostly level with only gentle inclines, allowing him to maintain a steady pace. Roughly halfway through the journey, he left the road network and joined a gravel pathway that ran past Trench Pool. This stretch was darker and more isolated than the surrounding areas. There were no street lights along the track. and the only illumination came from the powerful lamp mounted to the front of his bicycle. bean cast a bright cone of light ahead of him. revealing the pathway as it stretched out into the distance. It was a section he knew well. Having travelled along it countless times before. With little traffic and few obstacles, it allowed him to pick up the pace as he continued towards Donnington Wood. The surface ahead appeared clear. and with his head slightly lowered against the rain, he shifted into a lower gear and began pedaling harder. He gathered speed and pushed forward through the darkness. Then the bicycle suddenly jolted beneath him. as if the wheels had passed over a divot or pothole. The movement made him glance back over his shoulder. briefly searching the ground behind him for whatever had caused the disturbance. He could see nothing. Confused but determined to carry on, he turned his attention back to the path ahead. And what he saw gave him the shock of his life. No more than three meters ahead of him stood a figure. Reese had been travelling at considerable speed along the dark path. And in that instant. he realized he was on the verge of colliding with whoever it was standing there. The suddenness of the moment seemed to distort his sense of time. A sensation many people report during moments of shock. Everything appeared to slow. The seconds stretching out as his mind struggled to process what he was seeing. The figure was that of a woman. Directly in the centre of the path. dressed in what appear to be formal office wear. Reese could clearly make out a fitted jacket and skirt. And in one hand she clutched a handbag tightly against her shoulder. Her legs were together. Pure rigid and upright. And she appeared to be wearing high heeled shoes. A curious choice of footwear for someone standing alone on an unlit gravel track before dawn. Yet the most striking detail was her stillness. as Reese rapidly closed the distance between them. Woman. did not move. She made no attempt to step aside, raise her hands, or or react to the rapidly approaching cyclist bearing down on her in the darkness. There was no cry of alarm. No startled movement. Not even the slightest shift in her posture. Her head was tilted downwards, as though she was staring at the ground. Long strands of black hair hung forward over her face, soaked by the persistent rain, and and clinging heavily against her cheeks. Because of this, Reese could not see her features. The darkness of the path, combined with the curtain of wet locks, concealed her expression entirely. A brief, surreal moment it felt as though he was racing towards a motionless statue. Instinct finally took over. And at the last possible second, Reese wrenched his handlebars to one side, and narrowly avoiding what he was certain would have been a direct collision. bicycle swerved violently across the wet gravel as he shot past her. Missing the figure by only a matter of inches. But even as he passed, she did not react. She remained exactly where she stood. Silent, rigid, and completely unmoving. A few meters further along the track, Re slammed on his brakes. tires skidded across the soaked surface, sending the bicycle sliding sideways and almost throwing him to the ground. Regaining his balance, he turned his head back immediately, ready to apologize for nearly crashing into her. There was no one there. Have you guys heard of Chime? It's a banking app. But it's not just a banking app. It's changing the way everyday people bank. Time gets your everyday spending working harder by delivering real financial progress and rewards. It's fee free, with overdraft coverage you can count on. 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See Chime.com slash fees info. Terms apply. Limited time only. Must open the new account and complete qualify activities to earn rewards. Advertised annual percentage yield with Chime Plus status only. Otherwise 1% APY applies. No minimum balance required. ChimeCard on time payment history may have a positive impact on your credit score. Results may vary. See Chime.com for details on applicable terms. Confused, he looked from left to right and then back again along the stretch of path behind him. But the woman was nowhere to be seen. For several seconds he remained frozen in place, staring into the darkness where she had been standing only moments before. The beam of his bicycle lamp illuminated the wet gravel and the empty path beyond it. But there was no sign of movement. No sound of footsteps retreating into the darkness. And nowhere she could have possibly gone. Once the realization set in. that there was simply no logical explanation for her disappearance. Every hair on his body stood on end. The sensation was immediate and overwhelming. a cold wave of fear that seemed to pass through him from head to toe. Whatever he had seen standing in the path. It had inexplicably vanished. Stunned, Ree slowly turned his bicycle around and resumed cycling along the track. He had a powerful urge to look back over his shoulder, but refused to do so. The thought of turning around and seeing the figure standing there once more was was simply too much to contemplate. In that moment. he was completely convinced that what he had just encountered with something paranormal. When he eventually arrived at work The experience continued to weigh heavily on his mind. Throughout the morning he spoke very little. carrying out his duties in near silence and moving about the factory floor in a kind of distracted haze. A few of his colleagues noticed the change in his behaviour and asked if something was wrong. But Reece chose to keep the encounter to himself. That afternoon he took a different route home. Deliberately avoiding the path beside Trench Pool. In fact, for several months afterwards he refused to cycle along that stretch at all. Yet despite his efforts to stay away from the place where the encounter had occurred, It soon became clear that avoiding it would not be enough. About a week after the encounter at Trench Pool, Ree Matthews experienced another incident which would deepen his growing unease. Late one evening at around ten o'clock. He left his house to walk to a nearby shop to buy a few bottles of beer. By that time of night the sun had long since set, but and the streets of the residential estate where he lived were quiet. The route he followed ran beside a road lined with houses on either side. The area was lit by a series of tall street lamps, which cast a fluorescent glow across the pavement and the otherwise empty street. Aside from the occasional car, the neighborhood was almost completely silent. In the days since Trench Pool The experience had lingered in the back of Reese's mind. The memory of the woman standing motionless in the path had replayed itself more than once, and yet he had gradually begun to convince himself that there must have been some ordinary explanation. Perhaps exhaustion had affected his perception, or the darkness had caused him to misinterpret what he had seen. Whatever the truth, he had tried to dismiss the encounter as nothing more than a strange misunderstanding. particular moment, the event was not even on his mind. Instead, his thoughts drifted to everyday concerns. television programs he had been watching. video games he had recently played, and the ordinary distractions that filled most evenings. But then Somewhere behind him. He heard the unmistakable sound of footsteps. The sharp rhythmic clicking of high-heeled shoes echoed along the pavement. The sound bouncing off the brick faces of the houses that line the street. At first, Reese paid little attention. It wasn't unusual to encounter other pedestrians even late in the evening. and he simply assumed that someone was walking along the same route behind him. He continued on for several seconds without looking back. But as he walked, the sound of the footsteps grew steadily louder. Whoever was approaching was clearly moving faster than he was. And it soon became obvious that they were gaining on him. The pavement was relatively narrow. leaving little room for someone to overtake comfortably. With this in mind. Reese decided to step aside and allow the person behind him to pass. As he slowed his pace, he turned his head slightly, intending to signal that he was moving out of the way. But when he glanced behind him His heart almost stopped. pavement was completely empty. There was no one there. At the exact moment he looked back The sound of the approaching footsteps also ceased. In the weeks that followed, incidents like this began to occur with unsettling regularity whenever Reese found himself alone. Sometimes it happened late at night on quiet streets. other times during the middle of the day. But the sensation was always the same. The sudden and overwhelming certainty that someone was following him. He just couldn't see them. Whenever he stopped or turned to investigate, there was never anyone there. and the disturbances were not limited to when he was outside either. During this period, Reese also began suffering frequent episodes of sleep paralysis. he would wake suddenly in darkness, his body frozen and unable to move. In those moments, he was convinced he was not alone. There was an overwhelming sense that something else was in the room with him. Standing somewhere nearby and silently watching. One night in particular remained fixed in his memory. Whilst lying awake unable to sleep, he noticed something unusual about the bedroom door. He was certain he had closed it before going to bed. Yet now it stood slightly ajar. At first he assumed it was a trick of the shadows cast by passing car headlights outside. But as he stared at it. The door shifted slowly. Opening a few inches wider. He wasn't sure, but he thought he could see the ends of a person's fingers gripping the door. Just above the handle. A moment later it seemed to close without making a sound. Other experiences were more subtle, but no less disturbing. At times he would suddenly feel as though someone was standing directly at his shoulder. so close it seemed they were about to whisper something into his ear. Whisper. Came. This continued for several weeks, and just as Reese began to question his own sanity, the disturbances gradually faded. Life eventually returned to normal. though the memory of those experiences lingered. Even so, it would be many months before he dared cycle anywhere near Trench Pool again. Only when the days began to grow longer and winter finally gave way to spring. Did he feel brave enough to take the gravel path beside the lake? Once more. Ready to launch your business? Get started with the Commerce platform made for entrepreneurs. Shopify is specially designed to help you start, run, and grow your business with easy customizable themes that let you build your brand. Marketing tools that get your products out there. Integrated shipping solutions that actually save you time. From startups to scale ups, online, in person, and on the go. Shopify is made for entrepreneurs like you. Sign up for your $1 a month trial at Shopify.com slash setup. Rece Matthews would always wonder what it was that he had seen on that cold, dreary November morning. And in the years that followed He occasionally shared the experience with close friends. Through those conversations, Reese gradually learned that he was far from the only person to have experienced something unusual in the vicinity of Trench Pool. Stories had circulated locally for many years. Anglers fishing along the banks of the lake had occasionally reported seeing figures standing silently on the gravel pathway. Ordinarily this would not have been remarkable. The route was used regularly by pedestrians and cyclists travelling through the area. According to several witnesses. These figures often appeared strangely indistinct. In some cases their faces seem completely featureless, as though blurred or obscured by shadow. In others, they appear to be standing slightly above the ground itself. Hovering just inches from the gravel. Unusual sounds had been reported around the lake. Fishermen occupying the wooden jetties at either end of the water had sometimes described hearing footsteps approaching along the boards behind them. Yet whenever they turned to see who was coming There was no one there. the footsteps would simply fade away into the night. In another unsettling account, a man walking along the same gravel path described hearing a deep guttural growl emanating from the dense brush that borders the route. He claimed the sound was unlike anything he had heard before. Low, animalistic, and unmistakably close. Yet despite searching the area with a torch he was unable to find anything that could have produced it. Encounters like these are documented in the book Haunted Telford by local author and paranormal investigator Philip Solomon. who has collected numerous testimonies relating to strange events reported throughout the town. One particularly curious account described a late evening sighting near the lake involving a local resident walking his dog along the Silken Way. According to the witness, he had been walking around the water's edge when he noticed what he initially assumed was someone standing some distance ahead of him on the path. The figure was completely dark, and was stood perfectly still beside the lake. Thinking little of it, the man continued walking. But as he drew closer, something about the figure began to trouble him. Like Reese, he noticed that it did not move, although he could not see any features whatsoever. There was no shift in posture. no sign that it had noticed his approach. Dog, however, reacted very differently. As the man and his canine companion came within roughly 20 feet of the figure, The animal stopped abruptly and began to growl. refusing to move any further along the path. Moments later. the figure simply faded away. The witness later claimed that he had not seen it walk away or step into the surrounding trees. One moment it was standing there in plain sight, and The next it was gone. Such accounts a growing catalogue of strange reports connected to the lake. In mid-2017, one of Reese's friends happened to overhear an interesting conversation about Trench Pool, which added a more tragic dimension to these stories. The discussion involved an amateur diving instructor who recalled an incident from several years earlier. One morning, the instructor had received a phone call from an officer at Mallinsgate Police Station in Telford Town Centre. There had reportedly been an altercation between a group of teenagers gathered on the banks of the lake. During the commotion, one of them had fallen into the water and was believed to have drowned. At the time, the police diving unit responsible for the region was training elsewhere in the country. and assistance was urgently required. the instructor and another volunteer diver were asked to attend the scene. Under a thickening air of apprehension. two men suited up and entered the cold murky water. Visibility was almost non existent. The lake descends to depths of around 2 feet in places. and searching the bottom proved difficult. Eventually, however, they located the body of an 18 year old man. brought him back to the surface. It would not be the first or the last time that someone lost their life in those waters. The busy jewel carriageway runs behind the dense line of trees bordering the pool. Over the years, several serious traffic accidents have occurred on that stretch of road. In a number of cases, vehicles have left the carriageway entirely. crashing through the brush before ending up partially submerged in the lake. There have also been more tragic and avoidable incidents. On occasion, individuals leaving nearby pubs late at night, often heavily intoxicated, have wandered towards the water and attempted to go for a swim. with fatal consequences. There is little doubt that a number of deaths have occurred in and around the lake over the years. But this raises an unsettling question. Who was the woman that Reese encountered on that gravel path during the early hours of that November morning? Could she have been the ghost of someone involved in one of those accidents? or perhaps the victim of some forgotten tragedy, lost to time and memory. Or was the figure he saw something else entirely? Reese himself remains uncertain. Yet amidst all the strange experiences that followed his sighting, He sometimes felt as though the presence had been attempting to communicate with him in some way. Whoever or whatever it was. clearly noticed that he had seen it. And perhaps that is why the disturbances seem to follow him for a time afterwards. Others walk that path and experience nothing. A select few are more receptive to visions such as these. And these entities, whatever they are. attach themselves to the people who sense their presence. It has now been more than a decade since that morning. And Reese still cycles to work. He eventually resumed the route that passes beside the lake. And he has not seen the figure again. Even so. The eerie image of that silent woman standing in the rain. is not easily forgotten. To this day, there is always a brief moment of hesitation before he turns onto that gravel path. quiet feeling of dread that sits in the pit of his stomach. Although Reese may have learned to live with what he experienced, he could not help but wonder whether the same can truly be said. For whatever still lingers around the dark waters. of Trench Pool.