Psychic Research and Lingering Hauntings

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You're listening to the third and final part. of Unexplained Season 9 Episode 12 Eyes that shine burning red. On a mild September afternoon in 1875. in the village of Longcompton. 80-year-old Anne Tennant is returning home from the bakers when a local farm labourer named James Haywood spies her from across the road. tired and weary James, still carrying his pitchfork. has spent all day working in the field. The sight of and seems to stir something animalistic inside of him. holding his pitchfork aloft. And unleashes hell on the elderly woman. Stabbing her first in the leg. More times in the body. He screams for her to leave him alone. Die. Haywood is eventually pulled off the woman and taken to the police. Tenant. dies the following day from her injuries. pressed on why on earth he'd attacked the poor defenseless old woman. Haywood insisted, she wasn't defenseless at all. but was in fact a wit. Not only that. But she was the head of an entire coven. that had been actively cursing him since he was a young boy. Naturally to Haywood's mind, the only way to break the hex was to kill off the Coven's leader. The plan was then to take out the rest of the coven one by one. Until the earth was wet with their blood. After being examined by a physician, it was determined that Haywood had a quote enfeebled mind and was incapable of controlling his emotions. possibly to an accident he'd had as a boy, when he'd been struck on the head by a falling branch. But it was also found that Haywood was not entirely alone in his suspicions about the existence of malignant witches in the area. In fact. He owed much of his suspicions to the influence of his parents, who regularly complained to fellow villagers, Wouldn't leave their boy alone. the same local suspicions and the use of the pitchfork. It was hard not to see the similarities between the murders of Charles Walton and Anne Tennant. Though Inspector Fabian had little time for the suggestion that Charles really was a witch. Was it at least possible that much like James Haywood to Anne Tennant, His murderer believed it. Could they have been so unnerved by all the strange rumours surrounding Charles? Convinced even that he'd actually put a curse on them. Kill him for it. Surely it wasn't possible, in that day and age, reasoned Fabian. Then the investigators did a little more digging. Turned out. Not only was it possible But that small area of English countryside. That's the land of the covenants. in 1880, on a farm in Ilmington. four miles south of Lower Quinton. A number of cows died inexplicably. Fearing a curse had been put on them. The farmer's maid cut out the heart of one of the dead cows. Then stuck it with pins and baked it in the farmhouse oven. As the story goes, no sooner had the flesh started to cook A strange creature. the likes of which had never been seen before. appeared suddenly in the kitchen and made a bee line for the oven. It scratched desperately at the oven door. Before it could. The creature was captured and killed. From that day on, the farmer's cows were apparently no longer bothered by the supposed curse. On February night, in eighteen eighty six, in the town of Fenny Compton, twenty miles east of Lower Quinton. A local police officer disappeared. A few days later. The body of 29 year old Constable William Hine was fished out of the local canal. An inquest found that the cause of death was due to one expertly delivered stab wound to the jugular vein. Man hat as the coroner noted, been stuck like a pig. though local poachers were suspected of the murder. Others believed there was a far more strange and supernatural motive for the killing. A belief that never truly went away. There were also numerous tales of one apparent witch local to the area called Betty. It's said that one evening, sometime around the late 1800s, a cat appeared at a village party that Betty had not been invited to. Believing the cat was actually Betty in disguise, the host is said to have chased it down and driven a pitchfork through its paw. The following day, a sheepish looking Betty was apparently seen around the village, nursing a hand wound. Recently, one farmer living at Hillside Farm Not far from where Charles Walton was murdered. was said to have been having trouble keeping his gate shut. Each morning he would awake to find them left wide open. And all his cattle missing. Even when he bought padlocks for the more Still he would wake to find them all unlocked and pushed open. His cattle scattered about. Which is Then of course. The word the roll right stones. Not fifteen miles south of Lower Quinton, on a scarp overlooking the village of Long Compton. Whennant was murdered. Presides a peculiar stone circle. Constructed from oolite limestone, like Edward Lead Skalnin's strange coral castle in Florida. It is composed of seventy seven stones. Placed in a ring about 30 meters in diameter, known as the King's Men. Beside this, are four standing stones, seemingly in a huddle together, known as the Whispering Knights. Lastly, a large solitary stone at the head of it all. Known as the Kingston. As the story goes. Early one afternoon. King was riding through the countryside with his army when they were accosted by a witch. She offered the king a challenge, in return for which he would become king of all the lands. But the king failed. So he and his men were turned to stone where they stood. In truth, the ancient ritual site was built periodically over the course of about 3,000 years. with the Whispering Knights burial chamber thought to have been built some six thousand years ago. The wit-related origin story may be apocryphal. But the mysterious stone circles association with witches. For centuries, rumours have abounded of a coven of witches who regularly gathered for late night sabbaths in the middle of the Roll Right Stones. On certain nights, when the moon is at its fullest, or the mist at its thickest, Witnesses claim to have seen groups of naked people cavorting inside the circle. Rubbing ointments onto their bodies. dancing themselves into a state of delirium. At least one so-called Raw Right Witch is said to have been executed in the 17th century at the hands of the infamous Witchfinder General, Matthew Hopkins. It was said to be common knowledge to any woman struggling to get pregnant. that all they had to do was rub a breast against one of the stones. And they would no longer struggle to conceive. One farmer is alleged to have tried to steal one of the stones for use in a building project. Using horses to pull it free. But every time he tried to attach them to the stone. The horses simply reared away in fear. It seemed which is Or at least the fear of them. was still very much alive and well. In fact There was also a rumor that at least three men and four women still met regularly at Mean Hill to conduct Sabbaths. One man from Long Marston, another local village. claimed that he saw them eat a nest of hairless mice. Washing each one down with gluttonous gulps of cider. As it happened. Charles Walton was a known cider drinker. Which he would always buy by the barrel, to supposedly drink at home. Away from prying eyes. Despite the headlines being dominated by the war. It wasn't long before the rumour that something truly strange had occurred in Lower Quinton. began to get noticed by the wider public. Talk of black magic and witchcraft began to intensify. Though Inspector Fabian had no time for the supernatural. He also knew that it didn't matter what he believed. Only what Charles's killer did. Suddenly it didn't seem so out of the question. that someone might have been sufficiently rattled at the thought that Charles was a wit, that they had killed him for it. Mutterings intensified about rum things that happened last spring. and how the crops had been inexplicably poor, despite good weather. One man put it. Something's wrong when crops go against nature. Was Charles and his Natajak Toads to blame for this, they wondered. And then there was the watch. According to the Charles's pocket watch was no ordinary timepiece. but was really used to store a small black scrying mirror. which he used to predict the future and cast his spells. Is that what the murderer had been searching for all along? Despite the many peculiar theories now beginning to percolate, Inspector Fabian still had nothing solid to go on. At the heart of it all was the villagers' continued refusal to name anyone. to go along with their various theories about who might have done it and why. There was one thing Fabian couldn't stop thinking about. Just how was it possible that no one in the village had seen Charles being attacked in broad daylight? Or at least someone who would have been covered in blood, fleeing the scene. In a renewed effort to get to the bottom of it, a reconnaissance plane was used to take detailed photographs of the area surrounding the murder site. From this, a detailed map was compiled, marking out all local landmarks and farms, from which someone might have had a good line of sight. where Charles was working when he was attacked. Anyone associated with those places was pressed again on what they'd seen that day. But all maintained their ignorance. Police also looked into the records for all the murders committed in the region over the last ten years. to see if any had been linked to witchcraft or black magic. Or anything else that might tie together with the Charles Walton killing. But nothing was found. After three months, it seemed that all avenues to find the killer had been exhausted. In all that time, aside from the man named Smith who'd killed himself, Only one other person was considered a possible suspect. A soldier who lived near the village, who also dabbled in poaching rabbits. Some speculated that Charles had caught him red handed and he'd murdered him for it. But it all sounded a little far fetched to inspector Fabian. And though he had no way to prove it. For him. There was only one name worth considering. Because when it came to murder. More often than not. The simplest answer was the right one. As it turned out. was one person who they knew had a perfect line of sight of Charles around the time he was murdered. who also just happened to be the last known person to have seen him alive. Alfred Potter. For all his supposed alibis, there wasn't actually anyone who could confirm absolutely that Potter wasn't near Mean Hill when Charles was killed. For example. One local shopkeeper, who Potter put forward as an alibi, confirmed that Alfred had borrowed pig feed from him on the day of the crime. But not at the time of the murder. Digging further into Potter's farm. Inspector Fabian learned there were rumours of financial irregularities in the family estate. Maybe he wondered Charles had found out about this and had demanded more pay in return for his silence. If Charles had refused to let it go, perhaps had just snapped. As a man of good standing in the community, Unlike the outcast Charles, who few would miss, Perhaps he reasoned that he'd get away with it. And maybe he did. Perhaps he'd even done it out of a genuine fear of Charles's supposed black magic powers. genuinely holding him responsible for the previous fallow harvest or ailment affecting his animals. Perhaps hearing that one of his heifers was dead in a ditch had been the final straw. But in the end Just like Inspector Robert Fabian. We will never know. Uh some are a right. Fabian was forced to make the tough decision to end the investigation. In the years that followed the formal investigation into Charles Walton's murder, The esteemed inspector Fabian could never quite shake off the case. and it haunted him for the rest of his life. In his subsequent memoirs, he described it as one of the strangest of his career. And it was clear that something of the country's dark superstitions had left a permanent mark on the man. though he said little about it at the time. Reflecting on the case in nineteen seventy. Fabian is reputed to have said I advise anybody who is tempted at any time to venture into black magic. Which craft. Shamanism. to remember Charles Walton and to think of his death. Which was clearly the ghastly climax of a pagan right. There is no stronger argument for keeping as far away as possible from the villains with their swords, incense and mumbo jumbo. It is prudence, on which your future peace of mind and even your life could depend. Superintendent Alex Spooner from Warwickshire CID. Was similarly affected by and equally troubled by the inability to find a culprit. Every Valentine's Day for the next fifteen years, he returned to Lower Quinton and made a solitary pilgrimage to the precise spot where Charles was murdered. There, at noon, precisely. He could be seen keeping his own quiet vigil in Charles' memory. The idea was to send a message to the killer, if they still frequented the area. that he hadn't forgotten, in the hope that he might provoke them into finally buckling under their own guilt. But no one came forward. And in time, as is often the way. The villagers came to resent his visits. They wanted to move on. So spooner stopped coming. Somewhere along the line, it was pointed out that Charles Walton had been murdered on february 14th. But only according to the Gregorian calendar. If you were a pagan traditionalist. You might prefer to go by the Julian calendar. Which runs thirteen days behind. If so The day Charles was murdered was actually February the 1st. A traditional Druidic day of sacrifice. Could it be someone that that it wasn't Charles, who in fact was the witch. But it's murderer. Had he actually been murdered as part of a pagan ritual, using his blood to replenish the soil and keep the local crops thriving? as Coroner James Webster pointed out at the inquest. likelihood was that Charles had been struck first over the head with his walking stick. Then run through with the pitchfork. And only then had his throat slit. It was certainly odd, the way the pitchfork seemed to have been deliberately positioned. to keep the jugula angled toward the ground. Which in turn would enable the most blunt. A few years after Charles's murder. a Mr J. F. Rogers from Banbury, a town about 20 miles east of Lower Quinton. heard a rumor about a Black Sabbath that was due to take place at the Roll Wright Stones. On may twelfth, nineteen forty nine. Mr Rogers drove out to the mysterious site. as a full moon shone in the sky above him. He parked his car as close as he could, then stealthily made his way up the hill toward the stones. As he drew near to them. He heard strange shrieking and whooping sounds. with the ominous silhouette of Me and Hill rising up in the background. He saw the source of the ecstatic cries. A group of seven or so men and women dancing naked among the so-called King's Men. appeared to be wearing some kind of goat mask. Or perhaps it wasn't a mask at all. Not long after, a woman from Birmingham contacted the police, asking for protection in return for answers. The women claimed to have been a witch who'd taken part in satanic rituals and knew the killer of Charles Walton. A fellow witch. who'd supposedly been brought in from a different part of the country. Walton as the sacrifice. Police declined to investigate further. By the nineteen fifties. Charles Walton's murder continued to cast a disturbing shadow over Lower Quinton and the wider area. Others remained determined to uncover the truth about who had been responsible. Since regular police work had failed to find the perpetrator, Bernard Payne from the Birmingham Psychic Research Society. decided to take a slightly more unorthodox approach. It was a bitterly cold night when he and fifteen others arrived at the foot of Mean Hill. In late November nineteen fifty two. Together with fellow society member and farmer, a man named Mr. Mills leading the way They trudgantly through a driving blizzard of sleet and snow. Over barbed wire fences. Across muddy fields and through icy puddles. as they search for the spawn. Spermium Psychic Research Society Expedition been six months in the making. Plan was simple. Hold a seance at the murder site. In the hope of making contact with Charles. Then The man himself could reveal who killed him. However, every medium they convinced to take part soon pulled out of the endeavour. Unsettled by the thought that they too might become victims of the killer, should they succeed in discovering their name, Finally. One medium agreed to make the trip. The group powered on through the relentless sleep. until about an hour into the mission. Team barely able to see more than two meters in front of them. Medium called out for everyone to stop. This was the place she said. Mr Mills and Bernard Payne. Shivering in the cold. But before they could question it. The medium had fallen into a trance. The rest of the team gathered round. as she swayed back and forth. Well the wind howled and whipped at their bodies. Then a strange voice emanated from her lips. It was barely audible at first, through the gale. But soon grew in strength. I forgive. It's that. I forgive. I deserved what was coming to me. but not in such a brutal way. Then the medium became suddenly unsteady on her feet. Just as she was about to collapse. Two society members rushed in to catch her. And slowly she came round. The voice was Charles Walton, she said. She was sure of it. Just then the blizzard began to ease off. and Mr Mills shone his torch about. A few meters away, the light bounced back off an old white fence. The fence next to where Walton's body had been discovered. Being in the right spot after all. With the seance complete. The team spent some time taking photos and collecting soil samples. before making the long walk back to their cars. During her apparent trance, Medium Supposedly channelling the voice of Charles Wharton. was said to have mentioned two names. when Bernard Payne ran them past a local detective some time later. He confirmed that both were relevant to the investigation. The detective was also disturbed by the medium's claim that Charles' apparent spirit had said he had had it coming to him. It reminded him of just how many in the force were convinced that the farmhand had been up to something strange in the lead up to his death. And as for the samples of soil. From the moment Mr. Mills brought them home. His family was said to have been beset by constant mishaps. First his daughter contracted pneumonia three times in quick succession. Then he broke an ankle. Not long after, his son was almost killed falling through the loft floor. Later one morning, Mr. Mills went into his yard to feed his sixty chickens, only to find that most of them had inexplicably died. Then the small number of cattle he owned became sick. Mills was left with little doubt. that something evil had tainted the soil. When he eventually decided to throw it away. His family's misfortune was said to have ended immediately. Then there were the pictures that were taken at the site. Mr Mills developed them himself. as he'd stood in the darkroom, under that eerie crimson light. He watched patiently as one after another image appeared in the development tray. Most showed little more than blurry smudges of sleet, and the occasional outline of a headrow just visible through the dark. Another image emerged in the tray. Hair on the back of Mill's neck stood up. There was something in the hedge. Overlooking the precise spot where Charles was slaughtered. Mills is mine. It looked just like the angry Scowling face of an elderly woman. Sometime later, in nineteen sixty, as part of a renovation of Charles's old house in Lower Quinton, The outhouse in the back garden was knocked. As one of the builders cleared away the rubble. He spotted something silver glinting among the dust and brick. A silver pocket watch. Whether or not it was Charles Walton's missing watch has never been confirmed. No black scrying mirror. was found inside its casing. To this day. Me and Hill and the Roll Ride Stones remain as shrouded in myth and mystery as they have ever been. while reports of phant hounds stalking the area continue to trickle in from time to time. As for the truth about just what exactly happened to Charles Walton. Still the oldest unsolved murder in Warwickshire's Constabulary Records. Remains to this day. I'll explain. This episode was written by Richard McClain Smith. James Connor Patterson. And Emma Dippon. Thank you as ever for listening. Unexplained is an AV Club production podcast created by Richard McClain Smith. All other elements of the podcast, including the music. are also produced by me. Richard McClain Smith. Unexplained the book and audiobook is now available to buy worldwide. You can purchase from Amazon, Barnes and Noble. Waterstones and other bookstores. 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