Ghosts of Bannerman’s Island

Beacon, NY—Just south of the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge lays a
mysteriously isolated island and on this island stands the ruin of a
once grand Scottish Castle, which in its time, stood as a fortress and
rose above the trees to create an impressive gateway to the Hudson
Highlands. This is the image I remember as I child, and I am still
captivated by the menacing vision of this dark lifeless structure
surrounded by the rushing tides of the Hudson River. Today this majestic
ruin, known as Bannerman’s Island Arsenal, rests on Pollepel
Island and crumbles before our eyes. The recent deterioration of
the ruin inspired me to not only witness and photograph the devastation,
but to write about its lingering legends.

Pollepel Island was just as mystifying nearly 400 years ago as it is
today. This dark deserted isle was the subject of an impressive
“arsenal” of storytellers’ tales. Storytelling was a common past time
and, just as with any story, over time these tales were naturally
embellished and grew into astounding historical accounts that were
passed down by the area’s early inhabitants giving us the great early
legends of angry spirits, lost lovers, and ghostly goblins.

The Early Legends

Long before Francis Bannerman built his castle, this six and
three quarter acre isle was uninhabited. The Native Americans feared the
island was possessed by evil spirits, which made it a prime location
for settlers to hide during periods of aggression with the Indians.
Over time, a number of legendary tales evolved. As I walked along the
shoreline, the crystalline ice formations glistened in the sun and I
thought of the legend of Polly Pell, a story that stakes claim for
naming the island. The story of Polly Pell (Pollepel) was shared among
Dutch settlers when newlywed Polly Pell was saved from the frozen Hudson
River following a romantic sleigh ride with her beau. The fierce
currents of the icy Hudson washed Polly and her new husband up on the
rocky shores when a slave rescued them and named the island after her
and the legend of Polly Pell was born.

The infamous Pollepel Island became well-known among Hudson River
sailors. The secluded island was the basis of much of fantastical
folklore that surrounds river travel through the Hudson Highlands.
The story The Storm-Ship written by famed storyteller and
Tarrytown resident Washington Irving, tells the tale of a dreaded tribe
of goblins that the Dutch feared inhabited Pollepel Island. These
goblins thrived under the reign of the Heer of Dunderburgh who is said
to control the gusty winds and treacherous waters of the Highlands. The
Dutch lived in fear of the Dunderburgh. The “storm ship”’ actually
refers to the legendary Flying Dutchman, a ship lost in a brutal storm
sinking just south of Pollepel Island. The story condemns the captain
and his crew to sailing the Hudson for eternity and it has been reported
that their cries for help can be heard during violent storms. Once a
ship ventured past Pollepel Island, the captain and crew earned right of
passage for a safe journey down the Hudson.

Whether or not the ghosts, goblins, and evil spirits existed was left
to the imagination. However, boat captains were known to cast off new
sailors on their inaugural voyages down the river as an initiation.
Often drunk and scared out of their wits these poor sailors were forced
to disembark to take their chances with the phantoms of Pollepel Island.
They were picked up on the return trip hopefully sobered up and
fearless.

Given the history of Pollepel’s influence on shipmen of that period,
it is ironic that the next ghost story would be that of a tugboat
captain angered by Bannerman himself.

A Ghost from the Bannerman Era

Francis Bannerman VI was the visionary behind the progressive growth
of the Scottish castle that bears the name of Bannerman’s Island
Arsenal. Bannerman purchased Pollepel Island in 1900 when his
insatiable hobby of scrap collecting gave way to becoming a massive arms
company. As his wealth increased, Bannerman was able to build a home
that would serve as a monument to his heritage. The castle itself was
comprised of six major sections; three arsenals, the lodge, the tower,
and the superintendent’s house. In addition, there is also a family
residence with magnificent views of the Highlands.

The property was protected by breakwaters, which were formed by the
sinking of old barges and boats. There is a legendary tale that the
tugboat captain of one of the boats requested that his prized vessel not
be sunk in his presence, but before anyone knew it, the boat was
sinking right before the former captains eyes. The captain cursed
Bannerman and swore revenge. It has been said that employees in the
lodge often heard the ringing of the boat’s bell at various times
signifying that the captain had returned to make good on his promise.

Just as the tugboat captain experienced a devastating loss that would
condemn him to Bannerman’s castle for an eternity, Bannerman would also
experience loss.

A Castle in Ruin

Bannerman’s Island Arsenal has had its share of disastrous events. A
1920 explosion of gun powder and shells blew a wall clear over to the
mainland. Three people were injured including Mrs. Bannerman and the
incident incurred $50,000 in damage. The most devastating event occurred
in August of 1969 in a fire that gutted all the buildings on the
island. It was undetermined as to what was the cause of the engulfing
blaze that would destroy the celebrated estate of the late Francis
Bannerman VI leaving it in ruin. This would not be the last disastrous
event that the castle would endure. In late 2009 and early 2010 the
castle saw increased damage that has forever changed the landscape of
this iconic structure. I wonder how much longer it will endure the
elements and how this rich haunted history will be remembered.

Remembering Bannerman’s Island Arsenal

The recent collapses have removed Bannerman’s name from his cherished
castle. As the castle fades into history, the legends will remain to
haunt us for a lifetime. As unbelievable as the stories may be, they add
to the allure of the island and someday may be all that remains of one
of the most captivating historical sites in the Hudson Valley. I think
that Jane Bannerman’s quote best describes how I feel about Polly Pell’s
island.

“No one can tell what associations and incidents will involve the island in the future. Time, the elements, and maybe even the goblins of the island will take their toll of some of the turrets and towers, and perhaps eventually the castle itself, but the little island will always have it’s place in history and in legend and will be forever a jewel in it’s Hudson Highland setting.”

– Jane Bannerman

Island Tours and Contributions

The island and castle is easily viewed from land. Take a short drive
south on Route 9D until you get to Breakneck Ridge. Park on the side of
the road and cross the bridge over the trains track. BE VERY CAREFUL OF
PASSING TRAINS!!

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Mystic girl of Gwrych Castle

A company boss Kevin Horkin was taken pictures at Gwrych Castle in Abergele, North Wales and may have captured a picture of a spirit.

Kevin didn’t notice anything unusual until he downloaded the pictures to his PC. In one of the photos was the image of a pale young woman looking out a window.

Amazingly, it’s impossible for anyone to stand at that particular window because the floor in the room is completely destroyed.

North Wales Paranormal group have confirmed that many sightings have been recorded at the castle.

Local history claims that the first castle at Gwrych was built by the Normans in the 12th century. It was seized by the Welsh prince Rhys ap Gruffydd (the Lord Rhys) of Deheubarth in about 1170 who then rebuilt the timber castle in stone. This castle was later destroyed by Cromwell’s army following the English Civil War of the mid-17th century.

The later castle at Gwrych was begun in 1819. The castle is a Grade 1 listed building set in a wooded hillside overlooking the Irish Sea.

It was the first Gothic folly to be built in Europe by a wealthy industrialist Lloyd Hesketh. Bamford Hesketh, his son, inherited the title of Gwrych in his early 20s and used his vast fortune to build the 4,000-acre Gwrych Castle Estate.

The castle once had a total of 128 rooms including the outbuildings, including twenty-eight bedrooms, an outer hall, an inner hall, two smoke rooms, a dining room, a drawing room, a billiards room, an oak study, and a range of accommodations for servants.

There are nineteen embattled towers and the whole facade is over 2000 yards. Many feel the castle’s outstanding feature was the castle’s 52-step marble staircase.

THE HISTORY OF GWRYCH CASTLE

Local history claims that the first castle at Gwrych was built by the Normans in the 12th century. It was seized by the Welsh prince Rhys ap Gruffydd (the Lord Rhys) of Deheubarth in about 1170 who then rebuilt the timber castle in stone. This castle was later destroyed by Cromwell’s army following the English Civil War of the mid-17th century.

The later castle at Gwrych was begun in 1819. The castle is a Grade 1 listed building set in a wooded hillside over looking the Irish Sea. It was the first Gothic folly to be built in Europe by a wealthy industrialist Lloyd Hesketh. Bamford Hesketh, his son, inherited the title of Gwrych in his early 20s and used his vast fortune to build the 4,000-acre Gwrych Castle Estate.

The castle once had a total of 128 rooms including the outbuildings, including twenty-eight bedrooms, an outer hall, an inner hall, two smoke rooms, a dining room, a drawing room, a billiards room, an oak study, and a range of accommodations for servants. There are nineteen embattled towers and the whole facade is over 2000 yards. Many feel the castle’s outstanding feature was the castle’s 52-step marble staircase.

Queen Victoria stayed at Gwrych in 1932 in what is now known as the Victoria bedroom. These rooms are situated in the front of the castle in the round tower on the first floor, with two windows overlooking the Irish Sea.

In 1946 The castle was sold and then it passed through subsequent owners and is now derelict. All of the windows are cast iron and the fantastic stained glass has vanished. It’s been years since the castle’s been occupied. Years ago they used to hold medieval fairs and the like on the grounds of the castle.

The castle was bought several years ago by an American businessman who planned to spend 10 million pounds to convert the castle into a top-class opera house with adjoining luxury hotel. But those plans never materialized and the building was frequently vandalized. Unfortunately, in early 1998 Gwrych was extensively damaged following the collapse of ceilings and floors, and was later damaged by fire.

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The Mackie Haunting

By now it must be clear to you that not all hauntings are benign. They can sometimes – although rarely – be far more physical and threatening than a fleeting shadow drawn by Casper the Friendly Ghost.

What took place at the Mackie farmhouse beginning in February, 1695, for example, is one of the most active and violent poltergeist cases on record. I was also well documented, having been witnessed and experienced by more than a dozen upstanding members of this Scottish community. Andrew Mackie, described by neighbors as “honest, civil and harmless,” lived in the modest farmhouse with his wife and children. The property had been known to be haunted, but the Mackies experienced nothing out of the ordinary there… until that February.

The attack on the Mackies began with an assault of stones and other objects, thrown by some invisible force.

Life does not make sense. Is there a reason for living? Maybe…
Several family members were struck and injured by the missiles. The family sought the counsel of Alexander Telfair, the parish minister, who upon arrival experienced first-hand the bewildering phenomena. Whatever the entity was, it “molested me mightily,” Telfair said, “threw stones and divers other things at me, and beat me several times on the Shoulders and Sides with a great Staff, so that those who were present heard the noise of the Blows.”

The hateful presence was unrelenting. The Mackies testified that it attacked their children one night in their beds, delivering forceful spankings. More than once “it would drag People about their House by their Clothes,” an investigation described. A blacksmith narrowly escaped death when a trough and plowshare were hurled at him. Small buildings on the property spontaneously burst into flames and burned to cinders. During a family prayer meeting, chunks of flaming peat pelted them. A human shape, seemingly made out of cloth, appeared, groaning, “Hush… hush.”

This being the late 17th century, the Mackies were quick to attribute the phenomena to demons. On April 9, Andrew Mackie enlisted no less than five ministers to exorcize the farmhouse of the demonic spirits. But the ministers were to have their hands full throughout the ritual. Stones hailed down on them. A few of the minister, including Telfair, claimed that something had grabbed them by the legs or feet and lifted them into the air. The clergymen were not willing to yield victory to the entity, however, continuing their exorcism efforts for more than two weeks. Then on Friday, April 26, a voice from the invisible specter declared to them, “Thou shalt be troubled ’till Tuesday.”

When that day arrived, the witnesses watched in astonishment as a dark, cloud-like shape formed in the corner of the Mackies’ barn. As they stared, the cloud grew larger and blacker until it nearly filled the entire building. Blobs of mud flew out of the cloud into the faces of the witnesses. Some were gripped by some vice-like force. And then… it vanished, just as it promised it would.

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Genie, Jinn or Djinn

We don’t actually know a single thing about life on other planets. Scientific evidence that extraterrestrials visit us doesn’t exist.

Our belief that they do is fantastic modern mythology in the making.

However, there is enormous evidence that deceptive entities are masquerading as extraterrestrials.

There are unseen creatures that we share this Earth with.
They don’t come from other planets.

They’ve been called many names:

aliens, spirits, Etherians, Ultraterrestrials, and more.

In the Koran they are called the Jinn.

Information about the Jinn reads like a textbook description of UFO and other paranormal phenomena.

Discovering these entities gives you an essential key to understanding paranormal phenomena.

They are the major players behind our myths and most perplexing mysteries.

UFOs aren’t extraterrestrial — They’re extradimensional.

The JINN are beings with free will, living on Earth in a world parallel to mankind. The Arabic word means to conceal. They appear to include juvenile pranksters as well as powerful superior beings with an agenda we don’t understand. They have influenced mankind’s religious and cultural beliefs from antiquity to the present.

Jinn can create UFOs, hallucinations, psychokinetic effects, cattle mutilations, crop circles, apparitions and other paranormal phenomena.

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Genie Invocation Spells or Jinn Invocation formulas Djinns.
Jinns, Genies are also living beings but they are made of fire. Genie or Jinns can be conquered by human beings by special invocations and if the invocation is done properly then after the completion of the Invocation it is possible to conquer the genie of jinns. But they all are one having the same powers and if this power is conquered by any one that person will be a very powerful human being having any type of power to do any thing and every thing.

Looking for Genie Invocation spells or formulas for invocation of genies.then here you will get all the information on genies. Jinn invocation is done to conquer jinns. Invocation of jinn is possible by jinn spells or genie spells with talismans or charms.
So Genies can be called with different name. Some common genie name are JINNS, GENIES, DJINNS, ANGEL, HAMZAAD, JABAL, AJINNA MUSSA, DJINNS and more, what ever may be the name but evocation of these powers and the method to evoke genies or jinns, djinns are the same as they are same power.
So if you have questions in your mind that how to conquer the genie or jinn, or how to get the genie invocation spells or jinn invocation spells, or how to get information on djinns etc you may not worry. If you need any information of genie formulas or jinn spells email me and I will guide you with all the information you require.
Summoning of genies or Invocation of genies is easy. Summoning or invocation of genies, jinns etc requires proper concentration and then invocation of genies (jinns) is possible.

As we all are aware of ALADDIN GENIE or ALLADDINS JINN. But there are all fairy tales as Aladdin’s Genie Lamp etc as we read in fairy tales and read how alladdin rubbed his lamp etc and genie or jinn was evoked. Again it is not so easy Aladdin genie etc can be evoked or summoned or conquered by proper genie invocations and rituals.

So have questions on spells. Or Where can I find Real and True Spells?. Or Who can help me in Casting Spells. Just Contact Me.
If you need or want any information on love or money spells email me and I will guide you.
Looking or Need powerful spells. So want or wish real and true spells. I will cast powerful spell according to your want or need.

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Ouija boards

Ouija boards, also known as talking boards, have been in use for hundreds, if not thousands of years in one form or another. The most clear examples are talking boards widely used during seances during the hay day of the Spiritualism movement during the early part of the 20th century.

In modern times Ouija boards find themselves at the heart of investigations into what are called “negative entities” or “demons”. Modern folk lore points to Ouija boards as being at the beginning of most manifestations of “demons” into the lives of those foolish enough to make use of them.

Talking boards have been debunked as early as the 1970’s by paranormal investigators. Investigators created their own board, randomly shuffling the letters and numbers and asked groups of psychics to ask questions of these boards while they were unable to see the letters being indicated. The answers produced during those experiments were always random orders of letters.

It is believed that the indicator of a Ouija board is moved either consciously or unconsciously by one of the operators in the group who is acting as the dominant controller of the indicator. The controller may or may not be aware that they are controlling the answer although answers that come into their head either through intuition or actual knowledge of the subject matter being asked then appears through the indicator. Operators who have read extensively may have knowledge about a subject in vast detail which they are not even aware of on a conscious level and may be tapping into that knowledge during the use of a Ouija board.

Proponents of the popular resurgence of talking boards in the 21st century claim that some of the answers given by spirits during the use of these boards are impossible to gain other than through direct knowledge of the spirit being contacted.

Some practitioners of the occult believe that talking boards create the potential for problems and attribute them as a cause for negative entities because the boards work as the focus for a summoning ritual but provide no protection for the participants and do not provide any instruction or means for banishing the entity summoned after the ritual is successful.

Wherever the truth resides in all of these claims it is clear that some users of talking boards continue to receive answers to their questions and are frightening themselves when this occurs. If you are thinking of using a talking board for fun with a group of friends, my advice is to leave well enough alone. Don’t go looking into the world of the human unconscious or ghosts unless you are ready to confront whatever might be staring back at you.

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The History

What is a Ouija board? Ouija boards came into existence as a parlor game in the mid-1800’s, when spiritism and channeling were at the height of fashion. The word “Ouija” is a blend of the French and German words for “yes.” Adolphus Theodore Wagner first patented Ouija boards, sometimes referred to as “talking boards,” in London, England on January 23, 1854. In the patent, Wagner called his invention a “psychograph” and its purpose was to read the minds of people with “nervous energy.” By 1861, Frenchman, Allan Kardac, was describing the Ouija board as instruments with which to open communications with the spirit world. In seven short years, the Ouija board had evolved from a mind-reader to portal of communication with the dead.

Modern Ouija boards were developed by inventor William Fuld. Fuld sold his patent to Parker Brothers in 1966. Ouija boards, as we recognize them today, look nothing like the original prototypes. The 20-25 million Ouija boards sold by Parker Brothers consist of a rectangular game board that is covered with a woodcut-style alphabet, the words yes, no, and good-bye, and the numbers 0-9. Also included with the “game” is a heart-shaped plastic planchette. The planchette is the ‘pointer’ that is supposed to glide over the board under the direction of supernatural forces and form comments and questions by pointing out questions and comments. Parker Brothers has marketed Ouija Boards under the tagline, “It’s only a game – isn’t it?”

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Salt Lake City Legend: Lilly E. Gray – "Victim of the Beast 666"

The legend, a synopsis: In the Salt Lake City Cemetery, there is a gravestone for a woman named Lilly E. Gray with an inscription that reads, “VICTIM OF THE BEAST 666.” Many people have attempted to research this stone and Lilly, but strangely always hit a brick wall, as there is no information aside from her obituary, which states only that she died in a local hospital from natural causes.

Within the sublime Salt Lake City Cemetery, there is indeed a gravestone which has aroused interest and curiosity over the years, and has recently, with the advent of the internet, become the object of intrigue and fascination, amateur and oftentimes apathetic sleuthery. The stone is modest- a small, flat marker; the inscription is anything but: “VICTIM OF THE BEAST 666”

Cemetery legends abound. These stories, more often than not, especially when pertaining to specific gravestones and their inhabitants, tend to take on the attributes of the urban legend, mirroring societal fears, horror, and capitalizing on mystery; they usually have an associated thread of religious intrigue, including ‘devil worship’. The legends also tend to arise from the most benign origins.

Part of the fascination with the Lilly E. Gray mystery could be due to its “legend in reverse” quality. The impetus is its blatant-ness, its in-your-face refence to satan, then an unravelling reveals “nothing”. The strange lack of any story associated with Lily Gray’s gravestone is its biggest mystery and also the not very festive centerpiece its own developing, unique legend. The stone’s astonishing, provocative inscription begs for interpretation and meaning; where are all the suppositions? They are few, certainly. There are a couple websites that allude to the use of stone’s image within a report by investigators of satanic ritual abuse hysteria. There are a few jokes in a thread about Lilly’s husband perhaps being the ‘beast.’

Salt Lake City is home of the massive LDS-operated Family History Library, and the world’s geneaological research mecca–since the stone’s erection in 1958 no one has dug deeply enough to uncover even a minimal account of Lily Gray’s life and the origins of the inscription? When confronted with apparent true lunacy, evil, religious ferver, abuse, or implausible as it may be, ultimate victimhood at the hands of satan (as the stone literally implies) do we collectively turn our heads?

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The Brown Lady of Raynham Hall

The Brown Lady of Raynham Hall is one of the most famous hauntings in Britain, this is mainly down to the strange form captured by photographers from Country Life magazine in 1936. Before that event the Brown Lady had been reported several times, but many of the written accounts vary considerably.

The hall dates from the 17th century, and has been in the hands of the Townsend family from that time. In some stories the apparition of the Brown Lady once haunted Houghton Hall, but came to Raynham with sister of Robert Wallpole, who married Viscount Townsend in 1713.

There have been a huge number of sightings of the so called Brown Lady since her death in 1726. She is believed to be Dorothy Walpole, the sister of Britain’s first ever Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole of Houghton Hall.

Those who have had the unfortunate experience of meeting her ghost describe it a more than frightening, it is understood that during her life she was a well liked, charming lady. Although this is so, it is believed that it was her obsession with flamboyant attire caused a rift between herself and her husband the second Marquess Townshend, (known fondly as Turnip-Townshend as it is he who introduced the vegetable to England.

The details of the pairs relationship beyond this are sketching and in fact two very different stories are often told.

It is known that Dorothy’s father was made guardian of Charles Townshend, when he was only 13 years old, so having grown up in each others company, when Dorothy was 15 and Charles 27 he fell deeply in love with her and wanted to marry her. Dorothy’s father refused to give his blessing and put a stop to the whole affair, as he feared he would be accused of wanting to gain the Townshend fortune and property.

It is at this point that two versions of Dorothys life are told, and no-one is certain which is the more accurate.

The least favourable version implies that Dorothy did not share Charles’ feelings towards her, but in fact found him repulsive!

However, the more romantic slant and far more interesting story claims her to have thrown herself into a life of wild parties and scandalous behaviour at a young age, and ultimately becoming the mistress of the well known, Lord Wharton.

During this time, Charles Townshend had married, but his wife sadly passed away in 1713, when he and Dorothy were united at last.

After a time the marriage became unhappy, and Charles deprived Dorothy of the care of her children who were put in hands of his mother.

Miserable without them and treated very poorly by Charles Dorothy is said to have been confined to her own quarters rooms, and within a while died at the age of 40.

Various versions of her death are quoted, including starvation, falling (or being pushed) down the grand staircase at Raynham Hall, the most popular location for the sighting of her ghost.

Lucia C Stone recorded the first reference to the ghost in 1835; the sighting took place at Christmas of the same year. Lord Charles Townsend had invited a number of guests to the hall for the Christmas festivities. Among them was a man called Colonel Loftus, who, with another guest called Hawkins, witnessed a figure in a brown dress. He also ran into the apparition on the main stairs. He described her as an aristocratic looking lady with one horrific feature: where her eyes should have been there were only empty sockets, highlighted in a face that glowed with an unearthly light. The captain drew a sketch of the apparition, and others also said that they had witnessed the ghost.

The next sighting was by a Captain Marryat (1792-1848), an author of sea novels, although no firm date is given for this encounter. In most accounts the captain has asked to stay in the haunted room because he believes that the haunting is the result of local smugglers. He is returning to his room with two companions, when they see a figure with a lantern coming towards them. They take refuge in a doorway, and the figure turns and grins at them in a “diabolical manner”. The captain, who is armed, looses off a shot, which passes straight through the figure and becomes lodged in the opposite wall. Fortunately for the Captain the figure is not a guest with a sense of humour in disguise, and the apparition vanishes.

The next publicised sighting was in 1926, when Lady Townsend admitted that her son and his friend had witnessed the ghost on the stairs. They identified the figure with the portrait of the lady hanging in the haunted room.

Ten years later in 1936, the most famous event occurred in the dubios history of the haunting. Two professional photographers, Captain Provand and his assistant Indre Shira, were taking photographs of the hall for ‘Country Life’ magazine. The date was the 19th September, and at 4.00pm that afternoon they were photographing the Hall’s main staircase. They had completed one exposure, and were preparing for another, when Shira saw a misty form ascending the stairs. He shouted to the captain that there was something on the stairs, and asked if the Captain was ready, he replied “yes” and took the cap off the lens, while Shira pressed the trigger for the flash light.

After this the captain came up from under the protective cloth, and asked what all the fuss was about. Shira explained that he had seen a shadowy, see-through figure on the stairs. When the negative was developed it showed the famous image. There were three witnesses to the negatives development, as Shira had wanted an independent observer to verify the event. He ran and got a chemist called Benjamin Jones, who managed the premises above which the development studio was located. A full account of the experience was published in Country Life magazine on the 26th of December 1936.

The photo was later examined by experts at the Country Life offices, where it was declared unlikely to have been tampered with. There have been a few detractors saying that Shira hoaxed the image by smearing grease on the lens or moving in front of the camera, but there is unlikely to be a definitive explanation for the photo. It is still held in the offices of Country Life.

There have been more recent stories suggesting the haunting has moved to a road between South and West Raynham, but this has not been verified. The spirit has not been reported at the hall since the photograph was taken.

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The Chicago’s Devil Baby of Hull House

The most famous American Devil Baby has to be the Chicago’s Devil Baby of Hull House. At least, this is certainly the most widespread legend.

Hull House represented the life’s work of Nobel Prize winning philanthropist Jane Addams. It was a place envisioned as a stepping-stone for underprivileged and impoverished members of Chicago’s poor immigrant society. Because of Addams’ particular interest in suffrage and women’s and children’s rights, it was natural that immigrant women and mothers would be attracted to the beacon of Hull House.

Despite Addams’ fervent denials (she dedicated more than 40 pages to the legend and its impact on her life in her autobiography) the story persisted that Hull House was the home of a creature not of this earth.

Originally, the rumor was just a whisper among the large immigrant population of late 19th century Chicago. Mostly superstitious and uneducated, it is certain that they brought with them from their homelands many ethnic and cultural beliefs that shaped their perception of their new foreign world. However, the “facts” were no fabrication: Most sources agree that Jane Addams, out of charity, took in the female who would bear the burden that would plague the good woman for generations to come.

The mother of the Devil Baby, though nameless, is said to have fled to Hull House to escape a brutal marriage. This is a central part of the story and an important one: evidently the young immigrant woman found herself pregnant once again and the husband, already having too many mouths to feed on his meager income, is said to have ruthlessly beat his wife, all the while cursing the unborn child. When the young woman fled to the shelter of Hull House, she found an understanding matron who was prepared to take her in and to protect her through the difficult pregnancy.

And it was a difficult pregnancy, according to the written accounts of Hull House servants who rendered firsthand descriptions of the notorious events. The mother-to-be complained of unusual pains throughout the pregnancy, of hearing voices and of having vivid, frightening nightmares. Jane Addams and the Hull House physicians put this down to the tormented life that the woman had led prior to escaping to Hull House, exacerbated by the continuous efforts of her husband to gain access to her.

As the time of her delivery came due, the horrible nature of what she had carried and nurtured for nine months was finally revealed. A writhing monster child full of scales and reptilian coldness with gleaming, black eyes, clawed hands and feet, and the protrusions of tiny horns on its forehead.

Legend has it that the mother died on the spot, mercifully released from this world. But in an unexpected turn of events, it is said that Jane Addams was overcome with such compassion that it moved her to take the child into her care.

Thus the story grew up over the years, whispered in every quarter, that behind the walls of Hull House an evil was growing.

This infant grew to a child – a monstrous lump of a human-like creature – that prowled the darkness and had full run of the dreaded third storey of Hull House. It is said that the child would peer from the windows, envious of the other children with whom it was not allowed to associate. Children and other residents of Hull House often awoke in the night to strange scrabbling noises and furtive breathing near their faces, only to discover in the lamplight that they were completely alone.

Eventually, Jane Addams died, but the legend of the Devil Baby of Hull House lives on and even today passersby and visitors to the location report seeing the shadow of “something” childlike peering at them from the darkness.

• Facts

A link between ghosts and cemeteries has a certain logic, but a connection between specters and a monument to good works is less explicable. Nevertheless, a demonic spirit supposedly haunts Hull House, site of the most famous settlement house in America.

In 1889, Jane Addams and another social worker took over the Hull mansion at 800 South Halsted and turned it into a community center. The house, now part of the Chicago campus of the University of Illinois, is currently a museum dedicated to Addams and her work.

Addams was a hardheaded, progressive reformer, a proud and determined do-gooder in an age sorely in need of one. She and her colleagues turned Hull House into a community center, supplying shelter, food and practical advice to the huge number of bewildered young immigrant women in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

In the winter of 1913, Addams could have used some advice herself to deal with what must have seemed to her no-nonsense mind a case of mass hysteria. Women were streaming into Hull House with a very particular request: They wanted to see the Devil Baby. Stories were circulating throughout the city about a child born with scaly skin, horns, hooves and a tail. Some of the rumors included accounts of the young demon flying about the rooms of Hull House while social workers tried desperately to catch him. “He looks just like Satan himself,” a witness told newspaper reporters.

Depending on who told the story, the infant’s origins varied. Jewish women claimed he was the offspring of an unfeeling father with a large family of daughters who declared that he’d rather his wife give birth to a demon than to another baby girl. Italians said the Devil Baby’s mother was a God-fearing woman who had had the misfortune to marry an atheist. When the woman put a picture of Jesus on her wall, the husband angrily tore it down, saying that he’d rather have the devil himself in the house. And, according to this version, he got his wish. These and other variations ended with a desperate family taking the baby to Hull House and pleading for help.

In the beginning, Addams was furious at the rumors, which she tried to combat with appeals to common sense. Eventually, however, she worked out a sociological explanation that, to her way of thinking, explained the phenomenon. She noted that many purveyors of the Devil Baby story were older immigrant women, isolated in their new country, deprived of whatever domestic power and authority their age might have afforded them in their native villages. “The old women who came to visit the Devil Baby believed the story would secure them a hearing back home,” Addams reported, “and as they prepared themselves with every detail of it, their faces shone with timid satisfaction.”

But despite Addams’ sensible, secular debunking of the Devil Baby as the outcome of a pitiable bid for attention, many Chicagoans still believe that a strange creature of some sort really existed. Some suggest that the Devil Baby may simply have been a horribly deformed child, kept by the Hull House workers to shelter it from an unforgiving world. Other believers still claim to see a devilish little face peering out of one of the House’s second-floor windows.

Addams would doubtless have scoffed at such superstitious claptrap — or maybe not. In her diaries, she reported hearing strange noises coming from the upper rooms of the Hull House. She didn’t know what made the racket, but she habitually put large buckets of water at the top of the stairs to keep it — whatever it was — at bay.

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Mary Celeste

Mary Celeste was launched in Nova Scotia in 1860. Her original name was “Amazon”. She was 103 ft overall displacing 280 tons and listed as a half-brig. Over the next 10 years she was involved in several accidents at sea and passed through a number of owners. Eventually she turned up at a New York salvage auction where she was purchased for $3,000. After extensive repairs she was put under American registry and renamed “Mary Celeste”.

The new captain of Mary Celeste was Benjamin Briggs, 37, a master with three previous commands. On November 7, 1872 the ship departed New York with Captain Briggs, his wife, young daughter and a crew of eight. The ship was loaded with 1700 barrels of raw American alcohol bound for Genoa, Italy. The captain, his family and crew were never seen again…

Ship found adrift on December 4, 1872 (some accounts say December 5), by the Dei Gratia, a bark sailing from New York to Gibraltar, and considered by many one of the most intriguing and enduring mysteries in the annals of maritime history.

When it was found, the Mary Celeste was sailing itself alone across the wide Atlantic. The ship was in first-class condition. Hull, masts, and sails were all sound. The cargo-barrels of alcohol were still lashed in place in the hold. There was plenty of food and water. When he examined the ship’s log, the captain of the Dei Gratia found that the last entry was on November 24. That would have been 10 days earlier, when the Mary Celeste had been passing north of St. Mary’s Island in the Azores — more than 400 miles west of where it was found. If it had been abandoned soon after that entry, the ship must have drifted unmanned and unsteered for a week and a half. Yet this could not have been. The Mary Celeste was found with its sails set to catch the wind coming over the starboard quarter: in other words, it was sailing on the starboard tack. The Dei Gratia had been following a similar course just behind. But throughout the 400 miles from the Azores, the Dei Gratia had been obligated to sail on the port tack. It seems impossible that the Mary Celeste could have reached the spot it did with its yards and sails set to starboard. Someone must have been working the ship for at least several days after the final log entry.

No one, from the 10 people that supposedly sailed aboard the Mary Celeste, including 7 crewmen and captain Benjamin Briggs’ wife and daughter, was ever found.

The explanation that seemed most reasonable at the time was the official one put out by the British and American authorities. This suggested that the crew had got at the alcohol, murdered the captain and his family, and then somehow escaped to another vessel. But the story does not really stand up. There were no visible signs of a struggle on board, and if the crew had escaped, some of them would surely have turned up later.

The Dei Gratia sights the abandoned Mary Celeste.

The yawl boat — a small four-oared boat carried over the main hatch — was missing, suggesting that at least some of the missing people could have left the Mary Celeste in it.

Dozens of theories have been put forward since then, ranging from attacking monsters from the deep and aliens kidnapping to nature’s wrath, piracy and mutiny. But no one has ever found any evidence or proof to confirm any of them. The only other evidence to what really happened may be the so called Fosdyk papers.

According to an article written by a schoolmaster named Howard Linford and published in 1913 (41 years after the Mary Celeste was found) in the Strand magazine of London, a well-educated and much-traveled employee of his named Abel Fosdyk, had left some papers and notes after his death explaining not only the fate of the crew but also the curious cut marks that were found in the bows of the Mary Celeste.
Fosdyk claimed that he had been a secret passenger on the ship’s last voyage and the only survivor of the tragedy that overtook it. Being a close friend of the captain, Fosdyk convinced Briggs to give him secret passage because, for some undisclosed reason, he had to leave America in a hurry. During the voyage Briggs had the ship’s carpenter build a special deck in the bow for his small daughter. It was the supporting struts for this deck that were slotted into the cuts in the bow planks.

One day, after a lengthy argument with the mate about how well a man could swim with his clothes on, Briggs leaped into the water and started swimming around the ship, as to prove his point. Couple of men followed while the rest of the crew watched from the deck. Suddenly, one of the sailors swimming around the bow gave a yell of agony. Everyone, including the captain’s wife and child, crowded onto the newly built deck which promptly collapsed under their combined weight. They all fell into the sea, where all were devoured by the sharks that had attacked the first seaman.

Being the only survivor of the shark attacks because of his luck of falling on top of the shattered decking, Fosdyk clung to it as the Mary Celeste drifted away. He floated for days until he was washed up half dead on the northwest coast of Africa.

The Fosdyk papers tell a neat tale. But they offer no solution to the the mystery of how the ship got to where it was found. And they are wrong on details that should not have escaped an educated man. Fosdyk says the Mary Celeste weighed 600 tons. In fact, the ship weighed a third of that. Fosdyk also says that the crewmen were English, when, in fact, they were mostly Dutch. And most of all, it seems highly improbable that anyone would go swimming around a ship that, according to the Dei Gratia evidence, must have been making several knots at the time. Bizarre as it is, no better explanation than Fosdyk’s has so far emerged. And after more than 120 years, it is unlikely to do so. The enigma of the ship that sailed itself seems destined to puzzle us forever (Parts of this text are excerpts from Reader’s Digest’s “Strange Stories, Amazing Facts”).

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Glastonbury Tor

….Did A Portal Open On 26/02/07?…

The Tor at Glastonbury is a natural 520’ conical hill set in the Somerset landscape, its legends and accolades are many ranging from a faerie hill, the Entrance to the Underworld of King Gwyn Ap Nudd, a global energy point where ley lines cross, and tales of people being suddenly levitating whilst up there, as sworn by a group of Buddhist monks in 1969. So many are these stories that it is really difficult to attempt writing anything refreshingly new. A book in 2005 by author Nicholas Mann who lives in the area, ‘The Secret Energies of Glastonbury Tor’ goes some way in trying to explain with a scientific approach electro-magnetic vortices at work. Can this hill justify the wondrous tales of coloured lights seen emanating from it, earth lights that can spiral, the least optical phenomenon associated with any self respecting fairy hill? I personally know of two friends, who individually, on separate occasions have experienced what they describe as a ‘beam’ come down from the sky and pass from their head right through their body. And so it goes on!

If it is an energy point then one fact that people of Glastonbury can’t be denied is that every year the rock music festival that first started in 1970 now draws into the small town approximately 180,000 visitors camping out over its three days in June every year – that’s a lot of energy to soak up! Now, as much as I would like to dismiss all these tales as mere romance and declare the hill simply that – a hill and nothing more – I have to admit on a personal level that I can’t! Since 1984 I have had and have a strange relationship with this hill, like no other place I have visited, it is almost as if it draws me to it…And if that were true in any sense, for what purpose? I first went there at about 4pm on October 30th 1984, approaching the ascension from the far end of the Tor. As I began the steep climb, a small breezy wind came out of nowhere, growing stronger and stronger as I made my way up. By the time I had reached the top, it was blowing a private gale! ‘Some welcoming committee’, I thought to myself, as in those days I was well immersed in Theosophy and how geographical areas can have elemental guardians called Devas, or landscape angels. The Tor is associated with a wind that can whip up and can even blow people from its summit. Accepting this baptism, I returned again that night as had been my original intention, setting off up there at 11.30pm and intending to stay until the hours moved into 31st of All Hallows Eve where we are assured the veil between worlds thin, as far as our calendar is concerned. As an impressionable, young, scientifically minded and intrepid investigator, where better to be at a time where worlds may merge, than upon a faerie hill! With the absence of any wind, I was no sooner up there when a silent silver streak at a height of above four feet above my head flashed from left to right a short distance! Minutes later, along came more phenomena – a speedy bombardment on either side of the top of the slopes of what I must describe as grey ‘ping-pong’ balls, lasting only moments! I have since learned that other people have also used the same term ‘ping-pong balls’ to relate their own similar experiences! A silent silver flash and a bombardment of ping-pong balls, all within minutes of being up there…at the tender age of 28 I was fast beginning to learn that Glastonbury Tor IS more than just an average high mass of land! I stayed a further two hours that cold early morning with naught else to report despite my hopeful and sincere intonations directed at the Archangel Michael whose tower sits upon the very top, calling him by his magical names of Mikaal-Sabbathiel-Beshtar, (everything is worth a try for a more pyrotechnical response!) returning through the wispy streams of mist at 5am in the morning for one last effort. Since that first acquaintance with the Tor, I have visited many times in all seasons, with and without people, all times of the days and in all weathers whenever the opportunity has arisen, with nothing out of the ordinary to report. At the time I would seek so-called paranormal experiences as they seemed to excite me – stationed up hills that can potentially emit sudden strange lights is a lot better than your typical average evening television viewing!
The more I read sensible investigations into ‘earth lights’ and the fine book of that title by Paul Devereux, the more I was beginning to accept this as the rationale behind most if not all of the stories associated with the Tor. Without evidence, you can only listen with wonder at anecdotal stories and should stick to your own direct empirical experiences, as others are perfectly entitled to with my own offerings. Having said that, one story did trouble my comfortably settling in theory. I received an email from a previous Mayor of Glastonbury who one night saw a reddish orange light appear ABOVE the Tor and sink into the summit, not come out of it! He was convinced it had been the usual understanding of a ‘spaceship/UFO’. Sinking INTO the Tor?
Over the years since the sixties and to this current day, there have been a number of UFO sightings associated with above Glastonbury Tor, and amongst the many coloured light sightings this orangey-red does seems to be the most common.

I wondered if this could have anything to do with the fact that high up on the Tower is a carving, I’m not sure why, of the Phoenix, or Fire Bird. Maybe the Collective Unconscious had been at work there influencing the mind of the carver. The Phoenix rises from the ashes, and so I smile at the synchronicity of knowing that at the foot of the tor since the seventies lives the Arthurian author Geoffrey Ashe.

With all this in my mind, I wondered if it could be possible to dare attempt to pick up any aerial phenomenon on film?…and so, after last visiting the Tor in 1997, I returned in 2006; this time, and for the very first time in all my visits, armed with a camera (non digital as I learn this goes against critical analysis of phenomenon on photos).
At this point, let me clarify the situation for you. Here I am on my own embarking up what has to be my favourite spot on earth, having been there numerous times, in all weathers, seasons, and times of the day – it simply doesn’t matter, as nothing can affect that strange awe and respect I have always held for this mound. The notion in my mind was to impress upon the Tor could I possibly ‘be allowed’ something to pick up on camera. This of course would imply that such a thing could happen. How? Well, for an answer to that one you will have to bear with my preferred belief that, in harmony with Gaia Hypothesis, the earth can be a living, thinking organism and biosphere; that Nature can hear and think, and may even respond to an earnest request. Some will find this ‘far out’ to which I respond, what gives people the authority to assume the world to be as they think it? Sometimes the ‘way out’ is the way in! Having made my thoughts known to anything that may exist to hear and respond to them, I was approximately two-thirds up the Tor when something strange happened. I was awash with a great irrational fear that was so strong my reaction was to want to turn back and rush off down the Tor! But what about my attempted photography that I had travelled 223 miles to Somerset to experiment? Who cares, I could only think of resorting to what us British refer to as ‘doing a runner’ – a swift retreat! Now, my ego must inform you, this is NOT my style – I run away from nothing, neither have I ever suffered what are called ‘panic attacks’, and yet this term certainly describes what had happened to me. However, I steadied myself and sat down a while, then eventually continued my way back up the remaining distance to the top, with tourists on either side unaware of how I was still filled with this awful trepidation. Once up there I took my pictures and was content to come away from Glastonbury Tor as swiftly as I could. All the while up there I remained filled with a fear that I have never experienced in my life or ever dreamt I could. What on earth had happened to me? Perhaps a part of the strange answer involves the series of dark aerial dots that were captured on film, moving themselves about. There was nothing in the sky to declare at the time the shutter snapped, no birds, planes, not a thing, but on sensitive film that can be known to capture images beyond the human eye were the dots. Better than that, to the right at the back of the Michael tower, a peculiar cross-shaped object had appeared! Critics who weren’t there will invariably cite a bird or a plane, some have even said an insect (!), but I repeat there was nothing in the clear sky, and this essay is not for the critics, but for those who also suspect there may be more than meets the eye, literally, concerning this famous hill.

In 2007, I returned again in June to the Tor hoping to repeat the experiment, actually having filed the fear-filled attack away as a puzzling ‘blip’ on the radar. It wasn’t even fresh in my fading memory when I began my familiar ascent from the Chalice Lane end – which some may find as hard to believe as the manifestations. Incredibly, and at the EXACT same place point up the winding path as before, it happened to me again, and just as frightening. I repeated my immediate thought of the earlier year, “I’m off!’ having to freeze to the spot in order not to do a runner! As before, I eventually managed some degree of composure to reach the tower and to take more photographs in the clear blue and uninterrupted sky with that horrendous fear of trepidation never leaving me for a moment. The best description I can offer is a feeling that I was just about to drift off weightlessly above! With the camera fulfilling its 27 exposure, I was more than pleased to legitimately retreat. There were more dots appearing on the pix again, but most amazingly, the cross-shaped ‘UFO’ object had re-appeared in EXACTLY the same position!
In 2008 it was a sunny June again, and this time I was more than apprehensive about the twice inexplicable panic that had filled me at the same spot the two years running, and for good reason when in rushed the by now familiar alarm at the same point of ascension, only this time it was worse than the last two combined. I WAS going to run off this time for sure! In what was fast becoming a tradition I didn’t, and continued after a long period to the plateau to use the film up. Now, this time, when eventually up there, I felt rather calmer, quite bearable. Two friends accompanying me knew nothing of my earlier traumas or what I was experiencing now. The developed film heralded no phenomenon. Desperately trying to make sense of this trio of adventures I could only return to a dependency on the Gaia Theory – had my thoughts and intent been received and part of the ‘deal’ was that in order to be granted manifestations I would have to forfeit an ordeal? Or could it not have been avoided? How could I know? …leaving me only to record the incidents and leave it at that.

In August 2009 I ascended the Tor by my usual route, with two relatives who were aware of my previous troubles. In order to change the factors involved, I brought no camera and was seeking no photographs of any nature. Both my daughter and grandson were shocked when I informed them – at the same spot as the prior three years – that I could go no further! Leaving them to continue alone, I sat there looking at the tower in the distance and saying to myself, “I can never reach up there again!’ as that was how my feelings were translating. How could I accept never being able to visit my favourite ever spot, even though I now had to accept that this overpowering apprehension was now part of my equation? After the customary time lapse, angry with myself, I came up with the idea to climb down off the path to the left and along one of the embankments some way and then continue back up the steep side to the path again. I managed this and could continue the remainder of the walk where I again felt quite calm at the top of the Tor. My theory of being ‘granted’ photos for a ‘forfeit’ clearly didn’t fit.

My daughter took a picture of the spot where for consecutive years approaching the Tor from Chalice Well I reached an area that against all probability and rationale forbade me to cross! It’s tempting to suggest this could be some sort of weird Tor energy ‘force field’ that I had now developed a sensitivity to? I have applied all logic to these adventures. Had I suddenly at my age developed acrophobia, a sort of fear of heights? No, my physiology did not meet the criteria anywhere near enough, and there were no physical symptoms at all such as dizziness, heart palpitation or lack of breath. Nothing but that irrational ‘panic attack’. A part of me found this most ironical, as during the 80’s in conjunction with my understanding of the Collective Unconscious I had conducted, with great success, psychological experiments with the archetype of the nature god Pan, whose presence instills instant panic! The rustic image of this half man-half goat Greek god was shamelessly stolen by the Christian Church and used to represent their Satan devil figure. Such echoes of dipping into, arguably, the realm of magick, were far from my mind, but was the archetypical energy of the god – in myth Overseer of the faery realm – awaiting me at the Tor? The following day, again changing the factors involved in the total equation, I ascended from the other available path at the far end of the Tor with my grandson and Glastonbury resident Mike Chenery. This way up is quicker, but much steeper. Apprehensively all the way, I made it up there without a fault!
I had arranged to meet with Mike, for he too has an amazing story to tell, and again, I will tell it for those who can find it a possibility that the Tor is simply more than just a steep hill. However, it is a sad fact that in this world of computer wizardry there is very little that cannot be faked in the way of photographs, which makes it nigh on impossible for people like Mike and myself, with genuine unlikely pix, to be taken seriously. On February 26th 2007 at 4.33pm on a bright day Mike was walking up Well House Lane when his attention was drawn to the fact that all the singing birds had suddenly stopped their song. This stillness and suspension reminds me of what occurs at the time of a solar eclipse when birds become temporarily disorientated. He was now at a gate that provides a vantage point view of one of the un-arched sides of the tower. Casually looking up he saw a dazzling white ‘something’ that, in his words, ‘glided’ a short distance from within the tower. At first it showed itself as thin but then moved its perspective facing Mike’s direction and in doing so widened, rather like at first being as a door seen sideways on and then full frontal. As he always carries a camera during his numerous excursions, he only just found the time to take a picture and then the apparition that had only lasted seconds, simply ‘popped off’!! There had been nobody else up on the Tor at the time. The result on his digital camera confirmed what he had seen with his own eyes, a spectre of some definition, but what could it have been?

For some clues to this mystery I have taken a closer look at the carvings that appear on the front of the Tower. My contention places firm belief that specific works of architecture are often brought about by the Collective Unconscious working through an unsuspecting human agency that if interpreted correctly can afford us clues to something of a hidden value.

I find it intriguing that the highest carving on the tower is that of the Phoenix, a bird of Arabia so called owing to it possession of a scarlet colour – the colour that is most prominent in the weird earth light displays. The Phoenix also represents immortality, life after death and mystical rebirth.

So why should this be above the Tor?
Below it to the left we see St Michael and the devil, weighing souls. To their right is St Bridget milking a cow. Bridget was originally the Celtic, and possibly pre-Celtic, goddess Brighde. Her earliest representations associate her with fire. Why too should she be situated there, is it because both Bridget and Phoenix have this red, fire association? It is said that the Gateway to the Underworld opens only on the days of a fire festival, St Bridget having such a date on February 2nd.

Employing the lost Mother Tongue language, a form of Esperanto that can link up languages and sciences into a cybernetic fashion and revealed to me by my autistic savant wife Avril, when we look at the name ‘Glastonbury’ we can see ‘Glass-stone-bury’ or ‘Glass stone ruby’. Is it that simple – a buried glass stone or buried glass ruby stone is somehow associated with the Tor? Ruby, is of course, a pure transparent (as would be a glass stone) red corundum. The key word here may be ‘transparent’ from Latin ‘parere’ meaning ‘to appear’. Back to Bridget-Brighde, and by consulting the phonetic, visual pun and anagrammatic language of the Mother Tongue, try pronouncing the name ‘Bridget’ without saying ‘Bridge shut’. Are we drawing attention to a shut bridge? Bridge comes from the old English ‘bryg’ and a ‘brig’ is a two masted, square rigged vessel from the word ‘brigantine’. Does this ship have a porthole? Or, does this ‘spaceship’ have a ‘portal’? Looking closer at the word ‘bridge’ we find that it is anything that connects across a gap or makes an electrical connexion between, and its synonyms include; arch, link, connexion, connect. Under enlargement, the dazzling white shape caught on camera shows an outline not unlike a tomb headstone and I wonder if we are seeing the actual archetype and origin for such a structure, something of an arch whereby the soul will pass through to liably voyage beyond. The dazzling bright white reminds me of the descriptions seen down a tunnel in near death experiences. Is this, indeed a time-space Portal, a normally ‘bridge shut’ and place of mystical rebirth of the Phoenix? Can such a Portal exist on Glastonbury Tor and is this what Mike Chenery has photographed physically opening for a few moments of our known time? Is the Michael tower with its two-sided arch you can walk through and out, a physical living unconscious memory of a replica, dimensional Portal? For some reliable confirmation and a startling conclusion, my interpretation returns to the stonework images on the tower that I believe to have been provided by that Collective Unconscious confirming the presence of a Portal. We see Michael and the Pan-like figure of the devil weighing souls on a weighing scale, the devil having a foot on his scale attempting to weigh it down. The key words here are ‘Scales’ and ‘Way’ (phonetic of ‘weigh’). ‘Way’ means ‘passage’, and ‘scales’ in musical composition is a progression of single notes upwards or downwards in steps. The imagery of the devil tipping down his scale is to draw reference to the infamous augmented 4th, or ‘Devil’s Chord’, prohibited by the church in the 12th century. My friend, the Scottish author Brian Allen, has evidenced in his own work ‘Rosslyn, Between Two Worlds’ a belief that there is a Portal contained within Rosslyn Chapel and that this devil’s chord is a key and sound frequency involved in opening the Portal. I smile when I recall how the devil was always represented holding a pitch-fork which I think we now can more correctly view as an acoustic resonating tuning fork which can be used to emit a pure musical tone. The pan pipes, or syrinx, of the god Pan also involve specific acoustic octave properties. As Allen suggests, does a specific frequency or harmonic note, along with this devil’s chord, provide the science that opens a Portal? It should therefore be no surprise that Glastonbury has this entwined musical connexion with its annual festival. We return next to the carved image of St Bridget seen milking a cow into a pitcher, the musical term for pitch means to ‘set in a key.’ With Bridget we are inviting in a ‘bridge’, which in classical music is also known as a ‘transition’, the word meaning ‘a passage from one place’. Through the Portal… the mystical re-birth of the Phoenix allegory?

With the wonder and revelation of synchronicity in mind, a bridge, in music, is formally known as a bridge-passage……

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