Weird, Strange and the Unexplained

  Deep in the Mendip Hills near the village of Cheddar in Somerset England sits Cheddar Gorge. In 2005 on the show Seven Natural Wonders Cheddar Gorge was named the second greatest natural wonder in Britain. 500,000 visitors pass through the two open cave systems annually. Our journey through the hills The gorge was created by meltwater floods throughout the cold periglacial periods. Over 1.2 million years the caves saw the ice ages, in which the caves were blocked from permafrost. After as they warmed once again the water was forced to flow up to the surface, carving out the gorge. The water that went deeper created caves, leaving the gorge dry. The gorge only has one river now which is the Cheddar Yeo that is used by Bristol Water.  The caves are prone to flooding While the geological structure is something to marvel at the impressive cave system also is home to the oldest skeleton in Britain, the Cheddar Man. His remains date back to 9100 BP / 7100 BC. He is the oldest...

Kent has within it many treasures and mysteries. If you find yourself in the coastal town of Hythe and fancy driving up some steep and tight winding roads then take a trip to St. Leonard’s Ossuary. It is here you will find an overlooked morbid curiosity. St Leonard’s Church has the largest and best-preserved collection of ancient human skulls and bones in Britain. One of the many shelves On our journey their during 2018, it took us some time to find the entrance to the Ossary. It’s easy to assume that you need to go down to the heavy crypt doors, but they are sealed and do not offer admittance to the public. Once found the Ossary is but a small set of doors off to the side of the main chapel. It has a tiny shop with a pleasant attendant in the front, just behind them sits, in four arched bays one thousand skulls along with a block of miscellaneous bones and skulls. The sight is imposing and humbling. The bone stack alone measures 7.5m in length, 1.8m in width and just over 1.8m ...

The British Museum is vast. Housing artefacts from all over the world it showcases Britain’s powerful, successful and somewhat meddlesome history. Back in July 1900, the British Museum Station was opened, design to function as an easy access route to those wanting to visit the museum. However on the 25th of September, 1933 it was closed for good. While the station was active, it was rumoured that it was haunted by the daughter of an Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh. Dressed in nothing but a loincloth and headdress, she would appear late at night. Her screaming was so loud it was said to have been heard in the adjoining nearby stations. The tunnels as they currently stand. Photo by Liam  As the urban legend grew in popularity a local newspaper offered a reward to anyone that could spend the night there. It seems that no one attempted this. Like most tube stations, the closed British Museum Station was reused as an air-raid shelter during WW2. The structure remained until 1989 bu...

Not being from the US, I will never fully appreciate or understand ones need to bear arms and the desire to hold cold steel, capable of ending life within my hands. Like many I enjoy watching violent exchanges within cinema and games, yet when given the option to fire a shotgun at a local farm, I couldn’t. It just felt wrong, to wield something with so such power. Today’s tale tells of two individuals that took that right to the very extreme end of the spectrum. On February 28th 1997 an event happened that changed the whole of America’s policing forever. Not only did it boost their public image but allowed the government to alter gun law for police enforcement. On a beautiful day just after 9am in sunny L.A, news broadcasts fired into action across the entire city. A huge shootout was taking place outside the Bank of America on Laurel Canyon. In the parking lot two heavily armoured men and what can only be described as: the entirety of the L.A.P.D. exchanged fire. For a total of ...

The loss of a life is never a happy affair. Even in the glory of battle there will always be those that mourn the fallen. We glorify and romanticise death in many ways and forms. Such raw emotion has led to the creation of some of the greatest music, artwork and stories ever created. Today we take a path down a more sinister and tragic road. The event took place on the 19th of February 1994 in Riverside California. My friend Leo who told me this tale, was not even a twinkle in his fathers eye and yet the story still is very much alive in their local area. Unlike a lot of tales covered on this blog, there are no supernatural elements here, just unexplained tragedy and science. Gloria Ramirez lived in Riverside California and was diagnosed with cervical cancer. She died at 31 shortly after arriving in the hospital due to complications with her disease. The medical staff that had encountered her body and blood very swiftly became unwell, five critically so. Fainting, shortness of brea...

  I’m very fortunate to have close friends in various locations around the globe. My friend Leo resides in the US but is of Mexican heritage. This brilliant fusion of rich ancient history and living in a fairly modern country means that he has a wide plethora of stories to tell. Not being American or Mexican, most of these folk tales, urban legends and places of interest are totally new to me.   This weekend I am dedicating today, tomorrow and Sunday to three of the stories he passed onto me. While the blog will mainly focus around the UK I feel I shouldn’t close the gates to cool, haunting and inspirational stories from elsewhere. Each of these tales is very different from the last. The first is a location, perhaps haunted but intriguing, the second a bank job that went wrong and the third is a very local tale to Leo, which took place within their local hospital. A medical anomaly that almost cost the lives of many. Our first tale takes us to one of Mexico’s tourist sites. ...

Kent, The Garden of England earns its name from its lustrous and rampant greenery. Not only is there ample places of nature to visit, forests, coastlines and so much more, but it is home to a plethora of historic locations, buildings and monuments. I’ve been a resident in Kent for just over two years. Compared to the gritty run down locations I lived across Essex, it is like Eden. I consider myself lucky to have found a home here.  Back in 2019 I was in a car being driven past Bromley Common during the early afternoon and happened to see a large crucifix-ish shape moving across the sky. It was not like some religious beacon, but a series of ball-like lights.  My very poor doodle of the lights I witnessed in the sky . I didn’t think much of it but tried to lean and get a better viewpoint of the curious effect. Then it was gone. When I got home and for the next few days after, I tried to find out what it was and also questioned some of my colleagues at work. This was when I disc...

The UK is full of rich history both beautiful and also tragic. Death is seldom a happy tale and throughout any locations history there will be foul occurrences or moments of malevolence.  It should be on no surprise that beneath your very feet in the city of London, many tales lurk within the sprawling tube network. Since the railway network opened 20 to 150 people have thrown themselves upon the tracks annually. This morbid fact alone links with the suspicion that the tunnels are said to be haunted by the restless entities of those that once were. To add to the pot of spiritual unrest, sections of the tube line are said to have been built upon burial grounds and plague pits, they were used as shelters in the war and have seen the miscellaneous fatalities of a least a dozen a year to accidents, medical illness and crime.  Considering 1.33 billion passengers took the underground from 2019-2020, these fatality figures are remarkably low. London’s tube system is as reliable as it...

This article is the first of many. Each When? What? Why? feature will give a brief factual overview of a certain object or tradition, explain its origins, what it is for and why people still embrace these rituals and traditions. Over the past year my close friend has become more and more involved with Tarot reading. At first it was simply for novelty but she was pulled in deep and the more she practised the art of cartomancy the more accurate her readings have become. You could say its smoke and mirrors, confidence trickery or just a social exercise, a link between two people perhaps, if you are more cynical and of course that is okay. I don't judge, believe what you will. However her ability to predict pitfalls, promotions and hurdles within a multitude of peoples lives got me interested. image via Pxfuel I enrolled in a course led by   Tunisia Ali ,  Spiritual Healer, Author, Educator, Hypnotist & Life Coach, in an effort to gain an understanding of what the ...

Not many places can claim to have cultivated mushrooms, stored ammunition and an effective shelter during war time. The labyrinthine tunnel network that is Chislehurst Caves has been used for all of these purposes and far more.  Covering 22 miles (35.4km), the tunnels found in Chislehurst in South East London, England.  The origins of the tunnel network is unknown but it is theorised that the initial mines were made by Romans, Saxons and Druids. This is supported by the first written recording of the mine coming from a 9th-century Saxon charter. While initially it was used for chalk and lime-burning pits the caves were used between 1830 and the 1860s for producing lime.  Most famously the entirely man-made cave network was used as an air raid shelter. This became home nightly to 5,000 people, but was capable of housing up to 15,000 at any one time. It contained washing facilities, toilets, a hospital and even a functioning chapel. Prior to this the network was u...

  The worldwide pandemic has altered everyone’s lives for good. Shut off from the outside and without employment I’ve found myself asking a lot of questions. About the world, myself and the sheer expanse of things in life that are beyond our understanding. This unknown is what captivated me as a child and has always been of interest to me.  Now within the constant lockdown of the UK, I found myself reaching back into all kinds of areas I used to pay an interest in. Folklore, mythology, strange occurrences and the unexplained. You may be stuck at home, locked into your local area with your freedoms restricted. Yet no matter where you are there is history, oddities and locations you’ll be able to explore.  If for whatever reason you are housebound, high risk or dislike the idea of galivanting around, then I will be featuring virtual tours also of some online escapes into the weird and wonderful.  Throughout this blog I shall be posting articles of curiosities both...