In Sian Evans’ book “ghosts, mysterious tales from the National Trust” she says
“buildings which have been constructed from former standing stones are subject to a poltergeist-like manifestation”
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| Avebury, Wiltshire |
The village is Avebury, in Wiltshire. Over the centuries the area has been sparsely colonised with a small village growing slowly in the middle of a huge area of massive, pre-historic standing stones. They age back about 6000 years and the area is one of Europe’s most mysterious places. On a cold winter’s morning, when the frost is crisp upon the ground, the presence of antiquity and pagan worship is palpable when you see the stones emerging from the ragged wisps of mist which writhe in and out of these huge sentinels. There is a timeless, primeval feeling which has remained unchanged for thousands of years.
But in more modern times, a mere 700 years ago, the villagers began to destroy the stones and bury as many of them as they could. This was probably a direct order from the Church which could not live with such blatant pagan symbols of worship on its doorstep. But it is believed that the pagan Gods never left. This fear was strengthened in the 18th and 19th centuries when many of the stones were dug up, broken up and used in the building of houses and barns. Many of these houses have consistently reported ghosts and poltergeist movements within their walls. It is an acknowledged belief that spirits can enter the structure of a building and will follow the stones wherever they should go.
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| Stone circles at Avebury, Wiltshire |
Even now, locals report sight of night-ghostly figures floating around the stones which still stand...especially when the magic of a full moon is bathing the countryside in a cold white light, and strange lights and music have been heard. And there is an eerie story of a “time slip”. In late 1916 a woman drove into Avebury and being a stranger decided to follow an avenue of huge stones which led her into the heart of the village. There she saw a crowd noisily celebrating at what seemed to be a fair. It was only some time later that she learnt that the stone avenue was destroyed in the 1790s, and the last fair took place in 1850.
So stories are rampant of ghostly figures, moving lights, spectral music with many of the old houses which used the ancient stones in their construction suffering from “The Haunt”.
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