14th March 2009

After our briefing in the tranquil setting of the St Mary's Gate hotel and public house, our arrival in Binsted Woods instead was straight out of a modern, pretentious, classic horror film re-imaging! It involved driving down a winding narrow country road in the pitch black of night, surrounded either side by trees and with one solitary house to break up the bleakness. I’m quite sure that in the bright, sunny summer weeks this would be a rather fetching setting. But for us – it was a simple reminder that we very, very alone out there.

After parking (ensuring the car was pointing back the way we had arrived, in case a hasty retreat was required) and gearing ourselves up, we slowly made our way into the woods. I didn’t pick up anything at first. In fact, I was more interested in my new toy – a very powerful small torch/search light (the geeks amongst us will understand the appeal of a torch that makes a pretty good light sabre in the dark). This served eerily well in illuminating or otherwise dark surroundings. I was still getting nothing as I peered between the trees. But as we approached the pond that was overlooked by the spookily white statue of the Virgin Mary, things changed.

After a few minutes, the very distinct form of a ‘traditional’ woman in white appeared a few metres away from us, back up the path. She had long dark hair and seemed just as surprised at being seen by someone, than I was at seeing her. She said nothing as I slowly approached her, and I felt totally at ease. Certainly no negative emotion emanating from her. I couldn’t really make out her features in the dark, but she was dressed in a long white dress, with some kind of belt or band around the waist. I think I likened it to a dressing gown at the time. As I walked towards her she raised her left arm and simply pointed down the path, perhaps towards the site of the long since destroyed mansion. Then she dissolved back into the darkness. No names, or any other information came to me. But it was certainly not an unpleasant experience.

As we made our way around the pond, again, nothing out-of-the-ordinary to report. The same for when we entered the grounds of the now fenced-off site of the old mansion – with its empty beer cans scattered around, and bon fire remains. Tammy reported she had an aching head, but this happily passed. After exploring a little, we made our way to the back of the pond, deeper into the woods. This was where two names came quite clearly to me: Jessica, and Aaron. It seems the two were related to each other in some, possibly brother and sister. Of that I’m not sure, but they were definitely blood related. Sadly, no other information.

After wandering around some more, I think the general bleakness of the place got to us, so we made our way back to the car, without incident.

© 2009 SPI