Ghostly Goings On In Shipley Wood.
November 15, 2011 in Latest Patch Sightings by PaulS
Out on my bike last night and a strange thing happened in Shipley Wood. I was dropping down towards the animal cemetery at around 7.30pm when it went very, very cold, almost like opening a fridge door (it was a mild night and I was quite warm). I then heard and felt a cold breathe on the left side of my face. Now I’ve got a very powerful set of lights. 12 watt spot and 32 watt flood halogens. These guys illuminate everything. There was nothing in front of me and nothing to the sides???? It wasn’t wind rushing past me as that was present before and after I heard the noise and on both sides of my head. It definitely could only be described as an exhale of air, lasting for about a second. I did turn to look but saw nothing. Not surprising as it was pitch dark to the rear of me.
Now being of a Pagan persuasion I’d like to think it was the green man enjoying a bit of downhill fun with me or maybe a wood sprite whisking me on my way but I’m sure there’s a more logical explanation (not that I want there to be). The cold could have been a localised temperature incursion and could the “breathe” had been an Owl flying past? There are plenty of Tawnys around when I ride out.
Has anyone else any explanations or does anyone know of spirits in the woods around here?
Suffice to say I’m definitely going back that way next time I’m out, only a bit slower. Anyone fancy joining me!!
“Let us wander away through the shadow wood.
Through the shadow wood to the shadow land”.
You’ve been on the bottle again. Wrong sort of spirits.
Sounds terrifying, I wouldn’t be going that way again, I’ve walked through the woods on my own after looking for nightjars and that was scary enough, without the hound of the baskervilles breathing down your neck.
Paul, that part of Shipley Hill was always associated with ghostly stories and people claiming strange sensations and sightings when I was a boy. In my teens (before I started drinking…) and not long after I had started birding in earnest I took a short cut by bike from West Hallam to Hardy Barn at about 10pm. I was out the saddle and coming up the hill from Mapperley and I don’t mind saying I was apprehensive about cycling through the hill top wood. Not far from the top of the hill my gaze was drawn to the pet cemetery and there was a very strange, orange, fuzzy light; the air felt very cold on my face even before the light, like a gust of icy air that just came and went. I was really frightened. I got home rather quickly. I’m not going up there at night. Not even for a Scops Owl!
Nice to know if I am out anywhere with you lot I can depend on being well protected:-)
Sorry Paul but you wouldn’t get me in there at night.
I can supply the hound(s) if you want :¬))
Steve
Tut tut, Jim, thats not “Bennerley Boy” talk, where’s yer Goshawk grit !
With the exception of Dave looks like I’ll be up there on my own next ride. The hounds sound an interesting proposition but I’ve all on with the werewolfs (did I mention them??? More of an inconvenience than a hindrance
).
Bike rides aside I take it an EVW Owl hunt in the woods is out of the question then LOL.
Interesting what Jim wrote. I mentioned the incident at work and quite a few of the ladies had heard of ghosts roaming the wood. There was even talk of a ghost horse. Some of the girls who ride had heard a horse when passing the area but none where in site??
I’ll take a video camera with me next time. If it’s found and I’m not, sell the film rights to Hollywood and buy Bennerley Marsh with the profits. It’s the least I can do
Dave didn’t actually say he would go – more a case of telling me I have no grit, although I fail to see what Goshawk has to do with it, Dave! I would go as long as there were at least five of us and someone took the RPGs – I don’t think a video camera will be much defence, quite frankly!
Tales of ghostly horses used to abound, most of them relating to the Coach Road that runs between Osbourne’s Pond and the Coppice – Headless Horseman was the favourite, of course…