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Remembered Today:

Strange Occurrences on the Western Front


Rodge Dowson

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This is fascinating. Wish we could keep this bumped anyone got any stories of strange occurrences? Especially interested in the things concerning High Wood and Mametz. Hope I can venture in these places one day.

On the subject of High Wood, I had the great pleasure once of being in a group guided around its interior by the late great Trevor "Tanks at Fler" Pidgeon. His knowledge was wonderful to be on the receiving end of. I "lost" the group at one stage and scurried after them to catch up. For what its worth , I didn't feel like I did in similar circumstances in Mametz Wood.

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I have never been to Mametz Wood, I would be interested to know from those that have experienced negative feelings there,

in what part of the wood did it occur?

what was the point of entry,

did it occur on the approach,

did it intensify or lessen,

did others with you share the experience

I am interested to see if there is any commonality of experience amongst members,

khaki

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I have never been to Mametz Wood, I would be interested to know from those that have experienced negative feelings there,

in what part of the wood did it occur?

what was the point of entry,

did it occur on the approach,

did it intensify or lessen,

did others with you share the experience

I am interested to see if there is any commonality of experience amongst members,

khaki

I think you will find that the common theme is the area running from Flatiron Copse (the cemetery) down to the dragon memorial, the track itself and the sward leading up to the trees. This is the area in which the unsuccessful July 7th attack went in. The track of course was later the main route up 'happy/death valley, as it was dually known, to the High Wood area, and the route back for the thousands of wounded, (who incidentally included Robert Graves).

The experience is common too - one of being watched, of being unwelcome, and of an uncomfortable silence, almost a sonic 'vacuum'.

It doesn't always happen. I was walking down the track 18 months ago when I upended sharply on the very slippery surface, and found myself unexpectedly on my backside. There was a group of CWGC workers in the cemetery, and I very much hoped that they hadn't seen me, as I felt completely foolish with my expensive camera and a muddy backside! I didn't hear the ghosts laughing either.

A track and an entrance had been opened into the wood just below and to the right of the dragon for logging work in the hammerhead, and I walked into the wood here, very tentatively at first after my earlier experience, but the birds kept singing and all felt fine. My only moment of disquiet was when I was standing in the strange gap which exists (and existed in 1916) between the head of the hammer and the main body of the wood when I clearly heard a sudden, loud shout, close by and clear, from the undergrowth of the hammerhead itself, but no figure appeared, and there was nobody else around when I entered the wood or when I subsequently left it. In all I spent an hour or so in the wood, and at no other time felt uncomfortable, merely exhilarated to be walking in the footsteps of Jones, Graves, Sassoon, Wyn Griffith and so many others who wrote about the wood.

The shout was alarming, and coming from an area of undergrowth that I had just crossed, odd and inexplicable when I think back, something that strangely I have slightly avoided doing.

I have no doubt that Mametz Wood is a strange place, and its presence can be very brooding and disquieting. I certainly would not care to spend the night in there, as did the brilliant artist Robert Perry,

http://www.robertperry-artist.co.uk/exhibitions/exhibitions-for-hire-to-public-galleries/the-somme/

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You know, that falling over, it has me thinking now. One second I was walking, the next I was on the deck. It was very sudden, and really quite violent - it tore the heel pad off my sturdy walking boot. The track wasn't boggy, it just had a surface sheen, that rather fine chalk.

I suspect I am 'overthinking'.

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You know, that falling over, it has me thinking now. One second I was walking, the next I was on the deck. It was very sudden, and really quite violent - it tore the heel pad off my sturdy walking boot. The track wasn't boggy, it just had a surface sheen, that rather fine chalk.

I suspect I am 'overthinking'.

The painter Orpen reported on strange kinetic things happening on the old Somme battlefields when he was painting there.

As regards Mametz , I have found its interior profoundly unwelcoming and threatening on the 3 times that I have visited it - but I would agree with anyone who might say that the first experience would have conditioned me for visits 2 and 3.

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You know, that falling over, it has me thinking now. One second I was walking, the next I was on the deck. It was very sudden, and really quite violent - it tore the heel pad off my sturdy walking boot. The track wasn't boggy, it just had a surface sheen, that rather fine chalk.

I suspect I am 'overthinking'.

I like most people have slipped over due to conditions, wet, muddy, footwear etc, but every time it was with the 'slow motion effect' that I can recall the cause and total effect, I find your description interesting especially the 'sudden and really quite violent'

khaki

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Foxes can make noises that are distressingly human sounding. Your 'shout' could have been a fox? I was searching some scrub land last year and heard a horrible cry, given that it was a search for a possible suicide my heart skipped numerous beats, a few seconds later a disturbed looking fox emerged and sulked off.

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Foxes can make noises that are distressingly human sounding. Your 'shout' could have been a fox? I was searching some scrub land last year and heard a horrible cry, given that it was a search for a possible suicide my heart skipped numerous beats, a few seconds later a disturbed looking fox emerged and sulked off.

Indeed, you are right. I am very familiar with the sound of foxes, only last night one went through my garden repeatedly and loudly screaming. It set my dogs off, so I quickly let them out, by which time it was 100 or more yards away in the darkness, still screaming and still moving very fast. Blood-curdling.

It could very easily have been a fox, though I would observe that they generally confine their barking to the hours of darkness, and this was at about 11 o'clock on a May morning. But yes, a strong and likely contender.

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Most nights I have packs of coyotes running up a dry wash at the back of my house, they make quite a noise, barking and yapping but I always know what they are, foxes are a lot rarer and I have only seen one in the last 18 years. Animals especially if taken by surprise can give off an 'alarm' bark that can be quite startling.

khaki

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One November met a West Brom supporter on Wood Lane , High Wood , now that was strange!

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I have to confess with some trepidation that I visited Mametz woods about 3 years ago and spent the night there. I heard and experienced nothing that night, but as it is generally accepted that the intelligent and imaginative are more susceptible to such feelings, I take comfort in the fact that I'm thick and unimaginative ^_^

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Some years ago, I was in Bois le Pretre taking photos,finished a film and put it in my camera bag. When I got home the film had vanished.

A month or two later, I was there again and took another film of photos. When I got home it had again disappeared!

This is an area I know ell, and have been to many times. I have never felt any sort of atmosphere or foreboding. The forest is very dark, but then it is a very thick forest. But those disappearing films have me baffled.

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Some years ago, I was in Bois le Pretre taking photos,finished a film and put it in my camera bag. When I got home the film had vanished.

A month or two later, I was there again and took another film of photos. When I got home it had again disappeared!

Do you mean that in both cases you removed the film canister from the camera and that both canisters got lost in some way?

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Do you mean that in both cases you removed the film canister from the camera and that both canisters got lost in some way?

Exactly. And I know that both the films went into the camera bag.

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It is fascinating to read. I have only seen Mametz from the 38th Division Memorial and I saw a Welsh flag in the wood. But it seems a very dominant place when watching it from this viewpoint on a very rainy and dull day.

Looking forward to reading further posts when I return from Germany.

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As i've mentioned before High Wood spooks me all the time except the side where the craters exist. Not sure if its because my Gt Grandfather was a Tunneller responsible for the mine blown Sept 1916 so have an affinity on that side or just over imagination.

Weirdest thing was last year after visiting Sucrerie Military Cemetery and looking back down the avenue of trees leading down the rough track to Colincamps that still exists as it did in 1916 and which troops marched up towards Beaumont Hamel the night before 1st July.

It was March and a fairly sunny day but not particulary warm and as myself and 2 friends were walking back from the cemetery to the main road the songs Long way to tippererary & Pack up ypur troubles entered my head and i began to whistle them. Within seconds a beautiful admiral butterfly flew between us and flew around me in and out as i continued whistling and we walked up the lane towards the main road. It eventually left us as we ventured about 100yds away from the cemetery. You dont expect to see a butterfly at that time of year in chilly conditions.

It really affected me at the beauty of it and tbh moved me to tears. Just maybe it was a soul hearing a familiar tune who wanted to join in once again or maybe it just coincidence

Wayne

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"Butterflies are the souls of the beautiful and the dead."

Hazel C

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"Butterflies are the souls of the beautiful and the dead."

Hazel C

I have seen large numbers of butterflies in the Hawthorn Ridge cemeteries. A really beautiful sight. A tribute to the horticultural skills of the CWGC if nothing else.

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Strange camera experiences here too. Firstly at the grave of our friend's great uncle. Their camera started flashing, whirring and then got so hot that he had to drop it. A few days later we went to Ypres Reservoir and the same thing happened to our camera. All the photos came out with the addition of one back one on each film. Not a believer but I was a bit spooked. I expect there is an explanation based on solid science rather than the view that if this type of thing is going to happen it will be in place where so many died before their time

There was a gardener at the Ypres incident who said he had heard of this type of thing happening before.

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Cameras seem to be favourite targets.

HazelC

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I can recall my own unease about Mametz as well. While walking between the trees behind the Flatiron Copse cemetery on a sunny morning I felt very uncomfortable and wanted to leave asap. I found it a grim place, and did not dare venture farther into the wood. It was, as someone said before, as if the wood didn't want us visiting.

My dad was with me at the time but didnt experience this at all.

We walked a lot in the forests around Verdun together, sometimes in mist and darkness, but I never felt so uncomfortable as at Mametz.

The same feelings came over me at Hangard Wood. I found it a grim, foreboding place, where I did not want to spend a lot of time. (As opposed to almost all of the other cemeteries and sites I visit)

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I can recall my own unease about Mametz as well. While walking between the trees behind the Flatiron Copse cemetery on a sunny morning I felt very uncomfortable.

So another "vote" for Mametz Wood. Looking back at the history of this thread it is first mentioned about 12 hrs after the start way back in 2002 and it continues to this day.

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I have a good friend who deals with death on a daily basis (I won't go into exactly how, but trust me). In this arena, he's seen everything. A few years ago we went on a Somme tour together. He was absolutely spooked by the Sucrerie Cemetery, but only told me what he had been feeling once we had left it. "Unfinished business, there", he said. As someone said above, I must to be too thick-skinned and insensitive.

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