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Remembered Today:

Strange Occurrences on the Western Front


Rodge Dowson

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Am I right in saying that the Sucrerie burial ground was dug prior to the offensive, and the troops going up to the line had to march past the open pit?

That thought alone is pretty haunting.

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A fascinating thread, well worth it's revival!

Myself, well an open mind which veers towards some kind of belief in the supernatural....plenty of family members and acquaintances have had 'experiences', added to which has to be the strange and inexplicable occurrences that I heard and witnessed in a former home of mine here in Brixham.

I have wandered (and I hesitate to add 'lonely as a cloud'!) alone across Dartmoor on hundreds of occasions, in all weathers, yet the only time I have ever felt anything eerie is when mooching around some of the old mines and quarries, so is there a residual 'energy' associated with the intensity of past human endeavours and experience, or are we, as humans, sub-consciously programmed to 'feel' things because of our knowledge that ancestors from the same species, familial or otherwise, went there before us? Old Bronze Age hut circles or Celtic hillforts have never induced the same senses that have been awakened by peering into an old tin mine adit or shaft, or gazing up at a blown and hacked quarry-face.

Similarly with regards to the old Western Front; Mametz Wood IS weird and decidedly eerie. Part of this must be due to the simple fact that it is a heavily-forested area (childhood tales and ancient stories have always told us to be wary of such places, from Little Red Riding Hood, to the 'witches in the woods' to Bigfoot/Sasquatch), added to which is the foreboding appearance of the place when approached, as many of us do, from Mametz village, whereupon the great mass of foliage seems to sit so menacingly in that dip of land beyond the Welsh memorial. With the added knowledge of the intensity of human activity, death and pain, well....add it all up and throw it in the pot and there we have it. Or do we? Is it quite so simple as that? I honestly don't think so. The one time I have entered the wood, with the permission of a farmer ploughing near Flatiron Cemetery, only one of our group of nine chose to accompany me, and we only went a few yards in before feeling....well, not 'unwanted' or 'watched' but just that we somehow shouldn't be there. So we bu**ered-off pretty smartish.

Delville Wood can be remarkably quiet, but to me seemingly at peace with itself, whilst High Wood is the opposite. An earlier post mentioned the craters on the edge of the wood as being a rather calm place, but I found the area to be rather compellingly uncomfortable, almost like the old notion of a child hiding behind the sofa in front of a scary piece of tv yet still wanting to carry on viewing.

Funny how it's the Somme that keeps cropping up! As for other sectors of the old WF I think I can personally add Bourlon Wood, Polygon Wood and the whole area around Hill 60/Caterpillar to a list which will no doubt grow as long as I am still able to cross the Channel and stomp around!

Have any Forum Pals had any 'experiences' at Gallipoli?

Regards,

Andy

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Ok here the cynics view. Either side of High Wood slaughter took place. No one mention the spooks here. All the Erie places so far appear to be woods. No surprise. Woods are dark foreboding places. Used for sanctuary, hunting, evasion and ambush by mankind for thousands of years. It is perfectly natural for man to fear woods, it is instinct as they have been places of danger. Add the fact your mind is full of ghosts anyway when visiting the battlefieds and it is hardly surprising you get the spooks.

As for the comment it is always the Somme mentioned well that's because perhaps with Ypres it is the most visited by forum pals?

As for Mametz Wood it is large and in a hollow with a secluded Valley. Not much passing traffic and wind channeled through the valley and the dark pines on the steep slope...... Add the dark shadow of Caterpillar Wood and you have a spooky atmosphere even without reference to 1916.

Devilled Wood is a false environment with cleared walks managed undergrowth, visitors aplenty and large clearing with plenty of natural light unlike Mametz, High Wood or others.

Only place I was really spooked was at Vauquois in the Argonne but I was alone in a dark wood in poor light and a squall brewing. Hardly surprising.

We respond instinctively to atmospheres not spirits and my final point is why should all the spooky spirits choose Mametz Wood over any other equally bloody piece of land?

The other sides point of view.

TT

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Maybe it is something to do with the 'density' of deaths. The more deaths, the more likely to have 'sensitive' visitors. It is not only the places you mention that are cited but perhaps some of the other places have not had as many visitors that they (the spooks) can get through to. Or, maybe the deaths in one place were thought by the soldiers, to be more unnecessary than another place. Who knows? As I said before, there is no doubt that weird stuff happens! We just don't know why YET. Who would have imagined 100 years ago that people would be walking on the moon? Anyone suggesting such a thing might have been accused of having a liquid lunch.

Hazel

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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!.

I met a lady on The Somme last year who had a similar experience. Her name was Cinderella and she was singing "Some day my prints will come".

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The other sides point of view.

TT

Good stuff TT. I think all opinions expressed here are really just facets of the same question. Particularly agree that woods are potential places of threat in our conscious and unconscious minds. And also agree the topography of Mametz Wood really "helps" it in this regard.

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I think Trenchtrotters points are very valid, the location, ambience, history and your psyche all play a part in how you perceive any location, especially in places like the Somme where there is a bloody history. As i mentioned previously, i have been all over the WF and never experienced any real feelings of anything supernatural, when we visited Flatiron Copse, it was a beautiful day, no hint of anything spooky...the mood was light and easy until we decided to go for a bit of exploring in Mametz Wood, at the edge of the wood it was almost as if a depression came over the three of us and as soon as one suggested lets not bother the other two of us quickly agreed, and we went on our way...only when we were driving away i mentioned i had felt a bit as if i was about to trespass somewhere i shouldn't be, did the other two say the exact same thing...maybe it was just the ambience or the denseness of the undergrowth in the wood that made it unwelcoming, but i certainly have no desire to spend any time in Mametz Wood.

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24791_51047157527bfebb171b5.jpg

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Had some 'odd' feelings at Delville Wood a few years ago. Best description I can think of is that for some strange reason I didn't feel comfortable going too far into the woods, even though there were many other people wandering about. Odd, because I like woods. And I'm a cynic when it comes to spooks and spirits. No such feelings at the cemetery nearby though.

...except whisky of course.

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hi all,

Starting with a strange event in se ... I've been absent from the forum for a few weeks (or even months...) ... lots to do ... very sorry about that...

but thing is, Saturday evening at a dinner we were talking about ghosts and strange events and the feeling of some of those events especially occurring around WWI places. Some of us believed in it and others don't... but isn't it strange that we talked about it not two days ago, and today the first topic I open is exactly on this???

Anyway... I don't have any first hand ghost stories... but believe in it or not, every visit to a cemetery, a monument or a battlefield has this special feeling to it. I just can't help but asking myself every time if our presence there is OK. If we're doing the right thing. And most of the time, I would like to be able to have some sort of "OK". Like for example, every year, when we finish the Four Days of the Yzer, there's a ceremony where the marchers pass under Menin Gate. Under the gate is complete silence, then when you arrive in the street the people cheer on you. When I pass there, with my team behind me, after we mastered another four days, I get goose bumps. It's like we get this acknowledgement of a job well done after walking the old battlefields for four days with the one or other ceremony.

and then of course are our ceremonies. The biggest goose-bump moment up to now was on day 3 of the Yzer 2014, at Vladslo. We stood to attention and salute with he whole team, flags down, in a completely silent cemetery (visitors also did not dare to move) and our piper played "Ich hatte ein Kameraden" . Not one of our marchers after this was not moved by the moment. when I dismissed the troops, I could see that everybody was impressed by the moment and I think everybody would agree if I'd say that there and then, if ghosts exist, they were all there and grateful. Just for that moment.

M.

so you can believe in ghosts or not, but in moments like that, I cannot help but wishing they're there, witnessing the fact that we do not forget them.

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Lets wait and see what develops? (pun intended)

khaki

What has developed is a French machine gun post which refuse, on film and digital to photograph in colour. It always comes out in black and white.

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What has developed is a French machine gun post which refuse, on film and digital to photograph in colour. It always comes out in black and white.

That's extraordinary.

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I am my father's daughter and tend to adopt his view of the total dismissive That said, it hasn't prevented me witnessing some strange occurrences that try as I might, I cannot explain away. While none of these involves battlefields, my grandfather's death did involve one such incident.

Just before 6pm, my mother and I had received the news of granddad's death (her father) we were waiting quietly for my father to return from work as he usually did at 6pm to tell him. We knew he would be home in a few minutes so, both of us sitting in chairs, and sure enough, at 6pm, we heard the front door open and close. Then we heard the inner (glass door) open and close and loud footsteps come down the long hall to the sitting room door. At this point, both of us turned our heads towards the door waiting for it to open as the footsteps had ceased on the other side of the door - nothing happened. We then both turned and looked at each other. My mother got up and opened the door, no-one there. She looked at me and asked if I had heard what she had heard. I related what I had heard (same thing she did apparently). She told me that she was so glad I'd been there because if she had tried to explain it to anyone else, they wouldn't believe her. My father came in about 30-40 minutes later having missed his bus home. I just thought it was weird, my mother was convinced it was something to do with granddad's passing.

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Am I right in saying that the Sucrerie burial ground was dug prior to the offensive, and the troops going up to the line had to march past the open pit?

That thought alone is pretty haunt

Yea i've read that somewhere too. Must of been a sobering and chilling site for some

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  • 2 weeks later...

Good ole tom where's the Hat ? :w00t:

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Not really surprising.

thanks,

Hazel

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Sergeant Thomas Hunter made it out of the Somme, but he didn't make it home. The native of Kurrii Kurrii, New South Wales, died of his injuries, while lying in an English hospital bed.

Sergeant Hunter was a member of the Tenth Corps Australian Expeditionary Force. He was right in the thick of action at the Somme during the opening days in July 1916. Once wounded, he was taken back to Peterborough, in England. There he died in the infirmary on July 31st 1916 and was buried in the nearby Broadway Cemetery. However that was not the end of him. The First World War infirmary building has since changed purpose. It now forms the premises of Peterborough Museum. It's along these corridors, and on a specific staircase, that the ghostly form of Sergeant Hunter is often seen. Curators alone in the building also hear footsteps pacing in the rooms above. Investigating the sounds always reveals them to be deserted. Unlike the majority of ghosts connected with the Somme, this one is sentient. Visitors to the museum have reported feeling a hand clamp down upon their shoulder. It's an icy sensation, which chills them to the bone. Though the museum's curators assume that the ghostly hand is down to Sergeant Hunter too, they can't be certain. For those who experience this will turn around to find nobody there, though the freezing pressure remains solidly on their shoulder.

Presumably Sergeant Thomas Hunter just wants to go home to Australia. Or else he just wishes to communicate that he's still here.

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Good Morning.

On one of our many visits to the battlefields we were staying at Avrils in Auchonvillers and after dinner we took a walk down to the Auchonvillers British Cemetery,as we were walking to the cemetery I really thought that I would be uneasy about walking into the cemetery, but all i personally experienced was total peace and calm. what it was like before we entered might have been different they might have been all sitting around chatting and playing cards bless em, I have never ever experience a silence like there is on the Somme at night.

Regards Andy.

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Firstly thanks for posting that last video. Nicely produced. However not convinced at all. Re the names total coincidence. Hundreds of thousands served so the vagueness was bound to have a hit. Re The Dr, again too vague. Re High Wood too obvious. Still the sceptic but Al the same nice and poignant film.

TT

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And the birds do sing at High Wood. Buzzards roost and soar, a murder of crows calls the canopy home. Chif Chaffs can be heard as can Blue Tits. Mr Woody yaffles and Black Birds fly low.

TT

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And the birds do sing at High Wood. Buzzards roost and soar, a murder of crows calls the canopy home. Chif Chaffs can be heard as can Blue Tits. Mr Woody yaffles and Black Birds fly low.

TT

Very poetic TT.

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