LEATHERHEAD MYSTERIES
Head area of The Hog (Including it's 'Snout' and 'Eye')
Thorncroft Holy Spring, Hauntings and More
'Technically' the Hog's 'snout' is Headley village, but Gimcrack Hill, is our first port of call.
Partaking of The Waters
A crystal clear stream here may look unremarkable enough, but the Thorncroft Spring was once widely
recognised as having curative properties.
It is mentioned in "Holy Wells and Magical Waters of Surrey" by Rowland G.M. Baker, as formerly being
noted for assisting with medical ailments, including the relief of sore eyes;
even King George 111 is said to have followed the tradition and would partake of 'the elixir of life'
from this very source, whenever he came to stay at Windsor Castle.
One can access its copious flow by descending several steps immediately next to the main public road,
where the waters emerges from a bankside culvert and run towards the River Mole.
In the early 17th century, one physician romantically described such healing springs in verse:
"These waters youth in age renew
Strength to the weak and sickly add
Give the pale cheek a rosy hue
And cheerful spirits to the sad."
It must be pointed out however, that since the industrialization of Britain, untreated water sources cannot
always be relied upon as being quite as pure as they once were; but early testimonies to the efficaciousness of this Spring,
together with alleged 'cures' received at numerous other Holy Springs/Wells dotted around 'The Hog' and elsewhere,
suggest that something more than mere superstitious nonsense was going on when it came to the public's faith surround such sites.
After having filtered through various rock strata, spring waters are often high in mineral salts...
which probably had something to do with many early medicinal claims; this simple fact,
(combined with the power of belief), certainly seems to have resulted in some beneficial effects in times of old.
Historically Haunted Leatherhead
(with an introduction to ghosts, and Case 1 by author David Kingston)
"All living things resonate a frequency. If you stop reading this article and leave the chair you have been sitting in,
an impression of you remains there for a period of time, both a thermal and an energy field.
Does the frequency that we resonate disappear at the time of death? or does it go to another dimension?
There are a great deal of "ghostly" sightings on energy lines (ley-lines) in England.
Are ghosts drawn to these invisible but measurable lines? Ghostly appearances quite often occur when a person
departs this life suddenly, i.e. a car accident fatality, a brutal murder and quite often are seen at or near the place they died.
Other ghosts seem to be drawn to places on the earthly plane where they experienced very happy times and seem loath to join the spirit world."
Case 1:
Poltergeist Activity
Location: Headley Court, Headley Nr Leatherhead
Type: Poltergeist
Date: 1960's
"Whilst I was stationed at RAF Headley Court in the early 1960's, (a converted Cromwellian Manor House, near Leatherhead),
was used as a medical rehabilitation unit for mainly RAF pilots several interesting incidents occurred.
click to enlarge (examine the geometry to these grounds)
There was a particular four-inch thick oak door that could not be locked for a period of time.
The night duty officer would lock this door whilst on his rounds only to find that within ten minutes
all the very old-fashioned wrought iron bolts and the lock would return to the position they were in before he had commenced his
nightly vigil of securing the building.
This, despite numerous watches for pranks, carried on for some three months.
While stationed there, a pilot officerstarted to scream out at eleven thirty one evening:
By the time several officers and myself had arrived in his room the eight feet tall mahogany ornately carved wardrobe
was lent against the bottom of his bed at a forty degree angle from the wall.
The wardrobe had not fallen on its own, the indent from the weight of the wardrobe was still in the carpet,
there was not even the slightest damage mark on the wardrobe
from where it had landed to the base of the oak bed.
The officer patient that was in the bed was on no medication and was due to be discharged back to his wing the following day.
It took six of us able bodied men to return the wardrobe back to its upright position.
The officer stated he was reading in bed when suddenly there was a drop in temperature in the room,
he put down his book and was amazed to see the wardrobe being gently lowered towards his bed as if by unseen hands.
There were many more reports of "paranormal activity" reported whilst I was at Headley Court." David Kingston
Also...
Case 2:
Ghost of Monk
Location: Leatherhead - St Mary and St Nicholas Parish Church
Type: Apparition
Date: 1950's to present day
Details: A Spectral Figure, wearing what appears to be long, brown, sack-type clothing,
has been seen by various members of church staff.
Case 3:
Lofty Woman and Ghost of Nurse
Location: Leatherhead - Swan Corner
Type: Apparition
Date : 1930's
Details: A lofty phantom of a woman was seen by several motorists, as she stood in the middle of the road,
before 'she' would disappear just seconds later.
After witnessing the apparition appear right in front of his vehicle, one lorry driver was absolutely convinced
that he had run over a real person, until he stopped and scoured the area for a corpse - which he could find no trace of.
Some months later, reports about this female apparition had started to change into sightings of a ghostly nurse,
who would lay sprawled out in the road.
As with the previous ghost account, she too would disappear, just a few seconds after being seen.
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Hawk's Hill.
Saxon Burial ground.
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