England's own Atlantis story

Firstly, for those who don't know about Atlantis: a legendary island "beyond the Pillars of Hercules" according to Plato the Greek philosopher. Pillars of Hercules is the modern day Strait of Gibraltar. The island was larger than "Libya and Asia combined". Described as beautiful, then it was destroyed and has never been found. The destruction of Atlantis happened 9,000 years earlier before Plato!

England's Atlantis: There was a smaller island off the coast of England that is part of legend. This mystery lost island is called Lyonesse. This was in the sea near Cornwall, southern England. Lyonesse is mentioned in the Arthurian legends. It's connected to hero Tristan, who is the same from Tristan and Isolde love story. Tristan's father was the king of Lyonesse but Tristan's home was Cornwall.  Lyonesse itself was fertile and rich of minerals with beautiful towns, 140 churches and a cathedral. It was said to be a paradise and then destroyed in a single night. 

Some say that the Seven Stones Reef is the exact location of what's left of Lyonesse today. Some believe the Scilly Islands are the remnants of Lyonesse. The only survivor of that fateful day was a man named Trevelyan who rode to Cornwall on a white horse. Fishermen often say they can hear eerie ghostly church bells coming from under the waves beneath their boats. 

My conclusion: I believe the fairy-tale island called Lyonesse was a real place off the coast of Cornwall. Also for arguments sake, Lyonesse is NOT Doggerland, all of that Ice Age material is buried in the North Sea. 

She Wolf Night 

Extinct wheel dogs

 One of the most saddest dog breeds ever was the turnspit dog. It was a working dog, bred to keep cooking meat turning over the fire. Wooden wheels were placed in kitchens and fixed with a chain, designed for these small dogs to run around inside. These dogs were made to run around the wheel for several hours or the duration it took to roast large joints of meat. It was okay for people to relax from doing the turning themselves but painful for the dogs. 

These dogs were often trapped inside wheels for so long, in smoke filled kitchens, hot and near open fires, exhausted and unable to drink during these shifts as they were covered in blisters. There were often pairs of these dogs that took turns. In busy large kitchen in places such as inns and castles, there would be more than one such wheels with dogs inside. 

I never saw anything like that in World of Warcraft taverns! Popular media, films, games and comics even tend to shy away from this awful fact for not including turnspit dogs or featuring any creatures in the same sad conditions.

It was said that people liked taking turnspit dogs to church with them just to keep them warm. Churches were always so cold, and so the congregation always shivered during mass. Turnspit dogs were believed to have warmth from cook fires still on them, and were placed on laps or as foot warmers. Once in Bath, a bishop was giving a sermon and mentioned the word "wheel", which terrified all of the dogs, who ran for the door. It shows that the dogs were so traumatised. 

These dogs were also used to run around in wheels for mills to power butter churns, grain mills and water pumps.  The dogs endured extremely horrific, hard and painful conditions, while also getting burned or have things thrown at them. Later on, people became so upset by the treatment of these dogs, that an animal welfare charity was founded, which is now today known as the RSPCA.  

The turnspit dog breed became extinct at the turn of the 20th century. Kitchens no longer needed them anymore since the Industrial Revolution resulted in better cooking technology. A rather distressing piece of that cruel history displays a taxidermy of the last turnspit dog in Abergavenny Museum in Wales. While many believe this was a British eccentricity during the Middle Ages until Victorian times, there's evidence that there were similar dogs in ancient Egypt. 

A shameful part of history that allowed suffering of animals and more chilling than tales of werewolves and ghosts. In this subject, humans were the monsters here.

She Wolf Night 

April ghosts

 

April begins with the scary April Fools Day jokes. Then following that this year was Easter. I posted about the Easter Bunny sightings in a previous entry.

A frequent haunting that happens every year in Ludham, Norfolk, on 2 April are the sinister sounds made by Viking raiders. They can manifest late at night and move towards the bridge, blowing their horns.

It's believed that in Hinckley, Leicestershire, gravestones bleed! On the 12 April, every year, when poplar trees show green colour, red blood dribbles on the graves, connected to a murder from 1727. 

More on blood, in Bolton, Greater Manchester, recurring spookiness on 24 April. An area on the stone floor in Smithills Hall shows a blood stained footprint appear there. This is believed to have been to do with George Marsh, who was executed in 1555 wrongfully and has haunted the place ever since.

St Marks' Eve in a church on 24 April, a haunting occurs that happens in Haxey, Lincolnshire. Two men heard that seeing the phantoms on that night will change destiny. One of the men was wide awake when he saw spirits of people he knew. Before the year was out, everyone that he claimed to see as phantoms had died, and also himself too!      

In Burrough Green, Cambridgeshire, there is a school that has an interesting legend, on the evening of 30 April, two statues come to life. They dance and leave footsteps in the grass.

Now personal story. A user by the name of "sleep always party n" said that when she was a kid, her sister would see ghosts. One night she heard her sister say "No I can't do that, she's my sister, " The user remembers seeing her sister's face change then and looking evil then returning to her own face. 

She Wolf Night