Introduction / Overview

This survey of haunted stretches of Manx roads is a collection of folklore related tales from several publications on various dates. The introduction is published in this edition of The Researcher and subsequent parts will published in future editions. The authors own source material comes form early anecdotal tales and on occasion from actual witnesses testimonies who believed that the strange events actually happened as described in this and future articles.

Aims and objectives

My own interest is in visiting the actual locations as described in the stories to photograph and document the sites while on periodic visits to the Isle of Man (IoM). Where possible, I provide ordnance survey grid references on current maps where the names of sites have changed with time or disappeared all together. I have discussed local myth and legend with the local residents to ascertain if anomalous activity still occurs and these recent discussions are added to the older tales.

Reference material

Books and maps in the Manx museum reference library are a valuable source of information and I have used these extensively to pre-research areas of interest (AOI) before making on-site visits. The library gives an overview of how the AOI used to be which is compared with its present condition during the on-site visit.

Archetypes

Almost all of the hauntings involve some agency which is responsible for haunting a specific location, or clusters of hauntings which may be due to a single entity, or multiple entities, or a single entity masquerading as several entities acting out assumed roles. Some examples of the archetypes are giants, witches, phantoms bugganes, black dogs, water monsters and faires. They haunt traditional sites such as bridges, trees, wells, buildings, roads, pools, rivers, churches, ancient sites, tumuli and standing stones. There are many examples of where the activities of traditional entities can be compared to more modern strange events such as UFOs and alien intrusion.

Deception

Many a ghost story has been invented or exaggerated in an attempt to cover far more nefarious nocturnal activities such as smuggling. In these cases the aim of the story was to frighten away the curious and hence keep secret the unlawful activity. The recent rise of the Chupacabras – goatsucker in Puerto Rico may be a similar deception. Parallels with the Chupacabras and UFO myths coincide but that is yet another bag of tricks!

Fireside stories

It is relevant to remember the times from which the stories originate and when they would be told. The would make good fireside stories in remote locations and would be known only to the locals which gave them a hidden knowledge unknown to outsiders. This knowledge commanded a degree of respect especially as the march of Christianity was in the process of driving out the old pagan ways and turning the old myths into the new devils. However, in keeping with the haunted roads stories, we’ll assume that the anecdotal tales origins are indeed truthful experiences of genuine witnesses. The local people believe that areas where strange happenings occur are the locations of ancient sites which should be avoided at certain times of the day or night or certain times of the year. Some of these tales may be explainable in scientific terms today while others are not.

On the IoM, the days of the movements of the little folk or ‘good folk’ as they were euphemistically termed were to be avoided. Some examples of these days are May Eve and the Celtic quarter days. They were appeased with votive offerings, witchcraft spells and by the church in later times. The ancient sites were to be avoided at night time to avoid being ‘faire led’ into a lost maze which has parallels with the concept of missing time in modern ufology. The mythical remedy for being faire led was to turn your coat inside out as this would reverse your luck and hence break the spell.

At this point we’ll move onto some of the selected sites which I’ve surveyed and photographed in some detail. I have walked the haunted road to get the feeling of the area in the hope of picking up on any strange phenomena and captured the area on film and in some cases audio tape. This has been done with my co-partner Elaine Hannah to get a second perspective on any anomalous phenomena detected at the time of the survey.

Meayll Circle

Numerous phenomena have been reported in this area. Sounds of rushing galloping horses (unseen), apparitions of a mounted phantom army seen on the hill plus other strange apparitions and manifestations. Near a well, nocturnal lights have been seen from a distance moving to and fro and have been explained by some as marsh gas in the boggy area. The well is called ‘The Well of the Horses’ and is near the Neolithic village below the Meayll circle. One witness while walking on the Meayll Hill one starlit night is said to have been shown ‘an exhibition of all things’ until dawn. In 1896, he found himself 300 yards from the Well of the Horses, totally disorientated. There are no details of what he saw etc, as no investigators at the time bothered to find out. No doubt, he was made fun of and probably played the experience down to avoid ridicule. This sounds like a typical UFO / alien missing time experience and in another time and place, he may have become another Adamski abductee!

On another occasion, witnesses were startled by a noise at their heels, described as a cart load of stones being suddenly tipped up or like a gun. This happened several times on their way home from Port Erin but some have discussed the possibility of explosions in quarries as an explanation. However, there is some similarity to these sounds and those described by researchers investigating poltergeist activity.

Phantom funerals phantom fires & faire processions

Spectral processions where often seen coming down the main road from the Howe to Kirk Christ Rushen church and phantom fires have been observed on mountains and hills during the hours of darkness, yet no fire burn marks were found on the ground when these places were investigated the next day. St. Elmo’s fire and mountain discharges have been put forward as possible causes of these phenomena. Faire processions have often been seen winding their way to the top of the hill.

The wild hunt

The faire hunt or wild hunt is an audible phenomenon which sounds like the cracking of whips, thundering noises or barking dogs. A whole unseen host has been heard late at night at Port Erin coming from the former Belle Vue Hotel direction. It appears that the direction of the noise was from Port St. Mary at the Narrow. The IoM has a rich Nordic history and this phenomenon dates back to these times when it was known as the crash of the Norsemen. This is a typical audible imagery of the period with acknowledgement to the Norse gods of Valhalla, Odin and the Wildhost.

Faire processions & armies

Seen at midnight on the road from the Howe to the chasms. This phenomenon is described as one or two thousand little girls with no lights in their hands? Does this mean that the lights were not the usual sort of lights, I wonder? A faire army was seen coming from the Howe one night, all wearing red caps and coats. The witness is said to have waited a very long time for them to pass and this may be another example of missing time.

Faire giants or UFOs?

Some men coming along the Howe met three faires described as three big men walking side by side as wide as a wheel? with terrible caps. "They could not hear their feet and the caps were after them". This is how it was described in the original text, thought to date from the 1600s. The central faire was larger than the other two and as they walked straight through them they felt as if they were lifted up and also felt terribly curious! (I think I would have too, Ed.). There are UFO overtones in this story as many UFO witnesses describe close encounter experiences with missing time, levitation and seeing what might be described as terrible caps, e.g. flying saucers. It is possible that they witnessed the fiery wheel of Mannan (see glossary). No date is given in this orally related account but the an enhanced fireside tale known as "the shaggy dog story factor" is apparent here.

The Chasms

A sightseer at the chasms witnessed a figure approaching him in strange clothing with a dagger raised to attack. The witness fainted and when he awoke, the figure had vanished. The Chasms are near the Meayll Circle and the recreated folk village of Creg Neish.

Sea Monsters

At a site known as Black-Head, fishermen used to make appeasement’s to a sea beast which lived in the cave under Black-Head. I have no doubt that this tale had connections with the smuggling trade. The sea monster was described as a shore hunting buggane which had a head similar in appearance to a horse with eyes like pewter plates. The placation of the sea monster by the fishermen was achieved by throwing rum from the cliff tops while the words "take that evil spirit" (gow-shen-y-veist) were shouted. This was done as the fishermen passed the headland Kione-Dhoo (Black Head) on the way to their fishing grounds. The cave itself is known as Ghaw-Kione-Dhoo (Black Head inlet). The buggane was often heard roaring in its cave and sounded like a fog horn, but it is possible that this type of sound can be made by the action of wind and water rushing into and becoming trapped in the cave. The cave itself is covered in white pebbles which are laid out as the form of murdered persons ghost in frightening form.

One story gives an account of an incident a mile or so north of Black Head. A giant black shape was seen moving upriver and ashore to Colby, possibly witnessed by a local returning home to Bullfesson. The sea monster crossed the main coast road at Strand Hill and was described as a big black thing which came out of the sea and crossed the road just in front of him! After this sighting, the witness was pursued by poltergeist activity on the way home with field gates violently rattling and crashes of noise above his head.

The Howe

At the top of the Howe, Meayll Hill is covered in wartime observation structures. Just above the village of CregNeish, there is a shipping directional radio mast with a resemblance of an upturned UFO! There are many farms and converted farms for the well to do in the area above Port Erin and the scenery from here is quite stunning leaving me with impression of extreme possibilities! The sighting of the mound in this area was no accident. The ancient peoples must have been in direct communication with their gods! There have been no sightings there recently though as far as I can ascertain.

Mermaids

Mermaids have been observed at Casstruan near Black Head but it is possible that grey seals were mistaken for them. There is a grey seal population around the IoM at the present time.

The window area

The energy phenomena described as the agency for a possible explanation of paranormal activity has been linked to geomagnetic disturbances and fault zones by M. Persinger and Ghislaine Lanfenieres studies. They correlated numerous anomaly reports which fit the ‘window area’ concept including electromagnetic components which create luminosity, noises heard and odd sensations of those in and around the electromagnetic field. They also postulated that this was a transient phenomena which wandered around the countryside from its actualisation before dispersing! Paul Devereau’s book ‘Earth lights’ is based on research of faulted sites, ancient sites and UFO reports and echoes the above studies. The Dragon Project went on to discover curios anomalies due to electromagnetic effects visible on Infra-Red film but not visible to the naked eye at megalithic sites in window areas.

As in the Mull Hill Meayll Cricle area, the lights visible may be due to the above and cultural beliefs. The Piezoelectric effect is a phenomenon which occurs in quartz and generates a voltage when the quartz is stressed or compressed. This is thought to induce electrical activity in the atmosphere when quartz-bearing rock in the ground becomes stressed due to earth movements. Ionisation effects may be misinterpreted as a UFO or ghost above a fault zone. The Meayll circle stands on a vein of quartz and a fault line. There is also quartz within its stones. A mound once covered the circle as a burial tumuli and probably had other uses! In addition, an unseen volcano lies just off the coast to the south and is known as Hy Brasil, the ancient mythical submergence legends of disappearing islands in a Celtic, Atlantis-like other world.

Glossary of terms

The phantom black dog (Mohdoey Dhoo)

This is a legendary monstrous animal form which stalks lonely roads and boundaries. The usual description is of a huge dog with coal red eyes. It is thought to be the harbinger of doom /death and has been associated with electrical storms, UFOs light shapes known as black shuck, trash, padfoot and elsewhere in Britain barguest.

The Buggane

Described as a spectre that walks at night and possesses shape shifting abilities allowing it to take on several disguises. It may have been confused with other entities!

The mysterious ball of light / fiery wheel of Mannan

The ball of light (BOL) associated with earthlights, ball lightening, plasma discharge storms, modern UFOs, will o’ wisp, corpse candle, also revered as "the old gods" and "Dragons in luminous form".

Poltergeist

A noisy ghost, which can start out with small events but in time, build to a crescendo: Known to cause audio and visual events, teleportation of articles, movement of objects through the air and ground, water and fire production and may speak. It is often connected with young children or teenagers and can be produced by artificial means under laboratory conditions. Both Russia and the USA have documented proof of Psycokineses (the ability to move inanimate objects by the power of the mind).

Faire folk

Seen at ancient sites and tumuli as light forms. World wide reports of the little folk have described them as the fallen angels or spirits of the dead or as child sized people with numerous other variations including ghost like and poltergeist types. Christian worship is thought by some to have reduced their stature and the belief in them.

Water horse

An abductor of humans especially women. It has much in common with the lake monster or sea beast and has been seen in wells, lakes, rivers, and bog holes. It is thought to lure humans and animals into danger and has connections with ancient religions.

Giants

Giants are associated with mountains and stone throwing and are usually a pointer to the old gods of the countryside, carved churches, statues, hill figures such as those at Cerne Abbas in Dorset or the Long Man of Wilmington, Dragon Hill in Oxfordshire.

UFOs, aliens and abductions

The modern myth of aliens, lights in the sky have associations with fairy lights and mythical creatures as described by the research of Jaques Valles.

The wild hunt or faire rade

To the sound of thunder, horses and dogs have been seen and heard on stormy nights. Associated with the old gods, they are thought to collect the soul of any lonely traveler that they came across.

Phantom funeral procession

Described as lights and associated with the grim reaper. It has been seen on church routes, hills and mountains often on their way to the house of someone due to pass over.