Pallinghurst Barrow by Grant Allen
A horror story about spirits who linger in old places in the English countryisde. Published 1892. Suggested by Susan Tudor-Coulson
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Grant Allen
Charles Grant Blairfindie Allen was born in 1848 on Wolfe Island in Ontario in Ca nada and died in Haselmere in Surrey aged 51. His father was from Dublin and he was a protestant minister. He was educated at home and then when he was 13, his family moved to the USA, then to France then to Britain. He was educated at King Edward’s School in Birmingham (where Tolkien later went amongst other famous alumni) and then at Merton College in Oxford. He went to teach in Brighton and in Jamaica. He returned to Britain from Jamaica and began to write professionally. He was most famous for his scientific essays. But he also wrote science fiction.
He was an atheist and socialist. He was married twice. He died of liver cancer in 1899. He was a friend and neighbour of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Chanctonbury Ring, Old Weird Albion
The Old Weird Albion | Justin Hopper || Landscape, Memory & Myth
I mention how much I enjoy the work of Justin Hopper. Chanctonbury Rings – a spoke word and music album made with folk artist Sharron Kraus and Ghost Box Records co-founder The Belbury Poly (Ghost Box).
Long Barrows were the product of a late Stone Age civilisation with additions from Bronze Age folk. They are particularly to be found in Wessex and the south and west of England. But of course megalithic structures of similar types can be found all over Atlantic Europe. Nobody would suggest that the so-called Picts created them.
Theosophists & Madam Blavatsky
The Theosophical Society was created mainly by Madame Helena Blavatsky who had a background in Spiritualism. This was a time of religious change with a huge upsurge in Spiritualism. The first lodge was in Scotland. There were influences from western Occultism, but also Hinduism and Buddhism and they talked about the ascended masters. These ascended masters included Abraham, Moses, Solomon, Jesus but also the Buddha, Confucious and Lao Tzu but also Mesmer, Bohme and Cagliostro. Theosophy has evolved into the New Age.
Mrs Bruce (the esoteric Buddhist) seems to be one of these.
Ghosts
The story reports that we only see the ghosts from periods within our knowledge. But of course this is not true. Many ghosts are not really identifiable at all.
Flint and iron
This is an old piece of folklore
Cannabis Indica
Indeed. No wonder he saw visions.
Fiddlers Green, Clint Marsh
Fiddler’s Green Peculiar Parish Magazine
I love this 'zine. As the Clint Marsh says,
*Fiddler’s Green Peculiar Parish Magazine was born of a languid afternoon of conversation on a sunny tavern lawn. Taking its name from the pleasant afterlife dreamed into being by sailors, cavalrymen, and other adventurous spirits, Fiddler’s Green gathers friends, good cheer, and a bit of magic to create a better world not someday, but now.*
Tarantino’s from Dawn til Dusk
That genre shift from tense hostage movie to vampire killl-fest. I see something similar going on here.
Pallinghurst Barrow by Grant Allen