BREAKING NEWS FROM A YEAR AGO:

Quote :

Mystery as disturbing collection of dolls found nailed to trees in forest

A mum-of-two was left bewildered after finding a creepy collection of baby dolls nailed to trees while walking through a Staffordshire forest.

The hospital worker, 64, made the eerie discovery after wading through undergrowth into a clearing in Cannock Chase on January 28.



She said: ‘I’ve had to shield for all of the lockdown, but when I was on my walks I looked a bit further and as I dug through the undergrowth I saw these dolls.

‘They were in some sort of order. Their dresses were all raggedy and they were all tied and nailed to the trees.

‘And as I came out of the woods I saw a sign that said that this was the operating theatre for the old Pensions Hospital. It was just a little bit weird considering what I do for my job.

‘I have got a friend who is a spiritual medium and she wants to go and take a look up there to see if she can feel anything.’

While many may find the dolls disturbing, the walker insists the incident didn’t phase her and even returned for a second visit.



She said: ‘It wasn’t that scary and I stood in amongst the dolls. I was saying my prayers.

‘I talked to the dolls and wished the children who used to live in the mining village eternal rest.’

The Ministry of Pensions Hospital was built in 1916 to serve both Brocton and Rugeley army training camps.

It closed in 1924 and the buildings were used by West Cannock Colliery Company to house miners and their families.

The ‘village’ had its own school and working men’s club and survived until the early 1950s when inhabitants were moved to a new council housing estate on the outskirts of Hednesford. The school remained open until 1959.

https://metro.co.uk/2021/02/16/mystery-as-eerie-collection-of-dolls-found-nailed-to-trees-in-forest-14089379/

Why was she 'wading' through the undergrowth? Was she in search of disturbing Game of Thrones style woodland phenomena?

Also, this took place near Brocton camp where JRR Tolkien was stationed in 1916. I wonder if it could have been his handiwork and lain undiscovered for 104 years?

Ooh. I've walked where Brocton Camp was. So I've walked where Tolkien once trod! You'd have no idea there was a barracks-type settlement there during the war(s) as other than being able to see an occasional grassy shape of a building foundation and a ruined wall it has all returned back to common/heathland and woods again. Apparently there was a cinema and everything.


Now:




Then:

I believe the entire area around where "Freda's Grave" is was where the camp was, and that a lot of the dirt paths you can see were access roads and "streets".

This is Freda's Grave btw:

Tolkien would often walk down the Sher Brook valley, cross what is now the A513 and go up the bridleway past Shugborough to get to the bridge to Great Haywood, where his sweetheart Edith, the future Mrs Tolkien, lived.

All these places were incorporated into his early writings:

the common = Heath of the Sky-roof
Sherbrook valley = Valley of the Brook of Glass
Shugborough = House of the Hundred Chimneys

The last is a bit odd as Shugborough house has some prominent chimneys, but not nearly 100 of them.

I made a pilgrimage to the area and met a man with loads of piercings and a young alsatian, which jumped up at me.

I was scared, but he said, 'You can help me out, she is young and I'm trying to train her not to do that.'

I calmed down and, noticing that the dog didn't seem cross, I said 'Oh, I thought when dogs did that they were being aggressive.'

'Oh no,' he said. Then sternly to the dog 'No! Don't jump at people!' and then to me, 'If you pat her on the head, she'll learn that it's OK to meet strangers, but not to jump at them.'

So I cautiously patted the dog, which seemed to like it.

In return I explained all the Tolkien stuff above, and we parted thanking each other for the mutual education session.

Well, that's all very interesting. I don't think I even knew about the Tolkien Shugborough connection, one of my first primary school trips. It's just Lord Lichfield's house to me!

I love dogs but I don't like them randomly jumping up at me when out and about, mainly because they often leave mud and/or slobber on you.

I'm actually wondering if we've had this conversation before as I'm sure I remember pointing out the delightful little roadside Wimpy kiosk at nearby Milford Common, on that A513.

I think we have talked about Brocton before but I haven't previously revealed the dog story. Nor do I recall seeing that bijou Wimpyette.

There's a confused badger on the loose on Cannock Chase.

They haven't said where on Cannock Chase the confused badger has been spotted - it's a huge, open area with miles of hills and forests.

That's why the badger's confused. It keeps approaching dogs and humans because it wants directions back to its own hill/forest.

Actual footage of actual confused badger at Cannock Chase.



In fairness, it doesn't look confused at all. It's everybody else who seems to be confused.

Oh my goodness - the way it relentlessly charges at them all!

Despite having been occasionally visiting Cannock Chase since the 80s, I only discovered those stepping stones about 3 years ago. There's this whole huge area that I didn't even know existed - we always tended to go to the same part each time - near the German war cemetery.