Sunday 24 May 2009

Jamjar Cottage - Retracing my Steps

But I needed to be certain. I retraced my steps and looke around outside. Three circa 1940s jamjars lay half-buried in the soil - contents long gone, now brimful of earth. I widened my search and came across a large piece of dinner plate with a traditional blue pattern.


Eyes now scanning the ground with some urgency, I found what I was looking for, something I had very definitely not wanted to find. It was a fragment of skull - not human - or more accurately part of an eye socket. This was not good news . . .


Twenty-five years ago, on Dartmoor and far off the beaten track, a friend and eye took a short cut and pushed our way through a hedge row. Oh, how I wish now that we hadn't. There, cut into the bank was a simple altar, a number of plaited straw objects lay scattered around. Not corn dollies, but sinister figures. A cockerel lay on the ground close-by. Its head was further away. It was decapitated as a sacrifice and a blood-stained wooden bowl lay where it had been dropped by one of those taking part in the ritual. These oft-recalled but unwanted images offered an insight into what might have happened at Jamjar Cottage.

A twig cracked behind me. I was not alone, wheeling round to face the newcomer. The figure I saw before me did not speak, but it raised its arm and pointed an accusing finger straight at me. The voice when it did speak was unearthly. "You", it said, " are going to regret this!" I heard no more as something hit my head very hard. It was . . .



To be continued . . .

5 comments:

  1. It was ? It was? I ask curiouser and curiouser...Cheryl

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  2. Oh my, oh me, how am I going to sleep tonight with this terrible suspense looming ???

    Laurie, this, and the earlier posts today (you have been BUSY) are wonderful, seems like you are falling into full stride now... I have not seen faces in flowers in the past, but will be looking in the future now that I've seen yours. And what a weird story from Dartmoor, sounds like Haitian voodoo or something similar... I'm going to be looking over my shoulder alot more in graveyards.

    Now, I'm really frustrated, I sent you a rather lengthy e-mail yesterday, and just got a friendly note back from btinternet saying it could not be delivered... did you get it by any chance? Do you have another e-mail address? Maybe a gmail account? How can I get the message to you?

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  3. Laurie, this story is getting good! a lot of suspense, a lot of "shard" puzzle pieces that need to be connected . . I see a multitude of stories to be written by you. Boy, that guy could really knock you out. I hope you saved the pottery--not Dutch, something more Oriental?

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  4. can't wait to read more :)

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  5. Egad. Well, you've got me on the edge of my seat! Bbbbbbrrrrs.ss..s...

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