Chris
wrote to me to tell me about his strange experiences at Belas Knapp in Gloucestershire. Belas Knapp is a Neolithic
chambered Long Barrow or burial chamber, situated on Cleeve Hill. When it was
first excavated in the 1860s, 38 remains of people, of all ages, were found. In
this first excavation, a circle of stones was found in the middle of the burial
chamber and there was evidence of small fires being lit, as though the
relatives of those buried, would sit amongst their dead. It has 4 chambers and,
one false portal, to show the workmanship of those who made the burial mound.
It’s a long walk to get to Belas Knapp and it feels as though it is in the
middle of nowhere.
Chris
went on to tell me that these experience happened several years ago, around the summer solstice when Chris and his friend Jimmy,
decided to spend that evening at Belas Knapp. They were making themselves
comfortable, close to the long barrow, when a noise became audible to them. It
sounded as though there were nearby solstice revellers, having a happy time in
celebrating the solstice. As their ears became accustomed to what they were
hearing, they noticed that all the voices were females but couldn’t make out
what was being said. The female voices didn’t appear to come from any
particular direction, and whilst both Chris and Jimmy felt the voices were not
malevolent, they both felt as though the atmosphere could’ve changed very
quickly.
As
they were trying to figure out what direction these voices were coming from,
Chris suddenly noticed that there were some small lights, around 50 of them,
spread out over 5 square metres. These lights were a brilliant orange, with a
pink centre. Chris jumped over a small dry stone wall that surrounds part of
Belas Knapp, turned on his phone torch and got on his hands and knees to
further inspect these strange lights. Chris thought these lights may have been
balloon LED’s, possibly left behind by solstice revellers. He managed to cup
one in his hands but when he opened his hands, nothing was there. It was then
that all the other lights just faded out!
Chris
didn’t quite know what to make of these strange lights so hopped back over the
wall and as he did, the lights all came back on in unison.
Both
men were stumped by what they had witnessed. As they made their way back to
where they had parked their vehicle, they noticed the lack of people around.
Where were all the solstice revellers they had heard? There was no evidence of
any other people being in the vicinity so just where had those strange voices
come from? Both Chris and Jimmy were weirdly silent after these happenings.
A few
years after that strange event, Chris decided to re-visit Belas Knapp and this
time, he brought his dog. Chris and his dog spent the evening at Belas Knapp.
Some time passed and it was then that Chris started to hear those female voices
again. Still not being able to decipher what they were saying or where they
were coming from. Having listened to them for 15 minutes, Chris felt the need
to go back down to where he was staying the night.
The
next morning, Chris returned to Belas Knapp and met 2 men who had travelled all
the way from Yorkshire to visit the site. Chris told them of his experiences at
the long barrow and they, in turn, told him of what they had been told the
previous night at a local pub. A visitor to the site had experienced very
similar lights to Chris but this visitor had told of being approached by 2
pygmy sized males, who emerged from one of the larger entrances, offering the
visitor drinks.
Chris
then decided to take him and his dog into one of the chambers in the long
barrow. It was a rather hot and sunny day and you have to crouch a little to
get into this chamber. It’s not very big inside so the men Chris had
befriended, waited outside so they could enter the chamber next. As Chris and
his dog positioned themselves in the chamber, a very large horseshoe bat flew
inside and circled Chris and his dog, several times. This caused some chaos as
you don’t expect to see a bat during the hot heat of the day nor was the
chamber a place for a bat to claim as its home as the entrance and height is
less than 2 metres and not to mention the amount of visitors the long chamber
gets.
So
just what had Chris and Jimmy encountered? Strange female voices on the wind,
lights that appear and disappear but seem to have no physical components? A
large bat circling in a small area in the middle of a hot and sunny day? And
what or who were those small sized men, offering a visitor a drink? It’s all
very strange indeed.
