Somerset’s WW2 Oddities

This week’s blog post is a guest post penned by friend, former colleague and long-time Fortean, Dr Andrew May. Andrew maintains his own blog “Forteana”, which focuses on the weirder fringes of Science, History, Arts and Mysticism, and is well worth a read. Andrew is also a freelance writer who regularly contributes to Fortean Times and writes his own books. It was during research for his latest book “Bloody British History: Somerset”, that he came across the following WW2 Oddities:

The Taunton Stop Line

In a quiet residential street in the South Somerset town of Chard, there is a low but very thick concrete wall that serves no apparent purpose. It’s screened from the road by a hedge, and most people probably go straight past without even noticing it. But the wall is massive enough to stop a fifty-ton tank... which is exactly what it was designed to do. It was built at the start of the Second World War as part of the Taunton Stop Line -- a defensive barrier stretching for fifty miles from the Bristol Channel to the south coast, designed to slow down the enemy in the event of an invasion. The anti-tank wall in Chard is just one of many leftovers of the Stop Line that remain to this day... but most of them are out in the open countryside, not in a town centre like this one.

The Taunton Stop Line

The Brean Down Fort

Another strange relic from the Second World War can be seen in North Somerset, at Brean Down near Weston-super-Mare. Originally a coastal defence battery built in Victorian times, Brean Down Fort was used during WW2 for naval weapons testing. One of its more unusual facilities was a rocket sled that was used to propel munitions into the sea at high speed, in order to simulate launch from a low-flying aircraft. The trackway used by the rocket sled is still there to this day.

Brean Down

Pictures, Andrew May, Somerset (2012).

The Himalayan Milk Baba

In 2005 Mrs J and I were lucky enough to go on an expedition to the Himalayas as part of a group, and during this expedition our group had an encounter with the Himalayan Milk Baba in Kathmandu. The Himalayan Milk Baba is a Hindu from Nepal, who is primarily known for some of the penances that he has undertaken during his religious life. He was born in 1933 in a small village near Kathmandu, and at the age of 18 he left Nepal to join a Hindu religious order in central India. Since becoming a Hindu, the Milk Baba is reported to have undertaken a number of penances to show his devotion to his faith. These have included: a twelve year pilgrimage penance to sites across India, Nepal and Tibet; a twelve year solitary meditation and observation of religious rituals at an isolated Shiva temple in India; a three year penance of covering his body with ashes; an on-going penance of growing dreadlocks; and finally a penance of subsisting solely on two litres of milk a day for twenty five years. It is this final penance for which he is best known, and has led to the name of the Milk Baba.

Milk is considered by Hindus to be a pure food (as no life is sacrificed to obtain it) and the Baba’s twenty five year diet of milk is rumored to have granted him the power of prophecy (I wonder if he saw us coming)!

Milk Baba poster.

The Milk Baba.

A note on credit for the photos - I am certain that I did not take these pictures during our trip to Kathmandu, and following the trip all 25 members of the party shared all the photos that were taken. As such, I cannot be sure who to credit for the above two snaps, but thank you whoever you are!

Pictures, Kathmandu (November 2005).

Ghost Towns

On our travels Mrs J and I have visited a number of ghost towns, some supposedly haunted, some not. They all however share a mysterious air, as they are essentially towns that have been frozen in time. Below is a short history of the ghost towns that we have visited.

Bodie

Bodie is an abandoned town that lies east of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California at a wind-swept elevation of 2,554m. Bodie began life in 1859 as a small mining camp following the discovery of gold by a group of prospectors, which included W. S. Bodey (whom the town was ultimately named after). In 1876 further deposits of gold ore were found, which facilitated Bodie’s transformation from a small mining camp into a Wild West boomtown. Continuing discoveries of gold enticed more people to the town and by 1879 Bodie had a population of approximately 5,000 to 7,000 people, and consisted of around 2,000 buildings.

Bodie’s demise as a town began in 1880, when miners began to drift off towards other more prosperous boomtowns. By 1910 the population was recorded at 698 people, and by 1920 it had fallen to around 120. The final nail in Bodie’s coffin seemed to occur in 1942, when due to the war, all non-essential gold mines in the USA were closed.

Pictures of Bodie have previously featured in Andrew May’s Forteana Blog.

Rhyolite

Rhyolite is an abandoned town which lies at an elevation of 1,200m in the Bullfrog Hills in Nevada, about 120 miles northwest of Las Vegas, near the edge of Death Valley.

In August 1904, prospectors found gold on the side of Bullfrog Mountain and word of this discovery soon spread, and shortly afterwards thousands of hopeful prospectors rushed in to the area. This sudden influx of people lead to settlements being established near the mines and Rhyolite became the largest of them. Starting as a two-man camp in January 1905, Rhyolite became a town of 1,200 people in two weeks and reached a population of 2,500 by June 1905. By which point it was a significant town with 50 saloons, 19 lodging houses, 16 restaurants, half a dozen barbers, and even a weekly newspaper. By 1907 the population had increase further to about 4,000 to 5,000 people and the town now boasted concrete sidewalks, electric lights, water mains, telephone and telegraph lines, daily and weekly newspapers, a monthly magazine, police and fire departments, a hospital, school, train station and railway depot, at least three banks, a stock exchange, an opera house, a public swimming pool and two formal church buildings.

The town’s decline was nearly as fast as its boom, and by 1909 the mines had stop producing new gold ore and by March 1911 the gold rush was over. The town’s population decline mirrored this drop in gold production and by 1910 the population had dropped to only 675 residents. All three of the town’s banks had closed by March 1910 and the post office followed suit in November 1913. The last train left Rhyolite Station in July 1914, and the Power Company turned off the electricity and removed its power lines in 1916. By 1920 the town’s population was only 14 people, and the last remaining resident was reported to have died in 1924.

Imber

Imber is an uninhabited village which today forms part of the Army training ground on Salisbury Plan in Wiltshire. Imber had existed as a settlement for many centuries, with the first documented mention of the village coming from 967. Imber is also mentioned in the Domesday book (1086), at which time the population was around 50 persons. By the 1300’s the population of the village had risen to around 250, where it is believed to have remained until the 1800’s. The population peaked at 440 as recorded in the census of 1851, declining to around 150 by the time of Imber's abandonment.

Imber’s abandonment was a result of the war effort during the Second World War In November 1943, while the Allied forces made preparations for the invasion of Europe, the people of Imber were called to a meeting in the village schoolroom and given 47 days' notice to leave their homes. Imber was to be abandoned to allow the US forces to practice Urban Warfare prior to the planned invasion of Europe. The villagers after being assured that they could return to their homes within six months, left the village with no resistance, however they were never allowed to return, and the town continues to be used for military training today.

Pictures of Imber have previously featured in Andrew May’s Forteana Blog.

Pictures California & Nevada (2008) and Wiltshire (2011).

Legends of Greyfriars Kirkyard

Greyfriars Kirkyard is an atmospheric graveyard in the historic Old Town of Edinburgh. Over the years the kirkyard has been linked to a number of interesting legends, the most famous of which is no-doubt the story of Greyfriars Bobby. The pictures below show a statue of Bobby (which is just outside the kirkyard), Bobby’s grave, and the grave of his “owner” John Gray (Auld Jock).

As everyone knows, Greyfriars Bobby was a faithful little dog, who spent 14 years in the kirkyard mourning at the grave of his “owner” Auld Jock, until Bobby eventually died in 1872. However, it would seem that this story everyone knows to be true is in reality a myth. The current most likely explanation for this legend is that it was made up to stimulate more visitors to the kirkyard, and in reality Bobby was in fact not one dog, but two. It is thought that “graveyard dogs” such as Bobby were a relatively common occurrence across 19th century graveyards.

Another legend associated with Greyfriars Kirkyard is that of the McKenzie Poltergeist. In the kirkyard is the tomb of “Bloody” George McKenzie (which is pictured below). The tomb is supposedly haunted by a poltergeist that has been known to attack visitors to the tomb, and sometimes even to manifest in the properties that back onto the kirkyard. Unfortunately, there was no evidence of otherworldly goings on during my visit.

Pictures, Edinburgh (October 2011).