A while back Sleeping Giant had a series of posts about spirit of place and how these were not always benevolent. This is an account of an experience I had with my family at Arbor Low in Derbyshire a couple of years back.
Arbor Low is a stone circle near Buxton, Derbyshire… I’ve known of it since childhood (Buxton was an old holiday stomping ground… we had very little money and some good family friends gave their house over to my mum and the four of us kids when they went on holiday)… Some of you may know that I have a slight obsession with visiting ancient stone circle sites whenever I get the opportunity, a few years ago when we had a shared holiday with another family we are close to, in Buxton, I thought this a great opportunity.
On the last day of the holiday, we structured our journey home so that we went past the Low. It’s on private land, but the farmer allows access in return for a donation given for access. We spotted the Low from the main road and turned off, driving up a country lane until we got to the turn to the farm. We drove a short way up the track and parked up, and that’s when it all went a bit weird.
Emily (our daughter) started to complain about feeling cold and complaining about her jacket (she says after that she wasn’t cold and she doesn’t know why she said that). I sensed a change in mood in my wife, Sian, and challenged her as to whether she didn’t really want to do this… in my opinion at the time she didn’t answer quickly enough and I started to harbour an irrational resentment, but we seemed to sort it out.
So we walked up to the tin on the wall where you make payment and dropped a couple of quid in and continued up a field to the gate to Arbor Low, and there it all blew. I challenged Sian again, Emily complained of feeling cold and Sian started on about how if it was going to be like this I could go on by myself… I blew up and started shouting, Emily burst into tears and Sian took her and walked off (LET me say here that I was being TOTALLY irrational and aggressive… this is not generally like me). We left with me and Sian arguing, Emily crying and begging us to stop… the further we got away, the easier it became to gain control and within a short time we had all calmed down and made up.
On instinct, I did a little research and discovered that local legend claims that the Low is haunted by a spirit, a boggart, that makes trouble for people who upset it… I don’t know. We did travel down a few weeks later and approach the Low to see what would happened and we all felt a real chill growing as we approached, a sense of oppression, though that could be psychological anchors related to the previous visit… but the behaviour of all of us back then had become SO out of character. I don’t know… but I would like to go back someday, alone, and somewhat more psychologically and psychically prepared, as some reparation may be in order
I visited Arbor Low a couple of years ago on a rather bleak and windy day and, though I didn’t get anything as strong as you describe, it felt anything but welcoming and I felt very exposed there. Later the same day I was at the Nine Ladies which, by comparison, felt much ‘warmer’ but also ‘deeper’ in a way that might, I suppose, seem threatening to some. Like it was a place which might pull you into it, while Arbor Low would push you away. Not sure that those words quite catch the feeling in either case, but …
Hi Heron
It was a very unpleasant experience for us all, and my wife will not contemplate going back. Interestingly she, though a staunch humanist with strong agnostic views, is probably the most sensitive out of the two of us to “atmosphere”. There are places she will not go, because it simply feels so wrong.
I have a very close relationship with the Peak District going back to childhood. To me it is one of the areas of the country that has always produced an incredibly diverse range of responses to place, from welcoming to positively inimical. But always very powerful, very old and very non-human.
My friends who came to Avebury with me went up to Arbor Low a couple of months back, on my recommendation and I told them your story Adam, I didn’t mention any names or sources though. They took a crystal for me as an offering and walked the alternative path to appease the Spirits of the place. All should be well
If you fancy going back, give me a shove and I’ll go with you. As you know, I haven’t experienced the negativity you have, it would be an interesting experiment!
RR
Will do, man