Weird Stuff

Walking off the path as I do, I regularly stumble across weird stuff in the forest or when out and about. Things that must have made sense to the folk which constructed them, though I can't fathom. Take this 'thing', a circle of cut branches all of a similar guage, firmly pushed into the ground, one round of para cord tied around them, with conifer trigs (I don't know if they where green when placed) forming a cover...nothing inside (on cursory inspection, I don't like to disturb too much in case it's something ritual). What's that about?  Most peculiar.

Gus

There are a few places I walk that have that strange air about them, you know, there's something disconcerting about them, something that unnerves you, and you can't really put your finger on what it is. Usually I walk in mental abandon, lost in thought or in the beauty surrounding me, calm and relaxed, comfortable with the land and my place in it. Usually. Then there are some places, and I know it sounds a touch clichéd, that really give you an uneasy sense of being watched, and of unseen menace. Gus Common is one of those places. Whenever I walk through or around Gus I feel uneasy. You could say, 'man, your creating a self fore-filling prophecy', though I'd disagree. When out walking my mind will be miles away, totally distracted in thought, when feelings of unease begin to intrude, first manifesting themselves physically, like your hackles rising or that strangle tingle you get running up your spine, then on an emotional level. Chewton Common, has always solicited the same sensations in me, and in that I know I'm not alone. Why do some places effect you like that? Can a place retain emotional residue that can still be sensed? Do places harbour memory, again, that could be sensed?  If so, what happened here? The name 'Gus' (which most locals know the common as, the real name of the common being Burton Common) comes from a long abandoned hamlet which stood there. There are connections to smuggling. And, I read somewhere that a disreputable coven may have practiced here at some time. I know, that just sounds mental. Or, could it be our response to some natural phenomena, magnetic fields or some such. Other animals are able sense things beyond our range of perception. I don't know how to explain the different feelings you get from some places to an other, although I do know they feel real, and have a tangible effect on you.

Pelvic bones

As I took a short cut through one of the younger blocks of conifer mosaic on my way to Mogshade Hill, I stumbled across a greening pony skull. If you walk off the tracks and through the woods enough it's not uncommon to come across disarticulated bones around the forest.  About 6m from the skull were the 2 pelvic bones, again, not uncommon for the bones of fallen animal to be scattered. Though these bones were weird, these had definitely been purposefully positioned, I'm certain this isn't how they were left via natural process. There was symmetry in their placing.   On closer inspection, the needle litter in area encompassed by the positioned bones had been notably compressed, something had sat/been placed there for some time, and recently. I wonder what the motivation for these acts was. Of course, the positioning of the bones, and the episode compression may represent different events. You 'll often come across something out of the ordinary out in the forest. Still, what's it all about.  Riddle me that?