Lantern - No 10

Magazine Overview

Title: LANTERN
Issue: No. 10
Volume: Summer 1975
Publisher: Borderline Science Investigation Group (BSIG)
Country: United Kingdom
Language: English
Price: 18p per single copy

Introduction

The editorial begins by thanking readers and sellers for their support, noting that sales from the previous edition covered production costs. It announces changes in the magazine's layout and format, aiming to improve content and design, and invites suggestions. The 'introduction' section will no longer summarize contents but will serve as a 'Notice Board' for individuals and organizations to air their needs. The editors welcome any input that will help LANTERN evolve into a first-class magazine.

Notice Board / Reader Contributions

• Bill Porter (Loughton, Essex) is researching Dragon and Serpent Lore and seeks information from the British Isles.
• The Essex Dowser is an irregularly produced newsletter on dowsing, Ley lines, and ESP, available free to members of the Essex Dowsing Group. Contact Frank Dineen, Brentwood.
• The Pagan Movement in Britain and Ireland aims to connect people who love the Earth and wish to create a society where people can worship Nature's Gods and Goddesses. Contact Michael Burgess, Lowestoft.
• Michael Burgess has published a booklet of poems titled 'For the Wind, For the Wild', available for 30p.
• The Ley Hunter is a bi-monthly magazine covering Leys, Power lines, UFOs, and related subjects. Issue No. 64 includes articles on Belgian and Thanet Leys. Subscription is £1.50 per year from Paul Screeton, Hartlepool.
• Nigel Pennick, author of 'Suffolk Landscape Geometry' in the previous issue, has published a book titled 'The Mysteries of King's College Chapel'. It details the chapel's construction based on Geomantic and Kabbalistic principles and is available for 95p from Cokaygne Publishing, Cambridge.

Copyright and Disclaimer

All articles are copyright of their authors or BSIG. Views expressed are not necessarily those of BSIG or the Editors. BSIG is a non-profit organisation investigating unexplained phenomena in East Anglia. Subscriptions are 70p annually or 18p per single copy.

Signs from Heaven: Or Severall Apparitions Seen and Heard in the Ayre, in the Counties of Cambridge and Norfolke on the 21 day of May last past in the afternoone, 1646

This section reprints a 17th-century pamphlet, with permission from Norwich City Library, detailing strange events observed in the air on May 21, 1646. The pamphlet describes:

• A 'Navie or Fleet of Ships under sayle'.
• A 'ball of wild fire rolling up and downe'.
• Three men struggling in the air, one with a sword.
• Great Hailstones 'round and hollow like rings'.
• An 'Extraordinary beating of Drums in the ayre'.
• A 'Piller or Cloud ascending up from the earth like a spire Steeple, being opposed by a Speare or Lance downward'.

The events were witnessed by 'divers and severall Letters from persons of credit'. The pamphlet was printed by T. Forcet in London in 1646.

The article discusses the 'meteorite theory' proposed by the Norwich Astronomical Society, including Mr. Cyril Blount, Dr. David Dewhurst, and Dr. Keith Hindley, who suggest a meteorite fall might have occurred in the Brandon/Newmarket/Thetford area. One possible impact site is the 'Devil's Punchbowl'. However, the article notes that some aspects of the pamphlet's description do not fit the meteorite theory, leaving the nature of the phenomena open to interpretation. Readers are invited to send their comments.

Specific sightings detailed in the pamphlet include:

• New Market, Cambridgeshire: Three men seen struggling in the air.
• Between Newmarket and Thetford: A pillar or cloud ascending from the earth, met by a descending spear or lance from the sky.
• Stopham, Cambridgeshire: A ball of wild fire that burnt about an acre of grain and left a sulphurous stench.
• Comberton, Cambridgeshire: The form of a spire Steeple in the sky, with swords around it, seen by Trayned Bands.
• Brandon, Norfolk: A spectacle of a spire Steeple ascending from the earth and a pike or lance descending from Heaven.
• Brandon, Norfolk: A Navie or Fleet of Ships in the air, with flags and streamers.
• Marshland, Norfolk: A sound like a whole Regiment of Drums beating a call.
• Suffolk: Similar military sounds heard.

The section concludes with a prayer for awakening from sins and seeking an inward kingdom of righteousness and peace.

Local Curiosities

• The Boy's Grave: Located at a crossroads on the Bury St Edmunds/Kentford road, this is the burial place of a shepherd boy accused of sheep stealing. A strange force is said to emanate from the grave.
• Agnes and Galiena: The earliest reference to magical arts in the area dates back to 1209 in Norfolk, where Agnes accused Galiena of sorcery. Galiena was found innocent after an 'ordeal of iron'.
• Dragon at Henham, Essex: A pamphlet from 1669 describes a winged dragon, nine feet long, with sheep's eye-sized eyes and sharp white teeth, seen basking in the sun. It caused no damage and disappeared.

Norfolk's Phantom Coaches

This article by Ivan Bunn explores various legends of phantom coaches in Norfolk:

• Weybourne: A phantom coach pulled by four horses and driven by a headless groom is said to gallop through the village and disappear through the churchyard wall.
• Blickling Hall: The ghost of Anne Boleyn is said to ride in a phantom coach pulled by four black horses, with a headless groom, on the anniversary of her execution (May 9th, 1536). She alights and glides through the hall until dawn.
• Sir Thomas Boleyn: Anne's father, is condemned to ride in a coach and four over twelve Norfolk bridges for a thousand years as penance. He is headless, carrying his head under his arm, accompanied by headless coachmen and footmen, pursued by 'fiends'. His route includes Blickling Hall and various bridges.
• Caister Area: A story about Sir Thomas Boleyn fighting Sir Thomas Paston annually, resulting in Paston's death. Both appear in ghostly coaches.
• Heigham Bridge, Bastwick: A legend from 'Ghosts of the Broads' by Charles Sampson tells of a house called Bastwick Place, owned by Sir Godfrey Haslitt. His daughter, Lady Evelyn, was married to him using a love potion. On their wedding day, the coach horses threw a shoe, and later, the Bishop and his party transformed into skeletons, with the leading skeleton abducting the bride in a coach.
• Great Melton: Four bridesmaids travelling home from a wedding in Norwich disappeared. A phantom coach and horses are said to hurtle along the road.
• Wicklewood: A phantom coach is said to appear at a pit, drive around the parish, and return to the pit.
• Woodrising: A phantom coach with lit lamps and windows, but no horses, appeared. Other accounts mention headless horses pulling it.
• Longham Hall: The tenant heard coach wheels and saw approaching lamps, but the drive was empty the next morning.
• West Braddenham Hall: A similar story of a heard carriage that vanished.
• Breccle's Hall: George Mace, a poacher, witnessed a ghostly coach and horses, and a beautiful lady who caused him to die of fright.
• Quiddenham Hall: A ghostly waggon or hearse, pulled by four horses and driven by a headless coachman, has been reported.

Suffolk Landscape Geometry

This article by Nigel Pennick discusses local units of measurement used in England before 1305, such as the Roman foot (29.53cm), Greek foot (31.7cm), Saxon foot (33.53cm), Welsh foot (25.1cm), and Norman foot (29.777cm). It explains how these measures relate to landscape geometry and alignment patterns. The article references 'Suffolk Landscape Geometry' from Lantern 9 and notes that copies of that issue are still available.

The Castle Acre Diamond

This article by R.T. Hill explores geometric patterns in landscape alignments, particularly in East Anglia. The author, after spending time studying Ordnance Survey maps, became interested in whether alignments followed a master plan or regional methods. The article proposes that repeating geometric figures, similar to each other, would be more convincing evidence than simple straight lines. The 'Castle Acre Diamond' is presented as an example of such a pattern, incorporating six castle sites, six tumuli, and an earthwork. The pattern exhibits a significant interplay of triangles and tends to run north/south and east/west. The author suggests this regularity is unlikely to be due to chance.

U.F.O. REPORT

• Sizewell Sighting (February 24, 1975): Mr. Tom Mayer, a retired civil servant from Leiston, reported seeing a pumpkin-shaped object, luminous green and yellow, about 20 yards away and 6 feet from the ground. He felt a warm fan effect and noted no sound. The object vanished at 'shooting star speed', leaving a 'pungent acidy aroma'.
• Leiston Sighting (March 8, 1975): Mr. and Mrs. Button reported a bright orange object that shot across the road near the ruined Abbey at Leiston, causing Mr. Button to swerve. The object was visible for only about 5 seconds.
• Beccles Sighting (July 15, 1955 report): A four-year-old boy, Roy Murray, reported seeing a 'beautiful silver star'. His mother, Mrs. Ruth Murray, described a flat circular object, glistening silver, moving soundlessly and at tremendous speed. She stated it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, with no sound, and it disappeared completely.

Beccles police stated they had heard no reports of strange aircraft, other than a new-type of turbo-jet plane.

News Round-up

• Sea Palling, Norfolk: Three investigators from BSIG's Psychical Research Section set up equipment at the Hall Inn to track a 'grey lady' apparition. Over three occasions, an apparition resembling a column of smoke was seen, accompanied by strange noises, the smell of 'cigarette smoke', and drops in temperature. A seance was held, claiming to contact the spirit, but the investigators found the information obtained to be inconclusive as it was already known by many.
• Psychic Photography: The Lowestoft Photographic Society returned negatives of psychic photos mentioned in a previous issue. They could offer no further comment, stating the photos could be genuine but equally could have been faked. The matter remains open until further controlled studies can be conducted.

Comment

• R.T. Hill (Brandon, Norfolk) comments on the use of infra-red film in psychic photography. He questions whether it is necessary, suggesting that if ghosts appear as darker areas (negative ghosts), thermographic equipment might be more effective for detecting them. He also wonders about combining this with holographic techniques for a 3D record.
• W.J.C. recommends Peter Haining's book 'The Illustrated History', which covers psychic photographs, fraudulent mediums, and haunted houses.

Back Numbers

Information is provided on available back numbers of Lantern magazine, including article titles and prices.

The News

'THE NEWS' is a non-profit bi-monthly miscellany of Fortean news, notes, and references, affiliated with the International Fortean Organisation (INFO). The latest issue (No.9) contains notes on fireballs, ghost lights, vanishing animals, and fish. Annual subscription is £2.10, single copies 35p.

Recurring Themes and Editorial Stance

The recurring themes in this issue of Lantern are diverse, encompassing historical accounts of unexplained phenomena, contemporary UFO sightings, local folklore including ghost stories and phantom coaches, and more analytical explorations of geomancy and landscape geometry. The editorial stance appears to be one of open investigation and reporting, encouraging reader participation and presenting various theories and evidence without necessarily endorsing any single explanation. The magazine aims to document and explore the unexplained, inviting critical thought and discussion from its readership.