Sunday, June 05, 2016

Michael Winner on the Stiperstones


Another film from the BFI's Britain on Film site. As ever, click on the image above to view it there.

This is a 1961 travelogue taking in haunted sites across Britain. What interests us most is the opening, where David Jacobs (in a suit) is seen with a young lady on top of the Stiperstones, before Edric and his wild hunt put in an appearance up there.

The superstition I know is not that it will rain if you sit in the Devil's Chair. Rather it is that if those rocks are shrouded in cloud then the old boy is sitting there himself.

Edric and his followers also put in an appearance in Malcolm Saville's Seven White Gates:
Suddenly Jenny gave a stifled little scream and pointed up the track which led to to the mines. Shadowy in the thickening mist, the two girls seemed to see a figure on horseback waving ghostly arms but no sound of hooves came to their straining ears. Then, far away on the hilltop, it seemed to Peter than tiny, gnome-like figures flitted in uncanny procession. 
Jenny turned and wailed into Peter's shoulder. 
"Peter. It's true. It's them. They're riding again. What shall we do. Peter? We must hide our eyes. We mustn't even see them. Don't Look. Peter."

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