The Green Stone

by Graham Phillips

  ‘Good grief!’ he cried, as a blinding light burst around them, an aura of brilliant blue light shining brightly from their bodies, a luminous flare enveloping them all. They all saw it, the halo of power encompassing them. For over a minute the aura remained, shimmering and pulsating. Then suddenly it disappeared. Instinctively, they had done what had been intended. Only months later did they discover that to walk clockwise around Avebury is said to induce a sense of harmony with the natural earth energies of the circle. (1) By carrying the Stone round the outer embankment, they had created the energy effect of the blue aura.

  And then they knew. The eight Lights already in the Stone had been activated. Gaynor had the psychic impression that they must now go to the Uffington White Horse. There, at dawn the following morning, they would release the Ninth Light.

  Dozmary Pool

  It was nearly midnight as the car headlamps bounced along the deep furrows of dried mud on the Ridgeway near Wayland’s Smithy. Pulling off the road, they drove a short distance and stopped on the ancient track. It was too late to book into an hotel, and if they had to be up for the dawn it would not be worth it. They would sleep in the car. Marion, Gaynor and Terry stayed in the relative warmth of Terry’s car, while Martin and Graham took the opportunity to see Wayland’s Smithy at dead of night.

  As they approached, the wind swayed the many beech trees that encircle the barrow. By night, the chamber is quiet and mysterious. Looking out over the land below, they wondered what the dawn might bring. Gaynor had said they must go to the White Horse, ‘the place of the dragon’, as she called it. Christian legends state that the Uffington White Horse is a representation of the dragon slain by St George on Dragon Hill, a flat-topped hill in the vale below. She had, many months before, told them that the secret of the Meonia Stone would only be known once the true significance of the dragon-slaying legend was understood.

  Dawn

  Fort above Uffington White Horse

  They walked in single file to the fort and stood above the horse. The land below stretched for miles, rising and falling gently to the distant skyline, a green plain dotted with homesteads and small villages. As the pale morning swept away the night, and a new sun spilled over the horizon, they felt an inner calm and strengthened power as the Ninth Light seeped from the earth into the Green Stone.

  The transformation was complete. An energy that had lain dormant for thousands of years was once again awakened, returned to the Stone from which it had been taken so many centuries before. The power to slay the dragon was returned to the Meonia Stone.

  Chapter 16

  Psychic Attack

  By the summer of 1981, life had returned to normal for those involved. Nevertheless, they hoped that in time somebody would receive a psychic impression telling them what they must do next, now that they had the Lights. But no message came.

  In an attempt to learn something, Alan and Graham travelled to the Sunderlands’ home several times, but still nothing happened.

  No messages. They began to wonder if, by releasing the Nine Lights, their job was finally finished. But no such luck.

  One evening at Oaks Crescent, something very disturbing happened. During a house party at Graham’s flat, a friend of Jane’s, who knew nothing of the strange events, complained of a distressing feeling that something was very wrong in the house. Jane and Graham asked her to elaborate, but the girl, Karen, was unable to say more. All of a sudden, she said she felt dizzy, and, without warning, collapsed onto the floor. Thinking she had perhaps had too much to drink, Graham and Jane helped carry her into the bedroom. They were followed by her female friends, who suggested calling a doctor.

  As Karen lay on the bed, her friends gathered round. Suddenly she shot upright, and, ignoring everyone else, glanced in turn at Graham, Martin and Jane. A smile came over her face as she spoke.

  ‘I am above you all,’ she said, in a menacingly slow and deliberate voice, still grinning. ‘You cannot win.’

  With this, her face dropped and she fell back and began to sob.

  Jane’s and Karen’s friends tried to comfort her, while a dozen others stared on in amazement. Finally, she recovered. When questioned she remembered nothing. As Jane continued to calm her, Graham and Martin tried to smooth things over saying they had no idea what she meant. Secretly, they feared the worst, remembering the strange behaviour of the girl in Alan’s office.

  Next day, Graham questioned Jane. As far as she knew Karen was perfectly normal, in fact, at one time, she had been a policewoman. Neither of her two friends had ever seen her behave so strangely as she had that night.

  In the afternoon, Karen returned to Oaks Crescent with one of her friends, seeking an explanation for what had happened. Eventually, Graham told her their incredible story in order to pacify her. But she found it almost impossible to believe. ‘Can I meet some of the others?’ she asked.

  So, on the following evening, Graham agreed to drive her over to see Marion, where they were joined by Alan and Terry. Without warning, Karen fell into the same unconscious condition and repeated the identical message.

  David Matthews, a friend of Jane’s and who also knew Karen, could not believe what he had been told, although he was convinced that Karen and her friends had not lied.

  One evening, he arrived at the flat and asked Graham for an explanation. Finding himself in an awkward position, Graham told him about some of the strange events, though playing down the affair as best he could.

  ‘It’s impossible. I just can’t believe it,’ said David, shaking his head in bewilderment.

  Graham apologised. ‘Well, that’s what’s been happening to us!’

  ‘I don’t know about the others,’ David continued, his concern showing, ‘but Karen’s a rational woman. Whatever happened to her is real, not supernatural.’

  Graham could only repeat what he had said. But even as he was speaking there came a sudden crash from somewhere below the flat. The whole place shook. The two men froze.

  ‘What the hell was that?’ David asked.

  Graham shook his head.

  ‘What’s below here?’

  ‘The cellars,’ Graham said. ‘But it couldn’t be there. It must have come from outside.’

  They checked immediately but found nothing. Then, as they walked back into the front room, there was a second and louder crash, rising in pitch and followed by a dull thud. A low rumbling echoed through the cellar beneath them. There could be no doubt about it. The sounds had come from below.

  Neither man spoke. After seconds of tense silence, the sound came again, as though a heavy object was being dragged along. The noise penetrated the whole flat. Neither of them had heard anything like it before. As Graham looked around, undecided what to do, David lay down and put an ear to the floor.

  ‘It’s definitely coming from the cellar,’ he said. ‘How d’you get down there?’

  Graham showed him the trap door beneath the hallway carpet.

  ‘Right. Let’s take a look.’

  Graham hesitated, but David pulled back the carpet and lifted the panel. Graham fetched a torch from the kitchen as David clambered down into the darkness, refusing to accept that it had been caused by anything abnormal. Graham handed him the torch and followed him down the steps.

  All was silent as the light lit up the whitewashed brickwork of the first chamber. There was nothing in the cold, empty room to account for the noise. David walked through the adjoining passage into the second, smaller chamber. Again, he found nothing. The cellar was dark and empty. As they stood in the gloom the only sound to be heard was an irregular drip of water from a leaking pipe.

  David’s face expressed his fear as he realised that there was no explanation. ‘Christ!’ he said. ‘Let’s get out of here.’

  Quickly he turned, making for the steps. ‘This is bloody madness!’ he shouted, as he finally clambered out.

  But his experience was not to end there. When David Matthews had walked into the cellars searching for an answ
er, something evil had temporarily attached itself to him.

  The cellar beneath 19 Oaks Crescent

  A short time later, he was on holiday in Cornwall with his girlfriend. The noises at Oaks Crescent were the last thing on his mind as the pair walked down a lonely country lane one evening. Suddenly something was before them, a white shape, an illuminated figure as tall as a man. Its flaming brilliance contrasted against the darkness as it flashed past them, an unseen force almost knocking them aside. Both saw it, and both felt something immeasurably evil. Whatever the strange figure had been, it greatly unnerved David for many months. It now appeared that whatever force of evil had been unleashed, it was not only confined to those directly involved.

  Graham spent some days at Marion’s, trying to find an explanation. He also disliked the idea of spending time alone in the Oaks Crescent flat. He asked why they couldn’t again use the Stone to repel these fresh attacks.

  ‘Out of the question,’ said Marion. ‘We might misuse its new power. No. We must wait until the time is right.’

  Although it seemed that the evil force could no longer use the living as its agents, it was now launching its power against all those involved, trying its damnedest to break up and isolate the group. Gaynor insisted, however, that no harm would befall them, and that Graham could safely return to the flat.

  Two friends, Barry Jones and John Lawley, visited the flat. Both knew something of the events involved but had not previously shown any particular concern. At around 9.30 pm that evening, there was an unaccountable and sudden temperature drop that made it so cold they could see their own breath. The roaring fire did nothing to alleviate the unnerving condition. Without further warning, all present began to feel so nauseated that they had to leave. The following day, while at home, Barry found his own kitchen full of a thick incense-smelling smoke.

  But things became worse at Oaks Crescent. The inexplicable cold periods continued, becoming more frequent and intense. Visitors found it almost impossible to stay in the place. At night, Graham was continually awakened by strange bumps and knocks; nearly everyone who came to the flat experienced a feeling of oppression. Lesley Connolly, the tenant of the apartment above, also felt it in her own flat. Previously she had been objective about the strange phenomena in the flat below, but now she felt a sense of deep depression whenever she was home. Soon, she moved out for good, and a new tenant moved in. He knew nothing of the strange happenings, but once again in a very short time he also complained that it was impossible to stay in such an awful atmosphere.

  One evening, towards the end of May 1981, Martin, Terry, Alan and Pat called at the flat to discuss the worsening situation. The now familiar coldness surrounded them. Such an intense feeling of evil accompanied the bitter cold that they could hardly stand it. Terry and Pat offered Graham a room in their house while he looked for another place, and they urged him to leave immediately. But Alan was disturbed. He was convinced that the opposition was trying to oust Graham. With the large flat gone, there would no longer be a common meeting place.

  Finally, Graham agreed to brave it out, but just before his visitors left, a strange, unearthly sound like a whistled lament echoed through the building. He decided to accept Terry and Pat’s offer and spend the night with them at their house.

  Jane McKenzie’s house also became affected. Late one night, Jean Bosicombe was awakened by the feeling that something was in her room. She sat up in bed, wide awake, and looked round as an eerie green glow appeared outside the window. She jumped up to investigate, but the light vanished.

  Jane McKenzie was also wide awake when she, too, witnessed the same phenomenon. This time, however, it happened during the day. She was in the kitchen washing up at about 6.15 pm, when suddenly she felt that someone was watching her. She turned, but there was no one to be seen. The unpleasant sensation lasted for several moments, mounting until she almost decided to leave the house. Then came the light, a prolonged flicker of intense brilliance all around her. She stood shocked and silent for some moments after it had faded, trying in vain to find a rational explanation for the bizarre phenomenon. The peculiar event left her weak and exhausted.

  At almost the same time, Martin and Graham had been in the Oaks Crescent flat when they heard a loud crash in the front room. They raced in but found nothing. Then a strong scent of perfume filled the whole flat which, about ten minutes or so later, gradually changed to the sickly smell of rotting meat. The stench became so overpowering they were forced to leave.

  At last, Graham decided to leave the flat and move into the spare room in Jane’s house. If Alan’s impression was correct, the opposition had succeeded in driving them from their headquarters. Parasearch, as an organisation, was finished.

  But the psychic assault was by no means over. To have driven them from their headquarters was only one of the objectives. Now it reaffirmed its efforts by terrorising nearly everyone involved.

  By mid-summer, a woman known to Alan Beard had begun falling into a terrifying state, during which she appeared almost to be possessed. In this condition, she would spit and claw at Alan, screaming abuse and warning him to break contact with the others in the group. She also made references to information she could not possibly have known.

  Alan spent more and more time visiting the Sunderlands, looking for reassurance. Gaynor and Marion assured him that neither he nor this woman could come to actual harm, but they could still not risk using the Stone until the time was right. They believed that this was exactly what the opposition was hoping for.

  Alan agreed, but then something happened that broke his spirit. Fears for his own safety and that of his friends became too much when the woman fell into a strange trance and attacked him even more violently. By remaining completely calm, he was able to prevent injury to either of them. But by then he decided he had no alternative but to end his involvement with Terry, Marion and the others.

  Following Alan’s break with the group, Terry and Mike went to see Marion, hoping that something might be done to halt the attacks. With Fred and Gaynor, they tried to tune in to the White Lady, but Gaynor felt so intense a feeling of evil trying to stop them that they were forced to give up.

  But perhaps the most bizarre experience of all involved Penny Blackwill at her Staffordshire home. As she was sitting reading one hot summer afternoon, there came a knock at the door. She suddenly felt an intense chill running through her body and knew at once that something was terribly wrong. Answering the door, she was confronted by a figure who radiated malevolence, a tall man with sinister features, dressed completely in black. His shoes, his suit, his shirt and tie were all black. Staring right into Penny’s eyes and speaking in a cold, emotionless voice, he warned her to have nothing more to do with Terry and Alan. As she stood dumbfounded, he turned and left without further explanation.

  Immediately, she phoned Terry, who told her to call the police. But she protested, saying how could she possibly explain away the man’s warning?

  By the autumn, Graham and Jane had broken with the group. One night, Jane had woken, experiencing the fear that someone was in her room. She turned on the light but found nothing. She began to grow cold, then, to her horror, she felt cold fingers gripping her throat. After a few seconds of frantic struggle, the feeling passed. The following day she felt so ill she was unable to go to work.

  By now, Graham had resolved to leave Wolverhampton for good. As the bitter winter of 1981 drew nearer, Mike, Pat, Terry and the Sunderlands were, for the time being, all that remained of the group. The various forms of terrifying experiences had been too much for many of the others.

  The next attack now concentrated on the Shottons. Pat felt an ever-increasing feeling of hostility in the household, and every so often and without warning the sensation of acute panic. One day, Terry was driving their daughter home from school when a man in another car appeared to swerve deliberately towards him and forced him off the road. Terry was petrified; it had followed a psychic impression warning him of just s
uch an experience.

  By October, the Sunderlands became very concerned by the strange phenomena that regularly plagued their telephone. Whenever they spoke to Terry, the phone would cut out or emit mysterious electronic beeps and buzzes, making conversation impossible. Sometimes, it would not work for days on end; at others times, when it was working, Terry was unable to get through. He would hear the ringing tone but there would be no answer. The GPO was asked to investigate but could not discover anything wrong. The possibility of visiting one another was made doubly difficult. Fred had no car and Terry’s continually developed mysterious faults whenever he set out to travel to North Wales.

  The Sunderlands were almost completely isolated. No attack had yet befallen them, although Marion was positive that the opposition was preparing to launch its final assault against the holders of the Stone. She knew that it was now time to act. They must prepare for battle with their nameless opponent.

  Chapter 17

  Confrontation

  When Alan Beard travelled to the Shottons’ Staffordshire country home on the evening of Friday, 2 October, he was more confident than he had felt for some time. He remained concerned that the frightening episodes which had plagued his life might resume once he again became involved, but Marion’s insistence that both she and Gaynor had received fresh psychic messages gave him new hope.

  Graham also felt optimistic as he joined Alan and Marion at Terry’s and Pat’s house. Having been out of touch for some time, neither of them knew quite what to expect. When they arrived, Marion explained the content of the psychic impression that she and Gaynor had received. She was convinced of the importance of a remote pond some miles across the fields to the west of Saverley Green.

  Terry and Pat Shotton, with Janet Morgan, at the Saverley Green house

  Some months before, many of the psychics had sensed its protective influence. They had found it after Pat had recognised the description. For many years, since her childhood wanderings in the countryside around Saverley Green, it had held an almost mystical attraction, as she had sat alone, quietly thinking, on a grassy knoll beside the water.