The Green Stone

by Graham Phillips

  When she had gone there in the spring, with Marion, Janet, Gaynor and Martin, something had happened which convinced them all that there really was something different about the place. As they stood admiring the scene, Marion felt a strong presence nearby. ‘I am sure,’ she said, ‘that if we concentrate the influence will make itself known.’

  When they all concentrated, a great rush of wind rose up on the calm, sunny afternoon and howled around them. Janet, who was standing on the knoll, suddenly felt a surge of energy tingling through her body, and was nearly blown from the rise, which Marion later said was the centre of the power.

  Marion was emphatic that the knoll could offer them the protective power they needed. Pat supported this belief. They both felt that a message awaited them.

  They decided to sit in a circle and try to tune in to the message. As they sat, the atmosphere changed; before long they began to receive pieces of information that formed the complete message.

  A great protective force was going to be made available to them: a form of spiritual energy that flowed through the countryside. The gate to this power was to be opened to them that night, as it had been in the distant past. Just as The Nine had previously used it. To witness the phenomenon, they must go outside, and they would see. Terry and Alan went into the back garden to watch while the others remained seated in a circle. The time was 1 am.

  In the darkness of Terry’s garden, the two men waited, looking out over the dark fields in the direction of the pond. All was quiet. Hardly a breeze blew, and the sky was clear, the stars bright above them. Just as they were about to return indoors, they heard a low and distant rumbling. As the noise grew louder, from the direction of the pool there came a great, blue flash lighting up the whole horizon. Then there was silence. No sound, no light, just the eerie hoot of a nearby owl. They ran inside and called the others, but although they waited for over half an hour nothing more happened. Both were sure it had not been thunder and lightning. Firstly, it had looked and sounded quite different; the rumbling had lasted much longer than normal thunder, and, secondly, the flash had occurred after the rumbling had started.

  When they resumed the sitting, Pat felt that the force had been successfully awakened. Now they must wait. Later they would be told more.

  The following day Terry and Graham took Marion home, and were joined by Mike and Alan. Once more, they sat in a circle, and this time Fred was also with them. Gaynor was in bed. Not long afterwards, she came downstairs and told her mother that she felt her Lady in White was trying to tell her something. They let her sit with them for a short time, but almost at once she seemed to fall asleep on the couch. Marion and Fred tried to wake her, but she failed to respond. Then, as they began to get worried, Gaynor suddenly opened her eyes and sat up. She appeared dazed, but then she said:

  Marion with Mike Ratcliffe in the Sunderland home

  ‘I can’t explain it, but all at once I found myself on top of a hill. I was standing beside an oak tree with an opening running through the base of its trunk, and my Lady in White was beside me. She told me that this was where we would find the power to overcome and destroy the evil.’

  Terry and Marion then surprised the others by telling them that the previous night they had both dreamt of a single oak tree, but neither had mentioned it to anyone. Marion reminded them of the drawing Gaynor had made almost two years before, the sketch of the hill with a single tree on the side, which she had felt was certainly involved with their final task. Before they left that night, Gaynor told them that her Lady wanted them to meet again at Terry’s on 12 October, to prepare for something which would take place on the 13th, the anniversary of the fall of the Templars.

  On Monday the 12th, Marion, Gaynor, Graham and Alan met again at Terry’s and Pat’s. Alan was joined by Trevor Johnson, a friend who had expressed interest. For months he had been telling Alan of a series of dreams and psychic impressions he had had, all linked with what was happening. They sat in a circle, awaiting further developments. One or two of them picked up a name, ‘The Mount’, and Marion said she was positive they must go there that night.

  But where was it? Terry suddenly felt it was somewhere near where Penny lived, so they took out a map and studied the area. It was not long before they found the spot, a remote hill, marked ‘The Mount’, about two miles south of the tiny Staffordshire village of Bishops Wood.

  Gaynor suddenly said: ‘We must go there tonight’. Nobody liked the idea of travelling thirty or so miles to meet the unknown at the dead of night. However, she insisted, saying they would be shown something of great importance. So they relented and agreed to go, but Marion insisted that Gaynor must remain behind.

  They set off in Terry’s car. There was a full moon in a cloudless sky. The night-time country landscape was brighter than any of them could ever remember seeing before.

  When they arrived at The Mount, they followed the narrow lane leading almost to its summit, and when they saw the single oak tree standing out on the horizon they knew that this was indeed the right place.

  Alan Beard and Terry Shotton on the mount

  They parked the car and climbed over the gate that led to the grassy field where the tree stood, alone and ominous in the silver moonlight. Drawing near they saw that the old, gnarled oak was exactly as Gaynor had described, with a large hole running through the base of its broad trunk.

  For a time, they walked about aimlessly, until Marion said they ought to link hands round the tree. As they did so, everywhere was silent. Even the light breeze dropped.

  It was shortly after midnight: strange to remember that it was almost exactly two years earlier when the whole thing had started. So much had happened; so many lives had been changed. They had a few moments for reflection. They all knew it would not be long before they would be called upon to confront openly the force of pure evil itself.

  Suddenly, their reveries were broken by a dull rumbling sound. The whole ground appeared to be vibrating, alive with some unimaginable energy. None of them could account for it. It crossed their minds to run, until Marion urged them to remain with their hands linked together around the tree. The noise stopped, and it was silent again. For some moments they heard only their own breathing. They could almost hear their hearts pounding in anticipation. The soft breeze blew once more. All had returned to normal.

  Then the impressions came to them. Somewhere below in the moonlit countryside was the place of immeasurable power. They could just make out the small wood at the foot of the hill as they left the tree and walked to the top of The Mount, the highest point for miles around. There, beside the copse below, they knew were the ruins of an ancient monastic building - White Ladies Priory. They already felt that it might hold the secret. The name itself, could it be coincidental? White Ladies! Penny had told them she had long believed that there they would discover their answer. Now they felt sure. The final secret awaited them at White Ladies Priory.

  When they arrived home, they discovered that at the precise moment they had stood round the tree, Gaynor and Pat had been waiting anxiously when a great wind howled outside, and they had both felt a strong presence enter the front room. Gaynor told them that White Ladies Priory stood near the place they sought. When studying the map, they could see the wood marked next to it, with a small stream passing through. They were positive that this was the place of the final secret of The Nine, the ultimate power to overcome the force of evil. But what was there? What was this place?

  For some time, many of them had believed that they would eventually discover a place of great power. Gaynor, Marion, Alan, Terry, Pat and Penny had all experienced vivid dreams of a grassy earth mound somewhere in a wood, which they had felt to be near the centre of England. They had no idea what it was, but there had been many speculations. An ancient tomb? The tomb of Gwevaraugh or even an Egyptian princess? Perhaps the secret vault in the mystical tradition of the Rosicrucians? Whatever it was, it was there in that small area beside White Ladies Priory.

  By
early November there was nothing to report. No further psychic messages. Gaynor and Marion told the group they must have patience and wait for the right time. To their relief, the psychic assaults had ceased since the blue flash behind Terry’s house.

  One Sunday early in November, they decided to visit the White Ladies site to see if they could learn something more about it. The wood stands about fifty yards from the ruined priory, and a public footpath cuts through it to nearby Hubbal Grange. As they followed the pathway, they noticed to their right a peculiar mound about six feet high and fifteen feet wide, running beside the path for about fifty feet. All the trees upon it were dead. After examining it for some time, they decided that this must be the place they were looking for.

  Alan Beard and Terry Shotton at White Ladies Priory

  Alan, Terry, Marion, Gaynor and Peter Marlow had arrived first, and were joined later by Trevor and his wife. As they examined the area, Terry, Alan, Marion and Gaynor experienced a great despondency. When they tried to explain the feeling to Peter and Trevor, Gaynor suddenly burst into tears. She said she could stand it no longer and returned to the car with Alan and Marion.

  Shortly afterwards, Graham arrived with Andy Collins and two friends, Lynne and Dave, who knew something about the story and wanted to visit the place. None of them had been told what Gaynor had felt. As Graham and Andy talked with the others, Lynne and Dave wandered along the path to look at the mound. A few moments later they hurried back. Lynne was in tears and Dave was shaking. They had been standing on the mound, when all at once they had felt the most awful sensation of depression, a kind of oppressive, black nothingness.

  When Penny Blackwill arrived some time later with her friend Joyce, she too felt that there was something very wrong about the place and refused to stay for any length of time.

  Everyone had expected it to give out a friendly atmosphere; instead it stank of depression.

  What was it about the mound? Although the trees on it were dead, to those who had not tuned in it seemed to be a pleasant, grassy place in a lovely country setting, a babbling brook and the ruined medieval priory nearby.

  In the weeks that followed, a number of other psychics visited the spot and felt the same sense of melancholy, although they had not been told what others had experienced.

  As the weeks passed the feelings became even more acute, and people who had never before received psychic impressions began to undergo the same inexplicable depression at the site. Something terrible was happening there. But what? What was this place of such spiritual darkness?

  The uneasy silence continued as the winter drew on, with still no sign of psychic messages. Gaynor and Marion felt that a great battle was near at hand, when they would have to confront the nameless evil opposing them. They knew they had no choice. But as time passed the waiting grew more and more tense and unbearable.

  On Sunday, 17 January 1982, the waiting was over. Marion phoned Terry and Alan and told them that they must drive over to see her that evening. Gaynor had dreamt of the White Lady again and she knew she had a message.

  So, on that cold winter’s day they journeyed to the Sunderland home, and on Marion’s instructions they sat in a circle to receive the message. Gaynor and Fred joined them. Between 10.20 pm and midnight Marion had the following impressions.

  ‘This is the time that the dragon shall be slain, the time for the destruction of the Evil One.’ She wrote down the words as she heard them: ‘You had to be brought together by me. No previous knowledge could help you.’ And finally, ‘The time is now.’

  She said they must rest as much as possible between now and the thirtieth of January when they would again meet. And Graham must also be there. Finally, she had the impression that someone would be given a series of psychic instructions, but who would be the recipient and what these would involve was still unclear.

  A day or so later, Graham had a dream so unusual and vivid that when he awoke he recorded the details. Thinking how strange it was, he telephoned Marion. She warned him that it was extremely important. He had dreamt that they were to construct a peculiar eight-pointed star, not simply a flat design but three dimensional. Its exact size, shape and colour he had remembered when he awoke.

  When he had told the others of his dream, Trevor Johnson offered to build it for them, and a few days later the star was complete. It comprised two interlocking, three-sided pyramids, with each side just over three feet in length. The outside consisted of eight separate pyramids, each painted a different colour. Purple opposite yellow, blue opposite orange, green opposite red and white opposite black. On the inside it was covered in gold foil. But what were they to do with it?

  As the group waited for the thirtieth to arrive no further instructions came. But something began to happen which caused them considerable alarm. It seemed as if the psychic attacks were about to be resumed.

  It began at Terry’s and Pat’s home one evening, while they were watching TV. The strong smell of a sweet perfume suddenly filled the whole house. Shortly afterwards the same occurred in Alan Beard’s house, and then at the Sunderland home. But as they grew increasingly concerned Marion had the impression that it was, in fact, not an attack but some form of protection for what had to be done.

  Saturday the 30th came without further incident, and Terry, Pat, Alan, Mike and Graham met at the Sunderlands’ Oakenholt home. As previously, they sat round a table in the living room and waited. After only a few moments, Marion and Pat began to feel the familiar presence. Then they received a message, which they were told was of the utmost importance. They were to prepare themselves for the coming conflict, a confrontation with the Evil One itself. This would take place on Monday, 1 February, the festival of Imbolc, and the place for this final confrontation was to be White Ladies Priory. The grassy mound in the woods, where they had felt so much despair, was the Place of Darkness, where an almighty power could be summoned that would destroy the Evil One once and for all.

  For centuries The Nine had known this, the final and most awesome secret. They knew that only the full power of the Meonia Stone could be used to activate this Place of Darkness, and to summon a force so powerful that it could destroy not only any living soul but the evil they sought to oppose. Its might was so terrible that even the ancients had never dared invoke it. When the Stone was used, and the gateway opened, those who were present must be protected otherwise they, too, would be annihilated. This protection would be given within the ruined walls of the Priory. Yet even this was insufficient. They must also make use of the protective power that had been opened for them at the knoll at Saverley Green on 2 October. It was here where the star they had constructed must be employed, as a means of storing the energy that would be made available to them.

  Now they knew! Just after sundown on 1 February nine of them must go to the knoll and take with them the star. When they arrived, they would know what to do. Then they must go to the Priory, taking the sword, the Stone and the star and when they arrived place the Stone on the grassy mound in the wood and quickly seek the protection of the Priory.

  No one liked the idea of leaving the Stone in the wood. It had not left their possession since they had found it. One of them - usually Gaynor or Marion - always had it with them. The message was repeated, and they were told that the Lady herself would appear in order to use the Stone and direct its force against the Evil One.

  Finally, before the influence left, the group asked their most important question. Who or what was the Evil One? There was no direct answer, except that should it appear it would assume the form of a massive bird of prey. Marion shivered, remembering the huge-winged abomination she had seen during her psychic projection to the Rollright Stones over two years before. They asked who should be there. They were told that Gaynor and Marion must be present. The others must be chosen.

  For over an hour, the group sat discussing the situation. Should they go, perhaps to risk everything? To leave the Stone unguarded, to face the full power of the Evil One? There was no c
hoice. They had already experienced something of its awful power. If they failed to stop it now, they would surely meet the fate of Mary Heath and the Order of Meonia.

  They agreed to go. But who would make up the nine? They decided to postpone the decision until morning. The others left, and Graham stayed overnight at Marion’s. That night sleep came uneasily to all of them.

  The following evening Marion was taking her dog for a walk at about seven pm, when she had the strangest feeling she had ever experienced. It was as if the whole world around her had become still and unreal, and she was no longer a part of it. The feeling left as quickly and unexpectedly as it had come.

  Then, at about one in the morning, as she was about to go to bed, the feeling returned. She was sitting in a chair, talking to Graham, after Fred had gone upstairs. This time, Graham also felt it. They stared at each other in amazement. Nothing moved - even the background ticking of the cuckoo clock faded into the distance. As they spoke, their voices echoed as if through a vast, empty hall. Then, they both felt her enter the room: the familiar, reassuring presence of the Lady in White. They saw nothing, but knew she was there. Suddenly they heard her voice, a soft, melodic whisper:

  ‘I have given you a message of deception.’

  As they looked around in disbelief, the voice continued, but neither of them could quite hear what it was saying. It was weird, like the sound of the sea breaking gently on a stony beach, mixed with the calling of gulls and the sound of the whistling wind.

  Marion began to sway and fell back into her armchair. Soon she began to speak aloud the Lady’s words. Graham hurriedly grabbed a pen and paper and wrote down what she was saying: