The Society for the Investigation of Spectral Phenomena
The Rector's Private Memoranda on a Gown at Betsom's Hill
Betsom's Hill, downland hill, Westerham, Kent
I.Background & History
Betsom's Hill is a hill on the North Downs, lying between Westerham and Tatsfield at the western edge of Kent. It stands close to the place where the A233 crosses the Downs on its way to Biggin Hill. This is the highest part of the North Downs, with Botley Hill, the highest point, lying close by to the west.
The hill sits at the western end of the Kent Downs, an area of outstanding natural beauty. It is open, chalky and exposed country, with long views and little shelter, and the Society's records of it before the 1950s are slight.
Source: Betsom's Hill, Wikipedia
II.The Entity
The Pinning-Bride of the Ridge
A tall woman in a wedding gown of yellowed grey silk, seen on the ridge-track with her back turned and her arms held slightly from her sides as though being fitted. The gown is always a little too large for her, and where it hangs empty at the shoulders the wind does not move it. Those who have seen her face say there was none that they could keep, only the impression of someone waiting to be told that the hem was true.
Assessment of Peril
Class IV: Malignant
Those who have handled the gown have been found fitted to it in the manner of the Pinning-Bride, and four are recorded as having walked up the hill in the night and not come down. Her attention, once gained, is not withdrawn.
III.The Account
The following is drawn from the private notebook of the Reverend H. T. Alderley, who kept it between the pages of his sermons for the parish nearest the hill from the autumn of 1953. We reproduce it as it was found, with the sermon fragments omitted. The first entry reads: 'Mrs. Pocock, who does the brasses, brought to the vestry a parcel found on the ridge-track below Betsom's Hill, a wedding gown of grey-yellow silk, neatly folded. I laid it in the vestry press and locked it. Preached on Martha and Mary.'
The second entry, a week later: 'The press was open. The gown lay across the vestry chair, one sleeve out, as though someone had been about to put it on. I assumed Mr. Dunne, the verger, had been careless; he swears not. I have folded it again, and I confess that the silk was warm, as a seat is warm when someone has just risen from it. Sermon on Hebrews, the cloud of witnesses. I could not finish the page.' Over the following winter he moved the gown to a drawer, a trunk, and at last the tower room. Each morning it was found laid out upon the nearest chair, smoothed and with the sleeves arranged. The hem, he noted, was always turned a little shorter than the day before, as if pinned up by a hand at the knees of someone standing very still.
IV.Recorded Manifestations
- ✦A gown of yellowed grey silk found laid out on chairs and benches each morning, however it was locked away.
- ✦The silk is warm to the touch, as though lately worn.
- ✦The hem is found a little shorter each day, with pin-holes in the silk that no needle accounts for.
- ✦A figure on the ridge at dusk with its back turned and arms held from its sides.
- ✦Persons who have handled the gown are found standing motionless, arms outstretched, with no memory of the hours passed.
- ✦A smell of orris and cold chalk in rooms where the gown has lain.
Testimony of Witnesses
“"I found it folded neat as a pin, and when I went back it was off the shelf and laid out for someone to step into. I'll not touch it again, and I'll not be in that room after four o'clock."”
“"I am not a fanciful man. I stood in my own surgery with my arms held out like a scarecrow, and I tell you, sir, that I was being pinned."”
“"There was the parson on the top, quiet as a post, in a woman's dress the colour of old teeth. I called to him and he did not turn, and I did not call twice."”
V.Rite of Expulsion
Difficulty: Perilous
Requisites
- ☐A new-sewn linen shroud-cloth, unhemmed
- ☐A brass thimble
- ☐Twelve steel pins in a saucer of salt
- ☐A candle of unbleached tallow
- ☐A Book of Common Prayer
The Rite
- I.1. Carry the gown to the ridge-track below Betsom's Hill before dusk and lay it on the ground, face upward, without once looking at the horizon.
- II.2. Light the tallow candle and set the saucer of pins at the left shoulder of the gown.
- III.3. Read the Order for the Burial of the Dead, taking care to keep the arms at the sides throughout.
- IV.4. At the stroke of midnight, hem the unhemmed linen cloth and lay it over the gown, using the thimble.
- V.5. Pass each of the twelve pins through both cloths and name aloud one who has been taken.
- VI.6. Extinguish the candle with the fingers and depart by the way you came, not turning your head.
Caution. The Society records that Mr. E. Fenner, of the Committee, turned his head at the fifth pin in 1958 and was found at dawn standing in the road with his arms held out, speaking in the voice of a woman. He has not been restored.
VI.Hauntings of the Surrounding District
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Westerham Wood · Ancient Wood · 0.9 miles
The Charcoal-Burner's Spark, will-o'-the-wisp. A small yellow flame goes before late travellers among the old coppice stools, and those who follow it are found at dawn in the same clearing, each facing a different tree.
Squerryes Court · Manor House · 1.9 miles
The Laundry-Maid of the Back Stair, spectre. A girl in a wet apron is seen carrying a basket that is never empty, and the linen in it is always the sleeper's own.
Titsey Place · Manor House · 1.9 miles
The Rapping Steward, poltergeist. A methodical knocking moves through the walls at the hour of the rent audit, and stops at the door of whoever is next to fail.
Tandridge Priory · Abbey · 2.7 miles
The Silent Canons of the Cloister Wall, phantom procession. Hooded figures file along a wall that no longer stands, and the watcher finds one more than the number he first counted at his own shoulder.
Old Jail · Old Inn · 1.9 miles
The Gaoler with the Short Key, revenant. A man in a leather apron tries the inn's doors by night, and the locks are found turned in the morning from the wrong side.
St Katharine's Church · Church · 2.5 miles
The Churchyard Ewe, spectral animal. A thin white ewe stands among the graves at dusk, and her bleating comes in the voice of someone lately buried.
Church of St Peter · Church · 2.7 miles
The Bell-Rope Drover, headless apparition. A headless drover leads a team of spectral oxen past the lychgate on the eve of burials, and the bell is found already swinging.
Chartwell · Manor House · 3.2 miles
The Easel Hand, possession. Those who paint in the long room find their brushes moving toward a face that is not theirs, and it is always the face of someone about to die.
St Mary's Church · Church · 3.3 miles
The Lych-Path Lurcher, phantom hound. A lean grey dog paces the funeral path at the pace of a bearer, and any who meet its eye are dead within the year.
All Saints Church · Church · 3.3 miles
The Lady of the Chancel Draught, white lady. A pale figure kneels at the rood-screen, and the candles lean from her as though from a cold wind though the doors are barred.
Chevening · Manor House · 3.3 miles
The Map-Room Clerk, spectre. A stooped man unrolls charts of lands no one has surveyed, and those who read them find their own village drawn at the edge.
St Mary's Church · Church · 3.3 miles
The Bellows-Boy, revenant. A pale lad who once blew the organ is heard pumping in the empty loft, and the notes that sound are those of the next funeral.
Barrow Green Court · Ancient Burial Site · 4.0 miles
The Mound-Sitter, unclassified entity. Something squats on the barrow at dusk, so low and still that it is taken for a stone until the stone is seen to be nearer.
Holy Trinity Church · Church · 3.5 miles
The Christening Train, phantom procession. A small party in Sunday dress carries a bundle to the font at midnight, and the bundle is quite silent and quite heavy.
1980 Biggin Hill Invader crash · Downland Hill · 2.6 miles
The Hill Plover, spectral animal. A solitary bird cries over the heath at the hour of old engines, and flies always toward the person who has just stopped to listen.
