The Society for the Investigation of Spectral Phenomena
Three Depositions of the Poling Down-Fog
St Nicholas Church, church, Poling, West Sussex
I.Background & History
St Nicholas Church stands in the village of Poling, West Sussex, and is a Grade I listed parish church. Its architecture runs from the Saxon period to the fifteenth century. It is built chiefly of flint, with a nave and south aisle, chancel, south porch and west tower.
Within, the walls are whitewashed and the windows plain glazed, with some fragments of medieval glass surviving. The roof is of braced collar construction, carried upon five tie beams bearing carved wooden bosses, some of which were brought from the Fitzalan Chapel at Arundel.
II.The Entity
The Fleece-Walker
A slow company of pale figures that comes walking within the fog, each one stooped beneath what seems a wet fleece or grey blanket thrown over head and shoulders. They keep step with one another but not with the living, and a witness who counts them always finds one more than the eye had first allowed. Beneath the draped wool no face is seen, only the shape of a head turned toward the watcher.
Assessment of Peril
Class IV: Malignant
Of those who have been touched by the fog and its walkers, no fewer than eleven are recorded as lost from the parish, and the survivors of the touch were never again found in their former character. The company is observed to approach any house where it has previously been remarked.
III.The Account
The first deposition is that of Agnes Tolhurst, spinster, aged eighty-one, given in the year 1611 to the rector and set down in his hand. She stated that in the autumn of 1558, in her ninth year, a fog came up off the low fields behind the church at dusk and lay against the flint of the tower like wet wool. Her father went out to bring in the sheep and did not return by morning. His hurdles were found standing, she said, and the flock gathered in the churchyard with their faces all turned toward the porch. She would say no more of that night, save that the fog smelt of a fleece left to rot.
The second deposition is that of her nephew, Thomas Tolhurst, carter, given in 1648 to a Society correspondent. He said his aunt had omitted that the fog came only upon certain nights, when the autumn air was still and the church bell had not been rung. He had himself seen the company within it: grey stooped figures in a long line, each hooded in a heavy fleece, moving from the fields toward the church door. He said they stopped at every house in which someone watched them, and that the watching person was thereafter changed. His wife had gone to the window and stood there until morning, and afterward she would eat nothing but raw wool-grease.
IV.Recorded Manifestations
- ✦A fog rising from the low fields on still autumn nights when the bell has not been rung
- ✦A smell of wet fleece and rotting wool-grease in the nave
- ✦Sheep gathering in the churchyard with their faces turned toward the porch
- ✦The sensation of a heavy damp weight settling upon the shoulders of those who watch
- ✦The carved roof bosses seeming to turn toward the door by night
- ✦Footfalls in step, always one more than can be counted
Testimony of Witnesses
“"They walked in the fog with their heads under the wool, and every one of them knew I was at the glass. I have not slept sound since, nor has my wife slept at all."”
“"I counted nine going in at the porch, and when I counted again there were ten. The tenth was wearing my husband's smock."”
“"The gentleman went into the fog at the gate and I heard him say 'Good evening' to someone. I found him at dawn, and the wet wool smell was on him."”
V.Rite of Expulsion
Difficulty: Perilous
Requisites
- ☐A hand-bell of plain iron
- ☐A shorn fleece, dry and clean
- ☐Seven white candles
- ☐A bowl of clear water from the parish well
- ☐A loaf of unsalted bread
The Rite
- I.Before dusk on a still October evening, close every shutter on the village side of the church and extinguish all lights save the candles.
- II.Place the dry fleece upon the chancel step and the bowl of water before it.
- III.When the fog touches the tower, ring the bell without pause for one hour exactly, never looking toward any window.
- IV.Speak aloud the name of each person lost from the parish, and leave the bread beside the fleece.
- V.As the last stroke dies, sprinkle the water upon the threshold of the porch and say, 'Take your own and go.'
- VI.Remain kneeling with the eyes closed until the church clock strikes the next hour, whatever is felt upon the shoulders.
Caution. On no account may the rite be performed by one who has watched the company from a window. The Society's footnote records that Mr. Cray's colleague, who looked up at the seventeenth minute, was found at dawn kneeling in a fleece he had not brought.
VI.Hauntings of the Surrounding District
Select a bar to filter the register.
Poling Preceptory · Templar Preceptory · 0.7 miles
The Red-Cross Muster, phantom procession. Knights in rotted white mantles ride out of the ruined preceptory at dusk, and none who meet them are seen again.
Slayer's Slab · Tomb · 1.5 miles
The Slab-Sitter, revenant. A heavy figure sits upon the stone at midnight and rises to follow whoever touches it home.
Lyminster Priory · Abbey · 1.5 miles
Sister Candlewick, white lady. A pale nun walks the priory ground with a taper that burns without flame, and her face is never the same twice.
St Margaret's Church · Church · 1.3 miles
The Pew-Cat, spectral animal. A grey cat is seen on the box pews and leaves wet prints, yet the one it stares at sickens within the week.
Arundel Blackfriars · Abbey · 2.3 miles
The Friar of Sealed Lips, spectre. A black-robed friar passes through the old stones with his mouth sewn shut, and those who hear him whisper go mute.
Zachary Merton Hospital · Hospital · 1.7 miles
The Ward-Breather, unclassified entity. Something exhales slowly along the empty corridors at night, and the beds are found stripped and warm.
Arundel Castle · Castle · 2.4 miles
The Rampart Steward, headless apparition. A headless man in livery carries a ring of keys along the battlements and tries every door twice.
Littlehampton Friends Meeting House · Church · 1.8 miles
The Bench-Knocker, poltergeist. Unseen hands rap the benches in the silent meeting, always one knock more than the elders count.
Ecclesden Manor · Manor House · 1.9 miles
The Borrowed Mistress, possession. The lady of the house wakes speaking in another woman's voice and cannot recall her own name.
St Catherine's Church · Church · 2.1 miles
The Lantern-Lender, will-o'-the-wisp. A small blue light offers itself to belated walkers and leads them into the water meadows.
Trinity Congregational Church · Church · 2.4 miles
The Pulpit Mourner, spectre. A weeping man in dissenter's black stands at the pulpit, and his sobbing is heard in the throat of the one who sees him.
Arundel Priory · Church · 2.5 miles
The Quire-Walker, revenant. A monk returns each vespers to a stall that no longer exists and stares at those seated where it stood.
Fitzalan Chapel · Church · 2.5 miles
The Tomb-Greyhound, phantom hound. A pale hound pads beside the carved effigies and lies down, at the last, upon the chest of a sleeper.
Arundel Cathedral · Church · 2.5 miles
The Candle-Snuffer, spectre. A tall shape moves down the nave in the evening, and each light it passes goes out by itself.
Arundel and District Hospital · Hospital · 2.7 miles
The Bell-Pull Matron, poltergeist. Call-bells ring in empty wards, and the room that answers is always the one where someone has just died.
