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| Anonymous |
 Posted: 26-09-2002 13:17 Post subject: Charles Walton - An Unsolved Occult Murder |
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Well, searched the site and found no threads on this subject yet. Could easily have slipped beneath peoples radars, or may just be lurking in the background of most peoples fortean knowledge. But the story has cropped up from separate sources throughout my interest in wierdness and I thought I would bring it to peoples attention.
Basic summary:-
An unsolved mystery from February 14th 1945 when Charles Walton, a 74 year old farm labourer from Lower Quinton in Warwickshire, well-liked if eccentric but certainly no known enemies was murdered in an occult fashion. With no known motive, or witnesses in an otherwise sleepy rural village, Robert Fabian, a famous Detective Superintendent from London attempted to solve the case but came up against a wall of silence and constant hints of witchcraft.
| Quote: | Charles Walton was a popular and well liked member of the community, although regarded as slightly eccentric by some, and with a mixture of suspicion and respect by others. It was well known that there was something a little peculiar about Walton, wild birds would flock to him to be fed from his hand, and he had the ability to tame wild dogs using only his voice. He was well versed in country lore, rather too well according to some people, and seemed to know much about the old ways of the countryside. Few areas of Britain have a deeper association with traditional witchcraft than Warwickshire and privately it was accepted that Walton was involved with the various covens operating in the area. Despite this, it seems that Walton had few if any enemies and could number most of the village amongst his friends...
After a short search of the area the group came across Charles Walton's body. He had been brutally murdered with his own trouncing hook, which still lay embedded in his throat, and then pinned to the ground with his hayfork. A large cross had been carved deeply into Walton's chest and neck and the blood from this wound had soaked the ground surrounding the body. The Police were immediately summoned and such had been the ferocity of the attack that it took two constables to remove the hayfork from the ground. Waltons mutilated body was carried down the hill into the village and a major Police investigation began...
Fabian tended to agree, but Spooner, who had already been doing his own research, then produced a book which was to give the crime an entirely different angle. The book, Folklore, Old Customs and Superstitions in Shakespeareland, had been written by J. Harvey Bloom, a local vicar, in 1929. Spooner had underlined a passage in the book which told of how, in 1875, "a weak minded young man killed a woman named Ann Turner with a hayfork because he believed she had bewitched him"
Further on in the book, another page had been marked. This told of how in 1885, a plough boy by the name of Charles Walton had encountered a large black dog on nine successive days while on his way home from work. On the last occasion, the dog was accompanied by a headless woman. Of course legends about black dogs are not rare, especially in rural areas, and there had long been stories of a ghostly black dog on Meon hill that heralded death to those it appeared to, but was it possible that this Charles Walton was the same person ?
Spooner then handed Fabian another book, Warwickshire, published in 1906. The author, Clive Holland, another local man, described the murder of Ann Turner in greater depth and additionally he included an account of the trial of John Hayward who was eventually found guilty and hanged. In his defence, Hayward stated that he considered he was acting for the good of the whole community as Ann Turner had "bewitched the cattle and land of local farmers". He said that he had "pinned her to the ground with a hayfork before slashing her throat with a bill hook in the form of a cross". Holland explained that this was an ancient and traditional way of killing a witch and was known to have existed in Anglo-Saxon England where it was called 'stacung' or 'sticking'. It was believed that this was the only way to prevent the dead witch rising from the grave...
Fabian reluctantly turned to the witchcraft theory and discovered that according to the old Julian calendar in use until the Middle Ages, February 14th actually fell on February 2nd which, according to local superstition was traditionally the best day for a blood sacrifice. At this point of the year the earth was just beginning to recover from the winter and a ritual sacrifice was seen as a certain way to ensure a good harvest would follow. As Fabian pursued this line, he found a general reluctance amongst the local people to talk about it, in fact one man was heard to say that Walton was "dead and buried so there was nothing to worry about". The probability that Walton had played the leading role in some sort of pagan fertility sacrifice seemed so unlikely that, faced with a barrage of silence from anyone questioned about it, Fabian decided to look elsewhere.
The last line of enquiry was that of Walton's past, but nothing was found there either, except for the strange disappearance of Walton's money. It seemed that when Walton's wife had died in 1927, she left him a sum of £297, which was quite a considerable amount. He was known to have placed it in a building society but when Police investigated, the balance was only £2 11s 9d. It was estimated that his weekly outgoings were certainly no more than £2 per week and anyway he had worked all his life and been a man of very frugal habits. Some 60 shillings was found in his house but the remainder was never accounted for and no explanation was ever given for its disappearance.
As the inquiry drew to a close, Fabian took one last walk up the hill to the site of the murder, "a bleak and lonely place", as he recalled it in his memoirs. As he looked around, a large black dog ran past him. Shortly afterwards a young boy came up the hill and Fabian asked whether he had lost his dog. When the boy looked puzzled, Fabian explained that he'd just seen a large black hound, at which the boy gasped and turning, ran as fast as he could down the hill. Later that day, a large black dog was found dead, hung by its neck from a tree next to the murder scene and the same evening, a police car ran over and killed a similar dog in a lane near the village.
At the time of writing, the file on the murder of Charles Walton remains open, and in Warwickshire Police archives it is still possible to see the weapons used to commit the crime. Despite the efforts of various writers, journalists and occultists through the years, we are still no closer to finding the killer than Fabian was in 1945.
Visiting the village today, one cannot help noticing that the older inhabitants are still reluctant to talk about Walton's death, and some of those that will talk suggest that a cover-up may have taken place. There is certainly the suggestion that some people know rather more than they are admitting to. Whatever the truth about the awful events at Meon Hill on Valentines Day 1945, it is certain that they will continue to intrigue people for many years to come.
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The full unabridged article can be found on the Dragon's Hoard Website
It makes for fascinating reading. |
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ogopogo3 Just a CabbageHead Joined: 25 Oct 2001 Total posts: 1684 Location: Minnesota Age: 41 Gender: Male |
| Posted: 06-10-2002 19:32 Post subject: Cult murder in India |
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http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/oct/04bhu.htm
Seven-year-old boy sacrificed to goddess Kali
A seven-year-old boy, Sitakanta Behera, was sacrificed on the night of October 1 apparently to appease goddess Kali, police said on Friday.
Behera was kidnapped from his house, in Ranjagola village in Dhenkanal district, on the night of September 29 while he was asleep.
His father Pramod Behera lodged a complaint at local Balimi police station after which a police team led by district Deputy Superintendent of Police Banamali Mishra searched for the kidnappers.
The police picked Arta Sahu (23) from Ranjagola village, who confessed to kidnapping and sacrificing Sitakanta before goddess Kali in a temple located in a nearby forest in the same district.
Sahu said he had a dream that he would die if he did not sacrifice the boy to the deity.
When the police team raided the temple, they discovered severed body parts from different pits around the temple.
"We have arrested Sahu and registered a murder case against him under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code," a district police official told rediff.com. |
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| Anonymous |
| Posted: 06-10-2002 21:30 Post subject: |
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| No mention of funny rocks yet, then...? |
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| Dennis_De_Bacle Joined: 25 Nov 2002 Total posts: 4608 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 03-05-2003 03:13 Post subject: Murdered witch Trial |
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| Quote: | Witchcraft fan 'had mum under spell'
Man murdered on moors had 'bad aura', jury is told
by Staff Reporter
A mother whose two sons are accused of murdering a witchcraft enthusiast from Cumbria had been put 'under a spell' by him, a court heard.
A friend of Melanie Payne - the ex-lover of victim James Bowman - told a jury yesterday that he had been a womaniser who had also practised the religion of Wiccan Wichcraft.
Leeds Crown Court heard how her friend Janesse Mousea did not like Mr Bowman when she met him because he was "smelly and dirty."
Rituals
Mrs Mousea told the jury of 6 men and 6 women why she took a dislike to unkempt, spectacle-wearing Mr Bowman. She told the court that people have their own auras, saying: "Some people have bright ones but his was grey".
She added that she was also scared by his interest in witchcraft - a form of religion that involves magic, spells and rituals.
"James Bowman was into witchcraft and I am not interested in it," she said.
"I was concerned that Melanie was associating with him. Witchcraft is more for self-gratification and I didn't want to get into that."
When asked if if witchcraft would have anything to do with him being dominating in sex. Mrs Mousea replied: "He definitely had Mel under a spell."
Mr Bowman usedto live in a caravan near Carlisle and at an address in Workington. His ex-wife Beatrice still lives in Firth View Walk in the town.
Mr Bowman's battered and stabbed body was found on moorland in West Yorkshire on September 15 last year.
The court heard how Mrs Payne, 45 had become scared that Mr Bowman who was 44, may harass her after she threw him out of the family home in Cornholme, Todmorden, West Yorks.
Her sons Daniel Delker, 23, and Nicholas Grundy, 22, together with a friend, David Sandham, 24, are accused of his murder.
It was alleged that they went out onto Todmorden Moor to warn him to stay away from their mother. They deny the murder charge.
Mrs Mousea, who is in her 40s, told how Mrs Payne practised a religion called Shambhala.
Her interest in the supernatural took her to a psychic fair in the spring of last year, where she had met Mr Bowman.
The trial continues. |
source News and Star |
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| Jerry_B Great Old One Joined: 15 Apr 2002 Total posts: 8265 |
| Posted: 03-05-2003 10:39 Post subject: |
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| Well, it's a good job such stuff is irrelevant in court. |
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| Anonymous |
| Posted: 06-08-2003 04:08 Post subject: Occult Related Crimes |
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| Looking for a website (or websites) that document crimes with ties to occult activity (satanic rituals, vampires, demons, possessed people etc.) I'm not expecting them to be considered "real" just interested in reading the M.O.s of the criminals. anything unsolved would be a perk. thanks |
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| Breakfastologist Great Old One Joined: 31 Jul 2001 Total posts: 935 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 06-08-2003 14:02 Post subject: |
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| Not real crimes? |
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| MrRING Android Futureman Joined: 07 Aug 2002 Total posts: 4196 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 06-08-2003 14:31 Post subject: |
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Here are a site that seemes relevant:
http://labyrinth13.com/index.htm
It has some stuff on the Zodiac killer and the Process Church/Manson connections
As far as cases I can remember a little something about:
There was a old fellow murdered in Europe somewhere with a pitchfork around the turn of the century (1906 or so). As investigators worked, it turned out the town believed he was a witch, and that he may have been killed because of bad times with local crops & livestock.
Is there any occult references to the Moonlight Murderer in the Arkansas area in the 30's or 40's? |
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| Anonymous |
| Posted: 06-08-2003 14:46 Post subject: |
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| Would that be the Charles Walton case? That was in 1945 or so... there'll be sites aplenty on the web. |
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| luciferrofocale Yeti Joined: 07 Jun 2002 Total posts: 41 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 06-08-2003 14:46 Post subject: project pitchfork |
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93,
The pitchfork 'ritual murder' is discussed and roundly trashed in Gerald Gardner's 'Meaning of Witchcraft'.
93 93 93
Peter Grey |
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| MrRING Android Futureman Joined: 07 Aug 2002 Total posts: 4196 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 06-08-2003 20:50 Post subject: |
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Found a link for Charles Walton:
http://www.whitedragon.org.uk/articles/charles.htm
Listen to the description of the body, which definately shows an attempt to ward off his "evil" **WARNING: SOME GORY DETAILS**:
After a short search of the area the group came across Charles Walton's body. He had been brutally murdered with his own trouncing hook, which still lay embedded in his throat, and then pinned to the ground with his hayfork. A large cross had been carved deeply into Walton's chest and neck and the blood from this wound had soaked the ground surrounding the body. The Police were immediately summoned and such had been the ferocity of the attack that it took two constables to remove the hayfork from the ground. Waltons mutilated body was carried down the hill into the village and a major Police investigation began.
It also reminded me of the murder of Bridget Cleary , who IIRC was murder by her husband, tortured and killed, because he thought she was of the fay. Here is a link for her sad story:
http://www.controverscial.com/Fairy%20Witch%20of%20Clonmel.htm
Last edited by MrRING on 06-08-2003 21:08; edited 1 time in total |
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| MrRING Android Futureman Joined: 07 Aug 2002 Total posts: 4196 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 06-08-2003 20:54 Post subject: |
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Just found a better link for Charles Walton:
http://www.controverscial.com/Murder%20by%20Witchcraft.htm
And here is aninteresting little bit from the page - ever hear of a "witch glass"? Thee was one found in his watch 15 years after his murder - found in the area searched by police originally.
The general consensus of opinion amongst the villagers was that this was a piece of witch glass, used to either reflect or absorb any evil thoughts that had been directed at its owner. The odd thing abut this find was that the police had searched the building shortly after the crime and found nothing, so it appears that the killer must have returned at some point later to deposit the watch. Why had the murderer felt it necessary to take such a large risk in returning the watch, when he could easily have disposed of it by other means ?
Last edited by MrRING on 06-08-2003 21:01; edited 1 time in total |
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| Anonymous |
| Posted: 06-08-2003 23:22 Post subject: |
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| Breakfast wrote: |
Not real crimes? |
by "real" I mean suspected to be demons vampires, etc. lol
thanks for the links, give me some long reading after work |
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| Spookdaddy Cuckoo Joined: 24 May 2006 Total posts: 3924 Location: Midwich Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 07-08-2003 19:47 Post subject: |
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| Mr. R.I.N.G. wrote: |
It also reminded me of the murder of Bridget Cleary , who IIRC was murder by her husband, tortured and killed, because he thought she was of the fay. |
There's a book by Angela Bourke concerning the case called The Burning of Bridget Cleary. E F Benson, better known for his ghost stories and the Mapp and Lucia series was very interested in the case and wrote an essay/article on the subject which was, I think, published in the contemporary press. |
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| zygmunt_rocks_on rider on the highway Joined: 19 Aug 2001 Total posts: 299 Gender: Unknown |
| Posted: 29-09-2003 15:04 Post subject: |
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How strange. I was just thinking the same thing... It's so Fortean it hurts... I can't believe I'd not heard of this before today! Almost a year to the day since the OP, I was doing a google for "Fred West" and this came up:
http://www.missingpersons-ireland.freepress-freespeech.com/didfredwestmurdertoorder.htm
which claims a witchcraft link between the Hagley Wood murder, Charles Walton and the Fred West murders.
The Walton murder i find paricularly fascinating, not least this bit:
"This told of how in 1885, a plough boy by the name of Charles Walton had encountered a large black dog on nine successive days while on his way home from work. On the last occasion, the dog was accompanied by a headless woman. Of course legends about black dogs are not rare, especially in rural areas, and there had long been stories of a ghostly black dog on Meon hill that heralded death to those it appeared to, but was it possible that this Charles Walton was the same person ?"
It's almost a 'horned god' scenario... a 'chosen one' sacrificed for the sake of the fertility of the land. |
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