He studied another tree on the northern edge of the clearing. Using the stick again, he prodded about in the dirt between the exposed roots. The soil was soft. A piece of jagged glass came into view, and then something else—a length of stone, painted black and clearly inscribed with magical signs.
‘Don’t touch it,’ Bernard yelled, stumbling backwards, retching.
Quickly, I doused the stone marker with holy water. Flipping it over with a finger, I gave it a second soaking as I noticed its chilling warning, which read: ‘TO TOUCH IS TO ENSLAVE’.
15. A stone fixing marker is uncovered between the roots of a tree at Shenfield Common. It warns: ‘TO TOUCH IS TO ENSLAVE’. I could see why Bernard did not want me to touch it! After taking photographs of the stone in situ, I looked around for Bernard. My eyes found him sitting down on the opposite side of the clearing, staring out across the railway cutting.
Fearing for his safety, I rushed over to him. He looked as if he was oblivious to what had just happened. Slightly puzzled, I asked him if he was alright. In response, he simply nodded and, in a rather complacent and sombre mood, began to relate a whole series of psychic impressions now pouring through his mind.
‘I see a black doorway,’ he began, in a calm voice. ‘I’m going down a corridor … I’m now in a dark room. There’s a smell of gas … He’s there … “And so the vapours rise … ”’
I could not write down the words quick enough, so lost the next part of the message.
‘It is to do with the stone, by that tree,’ he said, not even bothering to look around. ‘The symbol, which “John” drew and he has now corrected … it will give birth … interference will cease … others will come … The name “John” again. It is the same symbol I saw at Ide Hill, which was incorrect and has now been altered.’
Then came a somewhat more disturbing statement: ‘There’s something else here. I see blood dripping … blood blots … red stuff … numbers … centre of cross … something to do with travelling to the centre of the universe, a rebirth, transformation and sending back out in a changed state. Something sealed.’
16. A sealed medicine bottle is uncovered within a pit in the clearing at Shenfield Common. At this, Bernard stood up and, virtually ignoring my presence, walked almost somnambulistically across the clearing as if looking for something. Where the clearing met the path, he stopped to study a deep, rectangular pit, some three feet by two feet in size, filled with rotting leaves. It seemed significant so, without further word, we began searching among the leaves to see if anything was there.
An out of place object soon revealed itself—a large, brown, cylindrical medicine bottle, its lid sealed with red sealing wax. Inside were folded up pieces of paper, stained with what looked like fresh blood.
Bernard began retching again as he did a double take, stumbling backwards out of the clearing and onto the path. I abandoned everything and ran after him, pleading that he stop attuning to whatever was going on, for his own safety.
Reaching the point where we had stopped on the path to take photographs, I waited in silence as Bernard recovered.
Several minutes and a cigarette later, he was almost back to his usual self, so I suggested we try to find out exactly what was going on here.
Both artefacts were still in situ. Should we leave them where they were? Or should we collect them up and deal with them elsewhere?
17. The Shenfield Common marker and sealed bottle after discovery. The chaotic emanations coming from the stone spearhead would have been neutralised when I doused it with holy water. That, therefore, should give us no further problems. Yet what about the bottle? What were we to do with that?
It almost certainly contained a psychic charge set up by the Black Alchemist that was to have popped out, like some genie from a bottle, the moment we had broken the seal and unscrewed the cap. Nevertheless, its contents would have no effect on us so long as the bottle remained sealed.
So, how might we dissipate, or diffuse, the psychic charge the bottle contained? We could not douse it with holy water, as this would not affect the bottle’s contents.
Bernard did not want to listen, as he still seemed to be out of it. Therefore, at a loss to know exactly what to do, I collected up the artefacts, slipped them into a holdall, and began moving back to the car. We could go for a drink in The Green Dragon, see whether he might pick up any psychic clues there.
Walking away from the clearing, he broke his long silence. ‘Do you know,’ he began, calmly, ‘although we may have outwitted the Black Alchemist on this occasion, and may continue to do so in the future, he’s gathering together a group of dedicated followers who will be able to take over, even if he departs from this world.’
I asked for more information, but he gave none.
11 The Green Dragon
The wooden-panelled lounge bar of The Green Dragon hung heavy with cigar smoke and joviality from the mostly male clientele. Groups of businessmen, some still sporting their city suits, stood in small groups laughing and chatting above the incessant din coming from the jukebox in the corner.
As Bernard placed our drinks on the table and took a seat, I suggested we attempt to put the whole situation into some kind of perspective. I needed to know what exactly had happened in the clearing.
Taking out my notebook, I placed it down in anticipation of his response.
‘I believe he slipped into Essex either under the cover of yesterday’s gales, or during the violent thunderstorms the day before that,’ he offered, before taking a much-needed gulp of Guinness. ‘Then, having chosen his site, he set up his ritual trap before moving quietly back to Sussex.’
I remarked on just how close the area around Shenfield Common was to the M25 motorway, which he would have undoubtedly used to enter the county.
‘But why use Shenfield Common?’ Bernard asked out aloud. ‘Why did he not use Hart Wood? Surely that would have been the most obvious choice.’
I thought for a moment. Why had he used Shenfield Common? A solution came to mind, although before saying anything, I consulted the Ordnance Survey map, just to make sure. Yes, I felt I had an answer. It looked very much as if before the railway line was laid in Victorian times Shenfield Common had formed part of Hart Wood. So, as well as dividing the wood with a deep cutting, the railway had symbolically severed the ‘head’ of the hart.
Whether or not this was so, it was the type of landscape alchemy we had come to expect of the Black Alchemist. The presence locally of a Hart Wood would have been too much of a temptation for him not to have utilised in some way.
‘You’re probably right,’ Bernard admitted, leaning back in his seat. ‘So who is this “John” I picked up on inside the clearing? The one who … ,’ he paused to try and recall his earlier words, ‘ … had not been quite right, so something was changed and corrected by matey? Somehow, it connects with the symbol I drew at Ide Hill,’ he recalled, lighting a cigarette and turning it slightly in his mouth as he drew in smoke.
Of course. The symbol from Ide Hill!
Now I knew who this ‘John’ was. I should have realised. Caroline had been right—the curious symbol seen by Bernard inside Ide Hill church was the Monas Hieroglyphica, the mystical glyph devised by Dr John Dee, the Elizabethan alchemist, astrologer and ritual magician. This was the ‘John’ that Bernard had mentioned out in the clearing. In fact, on the other side of the inscribed stone found at Shenfield Common was the same symbol—Dee’s Monas Hieroglyphica. And yet, as Bernard had suggested, it had been slightly modified by the Black Alchemist for his own purposes. I knew very little about the Monas symbol, but would check it out when I got home.
‘Dr John Dee’, Bernard repeated the name. ‘I think that BA believes this man didn’t quite get the symbol right, so he’s updated it somehow.’
BA (‘bee-ay’)! The obvious acronym for the Black Alchemist!
‘I will even go so far as to say that BA actually believes he corrected the design under the guidance of Dee himself.’
I now moved onto other matters. What about Ide Hill—what had all that been about?
‘It was another ritual trap of sorts,’ Bernard admitted, ‘an attempt to ensnare us for some reason. Ever since Lullington, when we found the original stone spearhead, I’ve had the feeling that there’s more to this whole affair than we know so far.
‘It’s almost as if the Black Alchemist was aware someone would remove that stone from the churchyard. He didn’t know who, or when, only that when they did, he would know.
‘When we were at Ide Hill I actually felt he was there, watching us. I didn’t say anything at the time because it seemed ludicrous.’
So he was there somewhere, mixing with the treasure hunters?
‘Maybe, I cannot be sure,’ he admitted. ‘Perhaps he was watching us on a psychic level, from the comfort of his home.’
But why remove the inscribed stone from Ide Hill church? Was it anything to do with the fact that we had left it too long before going down there?
‘Maybe it was because we went down there mob handed, so the chances of the right person, i.e. me or you, picking it up were greatly diminished. Someone else touching it might have sent confusing impressions back to him, so he removed it and waited for another opportunity to strike.’
So why set up some kind of alchemical womb at Ide Hill using symbolism taken from Zosimos’s dream visions? How did that fit into it?
Bernard sighed as he took a swig from his drink. ‘Perhaps there’s a link between what he’s doing in alchemy and why he’s interested in us. He knew that whoever found that spearhead at Lullington would be a fair match for him. Since then I think he’s been attempting to locate us. Nothing definite, only vague directions. From Sussex, into Kent, and now into Essex. I don’t think he actually knows who we are—not yet at least!’
He obviously knew we were onto him. But why set traps to ensnare us? Why was he trying to track us down?
‘He seems to think we are equal opponents, and is now trying to strengthen the mental link between his mind and ours. By touching his buried objects, or by opening that bottle, he will be able to bring us into his grasp, do his bidding. For what ultimate purpose, I really don’t know.’
Bernard sat back and watched as a group of teenage girls came over and sat together on the table next to us, oblivious to the peculiar nature of our conversation.
He carried on only after they had settled down. ‘The trouble is that BA doesn’t know who he’s dealing with. He must, by now, have realised that we’re not fools. Yet, in a way, that gives him the upper hand—he knows what he’s dealing with, and we don’t.’
We would have to wait and see.
After getting up to buy another round of drinks, I pulled out the inscribed stone, marked with the sinister message: ‘TO TOUCH IS TO ENSLAVE’.
Like the Lullington spearhead, it was a piece of common shale, shaped to look like a spearhead. However, this example was shorter, rougher, wider, and painted black so its inscribed symbols stood out more clearly. On the reverse was the modified John Dee Monas symbol and a line of strange signs, similar to those carved on the Lullington stone. Yet missing from this one were the three words in the strange script which Nigel Pennick and Prudence Jones felt came from a Bardic alphabet.
Placing down the stone, I turned our attentions to the disposal of the sealed brown medicine bottle, with its distasteful contents. What were we to do with that?
I suggested Bernard seek the guidance of the Elizabethan alchemist who had made contact with him at Ide Hill. He had obviously manifested to Bernard for the specific purpose of helping us combat the Black Alchemist, so perhaps he would come forward now.
The psychic agreed. So, with the noise of the crowds and the jukebox reaching a crescendo, I wrote down the guide’s name on a clean sheet in my notebook and asked him to communicate with us.
After a minute or so of silence, Bernard nodded. ‘He’s here. Ask what you want.’
What were we to do with the bottle?
‘He says that inside the bottle are two pieces of paper with blood blots—each the shape of stars.’
I wrote this down.
‘Each of these pieces of paper,’ Bernard tried to explain, as a bellow of deep laughter issued from a crowd of middle-aged men in front of us, ‘ … has been impregnated with psychic interference. The bottle was sealed to contain a message that was meant to affect us. It was to have given him images of us. It would have acted like a drug hallucination, causing the appearance of supernatural manifestations.’
So what should we do with it?
Bernard went quiet again. ‘He says: “Use Catholic incense.” You must open it enclosed in this, with four bowls of holy water, one at each of the points.’
Did he mean each of the cardinal points, the four quarters— north, south, east and west—which, in magical terms, represent the directions from which the four elemental forces of Earth, Water, Air and Fire originate?
‘He says yes,’ Bernard confirmed, still miles away from the hearty activities going on around us in the pub. ‘He also says it was him who influenced me to pick up the stick and quarter the clearing in the same way. It drained the energies away to the four quarters. The same thing will happen once the negative energies are released from the bottle.’
Now I knew what to do. But whilst the guide was still on the line, so to speak, I asked Bernard to ask him whether he could tell us why exactly the Black Alchemist had set up his trap in the woods at Shenfield Common?
After a few moments of silence, he give his reply. ‘He says it was an attempt to get near us before any final action is taken.’ There was another pause, before he said: ‘“Do not treat other worlds too lightly.” That appears to be his parting message.’
18. The two faces of the Shenfield Common fixing marker. Back home I scoured my bookshelves for any books containing information on Dr John Dee and his so-called Monas Hieroglyphica. This I discovered was not just a mystical symbol but also the title of a book written by the Elizabethan magus in 1564. It outlined Dee’s belief that the Monas was a talisman embodying all the forces of the universe.
It was a magical formula combining Cabalistic, alchemical and geometrical science to enable the possessor to climb up and down the scales of being, from the lowest to the highest realms of ethereal existence. By contemplating it initiates could absorb these powers and experience transformation.
Dee praised God for allowing the Monas to give men ‘such great wisdom, power over creatures and large dominion’. He explained also how the dot in the centre of the Monas’s circle represented ‘the centre of all things’. No wonder the Black Alchemist was showing so much interest in this symbol. Somehow he must have come to the conclusion that the Monas was a visual key essential to the success of his alchemical transmutation.
Despite all this useful information, I still did not fully understand what the Black Alchemist had been up to at Ide Hill. All that business about Zosimos’s Priest of the Sanctuary dream, the body and womb of a woman, and a ritual birth. It seemed like an awful lot to have gone through just to ensnare us in some kind of occult trap. It just didn’t add up. Something more was going on.
I could sense it, and so could Bernard. In the midst of a rising cloud of incense out in the back garden, I broke the seal on the medicine bottle and asked the four archangels—the archaic forces governing each of the four cardinal points—to carry away the negativity it contained. Inside were two pieces of paper, ink blotting paper to be more precise. On each one was a crude star-like pattern in what looked like fresh blood, yet was, on closer scrutiny, simply red ink. With the ritual complete, I closed down the proceedings, cleared up the mess and went to bed.
19. The blood-like stains inside the bottle found at Shenfield Common.
12 St Anne’s Castle
Thursday, 2
9th May, 1986. For once, we tried a different pub. It was the turn of St Anne’s Castle in Great Leighs, opposite the Essex showground, some miles north of Chelmsford on the A131 Braintree road.
After seating ourselves at a table in the quaint fifteenthcentury inn, Bernard reached into his jacket pocket and slid out a bunch of folded notes. It was a four-page commentary on the events surrounding our visit to Shenfield Common the previous week.
I then asked the inevitable question—had he picked up any further information since then?
A knowing smile emerged on his face. ‘Well, on Saturday night I decided to sit down in the dining room and just let my mind wander. I drew the Monas symbol on a clean sheet of paper and waited. I wasn’t sure what would happen, or whether I was doing the right thing.’
And what happened?
I lit a Marlboro and waited in anticipation.
He responded by producing a further sheet of lined paper. On the top was the Monas symbol and below were a series of written statements, yet not in Bernard’s usual careful handwriting. They were quickly scrawled responses inspired by his concentration.
I read them quietly:
Embodies all dark powers of universe. Think of this symbol. You will absorb all the powers and transform. Will give power over all creatures and areas of land. The point is the centre of all things.
They appeared to be statements concerning the occult virtues of the Monas Hieroglyphica. Each one had come to him gradually over a period of nearly half an hour, following which he had written: ‘Nothing more coming.’ Yet then, in a large, clearly automatic script his pen had suddenly scrawled: ‘If the circle closes a message will come’, after which he had commented in his own hand: ‘I was wrong. Don’t know who gave this.’
It was relatively interesting material, although it did not further our understanding of the Black Alchemist’s activities.
The Black Alchemist: A Terrifying True Story Page 8
