Giving up around late morning, I returned to the office and tried to find out where I might check out the composition of the orange-red crystals found inside the black envelopes, and also on the black-painted stone retrieved from the Running Well. The news editor, Jonathan Guy, suggested I take them to his old school, Belfairs High. He was sure someone there would take a look at them.
So that lunchtime I left the crystals and folded black envelope with a Mr Paul Lark, one of the science teachers at the school. It would take a couple of days to analyse them, so I was asked to return for the results on Thursday morning.
I telephoned Bernard around 7.30 pm to find out how his day had been. ‘Headachey,’ was his answer, in a subdued manner. ‘I feel drained and exhausted. I’m going to lay low for a few days, regain some strength.’
Any new psychic information?
‘No. I shan’t be attuning to anything,’ he told me. ‘I’m shutting down completely. I don’t need the hassle. I’ll give you a ring if anything happens.’
Replacing the receiver, I decided it was time to take a closer look at the various stone fixing markers discovered the previous evening.
Retrieving the shoebox from the shed, I carried it into the house and took out the first stone for study. Switching on an adjustable table lamp, a bright glow illuminated the piece of stone discovered in Runwell churchyard. It was a length of grey shale, some five inches long. On one of its three faces were, in order, an inscribed number ‘2’, below which was a symbol that looked like a question mark. On the same side was a large matchstick man with its head separated from its body. I put it away.
28. The fixing marker retrieved from Runwell church’s south porch. Note the beheaded matchstick man and inscribed number ‘2’. Next, I took out the thin length of slate removed from the side of the white marble slab located beneath the tower of Rettendon church. It had been fashioned to resemble a sword tip, and was, like the Runwell stone, five inches in length and around one inch in width.
Studying it closely, I realised something significant, but brought out the Lullington spearhead just to make sure of my observations. Yes, I was right, the symbols on one side of the Rettendon stone were identical to those inscribed on the spearhead found in Lullington churchyard eighteen months earlier. Yet those on the Rettendon stone were far clearer and more accurately inscribed.
This time some of the symbols appeared to be more familiar. For example, there were three distinctive words written in a kind of joined-up script. Previously, these had looked totally unfamiliar, leading Nigel Pennick and Prudence Jones to identify them as characters from a Bardic script. Not so any more, for they were clearly letters from the Greek alphabet. Their presence on both the Lullington and Rettendon stones certainly lent weight to our belief that the Black Alchemist was using GraecoEgyptian alchemy and magic from the time of Zosimos of Panopolis, who lived around the year AD 300.
Other symbols also made more sense now. Like the eleventh character in from the left. It was, perhaps, the astrological symbol used to represent the zodiacal influence of Leo. And the eighth character in looked like a Greek epsilon ( ), which corresponds to ‘E’ in our own alphabet. The first two characters in the sequence were familiar as well. They seemed to be the letters ‘C’ and ‘H’, locked together to form some sort of personal monogram. Was this anything to do with the Black Alchemist? It was certainly a thought.
29. The Rettendon sword tip fixing marker. Above, side one showing the same set of symbols as those displayed on the Lullington
spearhead. Below, the reverse showing the triangle representing the well and the spiral leading to an updated Monas symbol.
I was making progress. However, the rest of the symbols still remained a mystery. They did not belong to any magical script I had ever come across before. On the reverse of the Rettendon spearhead was a further series of symbolic images. Nearest the tip, reading downwards, was a large number ‘1’ in the same style as the number ‘2’ on the Runwell stone. Below this was an equilateral triangle, point downwards. From its centre came an anti-clockwise heliacal spiral, which extended beyond the triangle and trailed off as a line down to the base of the stone. At its termination was the symbol for Mercury, diagonally quartered through its arms with zigzags.
An interpretation of this arrangement of symbols seemed easy enough. The triangle, I felt sure, represented two things. First, it was the alchemical symbol for the element of Water, and second, it represented the small triangular piece of land in which the Running Well is situated. The Mercury symbol, and the anticlockwise spiral, symbolised the Ring of Darkness and the spiralling source of the Mercurial energy flow at the Running Well. The zigzags crossing the centre of the Mercury symbol showed how by fixing the ritual at the four marker churches, the ritual trap was strengthened.
What the number ‘1’ meant, I could only guess. Perhaps it indicated that Rettendon was the first of the four churches the Black Alchemist had visited when creating his Ring of Darkness. Yet if this was so, and the four churches had been set up in an anti-clockwise direction, then this made Runwell church the ring’s fourth and final site. However, the number on the stone found there was ‘2’, so the theory did not hold up.
Then I looked at it another way. Perhaps the Black Alchemist had begun his ritual at the Running Well, and then moved out to create the Ring of Darkness, starting at Rettendon and then visiting the other three churches in a clockwise direction, and not in an anti-clockwise direction as I had earlier assumed.
If so, then it explained why the Black Alchemist was able to find the Running Well across the fields, for his cross-country journey had almost certainly taken place whilst it was still light. It also made sense of the number ‘1’ on the Rettendon stone, and why on its reverse was an abstract portrayal of the Ring of Darkness, signified by the clockwise spiral radiating out from the triangle representing the well.
It was a scenario that explained also why the number ‘2’ was inscribed on the stone found at Runwell, for this would have been the second church visited. Over and above all this, it made sense of why Bernard had felt that BA was in the vicinity when we’d passed through South Hanningfield, for as this was the fourth and final church in his Ring of Darkness he might still have been in the area as we reached the church ourselves.
Despite the black cowled figures side-stepping their way around the red-robed Black Alchemist in an anticlockwise direction and, according to Bernard, BA stirring the Running Well in an anticlockwise motion, everything was now falling into place.
Our adversary had created an expanding spiral, beginning at the well and then spreading out to envelop and contain the energies of the chosen four churches.
Clearly, we were to have been drawn into the spiral, ending up eventually at the well where BA had set his trap, which, thankfully, had not worked.
Putting aside this disturbing scenario, I next examined the inscribed stone retrieved from beneath the east wall of Downham church. It measured nearly seven inches in length and was made from a naturally-shaped piece of grey shale. One of its faces was rounded along its length, while the other bore a natural furrow that looked as if it might once have formed the matrix to a fossil, quite possibly a piece of petrified wood.
30. The fixing marker retrieved from Downham churchyard. Note the two matchstick men and the word ‘SOON’ inside the serpent. In the hollowed-out face was, as I had already noted, a scratched outline of a long serpent or snake with two eyes. Inside its body were two small matchstick men representing, I presumed, Bernard and myself. Below these was the word ‘SOON’!
The message seemed clear enough: it would not be long before the two of us had been ensnared in the Black Alchemist’s ritual trap waiting for us at the Running Well. On the other, rounded face of the stone were six of the usual Black Alchemist-style symbols scratched into a narrow flat surface.
Last up was the black-painted stone retrieved from the Running Well, with its gouged out sockets into which had been glued two orange-re
d crystals. It bore no inscribed symbols.
Putting the inscribed stones to one side, I spent the next few hours trying to write up the events of the previous evening.
But it was impossible. I just was not in the right state of mind. A stress headache still dominated my left temple and I felt so tired.
The diary would have to wait. All I wanted to do was sleep.
Wednesday, 8th October. The day was a little more productive work-wise, but uneventful in other ways. At home I continued to write up the diary, and then the telephone rang. It was Bernard. Since he rarely telephoned, something had obviously happened.
‘I’ve got to ask you for permission to be at the Running Well on the evening of Tuesday, 14th October,’ he said, somewhat mysteriously.
That was the last of the nine nights before the Black Alchemist’s death threat deadline. Of course he could be at the well that evening. Why ask me?
‘I’ll explain,’ he began. ‘Yesterday I said I would not attempt to attune to the BA problem until I had fully regained my strength. However, I woke up this morning with a very clear impression. I was “told” that on the final night before the deadline, soon after sunset, I should be at the well ready for some kind of confrontation.’
What kind of confrontation? ‘Don’t know. All I get is that we can expect trouble, and for this reason we need to be prepared on all levels.’
So, it was all going to kick off then? What could we expect— psychic battles? Car loads of hoods turning up with sawn-off shotguns? Perhaps we should enlist the help of a few bodyguards?
‘I’m not sure. We’ll just have to wait and see,’ he laughed, nervously. ‘All the message said was that before I could go up there I had to ask the guardian of the Running Well for permission to be there. So that’s you, isn’t it?’
Me? Possibly. Guardians of sacred sites are a major feature in questing lore, which asserts that ancient and mystical sites possess both an astral guardian and a human guardian. Such people are chosen by the genius loci, the spirit of the place, to preserve not just its presence, but also any knowledge regarding the site’s function and influence on a subtle level. Usually, site guardians either live or work near the site in question.
Obviously, due to the extensive restoration work and research I had carried out at the well, Bernard presumed I was the physical guardian of the site, which would not have amused the owner of the estate on whose land the well is situated. If, however, I was the site guardian, then he could happily have permission to be there on the night in question.
‘Thank you,’ he responded. ‘I get the feeling I will have to sit within a circle of protection inside the well hollow and attune to the surrounding area on a psychic level,’ he now revealed. ‘You, I think, will have to keep watch over the area in readiness for any physical interference, which hopefully there won’t be.’
How long would all this take?
‘No idea. A few hours, I should think.’
I would look forward to it! I needed some kind of closure to this business.
‘I also believe that I now know a little more about the ritual BA carried out at the well,’ he said. ‘It involved the creation of some kind of entity through the combining of two different types of energy, both associated with the influence of Mercury. One male, the other female.’
Was this process connected with alchemy?
‘Yes, I think so. I was also told that this entity was the thought form we encountered in the gap between the hedgerow.’
It made sense. Thought forms could undoubtedly be created through magic rituals. Perhaps the Black Alchemist had used this particular formula to manifest the entity to do his bidding at the well. By coming into contact with it we were obviously meant to have triggered some kind of ritual ensnarement, which could have had very nasty consequences for both of us.
‘Well, quite,’ he replied, a little concerned by the thought. ‘I’ll be in touch if anything else happens.’
To me, alchemy is a very complex and confusing subject. Despite this, I did manage to discover one reference to the process Bernard described. It seemed to concern a stage in the alchemical transmutation where a liquid solution, which includes a base metal such as lead, is mixed with a deposit of liquid mercury. If the desired result is achieved, the mixture separates into two distinct substances—one a white liquid, called Athoeter, or Mercurial water, and the other, a deep red tincture. These substances are known respectively as the White and Red Mercury, and correspond, respectively, to the force of Luna (the moon) as the divine mother, and Sol (the sun) as the divine father.
When eventually brought back together, the two substances are believed to form a mixture described as a deep amber-gold liquid known as the Philosopher’s Gold. This new substance is considered a potent elixir, or life retainer, as well as an essential catalyst employed in the ultimate stages of the alchemical transmutation. It is also the magical liquid necessary to form an alchemical being known as the Mercurius.
The Philosopher’s Gold reminded me of the amber-coloured stain left on my hand after I touched the orange-red crystals glued to the stone pulled out of the Running Well. Quite obviously, the two crystals were meant to have dissolved in the spring water to create an amber-coloured liquid. Was it possible, therefore, that the Black Alchemist had symbolically viewed the well’s water, along with the site’s inherent, female lunar influence, as the White Mercury? If so, then had he symbolically added to this the Red Mercury, the force of Sol, the divine father, in the form of the orange-red crystals, so that he could symbolically transform the well water into the amber-coloured Philosopher’s Gold? Then, once this had been accomplished, had he used the water’s combined psychic influence to breathe life into his own Mercurius—the dark thought form encountered in the gap by the well? I thought it possible.
Yet, in comparison with the rest of Bernard’s telephone conversation, the intricacies of the Black Alchemist’s ritual at the Running Well seemed insignificant. The direct confrontation with our adversary, which from the outset had seemed inevitable, now looked more likely than ever. But would the man dare to venture back into our territory in the knowledge that we would be waiting for him? Bernard thought it possible. If BA really did intend to hang one of us and burn the other, then this could only really be done in the real world.
18 Back to School
Thursday, 9th October, 1986. A female teacher, marking an untidy pile of school exercise books, got up to make me coffee, as I waited patiently in the staff room at Belfairs High to see Mr Paul Lark. He had asked me to return just before the 10.30 break for the results of the crystal analysis.
Minutes later, the continuous drone of the school bell indicated break time and Mr Lark appeared in the doorway.
He greeted me with a polite smile.
‘Oh, er, would you come this way, Andrew,’ he said, beckoning me into the corridor.
I followed. With kids scurrying in every direction, I was led up a staircase to the relative peace of a chemistry laboratory. Clear memories of my own schooldays, carrying out childish pranks and dangerous experiments behind the teacher’s back, came flooding back.
‘It’s not a dangerous substance,’11 the teacher began, handing me back the folded black envelope and a small glass bottle containing the remaining crystals. ‘They are ammonium dichromate, which is strange in itself as, to my knowledge, it can only be obtained in powdered form from industrial laboratories. These crystals must have been home grown using a supersaturated solution.’
Like the copper sulphate crystals I used to grow in large flat bowls in the garden shed. But what would such crystals be used for?
‘Pyrotechnics mainly,’ he explained. ‘Ammonium dichromate is an active ingredient of indoor fireworks. Have you heard of a firework called Snake in the Grass, or another called Vesuvius Fire?’
I struggled to remember.
‘When heated, the powder ignites and burns violently, giving off an irritating dust that leaves a film of black ash whereve
r it falls.’ He moved away. ‘We have a simple experiment to demonstrate its pyrotechnic properties. Would you like to see it?’
I said I would as Mr Lark filled a beaten metal crucible with powdered ammonium dichromate and placed it on a stand over a Bunsen burner. Within seconds of lighting the hissing gas jet, the powder ignited with a ferocious flame, which quickly reduced the entire contents of the bowl to a mass of grey ash and left a bellowing cloud of dust particles wafting about in the air.
31.
Ammonium
Dichromate
crystal
prepared
from a super
saturated
solution.
‘You see what I mean about the irritating dust,’ he exclaimed, running his fingers across the thin dark film now beginning to cover the bench top, before further expounding the properties of the chemical.
Yet my mind was on the Black Alchemist. Why had he chosen to put crystals of this substance inside the sealed black envelope? I felt I understood why he placed the crystals in the well, but why use them as a psychic link between him and us? Why not use real rock crystals of a similar colour, such as garnet or topaz, for instance? Perhaps they were too expensive. And what connection, if any, was there between ammonium dichromate and alchemy? I had to ask.
‘Alchemy?’ the teacher queried, with some curiosity. ‘I don’t know anything about alchemy, but we can look it up.’
The teacher disappeared into a storeroom and returned with an encyclopaedia of chemicals. He searched through its alphabetical listing for ammonium dichromate and, on finding it, read the entry out aloud.
There was no mention of alchemy. All I could conclude was that the Black Alchemist had used this orange crystalline substance as a substitute for Red Mercury. Other than that, its ultimate purpose would have to remain a mystery.
The Black Alchemist: A Terrifying True Story Page 13
