A Groping and Random Fashion: Ghosts in the Harford Hills

Easter Sunday morning skulking in the woods, and I came across the remains of a haphazard campsite / drug den. A thin plastic sheet erected from a few branches, blowing in the wind, put me in mind of a certain M R James bedsheet ghost: "... at once the spectator realised, with some horror and some relief, that it must be blind, for it seemed to feel about it with its muffled arms in a groping and random fashion..."

Selected Ambient Dread

Deadstock: The Derelict Norwich Livestock Market

The derelict site of the old cattle market, Norwich, at dawn.

Of All the Days: The Derelict Church of St Wandregesilius, Bixley

Not far south of Norwich, the site of the ruins of the parish church of the tiny hamlet of Bixley nonetheless feels as isolated a spot in East Anglia. Down a dirt track, surrounded by chest-high nettles and weeds, and fields beyond, the church of St Wandregesilius dates back to 1272. In 2004, it was gutted by arson, the fury of the flames still clearly evident today.

The church is notable in its own small way for being the only dedicated to Wandregesilius, the Latinised name for Wandrille, an obscure seventh century monk and hermit. The date of his death, and that of his feast, is, coincidentally, the date I wandered round the ruins of his church: July 22nd.

And Now I'm Here Drunk Because the World Has Beat Me

Decay Dogs: Great Yarmouth Quay

Wandering around the quays of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.

Happy (It Will Be Removed)

Derelict lot near the train station, Cambridge.

Underworld

King's Lynn, Norfolk.