West Midlands Ghost Club

 

Monday March 8th 2021

As mentioned many times previously on this blog, Great Barr and Barr Beacon have, for a long time now, been sites of considerable interest to the West Midlands Ghost Club.  In brief, we have seldom come across such a relatively small region so incredibly rich in, quite varied, ghostlore....  This is made all-the-more intriguing by the simple fact that a lot of the area involved is semi-rural in nature and greatly unsullied by human presence.  Still, this greatly 'open' area is absolutely littered with completely diverse tales and accounts, making it a perplexing patchwork of ghostly tales and incredible weirdness!?

It is always a great pleasure to be able to add another story to the already bulging collection of strange scenarios in this region, so we were overjoyed to be presented with this incident only a few nights ago:     

One night, around a decade or so ago, three lads were walking home from a bonfire at a local rugby club.  Their journey took them along the A4041, Queslett Road, near the former St. Margaret's Mental Hospital ('Maggies') in Great Barr.

Passing a particular spot, the group saw some lights in a field that backed on to a wooded area.  For some 15 minutes or so, the lights were flashing from one side of the field to the other, as if someone were toying with a flashlight.  The light would stop for 10 to 15 seconds, then start again.  The peculiar thing was, the light would sometimes be seen 'above' the tree line... as if somehow floating above the distant canopy... then traveling back to ground level?

A cold night, two of the group protested that they were freezing and tried to encourage the third to carry on with their journey, but he says that he knew "something wasn't right, which, weirdly, made me want to watch it more; wait for it to come back....."

As the three stood there - the large, completely empty field spreading out in front of them - a 'white horse' suddenly 'appeared'......  This animal was larger than any horse our confidante had ever seen before and literally 'glowing' white! 

But the 'physical appearance' wasn't what shook the boys; it was that the animal 'appeared out of thin air', in front of them..... and it was already 'running at a gallop' when it materialised!?  (*The Gentleman informs me that he has purposefully returned to the same spot maybe 3 times since the encounter, standing on the site of their experience, and - on a recent visit - took this photograph, below.  We're told that the horse appeared just in front of the position of the lone tree in the middle-ground).

 

Upon seeing the horse, all three lads instantly ran across to the other side of the A4041 - a normally busy thoroughfare - without even thinking to check for oncoming traffic!  Only upon reaching the opposite side did they consider looking back, but there was no sign of the animal at all, by that point......?  Still, they subsequently 'ran all the way home', having been so thoroughly rattled by the sighting!

As with many such 'shared' experiences, the lads - upon meeting up again - had often spoken of their encounter and refer to it as 'The White Horse'.  In his most recent return to the site, the man was reminded that he had once, briefly, posted to our blog about this matter, leaving brief data on one of our Great Barr related stories. This thought had, thankfully, inspired him to re-establish contact with us and explain the experience in some detail.  The hope was, given the peculiarity of the matter, that someone else might have possibly encountered something similar and, in seeing this note, potentially let us know of their story too?

While we couldn't exactly add anything to the 'equine' aspect of the experience in this specific location, it had to be mentioned that there are actually a number of 'horse-related' tales attached to the immediate area!  For many years now there have been tales of a 'phantom coach' haunting the region, the sound of which is often heard in Chapel Lane, near St. Margaret's Church.  The coach was also 'seen' by someone in a location just off the aforementioned Queslett Road too.  In the former hospital grounds, I was once told that one patient would often speak of seeing a 'horse and rider' from the window of their room, but, because of their unfortunate condition, this information was always dismissed as some form of hallucination.  One morning however, a member of staff (the person who informed me of this matter) happened to glance out of the window concerned and swears that they saw the rear end of a horse and rider just in the process of vanishing from view, around the corner of the building!?  A similar sight was witnessed by a young boy delivering newspapers one morning, on a housing estate about a quarter of a mile away, during the 1950's.  The form that he saw was vague and misty, but in the general shape of a woman on a horse!  Many years ago, at the crossroads of nearby Chapel and Crook Lanes, it is claimed that a number of horses (being led by a group of men) 'froze solid' upon hearing the chimes of St. Margaret's Church clock, marking midnight?  The animals refused to budge a centimeter, despite the desperate urging of the drovers, until the chimes stopped... upon which they seemingly carried on, un-flustered.....!?

Returning to our 'White Horse' account, however, there is one aspect of this particular experience that - while not horse related - was a DEFINITE eye-opener for me!  In recently relating the story, the man concerned was (I'm most grateful to say!) thorough in his reporting of the facts and presented photographs of the exact site at which they'd had their encounter.....

Around 10 or so years ago, I was contacted by a woman who said that (some time earlier) she and 2 members of her family had been driving along Queslett Road, in the direction of West Bromwich, when a 'figure' had crossed the road, in front of their car, wearing what she described as 'period costume'.  She quite accurately gave the location where this had occurred - the figure moving off in the general direction of Barr Beacon - and the spot she mentioned was the exact location of the above-mentioned 'white horse' sighting? 

Needless to say, we are extremely grateful to the gentleman for so kindly taking the time to contact us with such a detailed account of his experience!  All concerned would be most interested in hearing from anyone who might hold data on similar, or potentially related, activity in the Great Barr area......