Thursday 23rd June 2022
At the beginning of June, we were contacted by a Gentleman who expressed an interest in a piece from the blog, posted on the 29th June, 2020, concerning the alleged haunting associated with the Turls Hill Wood area of Sedgley. At the time of writing, he had recently been talking to a friend about ghosts and - in musing over his own experiences in this region - most kindly took the time to relate the encounter to us...
During the 1990’s - he being around the age of 25 to 30 yrs old at the time - the man and a few friends had been on a night out in Sedgley. They lived in Coseley, so would walk back home along Whites Lane / Turls Hill Road. He admits that, on the night in question, the group were all drunk... but not in any extreme state where they might be prone to hallucinations, or any such extreme state! It was estimated that the time would have been around 12 midnight, following the call of 'last orders' at 11 p.m., the subsequent grabbing of a bag of chips, and so forth.
It was said to have been a fine night, hence the decision to walk home. Turls Hill Lane was dark - no street lights along the stretch of thoroughfare concerned - but not pitch black, so visibility was good. As you enter the lane from the Sedgley end, the view along the left-hand-side of the path becomes more visible, as the higher ground in that position drops away and the bordering hedges thin out a little. There were / are usually horses kept in the fields concerned.
It was at this point in their journey that someone shouted out "What is that over there?" (or words to that effect!) and pointed into a particular area, towards where there is a big tree. The group all stopped... moving to the left-hand-side of the lane and looked... A few yards from the tree, there was something that appeared to be a 'glowing white light', which seemed to be 'floating' there!? There were no real, identifiable features to whatever they were observing, but the witness said that - if he had to try and explain it - it resembled a fairly bright, shrouded figure...
The group were all astounded by the sight and were shouting "What the hell is that...!?" (or words to that effect!) At this point, the 'light / figure' started to move down the field, floating parallel to the lane. It was not a horse, as there were no horses visible in the field that night.
somewhat bravely, the group hurried down the lane, as best we could, pausing to look across to the form as they went. The 'figure' continued to 'float' down the field.
Someone suggested they try and get to the path - which runs alongside the nearby brook - as this leads to the woods and they could 'head it off' and actually see what this thing was... At this, they ran the last few yards down the lane, turned left where the track opens out, and along the path to a point where they thought the thing would come out... or at least a position as close as they reckoned they could get to it. (Between where they thought the best vantage point was, there is the brook, a small section of land and then the field involved).
However, when they reached the spot, whatever it was they were looking for had gone!?
They stood in-situ for a short while, one of the group now suggesting the 'shape' was possibly a goose, flying down the field, though the rest of the assembly disagreed...
After a pause - having nothing to keep their attention now - they turned around to head back to the lane and continue their journey homeward. However, as they looked at the spot they had just, only minutes before, come from themselves... the 'light / figure' was now standing there!! As they watched, it moved away and disappeared up the lane in the direction the group had been traveling from...
At this point he admits that they lost all desire to 'go after it', as they had become 'rattled' by the events. The ended up walking the rest of the lane 'arm in arm'... nervously laughing!
Our witness went to view the area again, the next day: horses were now present, but no Geese! On a radio show he was listening to, one of the DJ’s mentioned it had been 'the longest day of the year', the day before, which, he believes, served to add a little more mystery to the night!
In furtherance to the above, a few days later, he was telling another friend about what had happened. The listener let him finish his story and then said…" You are not going to believe this...!" He went on to tell of an experience from a few years earlier, where a couple of lads from Coseley had cause to flee a 'touch of trouble' in Sedgley, whilst on a night out... It wasn't known precisely what the issue was, but they had ended up heading home in the direction of Whites Lane and, in fleeing down the lane, they had cause to climb a fence, into the horse field, and hide behind a big tree. While hiding, a 'white figure' appeared and started to move along, close by... Quite needless to say, I'd imagine... the lads ran away! (It was stated that, in knowing who the lads concerned were, it was quite unlikely that they would 'make up' a random ghost story. As anyone who has read our previous coverage of this site may well know, we have - in quite recent years - reported on a very similar account to this latter-mentioned experience? Needless to say, we are all wondering whether these two reports might well be exactly the same incident, perhaps?)
Our correspondent admits that, to this day, when telling anyone of this encounter, he never fails to get goosebumps! Over the years he has gone over the scenario in his mind as to what it could have possibly been - Gas cloud? Passing heron? - but he just cannot explain it; especially the 'form' having reappeared, in the lane, behind where they had just come from!? He and a friend (not one of the group present on that night) have returned to the spot a couple of times, over the years, on the longest day, but never seen anything since...
Just as a matter of being 'par for the course', I had asked our confidante if he had ever heard of the haunting associated with the region prior to their experience? He replied that, growing up, they'd had many a happy day along Whites Lane / Turls Hill Lane, in the nearby woodland and even down the caves, but, in all that time, they had never heard of any ghostly goings on. The matter was mentioned to a work colleague at the time, who actually lived in that area, and she had said she'd heard rumours of a 'grey lady'... but this was 'after' what had happened.
