The Staffordshire Trolls of Slitting Mill
By Cole Herrold
As a researcher I've always been fascinated
with cases that seem to echo accounts that happened years ago. Whether the
account is an identical sasquatch type entity or a series of lights that seem
identical to others across the globe its consistent accounts from geographically
different locations that really help assert my belief that these accounts are
genuine. Of all the seemingly geographically similar phenomenon there’s one in
particular that really piqued my interest since the entities in question are of
a bizarre place in the paranormal spectrum. Faeries and their ilk have reports
that are found all over the world yet most paranormal and fortean researchers
seemingly have no idea with what to do with these claims. Some can be pegged in
the hairy hominid file under proto-pygmies, or aquatic apes, others can be
interconnected with the UFO and extraterrestrial phenomenon, and yet other
accounts seem to be of something that can only be defined as magical.
In Staffordshire, England an account
occurred where several eyewitnesses encountered the more rugged and loathsome
form of faerie known colloquially as trolls. Troll sightings are not unheard of
in fortean circles even though they are considerably rarer than encounters with
merfolk and the flying faerie variety or leprechaun type yet the most
interesting thing to me is that this encounter happened in an urban area
whereas other troll sightings tend to take place in the Scandinavian
wilderness.
Two witnesses known as Elaine and Barry a
married couple in their late twenties who had a home near Staffordshire were
returning home with their two children one late December night after a
Christmas party in Peckridge. They had gotten into Staffordshire when Barry
started to notice that the car was starting to act up. The engine seemed to
sputter soon ultimately cut out as they coasted down the road to a safe spot.
Barry being the dutiful father and certainly cursing his luck exited the warm
automobile and worked his way to the front of the car. Barry popped the hood
open and soon began to examine the vehicle’s motor “even though I’m mainly
useless at mechanical stuff” as he would later say. Even though he was not an
expert on car repair he had some points to look for and proceeded to check the
cars wires, radiator, and fuses and none appeared to be loose or overheated.
So, Barry simply shaking his head was at a loss for what the car’s ailment
might be. He looked down the road as he shut the hood of the car and began to
assert how far they were from the home and figuring that they were only half a
mile or so and so began to plan accordingly he would later describe his plan
thusly: “We had a picnic blanket in the boot (trunk) of the car and I got it
out. I got back into the car, and I said to Elaine something like ‘lets cover
you up and the kids with the blanket’. They were in the back sleeping and
(were) only four and six at the time. So, I said to (Elaine) ‘you stay with
them, and I’ll run back home and get your car, pick the three of you up, and
then we’ll leave my car here, and we can get someone out from a garage to look
at it tomorrow”.
Elaine now nestled in the warm trunk
blanket was agreeing to her husband’s decision and was beginning to wait till
her husband returned but as he was just about to turn around and head up the
frozen winter road she saw something run by exceptionally quick in front of the
car. Seeing this bizarre figure startled her enough for her to uncurl a loud
scream. Yet soon this singular figure would be followed by several other dark
figures that seemed to of stepped from the furthest realms of imagination. Elaine
would describe the scene “I just about saw it at the last second, and then
another one followed it, and then a third one. The best way I can describe them
to you is like a hairy troll or something like that. We had some moonlight, and
they were like little men, but with hunchbacks and big, hooked noses and not a
stitch on them at all. Not a stitch, at all; just hair all over them. I’d say
they were all four-feet-tallish, and when the third one crossed by us, you
could see them at the edge of the trees – wary, or something, anyway.”
The events that followed are anyone’s
guess for the family seemed to have a period of time that appeared fuzzy to say
the least. The family seemed to blank out as though their memory was spliced by
some cosmic editor as the figures they encountered seemed to seemingly
disappear and their car suddenly revved back to life. The family confused by
what had just occurred but more determined than ever to simply get home led the
family to stop any would be investigation and instead continue the half of a
mile drive back to their house. In the safety on comfort of their home however
they felt uncomfortable about the events, and they seemed to be missing some
time from when they sighted the creatures and when their car returned to life.
These memories however would return in time as what happened at the car once
they seen the diminutive denizens would happen in flashes. Barry would later say
“We both know from memory that they came forwards, towards us, very slowly to
us, and I’ve thought since that they were interested in us or wanted to know
who we were. They came very slowly, and it was a bit like we were being hunted,
to me. Elaine was hysterical; and with the kids with us, I wasn’t far-off, either”.
“But that’s all we remember. The next its all gone, nothing. Neither of us
remembers seeing them go, and the next thing it was about two o’clock and the
car started fine, then. It felt like something had happened to us, but I
couldn’t quite put my finger on, you know, what I mean? But the memory thing is
the biggest problem, even now, what was it? I did have a dream later about them
surrounding the car, but that’s it really. But they were there, and we did see
them, right up by the Stone House”.
Barry and Elaine now in their mid-60’s to
this day feel uneasy about their loss of memory but is certain that their
encounter did happen stating “I know, and we know, that we both saw them. The
kids don’t remember a thing, thankfully. They were horrible little things. All
that hair: Trolls, Goblins, something, but they were there, and they were
real”. Barry and Elaine later would state that they never had any paranormal
encounter before or after, but they were certain the encounter happened.
This case is extremely interesting, and I
wish I had more details on it, I would love for an eyewitness sketch or some
one on one discussion with Barry and Elaine on some of the other details with
this case, but unfortunately I don’t think that will come into fruition. With
this case it has so many hallmarks to other cases that its difficult to point
to specifically one category for these creatures. I guess to begin with we
could look at these creatures from the realm of cryptozoology as these could be
a kind of hairy hominid. These creature’s height is realistic for an organism
to remain hidden now a days as opposed to the 6-9ft tall Bigfoot reports that
are also said to have occurred in England and Ireland. From this it could be
plausible that the creatures seen are some offshoot of hominid evolution
especially since there’s a phenomenon called Island dwarfism which caused
organisms that are typically large on other continents to be smaller on islands
to help deal with competition of resources. There’s a very good chance that this
is a possibility.
The next possibility is that these
creatures are extraterrestrials. There have been several sightings of creatures
similar in appearance that have been seen in connection to UFOs. The most
famous is the rash of hairy dwarf sightings or as we here at the New World
Explorer’s Society call them Space Morlocks. These creatures are about the same
height and the first sighting which eyewitnesses Jose Ponce and Gustavo
Gonzalez experienced on a road near Caracas in Venezuela is eerily similar to
what Barry and Elaine had witnessed. Now the big difference between the two is
that in the Caracas case the two witnesses saw a large oval shaped object
hovering in the middle of the road and when one went to investigate happened to
run into one of the hairy entities. While similar these entities feature wise
are also different in the Venezuela case the entities were essentially
featureless aside from a pair of glowing eyes set in a round head whereas the
trolls had hooked noses and other human like features. The Caracas aliens also
wore loin cloths as opposed to the nude trolls and these space entities also
wielded “wand-technology” (cylindrical shaped machinery that emits light)
whereas the troll case featured no reference to any kind of machinery or tool
use. Also, there was no confirmed UFO sighting in the area that these entities
assumedly would travel on so that is also another issue with this hypothesis.
To me the most obvious answer to these
creatures seems to be the most absurd and that is that they are faeries in the
truest sense of the word. Faeries are a variety of creatures that are deeply
connected with both nature and historical sites. These entities have many of
the same elements associated with extraterrestrial encounters including time
loss and in some cases memory loss. These entities are not fond of being sited
in fact there are several accounts of faeries scaring people away, chasing
them, causing great emotional distress, or in more aggressive cases like the
typical Scandinavian Troll or Kelpie eating those they encounter. These
entities are interconnected with green places and that seems to be the one
consistent element to all reports as faeries are found in areas with high
concentrations of trees, grass, flowers, what the exact connection to this is,
is cannot only be speculated but the most common belief is that they are the
avatars of nature if this is the case it would make sense as to why these
creatures were seen in England even though it is a decidedly more urban area
than most of the other reports out there.
With that said there is very little modern
research on the phenomenon. There’s tons of accounts that can be found in old
books and some modern day podcasts feature some eyewitnesses but other than
that there’s no “Faerie Quest” or some other research oriented study of the
phenomenon. The last big one was the Fairy Investigation Society which for more
information definitely read Seeing Fairies by Marjorie T. Johnson. So,
it’s difficult to speak with any certainty that these entities really do belong
in their own category and not in the trinity of paranormal (Cryptozoology,
Ufology, and spirit research/Demonology).
With this case its resonated with me for
some time when I first came across it in the Monster Book by Nick
Redfern and it is perhaps to me one of the most interesting ostensibly fae
encounter. These creatures are entirely unique only in that they seem ancient
as though they have leapt from a John Bauer painting yet the thing that haunts
me is their motives. In a sinister take on their sighting one has to mention
the phenomenon of changelings how trolls and other faeries will kidnap human
offspring and swap them with their own and it is very eerie that Barry and
Elaine’s children were asleep in the car and the couple had memory problems
afterwards. Perhaps their children were given the old switcheroo and now their
real children are down in the faerie kingdom somewhere. I do not know and this
is just a hypothetical based on legends but it is important to say about that
time loss for who knows what really happened during that time maybe they were
given a tour of the land or the great Seelie courts or perhaps nothing happened
at all and the Trolls used the time loss as a kind of blanket for them to get
away but its all speculation and something that we will never more than
likefully know the answer to.
Quick Facts:
Species/Potential Species: Hominid/ Mammal
Location: Slitting Mill, Staffordshire, England
Sighted: December 1975
Works Cited:
Beasts of Britain By Andrew M. L. McGrath
The Monster Book: Creatures, Beasts, and
Fiends of Nature By Nick Redfern
Combing, Beach “Trolls in Staffordshire
(in the 1970s!)”. Beachcombing’s Bizarre History Blog. June 13, 2012. https://www.strangehistory.net/2012/06/13/trolls-in-staffordshire-in-the-1970s/.
Accessed October 12, 2021.
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