Ghost Pond

[JimmyBobkin]

Many years ago, a hillside farm was located on the mountain behind my childhood home. I always knew about it's existence, even though it was buried underneath a landslip from the sandstone quarry which loomed above it, probably during the 1920s. It was also a subject of spooky tales, many too fantastic to be true. 'The Devil' buried the farm after it's inhabitant renaged on a deal for his soul was a popular myth. As children, we would try to scare one another with our own version of horrors which may ...or may not... have occurred on the site. A few years ago, I was reminded of the place after a chance meeting with Pete, an old fishing buddy of mine who I had not seen in about twenty years. A short conversation (more of this later) was to lead me to investigate further as to the factual history of the farm.
A local amateur historian (who shall be left un-named...let's call him Jack) was recommended to me by a family member of mine. He was easily found in the local pub, and the offering of a couple of pints was all that was needed to glean some history of the now non existent farmhouse.

Ty Du (Black House) was the name of the farm and some time during it's history, it's owner had made a deal with another local farmer regarding the sale of a pony. Times were very hard and payment for the pony was agreed to be made in installments. After a period of a couple of years, during which time no such installments had been made, the two farmers had an almighty row and the vendor repossessed the pony. This caused a bitter dislike between the two. After some time, the aggrieved buyer suffered much misfortune and penuary and the final straw came when his wife committed suicide due to their poverty and unhappiness.

The husband, wracked with grief and filled with drink, took it upon himself to gain bloody vengeance and, in a fit of drunken anger, made his way to Ty Du where he saw the pony in a small field. He led the pony to a farm pond, cut it's throat and dumped it into the depths. Stricken and sickened by his own behaviour and what he had become, he then threw himself in.

The farmer awoke next morning to find his pony missing and discovered the gruesome sight in the farm pond.

This, Jack assured me, was the true story of the ghastly history of the farm. There were other stories of drownings and ghosts on the site but he was unsure as to the validity of their truth. After the farmer had died, the farm fell into a ruinous state and the final chapter came when the quarry suffered a huge landslip and the entire site was buried under sandstone, lost forever.

Now we come back to the conversation I had with Pete, my old fishing friend. During the conversation, he told me of an incident which occurred during the early 1970s. A lad who used to visit Wales every summer (name long forgotten) had taken his dog for a walk up the mountain side and had noticed, from his vantage point above, a fairly large pond. He made his way down to it and proceeded to look for signs of fish. He noticed some bubbling, the odd sign of a feeding fish and large rushes being disturbed by what were obviously Carp. After his Spaniel had had a swim and a drink, he continued on his walk. The very next day, he had gone to see Pete to ask if he could borrow some fishing tackle as he hadn't brought any with him on his summer holiday, as he was going to try the newly discovered pond. As he arrived, tackled up, there was no pond. He made his way up to the vantage point he had been on the previous day and, true enough, no signs of the pond which were so clearly evident on the previous day. No evidence at all existed, save for a few rushes and some boggy ground near to a mountain stream which ran at his feet.

The site was where Ty Du and the tragic pond once were.

Strange indeed.

[Trevor]

A great tale JB

[Gary Bills]

Sounds like a time slip, as well as a landslip, Jimmy!
A great tale.

[Julian]

Very interesting story

[The Sweetcorn Kid]

Enjoyed that, thanks....

[Matthew]

Very good tale