LETTERS
transfixedby myUsborne book
at the time.
We still ha ve agreat time
at Christmaswatching theTV
adaptations of MRJames–I
reallyenjoyedthe article on that
too.And on Christmas Eve,my
dad with hiswonderfulvoice
always reads ‘The Night Before
Christmas’follo wedbyanMR
James story. SidneySager,who
composedthe terrifying theme
music toChildren of the Stones,
wasafamilyfriend, andyou
couldn’twish to meetamore
self-effacing,lovely man–Iwould
neverhave thought it possible
that he could compose suchscary
music!
Tracey Stewart
Lydney,GloucestershireTheWarGame
‘Bunker Mentality’,‘Protect
and Survive’and ‘The Haunted
Generation’ inFT379reminded
me ofmy ownteenageexperience
of dystopia in the early Seventies.
As a14-year-old adolescent, I
recall being herded into the
school’sfilm theatre to watchThe
WarGameduringaparticular
schoolweek near the end of a
springterm.Thefilm had been
hired (as happened from time to
time)by my school, adirectgrant
school in Bolton, Lancashire. No
age-related guidancewasinforce
as no doubt thiswasclassed as
aprivate viewing,even though
the BBC had decidednot to
showthe film on airdue toits
distressing natureand content.
Theopportunity thus presented
itselfforteaching staff to skip a
lesson or twobycramming their
class into the school film theatre,
irrespective of the contentofthe
film.
With scant consideration as to
whetherthe filmwas‘suitable’,
we were piled in towatch.
Unsuspecting, unwarned and
relatively naïve,IfoundTheWar
Gameto be shocking,profo undly
scaryand verydistressing, as did
manyother sinmyyear group,
althoughIrecallnofollow-up
discussion. Counsellingwas, at
the time, something onlydone in
theTown Hall.
Not wishing to miss the
opportunityfor aquick skive,
other teacherslater in theweekwiped outbyhumans using
fly-spray. Ican’thelp wondering
if John Wyndhamwasthinking
of CharlesFort when he named
his aliens.
Martin Jenkins
LondonPleasantly scared
As achild of the SeventiesIhave
been thoroughlyenjoyingyour
excellent ‘Haunted Generation’
correspondence.Ican relate to
so much of it from the Donald
Pleasence-voiced scariestpublic
informationfilm of all time,
throughChildren of the Stones,to
my treasuredUsborneMyster-ies of the Unknown.Ifirstread
it whenIwas about eight and
the ghost section scared the
bejesus out of me–especially
the apparently‘genuine’ghost
photos. Even thoughInow know
it’safake,Ipatheticallystillfind
it difficult to look at the photo of
the skull-faced monk at the altar.
My childhoodfascination
withforteanawasverymuch
fuelledand encouragedby my
dad who,atthe time,was aBBC
producer and in this,Richard
Littler’sintroduction to Borley
Rectorycompletely resonates.
From the age of fiveorsix up
untilIbecamea‘cool’ teenager,
my dad andIwould goforlongwinterwalks in theevenings on
Durdham Downs in Bristol. He
would regale me with anecdotes
that he hadworked with some of
the productionteamwho filmed
therecordings in BorleyChurch
in the early Seventies, saying
that big, burly cameramen and
soundrecordistswere terrified
by what they sawand heard,
but wouldn’tdiscuss it.This
obviouslyterri fied me too–but I
lovedit! He also bought meJohn
Sladek’sexcellentand funny
bookTheNew Apocryphawhen I
wasaboutnine and it’sstill one
of my favourite books.Ithin khe
trie dtoimplementsome critical
thinkingby doingthis, but Iwasplastictoy–butitwasactually
aquite beautiful hand-crafted
blue glazed ceramic hare.
Obviously it neededtobeputback in its hiding place,but I
couldn’t resist takingapicture
on my phone.
Why wasitput there and
who hid it? Does it not smack
of author KitWilliams and
his gold harefromhis book
Masquerade?The hare,of
course,isasymbol of the
Moon and features strongly in
Celticmythology.Imightadd
that Tregeseal Stone Circle
lies just below CarnKenidjack,
also known as the Hooting
Cairn and allegedly visited by
Alistair Crowley when he came
down to theWild West... This
area of Cornwall isexception-
ally strange,mysterious and at
times totally unfathomable.
MaryWorrall
BirminghamBlueHare
Irecently relocatedaphoto-
graph of somethingIcame
acrossacouple ofyears ago
in astone circle in Cornwall. I
spendalot of time in Cornwall
and visit all the usualsites.A
particularfavourite is theTrege-
seal Stone Circle near St Just. It
is fairly off the beaten track and
not as visited as some circles,
as it takesadecent uphillwalk
to get there.Onthis particular
day –Ithink itwasaround the
Summer Solstice–myhusband
and Iwerethe only visitors.Ifelt
drawntoasmall stone inside
the main circleand pulled away
the undergrowth around its
base,revealingsomething blue.
Initially itwassobright Iimag-
ined itwasperhapsachild’s72 FT389