Aylesbury

Contents -- Click to go to item

General
Local Hostel
Local Village
St Mary’s

A brief note about the area
A suicide that affected the electrics
A farmer meets a black dog
A curse and ripped trousers
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General

Aylesbury is located at the foot of the Chiltern Hills and is a busy market town with excellent shops. It is also home to the award-winning Roald Dahl Children’s Gallery. The town was founded in Saxon times and has been the county town since the reign of Henry VIII though little remains of this history as the most picturesque part of the town is Georgian in origin. At the time of the Domesday survey it was known as Eilesberia or Eilesberie.

The actual derivation of the name Aylesbury is subject to much debate as the name has been spelt numerous ways over the years, in fact at least fifty seven different ways. Some people believe that the first part of the name implies a church or place of worship being derived from Greek or Latin. Others say that the ‘bury’ part indicates a defensive structure being Anglo-Saxon in origin. The debate continues.

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Local Hostel

In 1996 a hostel in Aylesbury was the home to about nine residents. One night three residents were watching the television when all of a sudden, at around 04:00, the picture vanished to be replaced by noise and the lights in the room started to flicker. One of the residents clearly remembered commenting that it was ‘spooky’. After several minutes everything returned to normal and nothing more was thought of it. Later that day another of the residents was found in his room dead. A good friend to many of the residents, he had suffered for a long time with an illness and during the night had committed suicide. At the inquest the time of death was given as around 04:00, the same time that the television and lights started to play up.

On the day of his death one of the residents was sitting in the front room of the hostel chatting with others when he noticed someone walk away from the front door, turn then walk past the house. The figure was that of the man who had just died and was even wearing a top that he often wore in life. The resident who saw him stood up only to find that the figure had vanished.

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Local Village

There is an old story in Aylesbury regarding a farmer and a meeting with a large black dog. The exact location of the village in this story is unknown; all that is known is that it took place in a village near Aylesbury.

Each morning and evening the farmer would go to milk his cows which involved him crossing a field and passing through a gap in a hedgerow. One evening he found the gap blocked by a large black dog. The dog had fiery eyes and was of unnatural size so the farmer decided to go the long way round through the field gate, thus avoiding the dog. The next evening the same thing happened again and once more he was compelled to take a long detour. This went on day after day. Then one night, as he was about to return home, he was joined by a friend. With two men present the farmer felt strong enough to confront the dog and drive it away. All it required was for the dog to still be there when they reached the gap in the hedge. Unfortunately for the farmer the dog was still there, so he put down his two pails of milk and taking the yoke in his hand struck out at the dog. As he struck the dog vanished and at the same time the farmer fell to the ground senseless. The farmer was still alive and with help he was returned to his home but for the rest of his life he was paralysed and speechless. For a detailed account of these dogs see our article on Black Shuck

For a detailed account of these dogs see our article on Black Shuck.

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St Mary’s

On New Years Day 1996 two friends, who were somewhat the worse for having celebrated the night before, decided to go for a walk through Aylesbury to clear their heads. They walked around for an hour then decided to head home passing through St Mary’s churchyard. They decided to sit for a while and rest, then they continued on home. On arriving home one of the friends discovered that he had a rip on the inside of the leg of his jeans from the knee downwards. In appearance it looked like it had been cut with a knife. When he left home there was no rip and he could not recall any circumstances which would have resulted in the damage. Later he learned that the steps next to the church on which they had sat had been where someone had fallen and died and were now said to be cursed.

To view a map of the area click on the button below