I Went to Sally in the Wood

Sally in the Wood is a place where locals avoid after dark and the birds stop singing. A place steeped in the mystery of a girl trapped and murdered in a now-abandoned tower. Also, a site of a civil war battle, and legend says it is the witch Sally, who now haunts the area. The Ghost Hunt UK claims:

"Sally in the wood is a place of paranormal activity on such a scale that it would be hard to match. This eerie stretch of road has been the site of 8 fatal accidents, 7 of which still can not be explained. Feared by all the locals and no investigation team to date stepping foot into the haunted wood, Sally in the wood remains a mystery to the paranormal community."

"With a history of witchcraft, sacrifice and in the nearby Brown’s Folly tower stepped in kidnap, torture, rape and murder, Sally in the wood is one of Britain's most haunted locations. If not one of the world's most haunted locations."

I unknowingly went to Sally in the Wood. Although the area is known locally as Sally in the Wood, it is officially known as Brownes Folly. I had lived close to Bath city centre, and during my time there I hadn't ever been to the outskirts of the city (Bathampton and Bathford), so I wasn't familiar with the area. I quickly learned the nature reserve is home to a bath stone mine (open since the 1800s) that contributed to the beauty of the city that I had been living in four years previously and of course its infamous tower. For dog walkers, and cave explorers alike, Brownes or Sallys, attracts all sorts of people.

During the day the place is quite lovely, but a night it's a different vibe. I was with my now partner at the time, an avid explorer, who took me to Brownes Folly mine. We had already been to Cheddar Gorge earlier in the day, so we were sticking with the underground theme. We left five minutes after we reached the mine entrance.

It was December, Friday 13th and the day after the full moon. On our way to the mine and past the tower, up a muddy and slippy hill, my partner informed me of the satanic rituals and sacrifices that had been made there. There's a chamber in the mining network named the Devils Chamber and it's believed that is where they do their 'practice'. Once we had reached the entrance the first thing that was off was smoke coming from within the cave. My partner had been there many times, he looked back at me startled and said, "well that's weird, I've never seen that before."

It smelt of something burning, a fire. Candles maybe? I instantly felt uneasy - we weren't alone. Even though we were the only ones parked in the car park. It had been drizzly that day so the stone was wet and made your hands go yellow. To get into the actual mine, you have to climb through a crawl space which then opens up into what's called 'Clapham Junction.' As I began to make my way down into the main entrance following my partner behind, I saw what I believed to be a crooked creature of sorts crawling out of the window we needed to go through. It was darker than the shadows it was emerging from, and it shook me to my core.

I've seen and felt things all my life, it's been as long as I can remember. Pretty much everywhere I go, spooky things happen. Whether you believe in the paranormal or not, my eyes do not lie to me and will never lie to me. I told my partner what I saw and we both felt the instinct to leave, and as quickly as possible.

To get back out of the mine entrance you've got to climb up a few stones. I have cerebral palsy so this stuff is a real struggle. I can do it, I just require a lot of patience. It still doesn't hurt any less though, but I do it because although it's a part of me, it doesn't define what I want to do in my life. Yet, in that moment of fight or flight, my legs embraced the adrenaline. I got out of the entrance, and pass the tower so quickly I didn't remember the walk when I went back during the day a few months later. I didn't remember the steps, to the car park, I didn't remember the path at all. I just remember walking as quickly as I could.

The entire way back to the car, we both felt like we were being followed. Suddenly, we heard a loud snap. It was as if someone of great muscle and weight stamped on an enormously large twig. This is when I looked behind me for the first time and saw what I can only describe as a demon-type creature.

It was a 9ft-12ft tall figure that had the body of a man but a huge head of a goat and the skin/fur of one. Hooved with spiral horns, its hair black stringy, eyes that burned red, and a horrible menacing grin that I think is scarred into my memory. I felt the urge to run, and thankfully my partner as ground as he always is, held me close and said just walk, but quickly. Two minutes later, we were already in the car at the bottom of the road wondering what the hell just happened, and both agreed something was terribly wrong.

Ten minutes later, we decided to go home. When all of a sudden both of us started to get extremely hot and humid. We both went for the heating dial, but it wasn't even on.

Looking back, my partner and I agree we shouldn't have been there that night, and we both think we may have interrupted a ritual of sorts, given the smoke and it was Friday the 13th. The things I saw, I am very frightened to say have been verified by three other people, all on separate individual occasions.

What makes it worse is the place draws you in, you want to go back. Even now as I'm writing this, I want to go back and investigate and shed some light on the mystery. Your curiosity gets in the way of rational thinking. It's like once you go there, Sally enchants you and there's no escaping it. You become trapped in the place because it lives in your mind rent-free as if you are Sally herself, trapped in the tower.

However, this story does not end here -

Once we made it home, nothing weird or strange happened. Nothing happened for months...

To be continued...

References: https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/history/sally-in-wood-haunted-bath-1965500

http://theghosthuntuk.com/haunted-location-sally-in-the-wood/