Here's a strange story from Bredon Hill. I like the way it finishes with "it is said that a strong sulphurous odour was perceived" - kind of geological, but hinting at the unusual and possibly devilish origins of the phenomenon, perhaps?!About half past five in the afternoon of Thursday, the 3d of May 1849, during a storm of thunder, lightning and hail, an enormous body of water was seen to rush down a gully in the Bredon Hill, and direct its course to the village of Kemerton. The stream was broad and impetuous, carrying everything before it. Its extraordinary force and body of water may be judged from the fact, that, on reaching the residence of the Rev. W. H. Bellairs, of kemerton, it broke down a stone wall which surrounded the garden, burst through the foundation of another, made a way for itself through the dwelling-house, and then carried off a third wall of brick, six feet high. The garden soil was washed away, and "enormous blocks of stone," and debris from the hill left in its place. By this time the current was considerably broken; nevertheless, it flowed through the house, to the depth of nearly three feet, for the space of an hour and forty minutes. The neighbouring railway was so deeply flooded as to delay the express train, by extinguishing the fire of the engine. The Rev. went up for a look on Saturday, and seemed to find that a waterspout had dumped its water on the north-west shoulder of the hill, not even the top, as he couldn't find much damage there? A five acre barley field had been totally flattened. The water hadn't spread out as it had rushed down the hill, it had stayed in the gully, and he claimed that "the general depth of the torrent was from six to seven feet." Bizarre and scary.
From p182 of The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal (1850).
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Posted by Rhiannon
29th April 2007ce
Edited 29th April 2007ce
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