Druid drone the mystery Downs din?
Eerie sounds coming from Dunstable Downs in the dead of night have left residents confused, with police unable to offer any explanation.
Some have said that the noise is the chanting of Druids conducting rituals, and that the Downs have become a popular location for pagan festivities.
People also reported the sound of a helicopter flying overhead as the rituals were performed, although police can find no record of this happening.
Internet users have flocked to the Don’t Let Dunstable Die Facebook page to discuss and speculate, including one woman who claimed the chanting regularly spooks her horse.
Facebook user Elizabeth Moffatt said: “I have seen them very early in the morning and very late at night chanting and singing when I have been there.
“They are all dressed in white cloaks – very scary when you first come across them in the dark!”
Don’t Let Dunstable Die told the Gazette: “We find this very interesting and would like to know what is happening.”
Paul Sandford, chaplain of Chiltern Nemeton Grove – affiliated with the Druid Network – said: “Our druidic clan have not had a ceremony at Dunstable Downs this month so it can’t be us.”
Ancient Greco-Roman accounts of Druids detail how they believed in reincarnation and made human sacrifices to Celtic gods, hoping for fruitful harvests in return.
Pagan human sacrifice made its way into popular culture in the 1973 film The Wicker Man, starring Edward Woodward, in which a remote Scottish island was iinhabited by a pagan sect.
Deadman’s Hill and St Mary’s Church in nearby Clophill are also significant landmarks of the occult.
In March 1963, the tomb of an 18th century apothecary’s wife was broken into and her bones were left arranged in the nave of the church.
The Druid Network say on its website: “The ancient Druids have been written about over centuries, often with inherent political agenda and prejudice.”
For more information visit www.druidnetwork.org.
> Can Gazette readers shed any light on the ritualistic chanting?
Are we in the presence of practitioners of the pagan occult? Perhaps you are a druid?
Let us know by emailing editorial@lutonnews.co.uk or by Tweeting @Dunstable_Rick.
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Weather for Luton
Tuesday 21 May 2013
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