Okays, this happened to a family member, a couple of days back, but it's actually creeped me out a bit, and it's a dark and stormy night, so I'm
going to post it! I'll start with the background story.
We live in a pretty heavily wooded area. It is a couple of miles outside of an industrial city. (we do have a river between us, so you generally don't get
much outcross, thank god) We are situated not only near a big forestry commission forest, which welcomes dog walkers and oddbods alike, but a mental home, a
prison, and a large industrial estate type thing, so you get a lot of travellers. One year back, a different family member was riding (same horse, actually) in
a little blair witchy wood, which sloped down to a dank, misty lake, when they were approached by a man who chased them for a good while. Seven months back, a
body was found on the common, a couple of miles away. Two months back, friends were stopped by police and alerted that someone had escaped from the mental
home. They were told not to approach him. So on this particular day, it is raining (summer?!) and is a silent, dark, sort of day. Perfect setting for a scary
story.
So said family member decides what joyous fun it would be to hack in these woods, that are creepy at the best of times. Upon entering this dark, drippy,
enclosed bridleway, they notice a pile of woman's clothes by the side of the path. Wondering if there is a 'communer of nature' running around in
nothing but their birthday suit, the perplexed relative continues. When they reach the heart of the forest, the horse starts sniffing at the air and snorting,
and has a panic attack, before spinning round and bolting (downhill, narrow, slippery forest track) for 50 feet. After a lot of coaxing (a good half hour) she
manages to convince him to pass this patch of brambles that seem to be scaring him. Highly strung horse spooked at a pheasant, you might say. So would I, if I
hadn't known the situation. This horse is a complete and utter deadhead. A bombproof plod who will approach clanking farm machinery to see if it is edible.
The rider is a very competent one, who has ridden all her life. She says she had never known this horse to be like this, completely and utterly petrified,
shaking, eyes popping out, nostrils red... She is usually good at spotting what spooks a horse. She didn't see anything that could have scared him. She
didn't hear anything. That leaves smell. Can horses smell dead bodies hidden in bushes?
So that leaves the question. Is there a dead person hidden in a bramble thicket on local forrestry comission land, or do we watch too much TV? Maybe we should
take the old hound dog up there when the weather's cleared and have a poke around...
