My Mysterious Moor Part V. My Father.

My Father's remarkable prowess as a driver was discovered during his national service when driving was not considered a universally achievable skill. Those with the aptitude to master the unforgiving British military vehicles of the nineteen fifties were admired and in demand. He quickly gained a reputation for being able to make any vehicle go anywhere. Later while working for the South Western Electricity Board (SWEB) he was highly valued and known for being the only man qualified and capable of Driving every type of company owned vehicle between Bristol and Lands End. In this capacity, which was just one among others such as, mechanic, spray painter, panel beater and electrician, he was often require to drive large off road capable vehicles, for the purposes of delivering telegraph poles to rural locations on Dartmoor and elsewhere.

I include this background because all my school friends thought that it was incredibly cool that my Dad drove all these mighty beasts, and also to outline that my Father is not, and has never been given to flights of fancy. He is a very intelligent and broad minded individual, and it would not be inaccurate to say that I get my pragmatic nature and enquiring disposition from him. Despite now being retired and approaching his Eightieth year, his mind still works like a steel trap and he is as silver tongued and charming as ever he was, I like to think those are also traits of his that I have been fortunate enough to inherit. I have also included it because his role as a driver brought him the experience I will relate in this post.

On a spring day, some thirty years ago, my father was required to take a large four wheel drive low loader, known as a Hyab up to a remote Dartmoor village known as Manaton. At the better part of thirty feet long with an inflexible chassis, getting this wide bed vehicle, fitted with a driver operated rear seated crane, for loading and offloading the telegraph poles it was designed to transport, to the required rural location, would have been beyond the capabilities of many. But to my Dad this was just another opportunity to get away from the bosses back at the yard, and drive out to picturesque location, and likely charm some tea, and maybe even some home baked delicacies from some of the moorland natives, who are widely and quite rightly known as some of the most friendly, helpful and generous people you could ever be fortunate enough to encounter.

On arrival at Manaton the first task, like on every other pole delivery was to locate the Electrical Sub-Station. These power distribution buildings were, and still are frequently in very inaccessible locations, due to people not wanting the noise and low level buzz to disturb their domestic bliss, and also to a somewhat lesser degree in modern times, the unfounded dangers of high voltage electrical sub-station to those in their proximity. There is of course always a danger if you start getting close to them and touching them, but in the days when these infrastructures were first being installed there was some considerable fear of what these buzzing concrete and metal invaders might have wrought on an unwary community.

The only route into the village suitable for the sort of vehicle my father was driving that day lead straight into the centre of the village, which consisted of a well kept green square about which are situated several larger early Victorian era houses. The dwellings around the central green were not cottages and were constructed for the more well-to-do residents of the moor of the time. Wealthy retiree's from the professional classes seeking rural tranquility and such. Having parked up, and trying a few doorbells in the hope of someone being able to direct him to his objective and finding no one at home, my father continued his way around the square.

Glancing through a gap in a somewhat poorly maintained hedge he saw to his surprise and amusement a neatly kept dwelling similar to the others around the square, but lacking modern exterior glazing and retaining some of the more traditional features such as wooden window shutters, old style exterior wall lanterns and thick velvet curtains. But what had really caught his attention from his viewpoint across the neatly kept lawn,that was bordered with pruned rose bushes and and other flowers were two ladies. Both were dressed in what he recognised as Victorian dress including matching frilled bonnets. The lady wearing the blue was seated in a Windsor style chair on the veranda reading or possibly sewing, while the other dressed in dusky pink, was tending one of the many window boxes situated on the downstairs window frames.

Standing looking at the delightful scene long enough to take in the details he decided it was not worth asking the two ladies where he might find the sub-station as they would be unlikely to know. I remember him saying that he got the impression that the seated lady was somewhat older than the lady tending the window boxes, and that he thought they might have been mother and daughter. He carried on ringing doors and was eventually directed to where he needed to go to complete his task. The reason I am able to describe this in such detail to you now is because my father related his experiences that day to us all that evening around the dinner table and, as you will see, there is a very good reason why those details are as firmly etched in my mind as they still are on his.

He had been unable to complete his task that day in the allotted time because some of the necessary equipment due to arrive from elsewhere had not turned up until late in the day, so the following day he returned, this time in a smaller maintenance vehicle, as he had put the heavy part of the load in place the day before. When the job was completed he decided to go and take another look at the delightful Victorian house he had seen the day before. At this point I will take this opportunity to refer you to the beginning of this post to remind of the sort of man my father was and still is.

I remember clearly that evening when my father returned from his second visit to Mannaton, I remember that it was already dark when we sat down around the dinner table that evening, I even remember that we had steak and kidney pie with boiled potatoes, peas and gravy followed by a shop bought lemon meringue, but what I remember most was my father seeming unusually quiet and somewhat reticent. It was soon clear that it was not just me that had noticed my father's demeanour as my mother asked him if anything was wrong. After a long pause he finally spoke. He asked my mother if she remembered him telling her about the old house with two ladies wearing the Victorian dresses. My mother replied that she did and so did I. The hairs on the back of my neck are standing on end now as I type this in exactly the same way they did when my father went on to say that he had gone back to take another look at the old house that afternoon and found it to be completely derelict, with an overgrown garden clearly showing that the old house had been that way for many years.

That is the beauty of these time slip experiences the way the truth is usually revealed. If your father hadn't had to return the next day he may never have seen the house in ruins. It is as if something wants to show people the truth. Why did the scene appear as he looked through the hedge or are the ladies always there and we just cant see them usually.

a reply to: CulturalResilience

One thing I noticed about time slip incidents is how come there are no diaries, historical records talking about strange people with weird clothing and speaking a strange accent?

a reply to: transubstantiation
That is a thought provoking reply. I will mention this to my father.

a reply to: starwarsisreal
You have got me thinking with this. I do have some books that contain excerpts from old diaries. I will go though them and any others I can find and see if there is anything that might qualify as a record of an historical time slip occurrence. I think this may turn out to be worthy of a speculative thread, if I can turn up any evidence.

a reply to: starwarsisreal

A brief skirt around the internet furnished me with this one.
www.smithsonianmag.com...

a reply to: CulturalResilience

What about from people in the past?

Wouldn't they notice if a person is from a different time?

a reply to: starwarsisreal

It certainly would be interesting to investigate.

a reply to: CulturalResilience

You should watch the TV show Primeval, it talks about Prehistoric Creatures being time slipped to the present day.

Also the movie Evil Dead Army of Darkness which features a Zombie Slayer who traveled back in time via magic which seems to be the case for your father.

a reply to: starwarsisreal
Do you mean to say some sort of magical influence transferred my father back through time when he saw the old house with the two ladies dressed in Victorian garb?

a reply to: CulturalResilience

It is possible, I mean Britain is well known for paranormal activities. In fact I read another thread which talks about two green kids somewhere from the UK and they seemed to came from another world.

I always thought Earth contains some sort of special connection with the Paranormal realm which is why we have ghosts and all sorts of weird stuff.

a reply to: starwarsisreal
The Green Children of Woolapit. Dartmoor is certainly a strange place and that is part of why I love living there. I have published other Dartmoor Mystery threads if you would like to read some more.

a reply to: CulturalResilience

There was a thread that featured time slips that goes forward in time. Here it is:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

a reply to: starwarsisreal
Very interesting.

a reply to: CulturalResilience

What's your take on alleged Time Travelers like John Titor? I personally think the guy is a hoax due to too many holes. Your father makes more sense than him.

a reply to: starwarsisreal
I don't give Titor any credibility whatsoever, and I think I find it easier to believe in inadvertent time travel such as time slips, as apposed to the intentional H G Wells style time travelling technology hypothesis.

a reply to: CulturalResilience

Do you think real controlled time travel is possible?

I think there is but it's probably impossible with our forms of Science. Maybe through Magick it's possible (There are rumors of necromancy, in fact there was a thread where Jesus was supposedly a Necromancer). So if those exist I'm pretty sure there's a spell about time travel. However, if it exist, it's probably rare due to its potential for abuse.

Everyone is capable of great things sure like having Psychic abilities but abilities like necromancing and time travel? I would rather that its confined to a few people since those are like the most dangerous abilities.

a reply to: starwarsisreal
Based on what I aware am of regarding the technology of today I would have to that I do not think it is possible, but there is almost certain to be technology that I do not know about. The magic you refer to could be possibly be the manifestation of some super advanced technology that is so far beyond our current known capabilities, that we perceive it as magic.

a reply to: CulturalResilience

Someone once mentioned a story about how a guy managed to find a portal and he saw in the other side warriors from different time periods from ancient Roman Soldiers to Medieval Knights sleeping. Near the portal is a mysterious old man and he said to the guy that these warriors will be fighting in the last days or something along the lines. I tried asking for a source but the member who posted it didn't say anything.

Do you know anything about this? The fact he mentioned he saw warriors different time periods shows that it's probably another time slip.

a reply to: starwarsisreal
Was this in an ATS thread?