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CASE STUDY: D18 / 3257 /
2005
NOTE – this story (
as with many other cases, has been written up as a piece of fiction by LH
Maynard (see NOTE 1953) & MPN Sims (see NOTE 1952) as a short story ONION
and was published in a fiction anthology THE SECOND BLACK BOOK OF HORROR.
This is edited by a Charles Black (ACTION – research and ascertain details
of Mr Black.)
The events are as
follows –
- A man – Peter Fellowes – allegedly met a woman in
his local public house. (Location secret but known to exist and can be
found in Hertfordshire) “She was about my age I guessed, which made
her late thirties. I say her hair was fair, but it had lots of highlights,
which winced in the artificial lighting. She was attractive, which is why
I looked at her in the first place, although her mouth was a little too
wide, as if it was straining to say more than she would allow it.”
·
This woman – named Jill in the fictionalised version but
classified unless Code 32 security level is obtained – was with another man
but left him to make a date for a rendezvous with Fellowes.
- Fellowes had recently been dismissed by his wife.
This fact may be relevant to his state of mind. “It hadn’t always been
like that for me. There was a time, quite recently, when life had been
hectic, and anything but quiet. That was before Melinda left me. We were
married for eleven years so I suppose I had begun to think it was forever.
Okay there were no children and that apparently became an issue with her.
She never mentioned it to me though, not until it was too late.”
Leaving the public house together, he to walk home
and she to get a lift from a friend two incidents occurred. 1. “She
turned to me, held onto the front of my jacket, and pulled me forwards. Her
mouth opened in an insistent kiss that sent waves rippling through me. As
she pulled away she dabbed at the corners of her mouth as if she had just
consumed a satisfying meal.” This is relevant for what happened later and
also shows the intentions behind the meeting. (We have been unable to
establish if it was a chance meeting or arranged.) 2. “At that moment
all the lights went out. In the darkness I thought I heard Jill murmur. But
it hadn’t been just the pub lights that went out. Every car headlight, every
street light, every light in the nearby houses had darkened for a few
seconds. It had even seemed as if the moon went into hiding.”
·
Arriving at her house the next evening Fellowes was confronted
by a man leaving the house who was later described as the husband.
·
Immediately inside the house there is an atmosphere. “The
entrance hall became suddenly cold. The stairs ahead of me darkened, and
where I could at first see the top of them, now shadows had deepened so that
I could barely make out the first step. The ceiling above me felt as if it
was compressing downwards, was shrinking towards me, moving to crush me.”
·
As soon as they are settled in the living room Jill begins her
seduction. “She began unbuttoning her
white blouse. I couldn’t take my eyes from her full breasts, gradually
revealed in a white lace bra. She didn’t know me well enough to presume to
judge me, but her large nipples edged away from the corners of her clothing
and all reason passed away to another place. Her wide mouth opened in a
smile, but I suspect it wasn’t of simple satisfaction. It seemed to me, even
in my abandonment, to be a smile far more of possession than of mere
pleasure.”
·
During the sexual activity that followed Fellowes became aware
of a supernatural experience. “At one
stage I opened my eyes, her mumbling piquing my curiosity. The walls of the
bright room had turned black. There were still spaces where pictures hung on
the wall but they were glowing blocks of light. The whole room seemed to be
spinning as if we were suspended in space. Yet in the centre of the room I
could still see the bottle of wine, with the two empty glasses.”
·
It becomes obvious there is a child upstairs and she goes to
fetch the boy. “‘You’ll like Peter,’ she
said happily. ‘I know he’ll love you.’ She leaned forward and engulfed my
mouth in hers. ‘I know I do.’”
- While she is out of the room Fellowes realises
the perspective of the room is peculiar. “I began to glance at the
pictures on the walls. Some were prints of classical pieces but some were
photographs, mounted to look like pictures. Some were recognisable as
fairly recent. Jill in clothes similar to those she wore now. In some she
was with a slightly younger version of the angry husband. In some she had
a small boy with her; presumably Peter. Some other photos were far older.
What looked facially to be Jill, but couldn’t be her because the scenes
were of fifty years ago at least. The resemblance was so strong that I
could only assume it was her mother, or grandmother. The likeness was
remarkable.”
- With her son Jill begins to turn aggressive.
Fellowes is now spooked. “ I didn’t know what to do, or what to say.
I looked towards the window, an involuntary escape route. The curtains
were open; hadn’t they been drawn? Outside the sunlight danced through the
panes, the glare making part of the room brighter than ordinary, and the
unlit corners black and bottomless. But it had been evening when I arrived
- it should still be evening.”
- “The room felt overly warm. I couldn’t see the
corners, they were too dark. The kitchen sounded as if it was full of
people whispering, like mourners at a funeral. Some of the pictures on the
wall were blank now. Others were cloudy, as if the images were seeping
away into the walls behind them.”
- Fellowes tries to leave the house.
- “The hallway was in complete darkness. I was scared
to go into it without any light. I stretched my hand against the wall,
feeling for a light switch. The wall felt damp, as if the wallpaper was
sweating. My arm reached out, flat against the wall. Then something took
hold of my arm and tried to pull me into the darkness.”
- Displaying some courage he managed to get himself
into the hallway.
- The conclusion has baffled the researchers to
date. Fellowes cannot explain it (see postscript to case notes)
- “The top of the stairs was shrouded in
shadow, but I could see her begin to move slowly down. She was still naked
from the waist up, but the poor light made her body appear to be almost
translucent.”
- “Her body merged with the darkness, losing its form.
It looked as if she had become a shapeless mass, all but flopping down
each stair.”
- “I thought her mouth to be a little wide but it was
now extending to include her whole face. The lips cracked open, a lolling
tongue protruded, and the mouth became so huge the body beneath it seemed
to be swallowed inside.”
- Fellowes abandoned his vehicle at the house. We
have been unable to locate the house. We have identified the street, the
village and the initial public house.
- Neighbours claim not to be aware of any woman
answering the description. We have been unable to locate the friend, the
husband, the child (there are no records of birth or marriage).
- Fellowes ran for three and a half miles before
being found by a police patrol. He was taken to the police station in
------ where he was found to have consumed alcohol but was not drunk, had
imbibed no drugs, and was not physically harmed.
- Incoherent, he was referred to the local doctor
who immediately sectioned him under the Mental Health Act. Fellowes was
taken to the nearest psychiatric unit where we were called to talk to him.
- Conversations remain ongoing.
CASE REMAINS UNSOLVED.
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