It was August of 1956, and Ruth Bennett was running for her life. Her friend, Sylvia Woods, sprinted through the hilly terrain just in front of her - and the Headless Horseman was gaining on the pair. Ruth could feel a palpable sense of menace coming up behind her. They were right in the monster's path.
Or at least that was what she had been told. She was staying with her parents, James and Margaret Webb, with the Woods family at their far near Elkstone in the moors of Derbyshire, England. They would soon return to their home in Wellingborough, Northhamptonshire, where Ruth would go back to school. The Woods farm, Mount Pleasant, was host to many a legend. Sylvia - the Woods' daughter of roughly the same age as Ruth - and Ruth had searched in vain for the secret passage that was supposedly to be found somewhere in the old farmhouse, but they stumbled upon naught more than a few hibernating badgers. Eventually, Sylvia had told Ruth that it was time to collect eggs from the chickens on the moors, and it was there that she had spun the tale of the Headless Horseman. Whether or not there was any truth to these rumours wasn't made clear by Ruth when she wrote into FATE Magazine almost thirty years later to tell a true story from around that damned farmhouse. She told the story of the cursed water that nearly took her father's life...
The Lure[]
Her nerves were soon calmed by a haughty dinner of homegrown vegetables, apple pie and thick cream. Under the glow of candles and a kerosene lamp, Ruth asked Mr. Woods to tell them a legend from up on the moors. He lit his pipe and the two families drew near around the stove. Mr. Woods started with his 'deep pleasant voice' to tell them a tale of horror. Apparently there was a bottomless pool somewhere on the tallest hill in the moors, and there was something in this pool which could kill people with just a look. It was a mermaid with mesmeric eyes, and any man who looked upon them when the creature rose out of the water at night would be compelled to walk into the pool and drown himself.
Margaret was seemingly curious about this tale, or perhaps worried about him scaring her children, and asked the old farmer if this had ever actually happened - to which I can imagine her heart sank a little when the farmer insisted that it had indeed taken place, and not all that long ago. The Spring before that one, one Mr. Marsh had vanished on his way home from the market. The next morning, the tracks of his horse and cart were found up on the moors leading to the pool. According to Woods, this had all been reported in the weekly paper from the nearby Leek. Woods proved this by producing the actual clipping and showing it to Margaret. It was all getting somewhat too real. James Webb asked if Marsh couldn't have simply taken the wrong route and fallen into the pool by mistake, prompting Woods to take a long, hard look at him before standing up, putting more wood onto the stove and saying, 'Indeed he could have - but he didn't'. With that, he pointedly bade the two children good night, and they had no choice but to retreat up to their shared bedroom.
Perhaps now under the cover of darkness, I can imagine Ruth whispering to Sylvia - the mermaid story still fresh in her mind. She asked her why Mr. Marsh couldn't have theoretically just fallen into the pool, to which Sylvia flashed her a look much akin to the one given to James by Mr. Woods earlier that evening - and imparted the chilling revelation that there was a fence around the pond. The horse and cart had apparently somehow vanished before the fence, and logically - Mr. Marsh would've had to purposefully climb over the fence to drown himself in the pool. Why would he have done that? Ruth shivered. When her mother came in to the room to say good night, Ruth told her that she wanted to see the pool. Her mother agreed. She would go to talk to James.
The next morning after breakfast, Margaret and James told the Woods couple that they were going to visit the mermaid pool. Mrs. Woods turned pale and Mr. Woods implored them to be back by dusk if they really had to visit the cursed pool. James nodded and went to grab his camera, bringing a heavy, quilted raincoat with him when he came back and then telling the other two that they would need to bring their raincoats and galoshes. A little while later, the Webb family started out onto the moors in search of the mystical pool.
They found the pool. It was just about eight miles across the moors away from Elkstone off the road going from Leek to Buxton. Ruth stood on a high hill as daylight faded and looked down into the water through a misty rain. The ancient legends of the moors ran through her mind and she felt chills scuttle up her back. She was stood at the fence with her father, and her mother was just a little way away adjusting the camera. Having an idea, Margaret told Ruth to step away from the pond and for Jim to look down into the water as if he was trying to see the mermaid. It was a fun photo opportunity, nothing more. Just as Margaret had finished talking, however, a gust of wind picked up from nowhere and grabbed Jim's raincoat, thrusting it into the dark waters below. It sunk slowly, submerging one part at a time. Jim was 'white as a sheet' as he watched the coat vanish.
Slowly, James turned towards the pool and put his other foot onto the wooden bars. He was going to climb over. His wife and daughter ran towards him, the former grabbing his arm and crying out a warning about the mermaid. Seeing was believing. James turned to face them with an awful 'blank' expression on his face. Ruth had never seen anything like it, and never wished to again. She was horrified - it seemed as if her father had left them and 'gone somewhere we couldn't follow'. Ruth took his other arm and the pair gently led the spellbound man away from the pool. He shook his head and gradually came back to his senses, once again recognising his terrified family. All three of them ran down the hill away from the pool, and at the bottom they were greeted by Mr. Woods sitting in his pony trap.
He called out to them and told them that he had realised that he should probably look for them. The three clambered up into the cart gratefully while Jim shivered. Woods instructed the baffled and frightened Webbs to give Jim some of the tea that was under the cart's seat and to wrap him up in the extra blanket he had brought. They sat there in dumbstruck silence for a moment, before Woods commanded them to do it 'at once'. Jim had been a master sergeant in the British Army, and had been in charge of a gunner squadron during World War Two. He wasn't easily frightened, and he had faced death many times before - and yet he freely admitted to how scared he was while staring into that pool when the family got back to the house.
When they told Mrs. Woods about what had happened at the pool - she said just two words. 'You're lucky'.
Credibility[]
This tale is not unlike others that have been told by credible witnesses regarding the effects on human beings by 'something' in the water. It is my personal theory that some aspects of the Missing 411 phenomenon could be explained by the existence of such beings. However, the original version of this tale as found in the source book I have listed below is told as if it were a campfire story - with plenty of flowery and irrelevant details. Thus it is unclear to me whether or not this tale should be taken at face value.
Source[]
'Mysteries and Monsters of the Sea' from FATE Magazine