Touch Stones

Having often driven (read been stuck in traffic) along the A303 in Wiltshire I have always been struck by the sight of the collection of standing stones that adorn the landscape that we know as Stonehenge.

Stonehenge

Why these monolithic blocks of Sarsen and Bluestone were placed where they are and what were they used for have been the fundamental question for thousands of years. So armed with my English Heritage membership card and my Chattergeist Touch I thought I would add my two-penneth to the debate.

Stonehenge and the Chattergeist Touch

So what do we already know? The earliest known construction at the site was the excavation of a 100 meter in diameter circular ditch in around 3000BC. As we learn from the story of the Three Little Pigs the first building material was straw (which probably blew away as the wind picks up over the large expanse of flat open grassland), the second was wood, and this is what was believed to have been used to fill the 56 Aubrey Holes forming some form of ‘Woodhenge’. This site is believed to have been the local crematorium with evidence of 64 cremations and an estimate of 150 bodies being buried, making this Wiltshire field the largest late Neolithic cemetery in Britain.

Fast forward 500 years to 2500BC where wood was replaced with stone and Stonehenge as we know it today started to take shape. The placing of the stones was refined and altered over the next couple of hundred years until whoever was in charge of their construction was finally happy.

The Stones

The Bluestones’ origins have been traced to Pembrokeshire, Wales with the Sarsen stones being a composition of local sandstone. The likelihood is that the stones were transported using sledges, rollers and brute strength but there is something about Stonehenge that demands a little more magic and mystery than such a pedestrian reason.

Galfridus Arturus or more commonly known (and easily spelt) - Geoffrey of Monmouth - documented Stonehenge’s creation in his Historia Regum Britanniae in 1136.

In his account Geoff takes the reader back to the reign of Aurelius Ambrosius, who having been recently anointed as King of Britain seeks his brother’s advice to create a lasting memorial to the British princes assassinated by the Saxons during a period of truce. The King’s brother, Uther Pendragon (As played by Anthony Stewart Head in BBC's Merlin) suggests going to see the local wizard/wise man/interferer who recommends a field trip to the Killaraus Mountain in Ireland and to bring back the Giant’s Dance. Aurelius happy that the local stones would be alright, was soon packing his bags and setting off with Uther, Merlin and 15,000 men to relocate a stone circle from Ireland.

The stones were marked by Merlin (so he could put them back together again) and after some special magic words were made light enough that they could be carried by a few good men back to a field and reassembled to stand for all time in memorial of the treacherously slain.

Over the years many theories have been put forward as to why Stonehenge was built; monument, druidic temple, calendar, sundial, burial ground. And at points in its existence, it has probably served with all of these functions. But what of the theories I can throw in my humble expertise as a paranormal investigator.

Firing up the Chattergeist Touch I let it run in continuous library mode and was quickly provided Accost, Hush. Closely followed by Phobia, Courtesy, Starving and Instigated. The start was pretty negative in my opinion and so I decided to tread lightly just letting the device run and absorbing the mystical atmosphere of my surroundings.

As I continued to walk around the stone the screen flashed with Coffins, Denounced, Rioted and Neglecting. These could have come from the known use as a burial and cremation site and subsequent change of uses, and that no one comes for those that have passed anymore, only for the wonder of the great circle of monoliths.

The next words made me laugh, Moustache and Wax as standing close by me was a tourist wearing some fantastic nose furniture. I know that with any paranormal communication device you read into the results what you can, but I felt this could not be that much of a coincidence as it really was a fantastic moustache.

One of the many, many , many rooks

As debate between myself and Mrs J continued (are those birds crows or rooks?) – causing us to seek professional advice from our friendly bird doctor (turns out they were rooks) – the amount of large black corvids continue to grow. As I walked to the other side of the stones I was greeted with Blast, Objective, Eczema, followed by Dealing, Hacking, Repressed, Alter, then Sixteen, Bonfire, Hay. The assortment of words appeared to be random but when looked at together could be seen as aggressive and violent. Looking at the use of the word Bonfire, there is no evidence of sacrificial or punitive burning at the site but there could be a correlation between this word and the means of cremation 3000 years ago. Experts estimate 68 cremations which is much higher than the 16 the Chattergeist suggests.

View from the Heel

After passing the Heel Stone Angriest, Forced, Electricity, Avoiding, Tree appeared. Could this be alluding to the events that befell a small group who decided to set up camp in the middle of the stone circle in August 1971? Described by many sources as a group of hippies, this fateful group pitched their tents, smoked some cannabis and pondered the meaning of life, the universe and everything.

That night a storm rolled in, that according to witnesses (including a local police officer) caused lightning to rain down on the encampment with such force that the stones glowed blue and was so bright that they had to shield their eyes from fear of being blinded by the intensity of the light. This pyrotechnic display from the heavens was set to the soundtrack of the loudest thunder… and the screams of the campers in the middle of it all.

As the storm came to a close, the stones fell into silence – a complete absence of sound. The officer (bracing himself for the likely gruesome discovery of charred body parts) steeled himself and with other witnesses ventured into the stone-ringed camp. They found charred tents, smouldering journals but not a single person (or part of one).

Although this story is likely to have been the product of an overactive imagination (or a reasonable explanation that I wouldn’t want to hang around in the middle of a storm in a tent) the ability of stone circles to entrap lightning and have the ground within them altered by the electricity does have some evidential base. At the site of stone circles on the Isle of Man, the use of geophysics has uncovered at site XI or Airigh na Beinne Bige, a massive star-shaped magnetic anomaly in the centre caused by massive or successive lightning strikes.

The final bursts from the Chattergeist gave me Luckett, Dated, November and then Earthquake, Million, Charlton, Deceiving. Searching for Luckett provided several artists who have photographed the stones and are selling their artworks; as well as interestingly a Tour Company Lucketts of Fareham, whose coaches used to regularly bring in the droves of tourists to the site. A notice on their site now reads that that as of the 1st October 2023 Lucketts Travel will no longer offer package coach trips – so there are no November dates this year.

The reference to Earthquake is interesting, as aside from tracking the movement of celestial bodies, a further theory is that Stonehenge acts as a natural earthquake detector. The stones in their current position are shown to naturally amplify seismic waves so that when an earthquake occurs it causes the stones to vibrate so that by monitoring these vibrations scientists are able to map the size, location and intensity of the quake – which may provide vital lifesaving information.

Unfortunately, my investigation has not solved the mystery of Stonehenge but it clearly retains its draw through its mysterious history, intrigue and stories – over one million visitors a year cannot be wrong? (another interesting link to the Touch’s readings). But what they do provide us with is the opportunity to discover, a chance to marvel on the innovation of our ancestors, a moment to reflect on our spirituality, to connect with the history of Britain and the ability to say “I’ve been there.”

I am an affiliate of Dimension Devices. Although I will receive a percentage of sales made through my affiliate link (https://dimensiondevices.co.uk/shop.php?affiliate=sjp), my reviews and accounts of the Chattergeist Touch are my own honest opinions