Lower Quinton Witchcraft Murder

[Graham]

They do say that Black Shuck be the Hunting Hound of Odin brought to these shores by the Vikings all them years ago...they do say that on nights of no moon a man can see 'im loping along the cliffs near Cromer, with 'is one burning eye and fire spouting from 'is nostrils...they do say this, they do...they do say that the marks of 'is claws can be seen on the door of the church at Bungay...tis said that half the population of East Anglia are sloshed most of the time...

I've got a black cat called Joolz - would he qualify?

Graham

[halomanuk]

The 'black-dog' supposedly means a death will occur involving the person who saw it...

[belinda]

Hi All That's really interesting I've heard about superstitions about Black Cats but not Black Dogs. Black in general seems to have alot of superstitions attached to it

I have two Black Dogs well Black and Tan actually but mainly Black lol

[Miffy-Moo]

Hi Graham,

I too have heard of the tales of Black Shuck (I have a rather vast true crime / unexplained book collection).

No doubt it has been mentioned previously that Charles Walton allegedly saw a black dog on Meon Hill and shortly after his sister died - I'm not sure how much (if any) truth is in that though.

[Graham]

Hi Graham,

Sorry for the late reply, I've been on holiday

Lots of people have black dogs and during my time in Lower Quinton (20+ years) I can't say that I ever encountered a strange/vicious one (thankfully). However, I walked up Meon Hill several times (mostly as a child or teenager) and have to say that there was a strange stillness about the place.

Lower Quinton itself is a lovely place to live and I wish sometimes that I was living back there again (I had to relocate to Wiltshire due to a job). Maybe I will retire there eventually......

Hi Miffy-Moo,

Few years ago I stayed a couple of nights in a pub near Wells-Next-The-Sea in North Norfolk, and for whatever reason the conversation turned towards ghosties, ghoulies and things that - well, you know. One of the men I was yakking with began to go on a bit about black dogs and so forth - amazing how the talk goes after a few pints. But anyway, this character - a local - seemed entirely and totally convinced that black dogs (known locally as the Black Shuck) roamed the network of lanes in the vicinity and to see one meant - ooooh, nasty death. Good laugh and all that, but nothing on earth would have got me out of that pub on that night....I wanted to think that this bloke was taking the piss out of me, as an outsider or whatever, but I don't think he was. Scareee....

Cheers,

Graham

[Miffy-Moo]

Reply to Graham

Hi Graham,

Sorry for the late reply, I've been on holiday

Lots of people have black dogs and during my time in Lower Quinton (20+ years) I can't say that I ever encountered a strange/vicious one (thankfully). However, I walked up Meon Hill several times (mostly as a child or teenager) and have to say that there was a strange stillness about the place.

Lower Quinton itself is a lovely place to live and I wish sometimes that I was living back there again (I had to relocate to Wiltshire due to a job). Maybe I will retire there eventually......

[Graham]

I smell troll....

Graham

[Jeff Leahy]

I dont suppose either of you saw a large Black Dog on your travels?

[Graham]

Hi Miffy-Moo,

By an absolutely amazing coincidence I drove close by Lower Quinton last week, and recalled the old threads on this weird case. I never thought it had anything to do with witchcraft, wicca, call it what-you-will. From what I've read about it, Potter killed Walton purely out of angst over an unpaid debt, and Potter had something of a violent reputation.

What's your take on the sightings of black dogs around Meon Hill? Nonsense, or not?

Lovely part of the world, and I'd happily live there if it could be guaranteed no-one would nail dead bats to my door during the night...

Cheers,

Graham

[Miffy-Moo]

Lower Quinton "witchcraft murder"

Dear All,

I lived in Lower Quinton until I was 25 (11 years ago ago), in fact my bedroom window overlooked Meon Hill.

As a general rule, I don't think the villagers are purposefully keeping quiet on the subject I believe that since so much time has passed memories fade etc. etc.

I remember asking my aunt about it when I was little and she suggested that Alfred Potter was the murderer and witchcraft played no part in it.

My grandad provided an alibi for a farmhand who was under suspision at the time.

I think it's one of those mysteries that will never be solved. but good hunting and keep me informed !

[Appleby]

Hi Granger

Thank you for posting the photograph of the dead Charles Walton again. This has a number of points of interest, the greatest of which is, to me, the fact that he is wearing a jacket.

During the investigation it emerged that Alfred Potter claimed to have seen Walton in the early afternoon working on his hedges – or at least saw a man whom he assumed to be Walton. However, he described Charles as wearing shirtsleeves whereas, when the body was found, he was wearing a sleeveless shirt underneath his jacket.

In my view this is critical evidence. If Potter was the murderer, he had to implicate a third person, and so deflect suspicion from himself. And that third person obviously had to have been present at the time the murder took place. Consequently, Potter needed to think of some way in which the man he claimed to have seen could have been mistaken for Walton, but also subsequently proved not to have been him.

Potter had to make a plausible misidentification because what self-respecting farmer would allow strangers to wander around his fields unchallenged? He said that the man he saw was wearing shirtsleeves when Walton had none. So his story was possibly designed to imply that he witnessed the murder without realising what he was actually seeing. In other words, so that the Police would conclude that the man Potter believed was Walton, in the rolled down shirtsleeves, was in fact the murderer. And what Potter took to be Walton slashing the hedge was in reality the murderer beating Walton over the head.

There is a further aspect to Potter’s evidence. Walton was wearing a jacket when he was murdered, as the photograph shows, and, if Potter killed him and that was the first time he had seen him that day, he may actually have believed he had long shirtsleeves.

As regards local reactions to Potter, it was interesting to me to find that he was a Sidesman at the local parish church. So possibly not entirely the despised loner that he has been painted. This said, it is difficult to find out too much about him. Was he married and did he have children? I know that he did not die until 1974. Does anyone have any more information about him?

[Granger]

Hi Appleby,

I think you've got it about right, to be honest. Potter was Spooner's favoured suspect, but the latter could never put together sufficient evidence to nail him.

Having said that, I've visited Meon Hill and its surroundings on several occasions, and there is no doubt that it really is a weird place. There is an other-worldliness about that part of Warwickshire, even in 2008; so what it must have been like in in 1945 is anyone's guess. The odd thing is that there are many websites describing 'black dogs', but none of them so much as mention Meon Hill.

Cheers,

Graham

I was born at Shipston On Stour, which is very near to the murder site, and was actually alive at the time. At one time an Italian POW was interviewed regarding the murder. There was a camp near Lower Quinton, and POW's were allowed out to help local tradesmen, including my father who was a grocer.

When I last went into the pub at Lower Quinton c 1970's, I brought up the subject of Walton's murder, and it is true, no one still will talk about it. Considering Potter was so unliked, it is strange that all the locals did everything they could NOT to help the police.

It was, maybe still is, to see dead crows strung up in trees to deter other birds......or humans!!

There used to be a great museum of witchcraft at Bourton On The Water.

[Graham]

Hi Appleby,

I think you've got it about right, to be honest. Potter was Spooner's favoured suspect, but the latter could never put together sufficient evidence to nail him.

Having said that, I've visited Meon Hill and its surroundings on several occasions, and there is no doubt that it really is a weird place. There is an other-worldliness about that part of Warwickshire, even in 2008; so what it must have been like in in 1945 is anyone's guess. The odd thing is that there are many websites describing 'black dogs', but none of them so much as mention Meon Hill.

Cheers,

Graham

[plang]

Hi Appleby, your comments have been considered,thank you.

Bye,
Plang

[Granger]

Walton's body as found.