THE VVITCH

I went to see The VVitch last night , which lived up to all my expectations. We don't get to see many films set in the 17c , and rarely one where the dialogue, costume and behaviour of the protagonists is so well portrayed. The director had clearly done his homework and I recognised several real quotes from 17c witch witch trials. It certainly wasn't an easy watch, the burgeoning sense of paranoia, the graphic portrayal of witches rites (as recorded in trial testimonies) and the discordant soundtrack all added up to make a harrowing yet compelling film. I'll certainly be buying it when it's released on DVD to add to the folk horror collection.

Now...who does figures of 17c witches and civilians....?

WATERLOO YEAR

Two posts in one day?Happily New Years Day fell on a Thursday so I got the day off. We started the day with an impromptu Napoleonic battle on the sitting room floor. Each boy got a box of A Call to Arms Napoleonics and a Playmobil cannon as part of their Christmas presents, so we had a happy half hour firing the guns until the battle developed into trench warfare using fold in the rug as defences

Later on we went for a walk by the town of Wotton-under-Edge on part of the Cotswold Way. This copse of trees is called Waterloo plantation, and was originally planted to commemorate the battle, and has been replanted over the last 200 years. I always like a stand of Scots pines, and these are surrounded by a wall which makes them quite mysterious in an M R Jamesian  type of way. It wasn't raining but very windy, but fortunately we had brought bacon butties and cocoa.

A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL (IF YOU HAVE BEEN GOOD)

A tale my father used to tell me was of a mountaineering aquaintance who was hiking in the Alps, presumably in the late 1940's at the same time my Dad was hiking about Europe. This intrepid fellow was making his way along a lonely snow covered track one Christmas eve , when he heard galloping hooves behind him. On turning he could see nothing, so continued on his way, no doubt eager to get to the nearest gasthof for a glüwein and germknodel .Cocking an ear he heard the hoofbeats again getting nearer but still no sign of any animal coming along the track, hurrying on, the traveller was just coming to the village when the hoof beats sounded loud behind him...now severely frightened he took to his heels, and felt a mighty blow on his back as the galloping sound passed over him and continues toward the village, yet no sign of any beast was there. Stumbling to the inn, he managed to find a bed for the night, but in the morning, upon examining the back of his jacket he finds a cloven hoof mark burned into the fabric.......

Perhaps it was this chap Krampus, my Christmas figure for this year. I have just finished painting him, and after a few day of grotty behaviour from the 3 boys, I can sympathise with this tradition which you can read about here . A nice figure from Reaper, complete with birch twigs for swatting naughty children and washtub to carry them off to Hell.

Wishing you all a Very Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A PIRATICAL START TO A JAMESIAN OUTING

A pleasing start to my weekend off work (I work alternate weekends). Coming round at 9am to the smell of fresh baked rolls and strawberry jam. I can't remember when I slept so late last, so refreshed and with a spring in my step I headed to the garage to knock up 3 pirate pistols that had been requested from the Things 1,2 and 3. Simple affairs jigsawed out of some wood left over from my old Dad's workshop,

They kept the boys busy sanding them down and being pirate rats all morning bawling

"We fly a banner all of black

with scarlet skull and boneses

and every merchantman we take

we send to Davey Joneses..."

John Masefield The Box of Delights

Whislt this rumpus was going on I snuck off to the attic to paint some 18c gardeners which will be appearing tomorrow when the varnish is dry. We then headed out to Farleigh Hungerford castle just down the road, a severeley ruined mainly 14c castle where I have spent many happy weekends in my youth fighting for Parliament with the English Civil War Society. 

I took a few pictures of the contents of the castle, and it struck me M R James would have found much of interest, and possible inspiration for ghost stories . For instance these sinister lead coffins in the chapel crypt

Or the grave slab of a medieval monk, excavated in the 19c and the skeleton was said to "have teeth quite perfect "

(you can just make out the monks head at the top of the slab)

There is a splendid medieval wall painting of George slaying the dragon

and much for the ECW enthusiast too. Parliament held by Sir Edward Hungerford until 1643 the castle was taken over by his Royalist half brother, who terrorised to surrounding countryside in the name of the King stealing horses and supplies. The effigy of the Puritan Sir Edward and his wife are in the chapel

despite his military dress, he seems to have surrendered or run away from any action he was involved in.

There is some armour in the little museum too

(another Jamesian touch, with " a horrible face of crumpled linen")

A nice model of the castle in it's heyday

Outside it had stopped raining hard so we poked about the ruins

The river below the castle has burst it's banks.

It then started to hail, so we packed up and went to the excellent Farleigh Road farm shop to get some provisions, back to the castle to collect a wooden pistol left in a guardroom and then home for tea and cake.

CHRISTMAS PUNCH

Alfront mentioned he was rather partial to the Sherlock Holmes story The Blue Carbuncle

http://alfront-wardiariesofalittleenglander.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/the-adventures.html?showComment=1356509332861#c1669285265699434303

which set me thinking about my favourite Christmas story. I am a devotee of good ghost stories, so I think I would go for (perhaps predictably) The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance by M R James. The story takes the form of a series of letters describing the search for the clergyman uncle of the writer who has gone missing at Christmas time. In one of the letters he describes a horrifying dream in which a demonic Mr Punch appears

" and to see his horrible face-it was yellowish white I may remark-peering round the wings made me think of the Vampyre in Fuseli's foul sketch"

" after it (the murder of one of the puppet victims) Punch came and sat on the footboard  and fanned himself, and looked at his shoes, which were bloody, and hung his head on one side, and sniggered in so deadly a fashion, that I saw some of those beside me cover their faces..."

Another great ghost story, perhaps less disturbing, is For the Local Rag by A M Burrage, which has at least some Christmas sentiment and good cheer in it!

COUNT MAGNUS

A bit of a flight of fancy from my ECW project, but here is a depiction of Count Magnus de la Gardie and his unholy companion with a victim, based on the events told in Count Magnus by M R James. The Count is a Sanderson figure, painted to look Scandinavian and villainous, the 'companion' is a Cthulhu figure from Frothers Unite and the unfortunate faceless Roundhead a converted Replicants casualty figure, with a skull taken from a skeleton figure in my oldest son's soldier box (I knew they would come in useful when I bought them for him).

A PLEASING TERROR

I had a pleasant evening last night in that I went to see Nunkie theatre company http://www.nunkie.co.uk/theatre.html at a little theatre in Bath. This chap, Robert Lloyd Parry takes the role of my favourite author M. R. James and gives a performance of 2 of James' ghost stories which he has memorised. Although seated in a chair throughout the performace his acting is quite superb and the audience were quite enthralled with that 'pleasing terror' James was so good at conveying.

Last night we had Lost Hearts and A Warning to the Curious, and if you haven't read the ghost stories of M R James I urge you to rush out and grab a copy now, as they are some of the best stories written.