Do you have any creepy shit that’s happened recently that you feel like sharing? (Asking partially so you’ll share your creepy shit tag again because I’m on mobile and can’t find it for the life of me)
I do actually! I had a cool creepy thing happen just the other day, in Dunwich of all places. (and here's the tag!)
for those of you who might not know, Dunwich is a drowned town in East Anglia, an area of England known for its extreme coastal erosion. back in its heyday in the 13th century, Dunwich was a major port city with a population of 4000 people -- quite substantial for the time; about the size of 14th century London. unfortunately, a storm surge took its toll in 1286, destroying the harbour, and two large storms swallowed massive chunks of the town overnight in February and December 1287. now there's nothing left of the medieval town aside from the occasional bone that emerges from the still collapsing cliffs, the only remnants of the town's many churchyards.
the only substantial structure left is Greyfriars, an old priory built on the edge of town. the town once stretched two kilometres east of the priory, but now it sits just off the clifftop path, looking onto open ocean. Greyfriars is now a ruin, with one single grave surviving -- the rest have collapsed into the sea. my spouse and I walked up there to take a look, later in the evening during golden hour. we spent half an hour or so looking around and taking photos, before heading back along the cliff path to the beach.
no sooner had we left the priory, I felt someone walking very close behind me, about as close as I was walking to my spouse. I mentioned this, and my spouse joked that it was one of the brothers seeing us off. I mentioned that after all, hospitality was an important role for priories back in the day, and joked that I hoped we hadn't stayed too late. I said "Sorry, Brother!", and as soon as I did, the presence stopped following. I could still feel someone standing there, but they remained in place until my spouse and I had gone further down the path and out of sight.
it was genuinely such a cool experience, and the whole area is so quiet and peaceful but there's also this eerie heaviness to it. Dunwich -- what's left of it -- is still collapsing into the sea. looking out over the water and knowing that two whole kilometres of busy port and city, with thousands of people and hundreds of ships coming and going, has just been swallowed up... knowing that the wreckage of houses and churches and graveyards is still on the sea floor? it really makes you realise how temporary we are. I couldn't help but look and think to myself that after humans are gone, the world will look like this: quiet, flawless, the waves crashing on the beach just as they always have. a local legend says that when the tide is right, the drowned church bells can be heard tolling. strange to think that one day that echo might be all that's left of us.
