Much has been written and documented about arguably the most famous stone circle in the World; one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and a Neolithic World Heritage site to boot. But not much it seems has been written about the ghostly activity and possibly out-of-this world activity found up there.
I decided to do some digging. Not literally, you understand. I don’t think it would be the done thing to start digging holes at Stonehenge! I found several strange individual stories of strange lights, cryptids, apparitions and elementals. Yet, no one had collected them together.
Interestingly, because Stonehenge is located on the edge of Salisbury Plain, a vast military area spanning the middle of Wiltshire, several of the following accounts come from very credible, professionally employed witnesses. Those trained to think pragmatically and to look for a sensible explanation. For me, any reports of unusual situations have more kudos when they come from these generally sceptical folk.
So, Stonehenge… it’s here in Wiltshire, and it’s probably the main reason people know anything about this creepy county. Standing proudly since 2000- 3000BC, it’s pretty much next to the main road that runs down to the West Country, the dreaded A303. You can’t miss it!
As far as stone circles go, it’s undoubtedly one of the most impressive. It’s not just the size and age that makes it so. The fact is, still to this day, no one really knows what the purpose of Stonehenge is. Ancient meeting place, a sacrificial altar for the Druids, Roman clock? And who built it? Wiltshire folklore claims it was the Devil himself, in one single night. Some UFO enthusiasts still maintain it is alien-built. The latest theory I have heard of suggests it’s all about women’s fertility and from a certain angle, when the light hits the alter stone, it’s like a woman’s vagina! That’s a new one on me, I can’t see it myself but hey, what do I know. What does anyone know?! It’s certainly a mystery.
Living nearby, I so feel an infinity to the place, with its beautiful rolling chalk grassland surroundings. The whole site includes over 700 archaeological features, including henges, timber structures, enclosures and burial mounds. The land is literally seeped in history. Given all of that going on nearby, is it any wonder there is lots of weirdness going on up there. Talking of which…
The mysterious phantom plane
If you ever visit the magical stones, you may well see the Airman’s Cross by the visitor’s centre. It hasn’t always been situated there. Originally it was just up the road at Airman’s Corner, the site of an early military aviation accident on 5 July 1912.
In this area, four WW2 soldiers were on an instructional course shortly before D-Day. Sir Michael W. S Bruce, one of the four soldiers, wrote into the Evening Standard in 1953 to tell the story.
As the soldiers headed by jeep towards Stonehenge, they suddenly witnessed a tiny aircraft fly straight into a copse of trees to the side of the road. They raced ahead to the scene of the crash. There was nothing to be seen. No aircraft flying south, no noise and no sign of an accident. The men were miffed. It was then that the warrant officer called to his men. He was standing, white as a sheet, at the spot where the plane appeared to disappear. There he had come across a large stone cairn commemorating the deaths of the first-ever members of the Royal Flying Corps to die on duty, Captain Eustace Loraine and Staff Sargent Richard Wilson.
Elemental energies and elves
On one of my previous little exploratory trips, I met up with a local lady called Nixie (you can read all about that very weird day here: www.weird-wiltshire.co.uk/2022/06/12/astral-projection-at-magical-stonehenge). She is a psychic artist, tarot reader and moon witch. We had a fantastic conversation over coffee and spoke extensively about the magical energy of Stonehenge. Nixie is very connected and interested in elemental energies. Nature spirits. Ancient beings. And she feels their strength strongly in and around the Stonehenge area. It is Earth elementals she feels are strongest there.
Nixie told me of the many hares that live on the chalk downlands, and one, in particular, seems quite keen on Nixie when she visits. She told me the hare bounds over, bouncing higher than his friends. He will stop and look at the visitors. Nixie explained that hares are very important in Pagan culture. She acknowledges that, of course, we are in the countryside, so there will be hares, but there is some sort of difference in the creatures living near Stonehenge.
The rooks and jackdaws are known as the guardians of the stones. These intelligent birds know all the guides and will regularly come and land on their favourites and talk to them. Each bird has a name, with Albie, George and Little George being the rooks I had the privilege of meeting. They do seem to keep a close eye on all the visitors. These birds give off a feeling of ‘knowing.’ It’s hard to explain, but yes, they do seem to be guardians of the stones.
Nixie told me of one experience that has stuck with her. As a practising Moon Witch, she often takes a women’s circle to Stonehenge to celebrate the solstices and equinoxes. She sat peacefully with a friend at the stones one summer solstice. Nixie said she noticed two small figures walking through the groups of people behind the central circle. No one else seemed to notice them. Nixie struggled to really understand what she was seeing. These unusual beings weren’t dressed in everyday clothes; they were child-sized but not children. She thought of them being very much ‘elf-like’. Nixie turned to her friend to point out the elves, but when she looked back, they were gone. And as much as Nixie looked for them, throughout the remainder of the gathering, she didn’t see them again. She is convinced they were elemental beings, visiting this special place on Midsummer Day. And it was on that day that these elves allowed Nixie to glimpse them, just for a moment.
Ancient aliens
This next story is one of a potential UFO sighting, told to me by one of the guides at Stonehenge. He was passed this story, and video that you can see here, from the two security guards stationed up there during the Covid lockdown.
A weird blob of light was seen to float towards the stones one night. It was initially shaped perhaps like a weather balloon, but then it shapeshifts. Little spikes of light come and go from the blob and it changes direction. Floats above the stones and then just disappears off again. The witnesses are highly credible and their experience affected them greatly. Watch the video over on TikTok. What do you think it is?
Talking of security guards…
What must be one of the best sources of ghostly experiences in any haunted location has to be the night security guards. They are literally paid to keep watch for anything out of the ordinary in the dead of night. There are a couple located at Stonehenge each night to discourage unwanted visitors.
The paranormal author, JA Higgins, contacted me when she found out I was looking for henge ghost stories. She said she had spoken to one of the security guards one day. It was this guard that had witnessed a shadow man one night walking around the stones. He said he had also heard voices, whispering and singing, coming from the circle. On investigation, there was no one around.
Strange humming has often been heard, and the guards have felt a weird electrical charge or energy. And there it is again…that connection between energy and the stones. It is something that comes up an awful lot.
Into the vortex
There is an unverified story from 1971 about a group of hippy campers who decided to pitch their tents within the stone circle. This was back in a time when access to the stones was unrestricted. An intense thunderstorm blew across Salisbury Plains that night. Lightning struck local trees and even the sarsen stones themselves. An eerie blue light illuminated the stone circle, so intense that two witnesses, a policeman and a farmer, were forced to look away.
They heard the group of hippies screaming and ran to their assistance. But when they got there, all that was left was a smouldering campfire and smoking tent pegs. Even the tents were gone. And the group of campers? They were never seen again.
There is some suggestion that if this event did indeed occur, it may be that the energy of the storm, combined with the power of the fourteen ley lines crisscrossing this magical ancient monument, had somehow managed to create some sort of vortex. If this is the case, I cannot even begin to comprehend where that unlucky group of people have ended up.
The Hurricane of 1987
There’s another anecdote regarding extreme weather, told by Brian Davison, Inspector of Ancient Monuments, from Stonehenge, in 1987. It’s not a ghost story, but it does feed into the stories that exist, telling of the magic and power of this stone circle. Apparently, that year, a group of University of Bristol students were up at Stonehenge doing some petrological research into the bluestones.
They were joking about the alleged power of the henge and laughing about any ill-tidings, bad luck or curses that may occur as a result of them ‘taking’ bits of the magical stones. Whilst they were joking, there was a bit of apprehension, nonetheless.
‘Even if people don’t see us, God will, and we’ll be struck down, just like the disappearing hippies!’ they laughed.
Having finished their work around 9 pm and although the wind was picking up, they were relieved to head off with nothing having happened. ‘See! It’s all rubbish!’ they declared with a sigh of relief.
That was the night of the great hurricane of 1987! Brian Davison says of the night that he can’t help but wonder if it was down to the students and their sample-taking and they may have upset some of the ancient spirits in the area!
The stories don’t end there…
Sadly, it is time to say farewell for now, yet I do have more to tell you. There have been many other strange sightings in and around this ancient site. Small child-sized apparitions moving around the sarsen stones. The ghost of a dog guarding Doghill Barrow, an ancient burial ground nearby. There are a couple of accounts of a Bigfoot-type being seen by different witnesses in the local fields.
Now, I’m pretty sure there are even more stories, just waiting for me to discover them so I’ll be back to visit Stonehenge again some time in the future!
With thanks to Nick Bull of Stonehenge Dronescapes for allowing me to use his amazing image
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3 responses to “Weird Things at Stonehenge: Odd Lights, Strange Sounds and Local Lore”
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Could the small beings, witnessed, be little ‘grey’ aliens which may have been historically been mistaken for ‘elves’?
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I guess anything is possible. Elves or aliens – all equally strange!
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VERY INTERESTING HAVE A GOOD day one time .
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