Round the Longstone
I was staying on the Isle of Wight recently, and decided to visit the island’s only standing stone, the Longstone, near the village of Mottistone. It was on 4 June, a hot, sunny day with not a cloud in the sky. I left my fiancée Sarah and son Oscar in the car while I walked along a path up the side of a field, over a gate and then along another path to the stone, a journey of about 10 minutes. As soon as I clapped eyes on it, I texted her to say I wouldn’t be long. I took lots of photos and some video of the impressive 13ft (4m) high megalith. While I was there, a young hiker walked past. He didn’t acknowledge me, which was slightly odd as it was only me and him there, and he passed quite close. Then he walked off the way I’d just come, whistling or singing a strange, haunting tune or song. Weirdly, I’ve been unable to recall exactly what it was, other than it was rather ‘unearthly’.
I waited a few minutes, and then walked back along the path to the car. I didn’t see him, but when I got back, I asked Sarah if she’d seen him. She had; she’d looked up, saw him approaching (thinkingunsurprising as mobile phone reception on the Isle of Wight is poor, but what is odd is that the clock on her phone suddenly jumped forward an hour and all the names on her contacts list disappeared, leaving just the numbers. (She restarted the phone later and they all came back and the clock reset itself.)
