[Scenario Seed] The Terror of the Ringers.
Aug 9, 2022 11:15:59 GMT
greyhame and soultaker666212 like this
Post by Catsmate on Aug 9, 2022 11:15:59 GMT
A quickie culled from my notes file.
The Terror of the Ringers.
Bell-ringing, or more scientifically campanology, is generally a pretty sedate pursuit, though requiring stamina, coordination, an excellent memory and a degree of intelligence. Rarely, unless one lives in the county of Midsomer1 or hob-nobs with aristocratic amateur detectives2, does it involve strange death or supernatural encounters.
This story begins sometime around 1500-15203 the devil, or something odd, attacked the bell tower of the church of St Michael, Cornhill, in London.
Supposedly on the night of 24JUL, the night before St James's Day, the bell-ringers were in the tower, specifically in the ‘bell loft’ a level below the actual bells4, ringing a peal. During this endeavor a strange “tempest of thunder and lightnings did arise”. Worse, from the south window the ringers saw an “ugly shapen sight”. A mysterious flying creature was outside.
The creature forced it’s way into the tower, through the unglazed window, whereupon the ringers collapsed, either in terror or faking death. Or perhaps rendered unconscious by the creature.
The thing perched for some time around the north window, with the bells gradually falling silent. Some suggest they continued to ring long after they should have wound down.
When the ringers recovered, either awoke or suppressed their terror, they found “certaine stones of the north window to be razed and scrat as if they had been so much butter printed with a lion's claw”.
The claw marks are attested to by John Stow (a historian who lived in the parish and whose father was one of the ringers) in his Survey of London of 1598. Stow stated the marks were three to four inches deep, in solid stone.
So what happened? Had something (nearby alchemical experiments or damaged time machine perhaps) opened a rift in space and time allowing a creature to pass through? What was it (Reaper or nightgaunt perhaps)? What did it do in the tower? Why was it attracted to the tower (had someone used it for strange experiments, in the manner of the Hill Valley Courthouse and clock tower or the Empire State Building)?
Comments? Suggestions? Ideas?
1. Ring Out Your Dead.
2. The Nine Tailors.
3. The year is unfortunately not known with certainty but probably before 1524.
4. It's bloody dangerous to be in proximity to the bells when they're ringing.
The Terror of the Ringers.
Bell-ringing, or more scientifically campanology, is generally a pretty sedate pursuit, though requiring stamina, coordination, an excellent memory and a degree of intelligence. Rarely, unless one lives in the county of Midsomer1 or hob-nobs with aristocratic amateur detectives2, does it involve strange death or supernatural encounters.
This story begins sometime around 1500-15203 the devil, or something odd, attacked the bell tower of the church of St Michael, Cornhill, in London.
- Not the modern church which post-dates the Great Fire (and probably didn’t involve either Wren or Hawksmoor). While the bell-tower, where this story happened [allegedly], did survive it was demolished three centuries ago.
Supposedly on the night of 24JUL, the night before St James's Day, the bell-ringers were in the tower, specifically in the ‘bell loft’ a level below the actual bells4, ringing a peal. During this endeavor a strange “tempest of thunder and lightnings did arise”. Worse, from the south window the ringers saw an “ugly shapen sight”. A mysterious flying creature was outside.
The creature forced it’s way into the tower, through the unglazed window, whereupon the ringers collapsed, either in terror or faking death. Or perhaps rendered unconscious by the creature.
The thing perched for some time around the north window, with the bells gradually falling silent. Some suggest they continued to ring long after they should have wound down.
When the ringers recovered, either awoke or suppressed their terror, they found “certaine stones of the north window to be razed and scrat as if they had been so much butter printed with a lion's claw”.
The claw marks are attested to by John Stow (a historian who lived in the parish and whose father was one of the ringers) in his Survey of London of 1598. Stow stated the marks were three to four inches deep, in solid stone.
So what happened? Had something (nearby alchemical experiments or damaged time machine perhaps) opened a rift in space and time allowing a creature to pass through? What was it (Reaper or nightgaunt perhaps)? What did it do in the tower? Why was it attracted to the tower (had someone used it for strange experiments, in the manner of the Hill Valley Courthouse and clock tower or the Empire State Building)?
Comments? Suggestions? Ideas?
1. Ring Out Your Dead.
2. The Nine Tailors.
3. The year is unfortunately not known with certainty but probably before 1524.
4. It's bloody dangerous to be in proximity to the bells when they're ringing.
