Cannock Chase is a densely forested area with green hills, seething streams and spacious fields in the English county of Staffordshire.
Shagbro Hall, which was built in 1693, is a huge stately mansion built on the edge of the Chase. It resembles the type of old house that would be appropriate for the TV series "Downton Abbey".
Even older is the structure known as Ring Castle. This is a fort built on a hill over two thousand years ago. Its location allows you to view the entire Chase. The area is home to many wild deer, and all of it is picturesque and colorful, it is a favorite walking place for both locals and tourists.
But one should not succumb to her charm. Not everything is good and touching here. For many years, ghostly black dogs with glowing eyes, terrifying supernatural creatures have been seen in these places. Something like the one that Arthur Conan Doyle described the Baskervilles dog. And near the military cemetery in Cannock Chase, they saw huge black cats the size of a puma.
In 2007, at the same cemetery, a creature was seen, which was described by local witnesses as nothing more than a werewolf. In addition, Bigfoot-like creatures and hairy wild people have been seen in the area, which are said to have lived here for centuries.
The local waters are said to be home to strange slippery creatures, and strange flying creatures can be spotted on some nights. This area is an incredible collection of all kinds of monsters. But a special place among them is occupied by Slenderman - a thin man. In Cannock Chase, this creature was seen long before Eric Knusden made it popular in 2009.
One of the earliest clashes with Slenderman came in June 2001, when a local man named Mike Johnson saw him. At the time, Johnson worked at the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust and at the University of Wolverhampton, studying vegetation in the area.
The meeting with Slenderman took place not far from the already mentioned cemetery. It was a warm and bright morning with no clouds in the sky, and Johnson was studying plants. Everything was going fine until Mike noticed that something strange was happening. There was an unnatural silence all around. The birds died down and the sound of cars from the nearby highway. Then a deer appeared near Mike, and immediately ran to the side with all its might.
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And then Mike felt the presence of something else. Everything was confused. The road that ran in the east was now in the west, the sun had shifted and positioned in the sky as if it was already two in the afternoon. Feeling disoriented and close to panic, Johnson sensed that something bad was happening. He looked at the compass. But that didn't work either. Mike realized that he was less than a kilometer from his car, parked near the cemetery, but did not understand how to get there.
And then Slenderman appeared. Mike saw three people walking and could well hear what they were talking about, despite the fact that they were very far from him. As they approached, he saw that the two strangers were women, and the man was carrying a large backpack. Then they suddenly disappeared. And then they appeared on the other side and much closer. But now there were four of them. The fourth figure looked completely inhuman. About two meters tall, she looked incredibly massive, dressed in a clothed robe of dark gray. He had an incredibly long neck and a bald, elongated head. His hands dropped well below his knees.
Johnson could not make out the features of the face - they seemed to merge and remained indistinguishable. Slenderman put his hand on one of the women’s shoulder, but she didn’t notice. It all ended immediately after that, suddenly and in an instant. The birds sang again, all the usual sounds were heard. Mike hurried to his car and hurried away from the scene of the strange event. Only in 2007 did he dare to talk about his experiences.
GUSAKOVA IRINA YURIEVNA