This is a lovely walk through part of
the 265 tranquil acres located within the Eno River Valley near
Hillsborough. The walk passes the Eno River, the remnants of an old
tavern and the Old Indian Trading Path.
However, along the trail lies the Twisted
Grove......
Enter the Grove at either end from
either direction of the Trail. One of these grove entrances is at
the listed co-ordinates. Here is a rather forlorn Cedar tree, where
rumour once has it that the famous Ayrshire poet, Alisdair Pringle,
sat and wrote the famous Triple Masquette, a set of three
allegorical poems outlining a bizarre set of rituals he once
witnessed on a remote Polynesian Island. The rituals described the
summoning of a "large a-writhing creature", and describes shoreline
sacrifices of various animals to "appease the appetite" of the
creature.
It was known that Mr Pringle
had much contact with the famed Miskatonic researcher Charlie
Watkins in nearby Chapel Hill. The two were often seen together,
walking along the grounds at Mount Ayr, deep in conversation.
Watkins' daughter, interviewed for a local newspaper in 1972 after
his mysterious disappearance, shed some light on their
relationship.
"They
were in deep together, researching the local phenomena that were
experienced in Chapel Hill, in particular a rumoured sighting of an
"Awful", a rediciculous myth put about by some local vagrants.
Anyhow, he and Alisdair has some cockneyed idea about summoning
one. They failed once, but decided to try and summon one. They
chose Mount Ayr as the place to do this, and for some reason
cleared the area of Magnolia trees. They were so beautiful there.
Oh well, they tried and set up a very complicated structure close
to Alisdair's fine house, with all manner of animals and wires. We
had no idea of the when and why, but we humored them. One day they
simply stopped and dismantled all the equipment. It was the morning
after a horrendous lightning storm in the area, and I guessed most
of the equipment got damaged. That was about a month before he
vanished. The land around the equipment was cleared by Alisdair,
but he kept one little copse of trees where the equipment had been
placed alone and forbade any of his family to enter. Such a sad
subsequent tale about that family, as we all
know.."
You will know the Twisted Grove when you enter it on the trial.
It is a sad, forlorn place with an odd assortment of trees, twisted
and gnarled from unknown forces.You are looking for the tree that
housed a large antenna that Watkins and Pringle set up here to call
the "Awful". From his scrawled notes he set its position.
"Close to the trail... living cedar on a rock. Not
the detback dead cedar, the living proud cedar overshadowing the
trail. Head into the woods, off the trail, at a bearing of
292degrees true north. Measure one hundred feet,a nd look for the
cedar with the Split. Easy, Watkins old boy, set the antenna here..
yours in research, A. Pringle."
Pease locate and park at Ayr Mount, hours below. The
signed entrance is off St. Mary's Road.
As you start the walk there are
pencils and notepads.. the walk is meant to inspire you to write
poetry.
The walk is open daily :
9 AM until 5 PM*
Jan Feb Nov Dec
9 AM until 6 PM*
March April Sept Oct
9 AM until 8 PM*
May June July August (even though sign says
7pm)
The cache is really close to a main trail, so some
stealth required.
This area is under threat from a new road.... visit
http://www.savepoetswalk.com/history.html to find out
more.
Big thanks to Binary J for the container, stamp and
notebook.