The Bargest of Trollers Ghyll, a photo from North Yorkshire, England

Photographer's Note

This place is quite spooky in foggy weather...

Legend has it that a Barguest, or Bargest, haunts the area.
A fearsome spectral hound,It is said to guard either a grave, sacred site, or hidden treasure.
It is supposedly "as big as a littlish bear." Normaly it is yellow, with large black eyes, although sometimes it is headless.

Trollers Ghyll is a great chasm cut in the hills near Appletreewick in the Yorkshire dales.
The name of this chasm suggests that even the Vikings believed that something evil lurked there (see below).

One night a cobbler was walking the canyon when he came upon the Barguest, it passed close enough to his hiding place that he could give us this description:
"...yellow, with great eyes like saucers. He'd a shaggy sort o' smell as he went by, and I counted myself for dead. But he chanced not to glimpse me, praise all the saints that ever were."

In the last one hundred years, five deaths have been associated with the Trollers Ghyll Barguest.
One of the most interesting stories concerns John Lambert, a loudly outspoken sceptic.
He went hunting for it in Trollers Ghyll at night, armed only with a walking stick. He was found dead the next morning.

BTW - From the old Norse, Trollers ghyll = Trolls Bottom Ravine (Ghyll = a small narrow valley or ravine).

Vicky, KevRyan, bboss, Lisas_world, Philippe, Balthazar, pamastro, robiuk has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

danyy (0) 2005-12-05 16:43

Bonjour Stephen,
un endroit qui fait peur,
ce temps brumeux, cette absence de soleil, ce sol jonché de pierres hostiles, accidenté, ce passage étroit et cette végétation sans feuilles; c'est effrayant.
Une photo que j'aime pour cette ambience.
Regards.
Daniel.

Vicky (1442) 2005-12-05 17:51

Hi Stephen,
It certainly is a spooky story and you managed to capture it's atmosphere in this picture...glad you walked away in one piece to tell the tale! It really is a creepy place and, for once, the dull weather was welcome and helped create the mood. Good colours, I like the way the green stands out, and it's well composed too. Two points for your courage! Best wishes, Vicky

KevRyan (22924) 2005-12-05 18:10

A really interesting story Stephen - the language is ....well different...'Bargest of Trollers Ghyll' - a very atmospheric shot - one can imagine all sorts of spooky goings on here. I remember getting really spooked by a place near Mam Tor in the Peak District - a pool of water in the run off from one of the hills surrounded by trees - it was summer but somehow this place just made me really cold and suddenly shivering - your image really brings that back somehow.

best wishes Kev

Lisas_world (1228) 2005-12-05 20:19

Great note, Stephen, you are quite a story-teller... though I'm wondering why anyone would want to walk there at night.. looks creepy enough in the daytime, especially with those trees hanging over like waiting gnarly fingers. Good shot of the place, with damp, quiet greens in the foreground receding around the jutting rock and into the mist to heighten our sense of apprehension.

Regards, Lisa

matjean (96) 2005-12-05 20:59

Incredible shoot! Nothing to add!

Philippe (11836) 2005-12-06 3:08

Hello, Stephen. This place doesn't look very hospitable and it's no wonder so many legends have been woven around it. I think you've chosen the right moment to choose it when the mist gives a mysterious aspect to it.

Balthazar (222) 2005-12-06 5:49

What a great place full of atmosphere and you have captured it well.
Tolkien springs to mind when I look at it.
Excellent...........

martin-images (661) 2005-12-09 17:25

Great photo love the composition and you have captured the mood of the place well
Martin

hdl (6995) 2005-12-16 7:38

Very mysterious shot. Indeed, as you say it, it is spooky. I like the pov and especially the light fog in the valley. The leafless trees add to the atmosphere. This image would not have been so good in summer I think. You choose a good place at the right time. Well done.

pamastro (7218) 2006-01-02 0:05

It's just like something from a book it seems, both the name and tales of these places. Of course the books followed these precedents. It does have a spookiness here, especially in the fog. The green and the stone the twisted branches of the tree all are very eerie and foreboding. It really is like something deadly is lurking here somewhere. And it just disappears around the zag in the distance giving more frightening mystery.

That's interesting how a skeptic died looking for the mythical creature. Was it known how he died?

robiuk (10805) 2006-01-10 20:07

Just browsing these missed ones...
Quite spooky - reading your note scared me to death!
Think I mmight open a theme, sort of 'spooky places' or something... yours surely fits in!
And... it's beautiful at the same time!
Robi

kangaryu (0) 2010-04-03 10:31 [Comment]