It was something of a mystery why hundreds of rooks were falling from the skies. This was happening in January 1934 and all within just a few miles from the village of Melcombe Horsey, near Dorchester. The birds appeared to be flying from the direction of Wareham and Lulworth. Nothing like this had ever happened before in the county although there was some talk of it previously happening once in Hampshire. Hundreds were found dead in the woods and locals in North Hampshire were warned not to eat the dead birds. Local rookeries contained thousands of birds which proved unwelcome pests to the Dorset farmers. One theory expressed was that a farmer who had fields of young corn had steeped grain in arsenic or some other poison such as strychnine and scattered this over the land where the rooks fed. All the dead birds were either rooks or jackdaws and it was reported four cats, a dog and a fox also died in the neighbourhood. Followed the analysis of one of the dead birds, it was revealed it ...
Elm Tree Inn, Langton Herring in South Dorset is a 400-year-old hostelry with a colourfully checkered history - that includes smugglers, bouncing bombs, espionage and knicker bunting. Originally leased by the Prince of Wales, it became a known haunt for wreckers and smugglers. Wreckers plundered cargo from shipwrecks. The dangerous shingle banks and deep waters off nearby Chesil Bank led to many local shipwrecks. Folklore has it that wreckers would tie a lantern to a cow’s tail and the gentle up and down motion would simulate that of a ship at anchor. Passing captains would mistake the false light for a safe harbour. Disaster would follow. A fisherman who had cheated others on the size of his catch was chased through the village in 1780 and was hung from a beam at the Elm Tree Inn. In 1834, William Whittle was sentenced to death for smuggling and for assaulting a Revenue Official. Following a petition for clemency, signed by more than 600, he was transported to Australia. The village’s...