About this Website
Background
This website and the companion book form part of a series instigated by the national body ASSAP, known collectively as Project Albion.
Project Albion has been likened to a ‘Doomsday book of the paranormal’. It is an attempt to record the full spectrum of anomalies, past and present, within their geographical, as well as historical, context. While surveys of phenomena like apparitions and UFOs have been carried out before, it is unlikely that such a census of so many kinds of anomaly has ever been attempted before nationwide.
If you wish to find out more about Project Albion and how you can become involved by researching and collating mysterious happenings in your area, visit http://www.assap.org/newsite/htmlfiles/Albion.html.
Phenomenological Scope
All strange types of occurrence are covered, including spontaneous psychic phenomena, UFO incidents and strange legends and customs.
Geographical Scope
The geographical scope of this particular Albion exercise is the local government districts of
- North-East Derbyshire
- Chesterfield
- Bolsover
which, geographically, make up the north-east corner of Derbyshire.
It should be borne in mind that certain parishes no longer lying within North-East Derbyshire were in fact part of that district years ago. Specifically, this means that incidents relating to Dore up until 1928, Norton up until 1933 and Mosborough up until 1967 fall within the scope of this website.
Strange North-East Derbyshire: the website
This site is a free-to-use heritage website which aims to catalogue all the strange incidents scoped above within the geographic area scoped above, providing, for each, a summary of the incident, cross references to the sources of information and, in some cases, a photograph. The Harvard method of referencing has been used. Thus, for example, if the reference quoted is "Derbyshire Times, 2002", by clicking on References at the top of the page, the enquirer can see that the relevant source of information is "Derbyshire Times, 2002. ‘Green light mystery couple’s UFO alert’. The Derbyshire Times, 17th Oct.". The References quoted typically provide further details about the incident and, in many cases, the historical background to the scene of the incident. Enquirers are thus encouraged to access the books and articles so referenced in order to read the full detail of the incidents.
Strange North-East Derbyshire: the book
This website has a companion book, also entitled Strange North-East Derbyshire. Click here for details of the book.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to express his appreciation to the following for their assistance and co-operation with this exercise:-
- Mike Rush, for providing technical advice regarding the creation of this website
- the publishers of Dronfield Eye and its sister publications, for publishing a request for the public to come forward with their tales
- those members of the public who were willing for their tales to be published
- the publishers of Reflections and The Derbyshire Times, for permission to use material from some of their articles
- the staff of Chesterfield Library’s Local Studies Section, for help with accessing archival material.
Copyright
Whilst the textual content of this site is copyright © William J Eyre, the information is freely available for use in other websites, provided that a link is provided back to this site. However, use of the material on this site for commercial purposes is strictly forbidden.
All photographs within this website, except where indicated otherwise, are copyright © William J Eyre.
All reasonable attempts have been made to contact copyright holders of source material but should any issue arise, the copyright holder is requested to contact the author via the Contact page and any contraventions will be immediately rectified.
Pseudonyms
Where information is already in the public domain or where no individual’s confidentiality is being breached, real names of persons and places have been used. However, on occasion it has been necessary to use pseudonyms at the request of witnesses, in order to protect their anonymity.
Abbreviations
ASSAP Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena
CCTV closed circuit television
CPSG Chesterfield Psychic Study Group
EMUFORA East Midlands Unidentified Flying Object Research Association
PASSA Paranormal Awakening Scientific Study Association
PIR passive infra-red
PK psychokinesis
TB tuberculosis
TV television
UDC Urban District Council
UFO unidentified flying object
WI Women’s Institute
Links
Links to websites that provide source information for tales in this website will be found on the References page.
If you require links to the websites of organisations connected to the paranormal in this part of the country, you are recommended to visit the website of Chesterfield Psychic Study Group (www.cpsg.uk), to click on 'Directory' and to download The CPSG Directory.
Updates
The author would welcome any additional tales to those already listed in this website. Any such tales should be submitted via the Contact page. Information that has been added to the site since the original publication of the site and companion book is shown in green font.
