大象传媒

As Danny Robins’ podcast The Witch Farm reveals, one expert in the field, Dickie Dodds, (played by Reece Shearsmith on the show) visited the site and claimed there were, “ley lines all over the shop”. While another ley line tracker, Peter Davies, stated it was “the worst place I have ever dowsed in over 20 years. I felt violently sick... never known such a pool of harmful radiation and would not live there under any circumstances.”

Watkins believed that these (ley) lines were ancient navigational routes, made by our ancestors

What is a Ley Line?

Amateur archaeologist, naturalist and keen photographer Alfred Watkins was out in the Herefordshire countryside he loved in 1921, when he had a sudden revelation that he described as: “glowing wires all over the surface of the county”. He suddenly sensed a collection of grid-like lines running across the terrain before him.

Watkins believed that these lines were ancient navigational routes, made by our ancestors, stemming from "terminal points". These he defined as notable landmarks in the landscape such as burial mounds, springs, rivers, religious buildings, beacons and ruins. He named them "ley lines" with "ley" being the Anglo-Saxon word for "a clearing in the woods". Ancient people, struggling to navigate a terrain without roads, signs or obvious routes, would travel in as straight a line as possible between these points.

Critics of Watkins’ ideas pointed out that many of the historical structures that made up terminal points were built during vastly differing eras, so no significance could be placed on them. Also travelling in a straight line between these points would have been highly impractical for ancient people.

Though the ideas Watkins had about ley lines were not readily accepted by the archaeological community when first aired during the 1920s, his ley line vision began to garner interest in later years. During the 1960s, the growth of alternative thinking and New Age movements picked up on ley line theories, connecting them with ancient magic, mysticism and even UFO activity.

Machu Picchu

Ley line advocates decided that it wasn鈥檛 just in the United Kingdom that they existed - they expanded the network to include ancient mystical sites.

And these new ley line advocates decided that it wasn’t just in the United Kingdom that they existed. Taking Watkins's idea, they expanded the network to include ancient mystical sites such as the Pyramids of Giza, Machu Picchu and Ayer’s Rock.

Rather than merely being a navigational tool for our predecessors, these ley lines were imbued with some sort of supernatural energy running along unseen "rivers" beneath the ground. As these prospective energy points intersect, the power is at its strongest and this energy could be harnessed by an individual with the sufficient "magic" skills to utilise it. This power could then be used in mystical ceremonies, to worship pagan idols or, as previously stated, even summon UFOs.

While many are sceptical about the more outlandish theories surrounding ley lines, the idea of a structure or a geographic location having "energy" is one that intrigues curious minds. Many cultures around the globe associate energies, ghosts and spirits with a specific location and even with movement in a straight line. In Chinese folklore, evil spirits were thought to travel in this way, and so their path had to be blocked with a wall containing a charm.

How are they found?

The original ley line proponent, Alfred Watkins, plotted his perceived ancestoral routes by simply using a map and a ruler. But to discover hidden pathways of magnetic energy, those seeking the planet’s magnetic grid will often use a method called dowsing.

Dowsing is simply the act of seeking out something hidden within the earth, using your own body as the main conduit. Dowsers often use metal or wooden rods, held lightly in the hands, which move or twitch when a current is located. And it’s not just ley lines that are located via dowsing. Searching for water, or divination, using rods has been undertaken for centuries and is still practised today.

During production of The Witch Farm, Danny Robins took a dowsing lesson from dowser, druid and author Laurence Main, who was often less than impressed with his technique. (He also felt that Danny was possibly a Black Witch with a third nipple!)

Wales, and the Brecon Beacons area in particular, is considered to be a hotbed of ley line activity, according to these who believe in their existence. There are a slew of rivers, ancient monuments, beacons and springs that crisscross the area.

Dowsers and ley line experts who visited The Witch Farm detected both positive and negative energy running under the house. These include a "black stream" that ran immediately under the cottage. Ley trackers believe that when radiation from the earth passes through water, it can alter its frequency and become harmful to people, even deadly. It was detected that one of these black streams ran beneath the cottage’s electricity meter. The Witch Farm’s owners experienced a massive drain on their electricity, causing a huge unexplained bill. Was it possible that this toxic radiation played a part?

On his recent expedition with Danny to explore the land around Heol Fanog, dowsing expert Laurence Main also sensed two ley lines running near to the property. One that appeared to be good and one that appeared to be evil. Not just evil, but in Laurence’s words: “It’s a pit of hell.”

If a paranormal explanation for the activities at The Witch farm is to be considered, could ley lines have been involved? As with many of the strange, terrifying events at Heol Fanog, it’s still a mystery.

Listen to The Witch Farm

Joseph Fiennes and Alexandra Roach star in a new paranormal cold case from Danny Robins, creator of The Battersea Poltergeist.