The Mizmaze

Mizmaze, Breamore House, New forest.

Saturday 4th October 2008

For this investigation we were invited down by our good friends Twilight Shadows of Salisbury to join them on a trip to an ancient pagan ritual ground called a Mizmaze.

A confusing and baffling network of winding and intercommunicating paths, often bordered by high hedges or walls. Some early examples are believed to have had ritual uses. Use more specific type where known.

The Mizmaze

On the top of a hill more than a mile from any settlement is Breamore Mizmaze. A footpath near Breamore House leads to the Mizmaze on Breamore Down. A Christian cross cuts through the Cretan design of the medieval turf mizmaze on the estate. This is not the sort of maze with dead ends, but a labyrinth where all paths eventually lead to the little mound in the centre. Paths of turf, made by cutting down to the bare chalk between them, curve in a symmetrical pattern, which is also found on the floors of some Italian and French churches.

Mizmaze was originally used on holy days in Pagan times and Druids claim fertility dances took place. Later both the turf and church ones seem to have been used for penances, according to tradition, monks used the maze for their penances, painfully traversing it on their knees. With prayers said at fixed points along the path: the folds of the maze may also have represented the folds of sin.

Breamore Mizmaze is enclosed by a grove of yew trees, suitably romantic for such an odd survival. Close to it is a Bronze Age barrow. The Mizmaze itself is fenced: necessary for its preservation.

The Mizmaze is not accessible by car, which adds to its atmosphere. The usual route is a footpath of a little over a mile up through the woods from near Breamore House, but footpaths lead up to it from all directions. One from Whitsbury leads around Castle Ditches. All make good walks.

It was a very soggy but warm night when we eventually found the car park after many twists and wrong turns just down from the Breamore house. Our team consisted of Myself, Sharon and Dave and Maria's team were Loretta, James, matt with 1 friend and Emma with 2 friends. This made us a team of 11.

I was very much looking forward to this, I had no idea what to expect but I had a very good feeling about the investigation and couldn't wait to set off. We have to walk past Breamore house on a bridle track and although it is a public bridle path we still switched our torches off as we made our way passed this formidable site of the grand house lit up against the darkness. The track took us off passed the house and plunged us into a woods. The woods themselves at this point felt fine but after about 10 mins I noticed the atmosphere starting to change. While walking along this track way I suddenly heard what sounded like a real guttural growl which others heard very plainly too. As I felt things were altering I decided to mention this to Dave and about 2 mins after I said I felt the energy changing Maria asked me if I felt different. Apparently we were coming across a part of a woods with a building just off the track the everyone has felt uneasy around. We carried on along the track and it went on for a good mile when we eventually came out into a more open bit of track way. This was were I committed mass murder of the molasc kind and every step seemed to end up on top of a snail no matter how careful I was.

At the top of this track we turned to the left and this took us up a hill towards another wooded area and around here was were the Mizmaze is supposed to be. James and Mat went off to find the entrance and we all stayed waiting by the path. They found it pretty quickly so we set off after them and immediately came across a witch ring (this is a marker left by witches to show other witches this is a sacred pagan site should they stumble across the area on their travels) After Maria explained the significance of these "markers" to the others we set off just again and soon came across the mizmaze.

The Mizmaze is an ancient pagan site that has many uses over the years. It is fenced off so that curious people don't ruin the markings by trying to trace the path to the centre. The actual maze takes about 10 mins to walk from start to finish. We stood about talking and Maria was recounting and experience one of her team members had on visiting the site once before. She had seen a very tall man stood the opposite side of the ring watching them but then he took off at great speed, to fast for a human. There is a legend of a "running man" that is said to be seen at ancient monuments and burial grounds etc. While we were talking Dave noticed a red light or "spot" through the trees. The light seemed to change and appeared to go higher or lower or even move. While the team were looking at it I suddenly felt a bit uneasy and heard a knock sound like someone had struck a tree trunk. Sharon and Dave heard this. The others carried on investigating " the spot" but it turns out there is a small village not far and we could see the lights through the branches of the trees. After having a good old chuckle we turned out attentions back to the Mizmaze. Even though it is fenced off to the public, some people did venture in but after I learned it is a powerful fertility site I declined to join in. Some of the boys went off and found a tree that looked almost like it was running with blood. Maria, Dave, Sharon and myself went over to have a look with Mat and James and it did indeed look like it was made with flesh.

We were then drawn into the copse of woods and found someone had built a hut out of branches. I mentioned that we came across one very similar when we had gone to Parsonage woods in castle Coombe. While we were all stood around talking I started to get a cold feeling down my back that I get when energy has started to build. Dave thought he could hear muttering or a whispering. I couldn't and carried on talking. Dave called me back as the others had started to move away from the tree we were stood under and said "listen to this" I was surprised to say I could hear on the wind what sounded like a woman's voice or voices. I listened in amazement and called Maria over. She and Sharon and most of the team could hear something and so we decided to call out. Maria started to call and then I had a go. We moved a bit further into the woods and really could hear a female voice. I thought that either Dave or Sharon had walked behind me and run their hand across my back to see where I was as it was quite dark and I turn to speak to "who ever had done that" only to find they were stood no where near where I thought they might be. I startled at that and Maria said that it was funny because she thought she had seen a shadow move behind me at that exact same time.

It was here that the audible link really kicked in. I could hear what sounded like a lot of voices. Children's voices like when you walk passed a school playground at dinner time. It was almost like an echo but I was surprised at the clarity of it. Others could hear it and others could not. We moved further into the woods and I kept calling out. Dave felt he saw a figure very close to him in his peripheral vision which startled him. Sharon though had also commented she felt like someone had walked passed her in that direction. I walked to an area and could really hear this collective sound of children's voices all calling and shouting and I caught site of a movement in the woods. It was here that the whole atmosphere changed. I don't know why but I felt like this was not as happy and jovial as it was trying to come across and I felt as if what ever it was, was in fact masking itself to its true purpose and identity. I was so knocked back by the sudden change I actually recoiled. We all seemed to naturally gather around each other and a few of the team wanted to go down to where I had stood. They went off as one of them had mentioned he kept seeing dogs in the woods but it was almost cartoonish in appearance. As they were exploring the area the rest of us stayed talking and we noticed after about 10 mins the foreboding feeling had lifted. As it was quite a hike back we decided to head back to the car.

I felt fine on the way back and myself, Sharon and Dave were talking about how we can tell if the energy is building. With Dave he gets a pain in his lower back and across his shoulders, with Sharon she gets a pain in her back and hip and with me its a cold feeling down my back.. We carried on walking and chatting when all of a sudden I started to get that feeling down my back again and mentioned to Dave that I thought someone was with us again. The feeling got worse and worse and I got the audible link back and could hear the children. It was so loud. I asked the others if they could hear it but at that point they could not. Then Maria suddenly exclaimed she could hear it too. We also heard the weirdest noise like ripping cardboard. It could of been the trees or bark rubbing together but that is usually quite a squeaky noise. Dave's back was getting bad again and he was just telling me that when the boys said we were at the part of the woods where the creepy little building was. We tried to go find it but could not.

After going the wrong way to the car park and almost getting lost in the dark, we decided to try the Saxon church but the gate was locked. As the rain was still relentless we decided to call it a night.

I would like to thank Twilight shadows for inviting Phoenix and Wessex long and allowing us to visit this amazing site with them. I really did get a lot from my evening which continued back at Maria's after she graciously warmed us up with a cup of coffee.