Hound Of The Heath

All of the old homesteads around Haysee Heath were being bought to make space for the new village of Gentlewick . Most of the old homesteads in Haysee had been empty for years . The residents had moved on to new lifestyles in bigger towns . The only person that remained in Haysee was a stubborn man who refused to sell .
He held out for years but eventually Oisin gave inb to a very generous offer and sold Greenhouse Cottage to the developer . Greenhouse Cottage was the oldest homestead of all and the last to be demolished .
Finally the last of the old cottages was being demolished and the last truck load of rubble was being taken away .
Just before the truck driver left the site he went for a walk around the property .
It came as a shock when he discovered a large shaggy dog restrained by a chain to a post , behind an old rain water tank .
The previous owner had either forgot about the dog or else the dog was purposely left behind .

The truckie could see the dog was hungry and distressed so after a few moments talking to the dog he went to his truck and took his lunch box back to where the dog was chained .
He gave the dog his sandwich and the dog devoured it .
By the time the truckie unchained the dog they had become good friends .

The truck driver unchained the dog and threw a few sticks that the dog retrieved . Suddenly the dog started to dig a hole in the ground and bark in a proud kind of way as it backed away from the hole .
The truck driver slowly walked over and looked into the hole and discovered something that looked like an old tin box . When he opened it up there were some old photos of a people in work sheds on a property . There were other photos of a group of men with a dog and some dead rabbits that hung from a line outside a what looked like a tanning shed . There was another shot of the young man and a dog at the gate of Greenwire Cottage in its heyday .

The truck driver was amazed at the old photos and knew that some of the local archives might have more information about the old photographs .

There was a strange noise that broke the silence . It sounded like a wolf howling . The truck driver turned around to see what it was he saw the dog was digging again in an area that seemed fenced off far away from the old cottage site . The truck driver called the dog back but suddenly the dog seem to disappear into the hole where it had been
digging .

The truckie made his way over to the fence and climbed over . The area seemed weak underfoot and was covered in dense scrub .
He went carefully to the area where the dog had been and searched for a clue to what had happened . That’s when he began to see what looked like an entrance of an old mine shaft . He called out to the dog again and again .
Then he gave a loud sharp whistle which brought back the distant sound of the dog barking . The sound cam from deep below the ground .

He wasn’t sure if he should go down into the shaft after the dog as it looked dangerous . It also seemed as if the old mine shaft had been deserted for a long time . There was a sign beside the shaft opening but what had been written on its could not be distinguished .
As always there are always other hidden dangers inside the old shafts .
The chance that it could cave in on him with him down there was always on the cards so decided to call in the local fire brigade to rescue the dog .
Ten minutes after the call the fire engine arrived with lights flashing and sirens wailing .A burley man climbed out from the fire engine and walked over to the truckie and said ,

”Hello . I’m Alex the local fire chief . I was in church when I got your call .
So then you have a curious dog then . Where is the dog ?”

The truckie took the fire officers hand and shook it briskly and said ,

“Hello Alex . I’m Bob .”
Pointing to the area where the dog disappeared Bob led the way to the shaft opening . The fire chief and Bob walked side by side and the fire chief said .

“Well Bob . Call me Tubby .Everyone else does Its my nickname . “
He laughed aloud and pointed to his large belly .

“All right then Tubby . I was just throwing sticks and the dog fell into this hole over there in that scrub beside that old boulder.

Once at the site where the shaft opening was Tubby stepped back and said ,

“Well this looks interesting . What have we got here ?”

“It’s an old mine shaft I think .“

“No . I don’t think so . There was nothing here to mine . I’ve known this area all my life . This is very strange .”

Tubby began to shout down into the shaft but not a sound returned . Tubby said to Bob

“What’s you dogs name ? “

“Ah.. he’s called Trucker .“
Bob replied .

“I think he should know the sound of your voice Bob . Maybe you should try and call him .“

“Tubby said .

Bob whistled and called out to the dog but not a sound returned .

“Ok don’t worry . Thats not a problem Bob . We’ll have somebody go in and get Trucker out . Tubby shone a light into the bottom of the pit .

From where I’m standing it looks like its about a twenty feet drop below the surface . So we’ll just get a harness and some other equipment over .

Tubby reached for his two way radio and communicated a number of issues that he required to be done .

In a short time a few of the lads from the fire brigade where there with ropes and clasps and winches and flashlights .
When everything was assembled one of the crew was lowered down on a cradle seat supported by a pulley system and ropes .
The rescue seemed to be taking a long time and every now and then Tubby tried to communicate with the fireman down below . It wasn’t very clear what was being said and so everyone waited patiently for something to develop .

Eventually the mission seemed to be over when the fireman returned to the surface in the harness . The only thing was that he didn’t have the dog .

As soon as the rescuer got out of the harness he informed Bob that he could not see or hear and sign of a dog down there . Next he informed Tubby about some very old equipment that lay down below in the hole below the ground . He also spoke of a tunnel that ran along for what could have been miles .

He then mentioned some old tools and other items that he saw lying around down there .

With that information Tubby wasted no time in sealing off the entire area .
Immediately the authorities were informed and an investigation was made of the area that was cordoned off .

After months of the investigations the dog was never found .
A few people had mentioned that the Truck driver had been visited by a ghost dog and as soon as the area was clear for construction it should be blessed or exorcises or something .
But the area was never going to be cleared for construction .

As it turned out the discovery of some old tribal weapons and bones was enough to halt any future development of Gentlewick Village .
There was nothing that could be done and all work on the site was stopped indefinitely .

Word spread quickly about the historical site at Haysee Heath .
Like a wildfire out of control people began to gather around the area . Siome camped in nearby fields others in caravans .
Stories were being told and other stories were being exaggerated .
Now the word on the wire was all about some spaceship that had crashed with all its occupants still on board .

It was years before the situation was under control and not a stone was turned during this time .
After extensive research had took place the unravelling and unfolding of this mysterious find started to happen . This is the outcome of what is known ,

An old civilisation who had once lived on the area had come to grief with an invaded who wiped out the previous rulers entirely . In respect of their new domain they buried the previous occupiers in these chambers deep below the ground .

Then many years later when they began to build the cottages on Haysee Heath some heavy construction gear had fallen into a hole . The developer had no idea why the ground was so fragile . At first it was said there was a fault line there in the earth . With the cost of recovering the equipment the it was decided not to bother retrieving the construction gear .
So the builder had decided to leave everything exactly where it was .
He even went to the extremes making up some story about that particular area being toxic so nobody could ever get their hands on his equipment .
In all the years that had gone by no one had ever gone there digging or exploring .

This historical site is now protected and there are still those who talk about this ghost dog that can be heard howling at night .

THE END

By Paul McCann