Tales of the unexplained

Shropshire is no stranger to suggestions of weird and unexplained phenomena. We look back on recent strange and unusual happenings.

Last October, residents spotted peculiar lights flying over Dawley, leading some to question whether they were simply glowing lanterns, or something more bizarre.

The same month, county mother Claire Jackson and her family had a close encounter when they were followed by mysterious lights just north of Whitchurch. Claire took some intriguing photographs, but could there be a logical explanation?

Then there's the mysterious case of the murder at a remote Shropshire mansion, where eccentric recluse Simon Dale was found battered to death. The crime was committed two decades ago, and remains one of of West Mercia Police's few unsolved murders. Was he killed for his secrets about the Holy Grail?

And it seems the county is also popular with animals - in January we reported that Shropshire is in the national top 10 of big cat sightings, with 15 of the creatures spotted in the county over the past year.

Residents all over the county have reported numerous big cat sightings to the Star - but were they really big cats?

Best known, perhaps, are Shropshire's ghostly connections. Last August, a lifestyle magazine voted Ludlow (in particular, the Feathers Hotel) as one of one of Britain's scariest holiday destinations. Don't stay in Room 211, whatever you do...

Continuing the ghostly theme, last November saw staff at Shrewsbury's Carphone Warehouse experienced a chilling encounter in the basement at the store.

And finally, last July, a pilot from Ellesmere discovered a series of strange markings over the Shropshire and border hills. Can this curious phenomena be explained?

The truth is out there...