Tuesday, 20 December 2016
Articles
The knight who bore a Wyvern shield
I am here to tell you the tale of a knight and
his fate. An envious man full of greed, who destroyed the kind custom of the
Fairy-Horn.
Knights are granted an honorary title of
knighthood so you would imagine that this man would be noble and associated
with the ideals of chivalry but in this particular case, that thought would be
wrong.
The tale of the Fairy Horn began in the country
beyond Gloucester, in a forest full of boars, stags and all kinds of wild beast
you could think of. Among the grove lawn in the forest there was a little mount
which rose to the height of a man.
It was said knights, hunters and men would
ascend the mount for a sense of relief when they grew tired from the heat and
became weary from dehydration.
Because of the nature of this place, a fairy
place, anyone who ascends the mount must go it alone.
In the forest the knight encountered a woodsman
who explained the tale of the Fairy-Knoll.
“I thirst”
The knight was told to venture forward alone and
say the phrase “I thirst” and speak as if he was speaking to another despite
there being no one around. If he did this a cup-bearer would appear in a rich
crimson dress with a shining face, outstretching his hands to reveal a large
horn encrusted with gold and precious gems.
Nectar sweeter than honey
The large horn was full of an unknown nectar,
described as liquid gold because it was such a rare and delicious nectar. Those
who drank the Fairy-Horns nectar were instantly cured of their exhaustion. Even
a towel was offered by the cup-bearer to the drinker to wipe his lips of any
remaining nectar.
The cup-bearer waited ‘neither for a silver
penny for his services, nor any question to be asked.’
The knight with the wyvern shield laughed to
himself when he heard of such a tale.
“who would be fool enough, having within his grasp such a
drinking horn, ever to let it go again from him?”
Later the same day, as the knight rode back from
a day of hunting, he was filled with feelings of weariness as he sent away his
followers reflecting on the woodsman’s tale.
He followed the woodsman’s instructions and just
as promised the cup-bearer appeared, filling the knight with envy as he gazed upon the horn.
The nectar glowed in his veins.
After drinking every drop of the delicious
nectar, he left and rudely made off with the horn, robbing the cup bearer.
Surely the knight kept the horn for himself?
The knight did keep the horn. But not for as
long as you would think. For the good Earl of Gloucester who often quenched his
thirst and restored his strength at the fairy knoll infuriated by the knight
and attacked the robber in his stronghold, slaying him and running off with the
horn.
Yet he did not return the horn either, instead
it was gifted to his master and lord King Henry the elder.
You may stand at the fairy knoll at this day and
cry “I thirst” but you may never taste the fairy horn’s nectar.
The moral of this tale in my opinion is that you
should never take people’s kindness for granted but instead share it with the
world.
Female Prisoner
This ghost tale is popular among many, during my
research into “female prisoner” I found many articles on the topic including
many opinions on Gloucester prison about cell 25 on the A3 landing.
One in particular which caught my eye was the of
Lyn Cinderey, a paranormal enthusiast who conducts ghost walks around the city.
She said she would “love to get inside and investigate its spooky past”. Which
was mentioned in Gloucester live during an article named “Ghost hunter
desperate to get inside closing Gloucester prison” in 2013.
The séance
In 1969 the occupant of cell 25 decided to hold
a séance with some of the other prisoners. It was written that they used a
Ouija board and an upturned glass to conduct it in an attempt to contact the
spirit which prisoners had claimed to see haunting the cell.
There were reports of furniture being moved over
many years. The question that most would think now is; Is this a practical joke
by a prisoner or was it the paranormal?
After this pots and pans and books were thrown
around the cell, this could still be seen as a prank.
But the prisoners began to believe in their
spiritual contact as a few days later the unexplained began to happen.
A disembodied hand had appeared and pointed its
index finger straight at the occupant of cell 25.
During the séance the spirit also spelled out
several predictions of events that were to happen in the near future. Obviously
the prisoners scoffed at this until the predictions began to unfold in front of
them.
This is when their belief was shaken and the
power of the spirit reached frightening levels.
Who died in the cell?
The ghost which had mocked and taunted the
prisoners was said to be a 15th century woman by the name of Jenny
Godfrey who was brutally murdered in cell 25 which is why the hand pointed
towards the prisoner, this was where she was murdered.
Jenny Godfrey was said to be searching for the
inmate that killed her all those years ago, returning every night in her quest
for revenge.
So who did it?
The killer was said to be a drunken Irish man
who had murdered her after an argument. It is unknown who the unnamed man was
or why the tragedy happened.
There were many tales of ghosts in the prison
where 120 prisoners were executed between 1792 and 1939. Hence why it has
become one of Gloucestershire’s paranormal hotspots.
So after 222 years the prison closed, this began
uproar of debate of what to do with the prison. Many wanted to turn it into a
tourist area but there was an argument to convert it into a hotel.
In my opinion I would like to see it as a
tourist attraction and have a look into the ghost tale further to witness the
cell in which it happened.
References
Paranormal database. 2016. Paranormal database website. [Online]. [Accessed 22 November 2016]. Available from: http://www.paranormaldatabase.com/
Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology: Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various Countries (London: H. G. Bohn, 1850), pp. 284-85.
Gervase of Tilbury, Otia imperialia. Gervase of Tilbury lived between about 1150 and 1228.
Ernest Rhys, Fairy Gold: A Book of Old English Fairy Tales ( London: J. M. Dent and Company; New York: E. P. Dutton and Company, [1909]), pp. 39-40.
Khatri, V (2006). True Ghosts and Spooky Incidents.
THE FAIRY HORN. Available: http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/efft/efft34.htm Last accessed Nov 2016.
Nanson, A ( 2011). Gloucestershire folk tales. : The History Press
Nanson, A/Hartsiotis, K (2015). Gloucestershire Ghost Tales. : The History Press
Lloyd, A. (2016). 20 of the most haunted places in Gloucestershire,. So Glos. . (19)
Townsend, P. (2007). Ghost hunter Gloucester Prison. Available: https://www.flickr.com/photos/brizzlebornandbred/2059920947. Last accessed Nov 2016.
The citizen. (2013). My life in Gloucestershire: Ghost Lady Lyn Cinderey. Available: http://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/life-gloucestershire-ghost-lady-lyn-cinderey/story-17928339-detail/story.html. Last accessed Nov 2016.
The citizen. (2013). Gloucester Prison to become ghostly tourist hotspot? . Available: http://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/gloucester-prison-ghostly-tourist-hotspot/story-18030953-detail/story.html. Last accessed Nov 2016.
Artist Research
T-koni
T-koni is a Japanese horror artist who I greatly admire.I think the reason I admire her works so much is because she is a great inspiration for my own work and I hope to create my own horror style in the future, I aspire to be like T-koni. She is know for using coloured pencil, watercolour and Photoshop in her works. Her style is very unique as you can distinctly tell which works are hers just by look at the eyes. One of my favourite pieces is 'Hundred Eyes' which is shown below.
I like the way she has used a limited colour palette in this image as it is what I intend to achieve when creating my own illustrations for the newspaper. The use of repetition with the eyes is a strong part of this image, the are very realistic and the colours surrounding the eyes make it more realistic even though this has a surrealist vibe to it.
T-koni (2012) Available from: https://sniderwriter.com/2012/11/18/japanese-horror-art-by-t-koni/
Research for magazine aesthetics
I looked into various styles of magazines to get a range of what kind of articles suit which audience as well as looking for inspiration for the newspapers aesthetic. We also researched magazines and articles as a group which will be shown on my group research page.
First, I decided to look at 'Cosmopolitan' commonly referred to as 'Cosmo.' This magazine is typically aimed at women and has many articles on celebrities, beauty, fashion, dating, etc. Despite the fact this magazine is not fitted to our aesthetic, it was refreshing to explore the opposite of what we wanted because it gave me inspiration for how to get a reader to stay interested in an article - it was most effective the way the writers made you think you needed to keep reading or you'd die of regret.
For this particular issue cover they have stuck to a colour scheme which draws the reader in. The colours are vivid and bright, therefore catching the eye of the viewer. The magazine cover displays a range of font, all which are very clear to read, this is important for any publication.
Cosmopolitan (2013) Cover of July 2013 issue, Avaliable from http://www.justjared.com/2013/06/06/zooey-deschanel-covers-cosmopolitan-australia-july-2013/
A Brief Foray Into Style
This is a chapter from a book I read called 'How to write a lot' by Paul J Sylvia, after reading through this chapter, I highlighted any sections that I found to be useful and then I gave these to the others so they could read through them to help with writing their articles. This was an important research element for us, as it allowed us to more fully understand how to phrase our articles, and what the reader would find engaging.
Reading through this chapter helped a lot as it gave me an idea of how to write an article as I had never written one before. The thought of writing an article seemed extremely scary at first as illustrators are not known for writing but for their illustrations.
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