It turns out the history of my area was a lot darker than I had previously assumed and knowing me... I was fascinated, intrigued yet spooked when I had discovered this out in a local history book.
This murder happened at least 200 years ago, in a area which remnants still even stand today, which is incredible if you think about it. The area is completely covered over by trees and was formerly a mine that produced immense amounts of pennystone (clay) and coal in it's hay day.
My experiences haven't just happened in my local graveyard... They have happened all over my neighbourhood, which has been ripe with morbid history for over three centuries.
From entire families dying in mining pit disasters to soldiers dying at war in France... You can expect some spooks around.
However, the murder in 1812 which happened not to far from where I reside is enough to give me chills, especially when people walk idlely by this exact spot without any idea what happened there.
The incident in question happened where a old colliery bridge used to once stand, where carts would be transported over. The remnants that are left are just the lower foundations of this bridge but it's enough to leave a mark.
It should be said this area was always a Quarry before it became a nature reserve, which you can still walk through.
To put it simply... The incident in question was...
An old man's body had indeed been found exactly where those walls stand now.
At the bottom of a deep pit, all bloody and alone.
His full name I will not disclose due to safety and privacy reasons but his name was 'William' and his house had been completely ramsacked.
It honestly saddened me how somebody could do that to an elderly man and leave him there to die all alone.
After reading this story in the book, I will say this was a documented case with at least 22 witnesses, luckily his murderer was indeed caught and hanged... But something tells me that William is lurking around that area still.
Even now, I still feel something heavy yet troubled down that path. Most of the time I can't even bring myself to go down it due to the anxious feeling I get in my stomach, I know no person is there... Yet it feels as if I'm being gazed back at by someone everytime I look down it.
Today, I finally stomached the courage to go see the remnants of the bridge on my own and they did indeed have a beautiful yet haunting look to them.
I was thinking about William at the time and I felt sympathy for him, his life ending in such a horrible way with his throat cut.
That's when I felt a cold presence surround me, now do keep this has been a warm, summers day... With hardly any breeze to cause such a chill.
I felt like running at that point because I started to feel anxious so I did... But for some reason I walked back and found myself whispering "I'm sorry for what happened to you... You never deserved to die like that."
The cold presence seemed to linger with me for a while before I felt what seemed to be a reassuring hand on my shoulder, I did panic and whip around as you'd expect but nobody was there at all.
I don't know about you, but I do indeed think that was William. Whatever he wanted I do not know but in any case, I do think I'll think twice before going down there again.
If ever I do go that is.
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The reason I ran out of time on Monday was because the details in this account had intrigued me so I spent a bit of time googling trying to find the case. Now, perhaps my google-fu is lacking but after trying half a dozen advanced searches with as many combinations of key words (murder, ruins, William, throat, ransacked, elderly, 1812, 1811, 1813 etc) I couldn't find a thing.
The whole thing sounds like a twist on 'Silas Marner'.
The reasons provided for withholding information don't really jive with the type of information requested. Does the OP believe that some nutter is going to go to the library, check out the book, find the article mentioned, glean location information from it, find his/her way to said ruined bridge then proceed to knock on every door for a ten mile radius to see if anyone answers to the "username" of 'Cecil' and then have his/her nutty evil way with them? I understand and respect a concern for one's safety but that is truly beyond far fetched.
Perhaps the XII was in reference to the OP's age.