Someone’s on the move, who is it this time?

Tom again, another investigation. If they had just listened to him this could all be avoided.

Yup, he has been trying for years to tell them what really happened.

When Mary sees all this activity we’ll have to hear for the umpteenth time how she was moved from Saint Pancras.

Do you remember last year, the whole evening spoilt when Judith’s family decided it was time she moved closer to them? Wonder how she’s getting on. The last thing she wanted was to be reunited with her husband. She was so glad to come here and have some peace.

So what are we going to do this year then? We never plan early enough then it creeps up on us.

We must do something to cheer Tom up. All this investigating is going to bring back the bad memories.

Hmmm just when he was coming to terms with his situation.

Let’s all go into town, Tom won’t have to leave till the morning hopefully.

Yes a change of scenery is what we all need. Wonder if there will be much going on in town this year?

There will be by the time we’ve stirred things up, giving that Danny Robins more than enough material for his next series.

But we’ll have to start off in Mary Junior’s pub…

…and have to listen to her going on about the year with no summer and how she got the inspiration for her novel?

Yes and then she’ll get all sentimental and beg Percy to recite one of his poems.

… and one will lead to a dozen.

…and he will drift into melancholy and declare his heart always belonged to Mary and England.

At which point we will move on and see what’s happening elsewhere in town.

‘I don’t think October 31^st is a very good night for doing this Boss.’

‘It’s a perfect night for exhuming a body, the locals will be keeping away from the graveyard, even if they claim not to believe in all that stuff.’

‘Why are we digging him up?’

‘His family still want answers so he can rest in peace, though he’s not getting much peace if we keep digging him up. Poor chap, last time there was no DNA, not sure what they hope to find in his bones, but that’s not our job. Ah here comes the vicar, no cracking jokes, this is hallowed ground.

 ‘I’m not laughing I’m feeling sick.’

‘You will have to toughen up if you want to be a grave digger.’

‘I did not want to be a gravedigger, couldn’t find another job. And I thought I would be burying people, not unburying them.’

‘Half the people in this churchyard have been moved from elsewhere, someone has to do it. Evening Vicar.’

‘Boss, did you hear voices?’

‘Nah just get on with digging.’

‘Vicar, did you hear that voice?’

‘Well um, that’s why I am here, to pray for any unquiet spirits.’

‘Such as poor Tom who was viciously murdered?’

‘But at peace now…’

Footnotes

‘Mary Wollstonecraft was buried at St Pancras old churchyard with an epitaph reading ‘Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: Born 27 April 1759: Died 10 September 1797.’

‘Famously, Mary Shelley spent many hours in the graveyard that held her mother’s remains and was said to have professed her love for Percy Shelley, her future husband, there.’

 ‘Wollstonecraft and her husband William Godwin’s remains were moved in 1851 upon the request of their grandson Percy Florence Shelley, thanks to the imminent railway works across St Pancras.’

‘Today, their remains can be visited at St Peter’s churchyard in Bournemouth, where the family tomb holds the remains of William Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, grandson Percy Florence Shelley and his wife Jane Shelley (1820 -1899).’

Is this tale true?

 ‘Percy drowned while sailing his boat, the Don Juan, through a summer storm across the Gulf of Spezia in Italy. When his remains were found a few days later by friend and novelist Edward John Trelawny, a fire was built on the beach and he was cremated. To Trelawney’s surprise, however, Percy’s heart would not succumb to the flames. The hardened remains of Percy’s heart were plucked from the ashes and, after an argument over who would keep the remains, were eventually given over to Percy’s wife, Mary Shelley.’

Is his heart in the family tomb?

Back to the 21^st century  Danny Robbins presents ‘Uncanny’  BBC radio series, TV series and podcasts investigating many strange occurrences…