Who is Charles Walton

Charles Walton shared a cottage in Lower Quinton with his niece, Edie.

He was known to have strange abilities and knowledge but, despite this, he was well liked in the village. He had worked on the local farms all of his life but now at the age of 74, he was crippled with rheumatism.

On St. Valentine's Day, 14th February, 1945, he made his way up to Meon Hill on Potter's Farm to do some hedge cutting.

His niece, Edie on returning home from work at 6pm found the cottage empty. She became increasingly concerned for the safety of her Uncle. He was usually home at 4pm.

A search was carried out by Potter, Edith and a neighbour.

Charles Walton, 74, was found impaled on Meon Hill. Potter remained with the body whilst the neighbour and Edith returned to the cottage.

His injuries included:

Throat slashed with own hand scythe, left in the wound
Defence wounds criss-crossed his arms.
Pitchfork impaled him to the ground
Cross cut into his neck and chest.

A tin watch had been removed from his body.

A POW was seen wiping blood from his hands in a ditch on the day of the murder. Later it was found out to be rabbit's blood.

But, Detective Superintendent had only one suspect:

Potter, one of the farmers whom Charles had worked for. On searching for Charles (which included Edie and another, friend, Harry Beasley) Potter led them directly to the place where Charles Walton could be found. Potter was the last to see him alive on the day he was murdered. Walton had lent Potter a huge amount of money but Potter was unable to pay it back. It was believed that Potter went to talk to Walton about his debt and the confrontation turned violent.

Potter died in 1964 a free man as Fabian didn't have enough evidence to convict him.

Whilst investigating the case of Charles Walton, Detective Superintendent Fabian was walking along the main street in Lower Quinton. Suddenly a large black dog ran across his path.

He asked a boy that was approaching him on the street if the dog belonged to him. However, the boy obviously frightened ran off.

The Detective later found the body of a black dog hanging from a tree. Inquiring in the local pub later on that evening, Fabian discovered that in 1885 a young plough boy had encountered a black dog 9 times over as many days. After the last sighting, the boy's healthy sister died. It turned out that the plough boy was the murder victim, Charles Walton.

There is a legend that phantom hounds of the Celtic king Arawyn hunt Meon hill at night.

Mysterious black dogs have been sighted in the area of Meon Hill on many occasions.

Charles Walton was a suspected witch.

Charles Walton's murder carries all the hallmarks of witchcraft and black magic.

A passage in a book entitled The book, Folklore, Old Customs and Superstitions in Shakespeareland, written by J. Harvey Bloom, in 1929, stated that a Charles Walton died in 1885 after seeing a foreboding ghost. Could this be the same man who died on February 14th 1945?

Charles Walton no longer has a gravestone as it was frequently visited by media on the anniversary of his death and was subsequently removed because of this. Only a small stone bearing the initials C H W remains.