by Trina Read
When I graduated from university in 2021 I moved back home to Essex with the plan to move out once I had found a job. Come 2023 I am still here but now I have no plans to leave. Through a recent songwriting project, I went from feeling as though I were haunting my hometown to feeling a sense of belonging. This blog will talk a little bit about my project and the Essex ghost stories I encountered along the way…
For my songwriting MA I had to complete a final research project, writing a repertoire of 8-12 songs. I chose to look into Essex ghost and witch stories, which was initially with the aim of somehow fighting the Essex girl stereotype. The project evolved into being a more personal exploration of my relationship with home and this feeling of haunting a place.
Essex was a prominent site for the witch trials, with witch finder general Matthew Hopkins being very active there. This meant there were plenty of stories to uncover, and I found myself having to be very selective. The first story I was drawn to was that of Betty Potter. There is a place in Boxted called ‘Betty Potter’s Dip’ which is notorious for road accidents, where people claim to have seen the ghost of a woman, resulting in them veering off the road etc. What drew me to this story was the varying different narratives about Betty Potter herself, none being clear on how she died, whether she was a witch or not, if she killed her father; the list goes on. The song I wrote from this centred around this concept of rumours and how they can be dangerous.
After writing this song, I realised that the reason I didn’t feel content with Essex and living here was because ever since I had moved back after university, I had always had in my mind that I would be leaving at some point which had resulted in me feeling like I was haunting my hometown. From this realisation I wrote a song, using the story of Betty Potter to inspire my own metaphor and help me understand my own feelings through this brand new lens. I found that using a ghost story as inspiration I had managed to unlock and understand my own emotions. Here is a link to the song so you can check it out: Haunting My Hometown
I employed this writing tactic going forward with the project: finding a ghost/witch story and finding something I could relate to. The next story was close to home and it all started from a so-called ‘witch stone’ outside a local pub. The stone itself is rather underwhelming (see photo) but the story is more interesting, though it is likely two women conflated into one. It tells of a haunting by a witch whose grave was disturbed during the world war, causing all sorts of chaos. Again, the stories were quite vague and did not necessarily factually check out. However, as a writer, you have to take creative liberties and let the story become your own. I will let the song do the rest of the talking…The Witch Stone
For my personal spin, I realised I related to this idea of revenge. I found this emotion fun to write so I latched onto this, as I had not written this emotion before. Once again this technique had allowed me to access unfamiliar emotions, opening up my writing abilities in an unexpected way.
I went on to research more ghost stories and using them to write my own story and I will continue to do this now my project is finished. I found it not only fascinating to discover all the folk tales and local stories but also hugely beneficial to my own writing. One of these benefits was opening myself up to new topics and styles. I went in a more gothic direction with some songs, pop-ier in others and I covered themes of home, loss and anger to name a few, which I would have normally struggled to write about. I recommend not only researching what stories might surround your local area but also using them to enrich your own writing. Somewhere along the way I also found an appreciation and love for my home which was perhaps lacking previously. So not only was it enriching from a writing perspective but also a personal one.
If you are thinking of submitting for issue 05, perhaps this could be an interesting starting point. Give it a go and let your creativity run free…
swim press 