Poachers curse

After I recently read the two part series the poachers curse in the countryman's weekly. A tale where a group of poachers one which is caught in a mantrap set by the head keeper and is slowly bleeding to death, the rest find the keeper he shot one then the rest caught him and put his head in the man trap turning it into a guillotine. After being caught, tried and sentenced to be hung, they vowed to haunt the woods on the estate where the keeper set the mantrap and that keeper would not be the last person to die in them woods. This night 150 years later an elderly man see a repeat performance up at the woods and is found dead in the morning.

      I do not know whether or not this story is true, all though I suspect in to be fiction. I have researched this story and apart from that article in the countryman's weekly I cant find it anywhere.
     Never the less, this amazing story inspired me to conduct research in to ghost stories involving poachers or hunters.
    I haven't found anything similar to this story or anything as long but I have found two stories both very short.


   In Wadhurst (Sussex) at the Beggersbush/Bestbeech Hill crossroad area, there is a haunting manifestation of a man. This ghostly figure in a tan coloured coat is seen to be struggling along the road, his brown sack bulging with his harvest. This is presumed to be that of a poacher.


   The other story is set in Myrtle Cottage down the road from Balingey in Perranworth.
   Apparently a poacher has been seen dressed in leather gaiters and rough clothing walking through the wall where the cottages front door used to be, he carries a rabbit and heads over to the fireplace.
   The next door neighbours have also seen a man of the same description taking a short cut across there front garden towards the cottage.
   It is suspected that the poacher is Mr Stephens  (husband to Mrs Stephens and father to a boy who was eleven at the time of his fathers death). Mr stephens was killed while working in the mines.


   I do not know if any of these stories are true. I am dissapointed that I cant find any other stories to tell you so I will be continuing my research and I will find more to post at a later date.