Random encounters in London and Weymouth

Over the 18 months that this blog has been running, quite a few posts have been prompted by photographs taken by my former colleague (from the days when I had a job) Paul Jackson. Just over a month ago, Paul started his own blog called Random encounters with the unusual, which is definitely worth checking out. Of Paul's eight posts to date, three include photographs that I've used myself (The Tedworth Drummer, A Very Strange Lake and Canada Square UFO) while the others include several unusual London sights (Soho Body Parts, London’s Thin House and The Farting Lamp), a Fortean Times style simulacrum seen in the National Museum of Scotland (A Face Like a Camel's Arse) and The Weymouth Cannon Ball (Paul and I first crossed paths in Weymouth in 2001, when we both worked at a scientific research establishment there -- which had a fantastic sea view but sadly no longer exists).

Just to prove Paul isn't the only one who can take photographs, here is my own picture of the Weymouth cannonball! As Paul explains in his post, the cannonball is believed to date from the English Civil War in the 1640s, and has remained embedded in the wall (above what is now a Ladies' Public Toilet) ever since.

The Cannonball House has another claim to fame, in that it's the site of a reputed ghostly encounter which is described by Mark North on his Dark Dorset website. I alluded to this story in the review I wrote for Mark of Haunted Weymouth last year ("There is even one classic ghost story that could have come from the pen of M.R. James himself—in which a spectral apparition repeatedly points at a blank wall, eventually leading to the discovery of a hidden skeleton from the Civil War!"). For some reason I omitted to plug either the book or my review of it on this blog at the time -- so belatedly here is a link to the review. I guess it's topical at the moment because Weymouth is currently receiving worldwide exposure as the venue for the sailing events at the 2012 Olympics.