In 1933 Germany became a dictatorship under the Great War veteran Adolf Hitler. He pulled the country out of depression and set it to work, reducing unemployment by undertaking extensive public works and building the first autoroutes in the world. He then resumed conscription and rearmament. All opposition had been eliminated and all power centred in that one man, whose boasted promise was a German Empire that would last 'a Thousand Years'. The author was born in 1935. Ten years later millions had died, much of the continent lay in ruins, his country was shamed and the 'thousand years' came to a fiery end. Others experienced worse, but for a ten-year-old with explosions all about him and with the world seeming to be burning the war made a vivid impression. His Westphalian village consisted largely of traditional farms and homesteads built of wattle and daub--often still shared by livestock. Most of the male population had been called up to fight Hitler's wars and foreigners made up much of the workforce. General Patton's Third Army lit up the village with phosphor grenades from several mountains away. The world seemed to be coming to an end.

The stories in this haunting collection are as ancient and recent, powerful and fantastical, real and imaginary as the ghosts of myth and legend they feature. Here you will find chilling tales of long-dead Vikings, stirred by the darkness of an eclipse; a wild forest with a wicked secret in its roots; the feared cross on Gallows Hill; a restless Grey Lady forever searching for her revenge; and the killing of a dead man. Read about phantom highwaymen; dastardly smugglers; mysterious pasts; foul murders and one-eyed strangers, all twisted into Essex's history and brought to life by noted storyteller Robert Hallmann. Richly illustrated with original drawings, these spine-tingling stories interweave fact and fiction to create perfect tales for reading under the covers on stormy nights.

This chronicle of South Benfleet, Great Britain, traces its pre-history, the period of the Vikings and Normans, Medieval and Tudor periods, the Appleton and Nicholson families, and village life in the eighteenth century. Hallman further explores the composer J.C. Mantel, who lived there, the area during the Georgian and Victorian eras, and town lif

Witches, martyrs, bodysnatchers, Zulus and rioting peasants! The Black Death in Chelmsford! The horrible true stories of the Moat Farm Murder and the death of Jael Denny! The terrible tragedy of the Great Flood of 1880! The incredible histories of Hylands House and Beaulieu! Nazi bombers over Chelmsford! Chelmsford has one of the darkest histories on record. From the skeletons lying underneath the city - which include a woolly mammoth - to the executions of thieves, witches, martyrs and murderers at Chelmsford's gaol, this book will change the way you see the town forever. Robert the Bruce was most likely born here; Bloody Mary Tudor lived here; infamous murderers Samuel Dougal and Thomas Drory died here. Including more than sixty rare illustrations, plus an eight-page colour section, read it if you dare!

Set in the historic county of Essex, this gripping compilation includes stories of restless Vikings that still haunt their former sparring grounds; the distraught countryman of Canvey Island forever searching for his horse and cart; the mysterious haunted picture of "Cunning" Murrell, the last witch doctor in England; specters of a runaway funeral carriage; dastardly Harwich smugglers; strange wartime encounters; foul murders; weary ferrymen on storm-tossed nights; and the sites of abandoned wrecks. With his flair for atmospheric storytelling, Robert Hallmann interweaves historical fact and reported ghost sightings with imaginary events to create perfect tales for reading under the covers on stormy nights. Illustrated with charcoal drawings and the author's own eerie landscape photography, this book will enchant readers time and again.