Apparently in March 1963, vandals discovered entrances to six of the seven altar tombs in the St Marys churchyard. The tombs were all sealed by brickwork and were damaged as the vandals dislodged the heavy stone slabs which covered them.
It was the grave of a young wife of an apothecary, Jenny Humberstone, who died at age 22 in 1770 that the vandals gained entry to. The bones of her body were removed from her vandalised coffin and arranged in a circle in the church with cockerel feathers scattered close by. Rumour has it that a child was seen to be playing with Jenny’s skull after having found it impaled on an iron spike.
Was this a hoax or could it have been something more sinister, such as an ancient magical ritual so that communication could be made with the spirits of the dead?
The village was soon invaded by sightseers, the press and television reporters. Damage was done to the graveyard as they were all eager to discover every detail of the weird happenings.