The Tall Man

There is something about the transitory, enigmatic nature of the following little story that charms me.  I always enjoy those moments when The Weird suddenly appears, slaps you in the face with a dead fish, and just as quickly and inexplicably vanishes for good.

Our tale takes place on a pleasant English Sunday, May 5, 1924.  A young woman named Betty Bone went on the bicycle ride of 15 miles or so from her lodgings in Breamore, Hampshire to visit her family in Southampton.  However, along the way she had been bothered by “gipsies” demanding money, so her brother Alf and a friend, Ewart Pole, volunteered to accompany her back home.  The roads were virtually empty, and it was a clear, sunny day.

The trio was cycling along what is now the B3078 when, near the entrance to the Bramshaw golf course, they observed something odd.  Walking along the side of the road in the same direction was a man.  They were a bit surprised to suddenly see him--as one of them later put it, “He just appeared.”  Normally, this would hardly merit notice, except that the man was wearing a curiously old-fashioned long frock coat and wide-brimmed top hat.  And he was tall--very tall.  At least seven feet tall.  Betty and her companions noted the strange fellow, shrugged, and continued on.

A quarter of a mile later, the three were a bit disconcerted to see ahead of them the same freakishly tall man walking briskly towards Fordingbridge.  They soon cycled past him--perhaps pedaling just a bit faster than they had before.

It was as they neared the junction with the Fritham-Nomansland road that their emotions went from bemusement to genuine fear.   They saw the tall man 20 yards ahead of them, walking with the same purposeful, yet unhurried gait.  The trio blew past him as quickly as they could, not slowing down until they reached Betty’s home.

As one can imagine, the two young men did not enjoy their return journey, but there was no sign of the tall man in the frock coat, and, as far as is recorded, he was never seen by anyone again.