#squire paulett

[maypoleman1]

6th November

St Leonard’s Day

The Dragon Slayer by Hans of Marees (1880). Source: Alamy Stock Photos

Today is St Leonard’s Day. Leonard, who was of more martial disposition than the average saint, came to Horsham in Sussex to rid the local woods of a dragon. This he managed to do but in the fight he sustained a serious wound. His blood splashed on some lilies of the valley, which then populated and extensive area of the woodland called The Lily Beds, which bloom to this day. to this day. The forest also became known as St Leonard’s Forest thereafter. Despite Leonard’s monster-killing feat, stories of creatures lurking in the St Leonard’s woods persist. Most well known is the creepy figure of Squire Paulett, an invisible poltergeist who will leap down onto the backs of travelling riders, hugging their torsos until they are clear of the woods. With fewer horsemen and women traversing the woods these days, Paulett has been more quiet, but the phantom’s origins and motivation for his haunting remains a mystery.

[filmforfancy]

“Still in preparation: Charlie Chaplin promises that his comic onslaught on dictatorship, The Great Dictator, is in active preparation. He’s not yet too busy with it to spare an evening squiring Constance Collier and, of course, Paulette Goddard to a premiere.” - Film Weekly, 1939.