00:00It was the day particularly rich in black magic associations.
00:05The druids were reported to have made sacrifice to the earth.
00:12In 1945, on the slopes of Mian Hill, a particularly gruesome murder was committed.
00:19His name was Charles Walsall.
00:21His pitchfork has been impaled through his face,
00:24and the trouncing hook he uses to trim the hedges is buried in his neck.
00:30Do you think that witchcraft played any part in his death at all?
00:36There was a constant feeling the village was covering something up.
00:40They were not only misleading people, but blatantly lying.
00:45One theory is that he was killed as part of some sort of blood sacrifice to the land.
00:52The work of someone doubling in black magic.
00:56This bizarre ritualistic killing struck a nerve.
01:00With the nation.
01:01What's this?
01:01The last ritual killing in modern Britain.
01:07In the 1960s, Britain goes through an identity crisis.
01:11It was almost as if the country was going nuts.
01:16What makes you uneasy about having witches living here?
01:19Like, acknowledge, I should think.
01:20He said, you're a witch, aren't you?
01:22And I said, well, you know I am.
01:23Why?
01:23As ordinary schoolgirls do, I was doing seances with my friends.
01:28Have you ever seen the devil?
01:29I think I've seen him once, yes.
01:33The nation couldn't open their newspapers without reading bizarre stories.
01:37And all this fed, really, into horror films of the period.
01:41Mighty God of the sun!
01:43The line between fiction and fantasy became blurred.
01:47Sounds wild.
01:48Sunday supplement stuff.
01:56Our fascination with the Walton murder points to an unease we have about ourselves and what we're capable of.
02:04It poses a terrifying question.
02:06What is really going on in England's green and pleasant land?
02:11What is really going on in England's green and pleasant land?
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