Welcome to Unexplained Extra, with me, Richard McLean, Smith.

For the weeks in between episodes, we look at the stories that for one reason or other

didn't make it into the show.

In last week's episode, Whisper's In The Trees, we looked at the unsettling mystery of

the skeleton found inside the hollowed-out trunk of an old witch-elm tree.

The gruesome discovery was made one evening in April of 1943 by four young boys looking

for rabbits and birds eggs.

The boys had been searching through a small stretch of forest just west of Birmingham,

known as Hagleywood, when they came across the bizarre tree and its grittly secret.

For over 70 years, numerous attempts have been made at piecing together the mystery, but

to this day, the identity of both the victim and the perpetrator remains unknown.

There is one theory, however, relating to the case that stands out amongst all others.

In 1945, the historian and anthropologist Dr Margaret Murray surmised that whatever

crime had been enacted may have been ritualistic in nature, suggesting a possible link to witchcraft

and the occult.

Murray's supposed authority on the subject was crystallised in her 1921 book The Witch

Cult in Western Europe.

The book drew a great deal of criticism, but in equal measure, it was also to become exceedingly

influential to a number of like-minded individuals.

Today, Gardner is perhaps best known for having been a leading figure of pagan witchcraft,

also known as Wicker.

What is perhaps less known is the extraordinary story of what Gardner, along with 16 other

...