Hindley, Brady, the Occult & Ramshaw Rocks.

It has been speculated in the past that the reason that Hindley and Brady visited the rocky outcrop known as Ramshaw Rocks on the outskirts of Leek  was not because it was a well known beauty spot, but because it had been visited in the past by Aleister Crowley, known as “The World’s Most Evil Man” and also “The Beast”.

Sybil Leek an Astrologer to Hollywood film stars who also advised U.S. President Ronald Reagan and who was a self proclaimed Witch was born in the nearby Staffordshire town of Cheddleton claims, “The Beast – took her, when she was a girl, to the Roches and initiated her into black magic and satanic rituals.

Sybil Leek started life as the daughter of a back-tenter in the paper industry, she lived in Victoria Cottages in the Staffordshire town of Cheddleton. She was married three times and amongst the many claims she made was one that she had been taught, “Magick words of vibration” by “The most Wickedest Man in the World”, Aleister Crowley.

A Satanic symbol? I found this carved on one of the rocks on Ramshaw Rocks.

Sybil Leek grew up in the town of Cheddleton and went on to become one of the most widely – publicised witches of modern times going on to write a total of 60 books. While living in Hollywood rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous she wrote of Crowley visiting her family when she was a child and being taken up to the Roches and clambering amongst the rocks with him. “He was good looking by the usual standards, but I recall most vividly his penetrating eyes and his tremendous animal like magnetism. I met him first when I was about eight years old.”

As to how much truth can be attributed to Sybil Leek’s claims remains uncertain, however what we can be certain about is that for whatever reason Myra Hindley and Ian Brady visited Ramshaw Rocks. What is known for sure is that Ian Brady had a strange attraction to faces in the rocks created by natural erosion that can still be seen to this day on Ramshaw Rocks.

One of the photographs taken of Brady, presumably by Hindley shows him sitting in front of a rock which appears to resemble that of a sharks head. It is known that many of his photographs are some sort of coded reference to where he has buried his victims bodies. Does this sharks head point in the direction of his victims body? Was he purposefully photographed in front of it for this reason?

There are many places on Ramshaw Rocks where it is impossible to bury a body as the topsoil (peat) ranges from a depth of about 6 – 18 inches (mainly close to the top of the ridge and the path which runs along it), however where Brady is sitting in front of this rock and the direction it is pointing in is an area where the topsoil has adequate depth to possibly hide a body.

If you follow the path which runs along the top of the ridge and wends it way through the boulders which make up Ramshaw rocks, eventually the path leads to the Serpent Stone which I have written about, and which Brady and Hindley have been photographed sitting upon. I speculated that Brady’s left arm was pointing in the direction of Keith Bennet’s resting place. By following the direction he is pointing in it lead me to a carving in the rock face 22yards from the Serpent Stone, I have since found what appear to be direction markers carved into the rock between the Serpent Stone and the face carved into the rock, these seem to point the way towards the face.

By following the direction that Brady points in, which is due south from the Serpent Stone it is possible to climb down a short way onto what can be described as a narrow grass covered plateau. When I carried on walking in a southerly direction I spotted what appeared to be these direction markers which point towards the face carved in the rock. Another interesting feature is that the face which is carved in the rock seems to be depicted wearing a helmet similar to the leather crash helmet Brady is seen to be wearing in some of the photographs. Another coincidence?

Too the left of the location where Brady is seated beneath what I have dubbed as the “sharks head”, can be found another rock formation which has eroded into what appears to be a strange face. Is this the reason why the pair were drawn to this particular spot on Ramshaw Rocks?