The spooky tale of The Little Blue Man of Studham Common has caught the attention of Dutchman Theo Paijmans.
He has been in touch with Dunstable and District Local History Society to try to find out more about this intriguing mystery.
And an article from Theo in the society’s August newsletter revisits the oft-told tale.
Just to remind you, it all happened on a thundery day in the Studham area in late January, 1967.
Six young boys from Studham School were playing on the common on their way to school.
A few minutes after lightning struck, one boy saw a little blue man with a tall hat and a beard, and called to his friends, who also saw the mysterious figure.
They began running towards the little man but he disappeared in a puff of smoke, then appeared in another spot, only to vanish again.
This happened four times in all. Headmistress Miss Newcomb interviewed the children and pasted their written reports into a book, called The Little Blue Man On Studham Common.
The lads said the man was 3ft tall, and wore a tall, brimless bowler with a rounded top.
He had two round eyes, a small flat triangle instead of a nose, and seemed to have short arms.
The man wore a one-piece garment and a broad, black belt carrying a black box at the front, about six inches square.
One boy commented: “I and my friends were startled, he was horrid.”
Theo has been in touch with society chairman John Buckledee, who dug out Dunstable Gazette cuttings for him, about the event and readers’ suggestions about what had happened.
One person said that the incident “resembles the old legends and folk tales of earth fairies and elementals.
“Could it possibly be that in that freak atmosphere caused by the flash of lightning, these children saw into that other dimension which generally we are only dimly aware of?”
Theo wants to find out what happened to the book containing the children’s accounts.
And he would also like to get in touch with any of the boys or their relatives or friends who remember the strange experience.
You can contact him at Theo163@gmail.com.
And if you’d like to share your reminiscences with me, just drop me a line at the email address at the foot of this column, or to our postal address, see page 2. Or tweet me, @Dunstable_Anne.
PS. The Internet is full of references to the mystery. Check out an animation version at http://myths.e2bn.org/mythsandlegends/view_myth.php?id=30.
I laughed at these clever anagrams in the September edition of Team Spirit, the Parish of Dunstable Church Magazine.
My favourites were:
> Astronomer – Moon Starer.
> The Morse Code – Here Come Dots.
> Slot Machines – Cash Lost In Me.
> Snooze Alarms – Alas! No More Zs.
If you can equal them, send your anagrams to me and I’ll print the best of ‘em.
Christmas cards on sale in Dunstable. Christmas party bookings sought.
Now Asda in Dunstable has had a Christmas grotto.
Yes, it’s September now. But this was all in AUGUST.
Maybe I am a fully paid-up Grumpy Old Woman.
But can’t Christmas wait until we’ve swapped our summer shorts for winter woollies?