IS DEATH AN END?

Is death an end?  This is a question I never asked myself again after moving to Poundbury, the 'dream' Dorset village that Prince Charles built (with the help of his architects and builders)!

Poundbury is built on a powerful ley line linked to Maiden Castle - the largest and most complex Iron Age hill fort in Britain.  This was first laid out over the remains of a Neolithic settlement in 600 BC and it was extended over the next several centuries.  Its vast ramparts enclose an area that could accommodate fifty football pitches and during the Iron Age (800 BC - 43 AD) the site was home to a few hundred people.  Then the Romans claimed it and its inhabitants moved to Durnovaria (now Dorchester).

When I lived in Poundbury stories were circulating of a Roman centurion who kept turning up unannounced in people's homes and of such strong Poltergeist activity (with objects being thrown about and in one instance causing physical harm) that an exorcist had to be sent for.

My own experience occurred one day soon after I'd moved in, when some interior redecoration was underway.  My decorator - Perry - (a very practical, down-to-earth man- with no belief whatsoever in the supernatural) was about to begin painting my landing, stairs and hall. As he began his task he was standing on the landing by a window with an uninterrupted view across to Maiden Castle.

He was holding a large tin of pale pink paint when it was forcibly wrested from his grasp and went spiraling up into the air, turning again and again before slowly heading towards the floor.  In the process pink paint splashed simply everywhere - and Perry was so traumatized that he ran downstairs and out of the house.

It took some persuading before he would come back indoors - and that night at the pub he expected ridicule when he told his friends about the occurrence.  Instead, he found almost universal acceptance of this latest Poundbury 'happening', which came as no great surprise to most of those present.  In fact, his story opened up the floodgates to similar tales!

Glad to say that he returned next day (with great trepidation) to finish cleaning up the mess that had been made and continue with his decorating! 

So is death an end?  Well, yes, of life as we know it - but it most definitely isn't the end!