An amateur investigator has been deluged with e-mails from conspiracy theorists across the world after posting details of a mid-Essex mystery on a website.
Witham real ale enthusiast Peter Fox recently stumbled on a spooky connection between four country pubs close to his home - all called The Compasses.
He discovered The Compasses in Littley Green, The Square and Compasses in Fuller Street and The Compasses in Great Totham were built in a dead straight ten mile-long line.
He found if a walker turned exactly 90 degrees to the north from the halfway-point, they would soon hit the fourth Compasses, in Pattiswick.
He worked out that the east-west line also passed through Little Leighs church, while heading south from the centre-point would bring you to Hatfield Peverel church and the Bell pub in Danbury.
On his internet site, Mr Fox displayed a diagram showing how the four Compasses were linked by their compass position, and floated ideas about what might be behind the apparent coincidence.
He pointed out that the square and compass was the sign of the freemasons and also queried whether the pubs' relationship had spiritual significance.
The web page led to a flurry of e-mails sent by mystery-fans all over the globe
To explore the mystery for yourself, visit www.eminent.demon.co.uk
Published Thursday March 4, 2004
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