A ghostly encounter on the way to Portinscale

[svickers2]

Today one of my children asked me what was the 'spookiest' thing I had ever seen. I then recounted a tale from May 1991/92, when I was on holiday camping in Keswick with my then girlfriend and now wife, Sally. This was of course before the internet and although I made some tame research at the time trying to find out if there were any local history societies who may know more, I quickly gave up. So now with my interest re-awakend and with the help of the inernet I will send this into the ether and see if it picks up any repsonse.

My recollection is that we went for a walk from a campsite in Keswick by the lake and walked by marked footpaths to a pub in the nearby village. Looking at google maps, it must have been Portinscale. It was a pleasant stroll that May evening and I recall that the path ran through a wooded glade adjacent to a stream (in Lincolnshire we would call it a river, but in Cumbria I guess it is just a stream). We had a drink (and no more than one or two) in a pub in the village and set back in the twilight. On retracing our steps along the banks of the stream I suddenly felt the most gripping and overpowering sensation of sadness I have ever felt in my life. I held my head in my hands and sat down amongst the trees by the bank and wept uncontrollably. Sally also experienced similar though less acute emotions. I recall her staring into the black waters and saying that something terrible had happened at this spot. It was several minutes before we pulled ourselves together and moved on in stunned, morbid silence.

So the question is has anyone else had similar experiences on this footpath? If something terrible did happen, what was it?The only additional pointer I can provide is that at the spot where this occurred there were what appeared to be the brick footings of a bridge, although nothing spanned across the stream. My supposition at the time was that someone, or maybe more than one, was drowned as the bridge was swept away. I would really welcome any further explanation of this encounter.

[theriever]

in march 1901 a local blacksmith , thomas wilkinson aged 54 had been drinking heavily at the pubs in keswick, he was drunk and depressed when he came to leave. a landlady asked several other men to help home, but they only went so far with him. he didnt return home and after a search his body was found in the river possibly near to where you describe