Kersey Timeslip Mystery

Watercolour of Kersey in 1957 by Jack Merriott

In 1957 three Royal Navy cadets wandered into the British village of Kersey while on a map-reading exercise. What they saw confounded them - the deserted village was much as it might have been in medieval times lacking any signs of modernity.

Years later, William Laing, the Scottish boy who led the group, put it this way: “It was a ghost village, so to speak. It was almost as if we had walked back in time… I experienced an overwhelming feeling of sadness and depression in Kersey, but also a feeling of unfriendliness and unseen watchers which sent shivers up one’s back… I wondered if we’d knocked at a door to ask a question who might have answered it? It doesn’t bear thinking about.”

Did the boys travel back in time? Past Imperfect investigates what may have happened.