victims

This countryside spot is steeped in folklore about a monstrous Barghest that legends claim crushed victims – making for an atmospheric hiking spot

Nestled within an abandoned mining region, hidden away in the Wharfedale valley of the Yorkshire Dales, lies a collapsed limestone ravine, brimming with historical tales, folklore and even a potentially terrifying resident.

Unless you’re aware of its existence, the enigmatic cavern is virtually invisible from view, concealed just off the roadside, making it a genuine secret treasure for ramblers.

Troller’s Gill is a legendary location beloved by keen walkers who venture to the region hoping to witness its splendour, as it packs considerable natural beauty into a compact trail.

The difficulty level for the path is fairly moderate, largely due to a handful of sections requiring scrambling, with a total distance of 2.6 km. It’s a trek that typically takes around one hour and can therefore be combined with any other walking or exploration activities you’ve planned during your stay in the Dales.

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To access this captivating destination, you can leave your vehicle on New Road, where parking is free, before discovering this luminous green treasure.

Upon arrival, you’ll understand why it’s such a frequently discussed location and observe its rocky brook, which seems to emerge from nowhere.

Approximately a 15-minute stroll from where you’ve parked, you’ll spot a disused mine, the former operations of Gill Heads Mine, which has remained dormant since the early 1980s.

The entrance features a substantial gate with rockfall partially obstructing it, and visitors are strongly advised against entering the mine itself due to potential hazards, including potholes and collapse risks.

Legends and myths

Since its existence began, Trollers Gill has been cloaked in mystery but there’s one talethat particularly stands out from the rest. The location is thought to have been haunted by a Barghest, a massive hound with large luminous eyes.

According to ancient folklore, encountering the creature was far from fortunate but rather a harbinger of death, as those who crossed paths with the fearsome beast were frequently crushed to death or ripped apart, tales suggest.

One legend recounts the story of a man, John Lambert of Skirethorns, who bragged in a local pub about what he’d do to the enormous hound, which involved ‘giving it a good thrashing’ if he were to ever come across it. However, legend has it, he encountered the dog on his journey home, and it fatally crushed him.

John Henry Dixon from Grassington may have been the first individual to document such tales when he contributed a poem to a book published in 1827, William Hone’s Table Book.

In the ballad he describes a courageous man who ventures out to visit the Gill hoping to summon the mighty Barghest.

As he entered the gorge, he sensed the spirit of the stream warning him to turn back, but he disregarded it. He drew a protective magic circle around himself “with charms unblest”.

In his brief tale, the stream swelled and thundered, accompanied by a powerful wind, sweeping down the valley. He glimpsed the enormous shadow of the growling dog, its eyes illuminating the gorge walls.

The ferocious creature launched itself at the man and seized him as its next victim, dragging him to the valley floor, where his remains were subsequently discovered.

Various mythical creatures and supernatural entities have been reported inhabiting the ravine, which quite literally takes its name from trolls. It’s believed that Trollers’ Gill originates from ‘Troll’s Valley’, drawing from the Scandinavian tongue of those who made this area their home.

Their traditions and legends indicate that the term ‘troll’ encompasses any supernatural creatures, ranging from hulking giants to goblins, and naturally ‘trolls dwelling beneath the bridge’.

Meanwhile, the term ‘trolldom’ was understood to signify witchcraft and therefore implies the name stems from the notion of the valley being cursed, enchanted or inhabited by otherworldly beings.

BOSTON — Eight-year-old Martin Richard was a bright, sunny boy who loved to ride his bike and went “wild” when he played offense on his soccer team, scoring the winning goal in a championship game last year.

Krystle Campbell was the vivacious assistant manager of local steakhouse, the first to backstop fellow workers by running plates from the kitchen. She could instantly smooth over diners’ complaints with her smile.

They were both cheering on the sidelines of the Boston Marathon on Monday when two bombs went off with a thunderous boom and cloud of white smoke, claiming them as the first victims of the blast. Boston University officials confirmed the death of a third person Tuesday: a graduate student who has not been identified.

Friends and family members of the victims were still in shock after Monday’s chaos. Martin’s father, Bill Richard, who was tending to his wife and 6-year-old daughter, who were injured in the blast, released a statement thanking strangers for their prayers.

“We also ask for your patience and for privacy as we work to simultaneously grieve and recover,” he said.

Campbell’s mother, Patty, emerged briefly on the front steps of her family’s modest two-story home in Medford.

“We are heartbroken at the death of our daughter,” Campbell told reporters, her voice shaking between sobs. “This doesn’t make any sense.”

As federal investigators chased leads in the effort to find the perpetrators, doctors at Boston’s trauma centers tended to the more than 170 people wounded in the explosions, many of whom have been released. Dr. George Velmahos, the leader of the trauma team at Massachusetts General Hospital, said that although many of its surgeons trained on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, they were confounded by the severity of the injuries they confronted as waves of patients arrived at the emergency rooms Monday.

Some of the patients were in surgery for hours as doctors tried to remove metal fragments, spiky metal pieces that looked like nails without heads, and pellets that had shredded their limbs. But the positive outlook of many of them left Velmahos “moved and really amazed.”

“Some of them woke up today with no legs and told me they were just happy to be alive,” Velmahos said. “Some of them said they thought they were lucky.”

Among the relatives and friends who kept watch at Mass General was 39-year-old Corey Comeau, who was visiting his cousin and his cousin’s girlfriend Tuesday afternoon.
Comeau, a chef at Stephanie’s restaurant on Newbury Street, near what is now a crime scene, said his cousin was “still a little shellshocked” but that his cousin’s 24-year-old girlfriend suffered worse injuries.

“They say they can save her leg,” Comeau said as he stood outside the hospital after visiting.

“I can’t believe I’m even saying that. It’s not normal conversation.” Still, he said, the mood inside the hospital was “much calmer today than last night” with doctors going from patient to patient and conferring with families.

“These are some of the best hospitals in the world. The staff has been unbelievable,” he said.

At the same time, Monday’s chaos bred confusion, as in the case of Krystle Campbell.

Campbell had been watching the marathon alongside her friend Karen, her grandmother Lillian Campbell said, and the family at first believed that she had survived with serious injuries to her legs. But the family learned Tuesday morning that it was Karen who lived.

Lillian Campbell said her granddaughter stopped by her house for the last time last Thursday afternoon, when they drank tea and talked for several hours about work, friends and life.

“She loved being around people. She loved doing things for people,” said Lillian Campbell, 79, who noted that her granddaughter moved in to take care of her after she underwent surgery a few years ago. “She was hard worker. She was bubbly all the time.”

Nick Miminos, who had recently hired Campbell as an assistant manager at Jimmy’s Steer House in Arlington, Mass., said the 29-year-old “had one of those personalities that belongs in hospitality.”

“The wait staff loved working with her,” Miminos said. “She would run food for them, clear the tables for them. She wasn’t just a figurehead. She enjoyed getting her hands dirty.”

Not far away in the Ashmont section of Dorchester, neighbors and friends of the Richard family grieved at a candlelight vigil for young Martin. Bill Richard had been a force in restoring the historic neighborhood. His wife, Denise, who suffered critical injuries Monday, was a librarian at the Neighborhood House Charter School, where Martin and his 6-year-old sister, Jane, were enrolled.

Twins Andreas and Alejandro Calderon, 10, came by the Richard house to place a soccer ball, signed with their names, on the family’s porch. The boys recalled Martin hopping around the playground at recess and unleashing his energy on the soccer field.

“When we put him on defense and goalie he would do good, but he would save his energy so when we put him on offense he would go wild,” said Andreas, whose father coached the team.

Other friends posted their memories of Martin on Facebook and Twitter. Among the more searing images was a picture of Martin, with his gap-toothed smile, holding a blue sign he had made with magic markers.

“No more hurting people,” his sign said. “Peace.”

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alana.semuels@latimes.com

molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com

andrew.tangel@latimes.com

Also contributing were Times staff writers Maeve Reston and Alan Zarembo in Los Angeles.

Outside a hall where Southern California Edison was celebrating Black History Month on Friday, a group of Altadena residents stood on the sidewalk, waving signs and talking of the homes and family members they lost in last year’s Eaton fire.

“They’re in there celebrating Black history and they’ve destroyed a Black town,” said Nicole Vasquez of My Tribe Rise, which helped organize the protest.

The Jan. 7, 2025 fire destroyed thousands of homes, including the majority of homes in west Altadena, a historically Black community. All but one of the 19 people who died were in west Altadena.

“If Edison’s tower did not ignite the fire, Altadena would still be there,” said Trevor Howard Kelley, who lost his 83-year-old mother, Erliene, in the fire.

Kelley, his daughter and two granddaughters had been living with his mother before her home was destroyed, he said.

The Black Altadena residents are part of a larger coalition that is asking Edison to advance each family who lost their home $200,000 in emergency housing assistance. They say that more than a year after the blaze many wildfire survivors are running out of the funds they had received from insurers.

The group protesting Friday also called for transparency from Edison. The company has said it believes it is likely its equipment caused the fire but has continued to deny it did anything wrong.

“We just want the truth,” said Felicia Ford, who lost her house in the fire. “What’s wrong with saying, ‘We got this wrong.’”

Scott Johnson, an Edison spokesperson, said Friday that the company continued to believe its voluntary compensation program was the best way to help victims of the fire. Edison has promised to quickly review each victim’s claim and pay it swiftly if approved.

Families who lost their homes can receive hundreds of thousands of dollars under the program, while those with damaged homes receive lesser amounts.

But many survivors say they don’t believe the offered amounts fully compensate their losses. And to receive the money, victims must agree not to sue — which many are not willing to do.

“We recognize the incredible struggles the community has faced,” Johnson said. “The intent of the program is to reach final settlements to allow the community to rebuild and move on.”

The investigation into the cause of the fire has not yet been released. Edison has said a leading theory is that its century-old transmission line in Eaton Canyon, which had not carried electricity for 50 years, somehow became reenergized and sparked the fire.

Company executives said they did not remove the old line because they believed it would be used in the future.

Tru Williams said he just wants to get his parents back home.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

In December, state regulators ordered Edison to identify fire risks on its 355 miles of out-of service transmission lines located in areas of high fire risk and tell regulators how executives planned to use the lines in the future.

This week, Edison disclosed that the Los Angeles County district attorney was investigating whether Edison should be criminally prosecuted for its actions in the fire.

West Altadena became one of L.A.’s first middle-class Black neighborhoods in the 1960s, partly because discriminatory redlining practices for years kept Black homebuyers from settling east of Lake Avenue.

Heavenly Hughes, co-founder of My Tribe Rise, told the crowd she had lived in Altadena for 50 years.

“I was raised in a thriving working-class community and they have destroyed that community,” Hughes said, referring to Edison.

Added Ford, “The people making these decisions aren’t suffering at all. They’re still getting their paychecks, bonuses and stock options.”

Feb. 19 (UPI) — Several victims of an avalanche that hit Northern California’s backcountry on Tuesday were connected to a private school for competitive skiers, the institution said.

Officials with Sugar Bowl Academy in Norden, Calif., confirmed Wednesday that multiple victims were either members or had strong connections with the school. They said they would not release the names of the victims and survivors.

“We are an incredibly close and connected community. This tragedy has affected each and every one of us,” Stephen McMahon, executive director of Sugar Bowl Academy, said in a statement.

A group of 15 skiers, including four guides, set off Sunday for a three-day backcountry trip, and were returning amid dangerous conditions Tuesday when they were hit by an avalanche near Castle Peak in California’s mountainous Nevada County at about 11:30 a.m. PST.

Six members of the party became stranded, taking refuge in makeshift shelters. The remaining nine were unaccounted for.

Search teams were deployed, and the six surviving members — one guide and five clients — were rescued late Tuesday, according to authorities, who said the search for those missing would continue.

Authorities earlier Wednesday announced that eight of the unaccounted for had been confirmed dead and one was still missing. The deceased included three professional guides with Blackbird Mountain Guides, and one person was the spouse of a member of a deployed rescue team.

Of the six survivors, three were injured, including two who were unable to walk, authorities added.

The party consisted of nine men and six women whose ages ranged from 30 to 55.

Zeb Blais, founder of Blackbird Mountain Guides, which had organized the expedition, said all guides with the group were trained or certified in backcountry skiing and each was an instructor with the American Institute for Avalanche Research and Education.

“There’s still a lot that we’re learning about what happened,” Blais said in a statement. “It’s too soon to draw conclusions, but investigations are underway.”

Blackbird Mountain Guides has suspended field operations through Sunday at a minimum, according to Blais.

“Our most important focus is on those directly impacted and supporting their needs,” Blais said.

“We ask that people following this tragedy refrain from speculating. We don’t have all the answers yet, and it may be some time before we do. In the meantime, please keep those impacted in your hearts.”