The Stranger in the Mist

Giles Hampton was spending a short holiday in Wales. His

friend invited him to visit and Giles couldn’t say no. This
particular part of Wales is a big interest to geologists and since
Giles loved studying about rocks and stones, this was an one of
a kind offer for him. He would be staying in a house that had
the same name as the church close to it, Fablan Fawr.
For the first week of his stay, Giles went with his friend Beverly
on several geological expeditions. But on October 18, Beverly
had some business so Hampton went on an all day excursion to
a place on the other side of the mountain. His day started good.
As the day went on, it became hotter. But he forgot all about
his discomfort when he found some interesting rocks.By the
time he decided to go back to his friend’s house the sky was
cloudy and it started to rain.As he was climbing, a strong mist
came down and he couldn’t see anything. On his earlier journey
Giles looked out for landmarks that he thought would help him
on the way back but the mist was so thick he couldn’t see
them.He was lost. Although he wasn’t scared about spending
the night in the wild he didn’t want to worry Beverly. Hours
passed and suddenly he heard footsteps. From out of the mist
came an old man with a dog by his side. The man was old, and
he was wearing a heavy cloak. In addition the old man spoke
welsh so Giles didn’t understand him. Giles was saying he was
lost and needed to go to Fablan Fawr. The old man
misunderstood him. He pulled out a map and pointed out a
path to the church with the same name. Although showing him
the wrong place, Giles thanked him. He was gifted the map and
he set out along the path that he was previously shown, hoping
it would get him back to the town. After a few steps, the
shadow of the old man disappeared. On his journey back to
Fablan Fawr, he couldn’t see anything because the fog became
thicker. Thankfully for the stone that flew up from under his
feet he soon realized that there was a cliff. It wasn’t shown on
the map. He decided it was for the best to wait for the fog to
disappear. Soon after that, he heard the voice of Beverly’s
servant, Parry, who became anxious about Giles safety.
Although getting back safely, Giles was unwilling to tell Parry
about the stranger in the mist. At dinner, Giles and Beverly
were talking about the accident. Giles soon found out that
someone also got lost and died on the same cliff he was on.
According to the newspaper article about the tragic accident,
the young man Stevenson who had died, had an out of the date
map. Giles became excited about that small detail and told the
whole story about the stranger to Beverly. Beverly was very
interested. Furthermore, he called Mr Robinson who had the
old map from the accident. Before he arrived, they had looked
at the map Giles was gifted, and soon realized it was from the
1707. There was a name on the bottom, Madog ap Rhys. Mr
Robinson confirmed that it was the same map. But he was
confused because he thought there was only one other copy in
the museum. They soon found out that Madog ap Rhys was the
name of an old man that had lived on the hillside. The old man
would walk among the hills with his dog whenever there was a
mist. He drew the map, so he could give a copy to travellers
who had lost their way. Some local people say that his spirit
walks among the hills, searching for lost travellers. Giles
believed that he was a kind man but he led Stevenson to his
death and almost killed him.