Verneys Phil Chamberlain Dargle Cottage is situated about a mile and a half south- east of the village of Biddenden in Kent. It is an old woodcutters' cottage dating back to the period of the Battle of Waterloo. It is described in the estate agents' hyperbole as "a Hansel and Gretel cottage" and is set in a mini nature reserve. An elderly couple, the Verneys, had bought the cottage in 1969 as a weekend holiday home and planned to make it their full time home when they retired in 1983. The Verneys had started young, working in the theatre. They both did National Service and served in the Second World War. Mr. Verney in the signals section of Fighter Command; Mrs. Verney in ENSA, entertaining the troops. After the war Mr. Verney worked in films and television, and is a founder member of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain. Both Mr. & Mrs. Verney were for 25 years directors of the most prestigious firm in the high-class furnishing textile business, a company founded by Mrs. VerneyUs French father in 1898, which holds the Royal Warrant. The Spring and early Summer of 1983 passed agreeably. Refurbishing the house - new curtains and covers and a new bathroom was planned. They also spent time testing for the Good Food Guide - Mr. Verney had been an inspector for 25 years. Retirement seemed almost too enjoyable to be true. It was not to last for long. On the 1st of October a visitor noticed a strange humming noise coming up through the ground in the garden at the back of the house near the entrance to Sand Pit wood. The visitor took his dog for a walk in the woods; it appeared ill at ease.The woods were usually alive with the sound of birdsong and of small feet scattering across the leaves. Now it was silent. The birds had left and were not to return the following Spring. The Verneys went on holiday to France for 3 weeks. On their return to Dargle Cottage on the 25th they found that the humming had increased and was accompanied by a strong electronic noise, like a generator, with vibrations coming up through the ground from Sand Pit wood. The noise was worst at night. There was another strange feature - the woods to the north east were often lit up at night by yellow and pink lights which appeared to shine up through the trees from the ground. Described by Mr. Verney as "similar to lights illuminating a theatre cyclorama". Another odd thing they discovered - someone had blocked their drains with lumps of asphalt. The noise and the vibrations, and the unnerving effect of the strange lights were making life intolerable in the cottage. The Verneys were kept without sleep night after night and were becoming irritable with each other. They also suffered short term loss of memory. Forgetting things - finding the car-keys could be a major drama. At first they thought that the problem might be of an agricultural nature. They walked at night trying to track down the source, but it was like a will-of-the-wisp, disappearing into the ground as they approached it. Mr. Verney checked out the Water authorities, thinking it might be a pumping operation; he drew a blank there. One night in the third week of November, while they were out on foot, they met a police patrol car. The two officers in the vehicle also heard the noise and thought it came from Shorts Wood, which is the next wood to the south-east of Sand Pit Wood. The officers agreed to put the matter on report at the police station. Next day Mr. Verney visited Tenterden Police station and found the duty sergeant most unhelpful, talking to Mr. Verney whilst staring out of the window. He stated that nothing had been put on report and the Police had no responsibility in the matter. He referred Mr. Verney to the Environmental Health Department of the Ashford Borough Council, adding as a footnote TAnd theyUre bloody uselessU. On Monday, the 28th November Mr. Verney telephoned the Environmental Health Officer for the area, a Mr. Read, but he was not available. Mr. Verney left his number, but after three weeks and despite further calls and a letter there was no response by Mr. Read. After a short break to visit their daughter in Derbyshire they returned to find a further escalation of the problem and still no response from the EHO, Mr. Read. On the week-end of December 17/18th there was a sudden shortfall in electricity. Electricity officials seemed edgy after they were told the location of the house. At 8 AM on Tuesday the woods were full of electrical engineers, with about six vehicles. The Area Engineer Mr. Green explained they were putting Tmore power in the linesU. Before he left he asked if he might come back after Christmas and put some instruments in the cottage Tto take measurementsU, but he made no further contact. The electricity supply returned to normal, but the lights would dip after one minute. The Verneys' ThorrorU continued. They contacted a firm of acoustic engineers. An engineer came to the house one wild rainy evening and picked up some strong readings coming from less than a mile away to the east. He said the matter would be reported to the EHO. Late in the afternoon the next day, 21st December, Mr. Read phoned. He was very evasive and declared there was nothing he could do until Tafter ChristmasU. Next day, at his wife's pleading Mr. Verney rang Mr. Read who was even more evasive and finally hung up on Mr. Verney stating he would be in touch Tearly in the new yearU. After this brush-off Mr. Verney went to London to try and contact some experts, but they were closed for the holiday. He did however find a kind of electrical Told curiosity shopU in the Tottenham Court Road. Explaining the problem to two assistants they said in unison "sounds like youUre having trouble with the Ministry of Defence", adding "You wonUt get anywhere with them". They introduced him to a customer in the shop as "being just the man you want, bit of a mad scientist, but heUll track down your trouble for you". Mr. Verney arranged with this man to come down to Kent after Christmas. Before entering the shop it had never occurred to Mr. Verney that the MOD might be involved - perhaps this explained the EHOUs reluctance and the sloppiness of the Police Sergeant. During his searches around the area Mr. Verney had come across a building called TOctober FarmU three quarters of a mile to the east of Dargle cottage. Built recently, planning permission had been granted in 1981 for an Tagricultural dwellingU. Mr. Verney found the building to be unusual in several ways. Firstly it stood out of character for the area. It was of a purely utilitarian design with no effort to defer to traditional design like other houses in the area. It was two stories, with ground floor windows only at the front and back. Thick curtains hung in the windows which Mr. Verney suggests are of a type not found in domestic house but at high security premises. It was surrounded by two very high hedges making it impossible to view the house without entering its drive. There was a bunker in the front of the house, covered in grass. Apart from a few beehives there was no sigh of agricultural activity. On Christmas Eve Mr. Verney was looking at the rear of the premises through binoculars and was confronted by the lady of the house who dropped the information that "we breed Dobermans here, you know". After Mr. Verney explained what he was looking for she laid the blame at the door of the timber-yard. Subsequently Mr. Verney noticed a large wicker cage at the rear of the house containing four dogs, but no puppies. For the VerneyUs the name of the house, TOctober Farm', was too much of a coincidence considering the 1st of October was the day their troubles started. He took to referring to TOperation OctoberU in all his correspondence with Ashford Council. This seemed to have a curious effect - the swinging sign TOctober FarmU was removed and replaced by TOrchard FarmU. Christmas was terrifying for the couple, sleep impossible. In the early hours of Boxing Day they observed three low flying satellites flying north-west to south-east. Each had lights on three corners. Their appearance was always accompanied an increase in the humming.These were to become a regular feature. Totally exhausted by the TYuletideU attack they went to rest in a hotel in Sussex. It was now clear to them that no one was going to help them so they decided to look for another house to move to. They found another property on the 29th December. They had been driven from what is a perfect retirement home. The Police, Council, Seeboard etc. had effectively left them to their fate. When they returned they were greeted by the noise and vibrations going hammer and tongs. In the early hours of January 5th Rsomething new manifested itselfS. No noise but an excruciating pain in the temples and top of the head which Mr. Verney described as Rbeing bored with a Black & DeckerS.This seemed to be a kind of beam from which there was no escape except to duck under the duvet. It left them feeling disorientated, Mrs. Verney suffering the most. An Orwellian welcome to 1984. The next day the EHO made his first appearance. Mr. Verney thinks that he was checking how they were standing up to what can only be described as a new instrument of torture. Mr. Read refused to enter the house and they stood talking in the garden (in January). Instead of speaking directly to Mr. Verney he would stand by his side and speak out of the corner of his mouth Rlike a conversation in a prison exercise yardS. He refused to take any action about the pollution, walked about twelve yards down the lawn, stared into the woods for a few minutes, and declared: RI can hear nothingS, and left. He was to make two subsequent visits. Each time it was the same procedure, talking out of the side of his mouth, a stroll down the lawn, tracing his footprints so that there were three imprints of his gum-boots on top of each other for twelve yards down the lawn. January was an unbroken stream of vibrations and noise, the painful TbeamU, lights going on and off in the woods and three satellites passing overhead. On the 18th of January Mr. Verney brought the electronic scientist down from London. Whilst having lunch in a pub in Biddenden the car was broken into and cheque book and current bank statement stolen. They had only just unloaded the scientistUs equipment,when the EHO arrived, somewhat agitated. Invited into the house he addressed the scientist by name, exclaiming RwhatUs going on here?S He regarded the recording equipment with alarm, and made off very quickly - but not before summoning Mr. Verney into the garden for another of his strange alfresco conversations. Over the next seven hours whilst the scientist made his recordings Reverything went off the airS. Nothing to record, the scientist called it a day and Mr. Verney drove him back to London. Minutes after they left, alone in the house, Mrs. Verney was subjected to an unnerving display of lights. As a consequence her hair went white. The night of January 20th was appalling and Mr. Verney pleaded with the duty officer at Ashford to come and help him, he said the matter would be referred to the EHO. Mr. Read however was never seen again. The next afternoon there were loud bangs in the woods until the late evening. At about 3 PM the lady at October Farm phoned and asked if he could hear the bangs. She seemed very concerned but the line was cut off and when Mr. Verney rang directory inquiries they had no number for October Farm. Mr. Verney again rang Ashford but Mr. Read was not there and Mr. Saunders, apparently his superior, could not be persuaded to come out and investigate. A few days later they were due to go to Scotland and the night before they were Rattacked unmercifully with the beamS. The police were called, a patrol car came to the house and the two officers were most concerned with the state of Mrs. Verney - who was close to collapse. Everything had subsided while the patrol car was in the area and started up again when it left. When they drove up to Scotland along the East Coast route Mr. Verney experienced a strange burning feeling when they neared RAF and USAF bases. Mrs. Verney found that she could Rpick up transformers from some distance with buzzing in her earsS. While at Aviemore Mrs. Verney awoke in the night with stomach cramps and vomiting, the first of many such attacks. These are described in an MOD manual as symptoms of irradiation. Most of February and March were spent away from the cottage, including two weeks in the Caribbean. Mr. Verney was desperately ill with back pains and could scarcely stand up, let alone walk. Returning to Kent they found that concrete had been inserted in the drainage pipes. They put the house up for sale and quickly found a buyer for this attractive cottage. Nothing was said of the real reasons for their desperation to sell. Any comeback would be the EHOUs problem. Their last weekend at the house was May 18th-20th. Their daughter and a colleague who worked with her on the Daily Express came to stay and help pack up. At about 1.30 AM on Sunday Mr. Verney was woken up with a burning feeling in his eyes. From then until 7 AM they experienced a terrifying ordeal. Vibrations tore through the ground and into the house shaking it violently. There was the sound of men shouting and dogs barking. Eugenie, their daughter, was Rterrified out of her witsS and suffered short term loss of memory and was off work for a week. Her colleague was taken ill on the motorway driving back to Derbyshire, fortunately close to a service station. They moved to Sussex later that week and throughout the summer Mrs. VerneyUs health rapidly declined. She was, Mr. Verney says, Rdying in front of my eyesS. At the end of August she was diagnosed as having a rare form of lymphatic leukaemia. She went into operation with only a 10% chance of recovery, but pulled through and then had to endure months of chemotherapy. It left her an invalid and her health finally collapsed when she had a stroke in June 1991. She never got to wear the new walking boots she bought when she retired in May 1983. Mr. Verney lost most of his teeth in one go which his dentist attributed to irradiation. He also developed a condition which resulted in the over-production of red blood cells and suffered severe damage to the lumbar region and spinal area which became more painful with the passing of time. He now has great difficulty walking. Back in the summer of 1983, before they moved to Kent, they both had medical checks as part of a pension scheme and had come through them very well. Yet less than a year later they were both virtual invalids. On leaving Biddenden they left no forwarding address, and due to a misspelling of his name on his driving licence they felt safe that they could not be traced to their new house. They made sure that they posted mail concerning TOperation OctoberU from well outside their postal area. On 1st October 1984 he sent a letter to the Deputy Prime Minister, Viscount Whitelaw, recorded delivery from a sub-post office. About ten days later someone visited this post office and quizzed the postmaster about Mr. VerneyUs address, which he did not know. On the 1st November from his study window he observed two uniformed policemen examining his car. They were somewhat put out when he opened the door and asked what they were doing. One of them volunteered that he had been in the Kent police and was always interested in Kent number plates. Shortly, while he was away in London visiting his wife in hospital, his house was broken into. Now began years of harassment, break-ins and interference with the mail and telephone which continues today. Mr. Verney lays the blame for this on Willy Whitelaw. Over the years Mr. Verney has pursued this matter in the search for justice, a campaign which has put him in touch with many other people who have suffered in the same way. We hope to devote a further article to Mr. VerneyUs quest for an explanation for what he has suffered.