During the Covid-19 lockdowns I used to take walks on the Town Moor in Newcastle upon Tyne. It's a massive stretch of common land maintained by locals for centuries, though it's in the middle of a busy city it feels quiet and weirdly serene. It's a popular place to walk and gather, in the summer it hosts festivals and concerts, it is even used to graze cows for part of the year. However, during the early lockdowns the place emptied and took on a desolate, almost wild character. I used to walk to the top of Cow Hill, which overlooks the moor from it's northeast corner. The hill is actually an old slag heap from the nearby coal mine and gives you a fantastic view of the moor. There are very few trees on the moor and no real landmarks so people stick out, particularly with so few people about. On several occasions I spotted figures standing out on the boggy land, away from the well trodden paths. They stood completely still, despite the biting wind. What bothered me is the way I tended to lose track of them, they would vanish while my eyes were elsewhere, never seeming to leave the moor by normal means. Later I learned that the Town Moor had been used as an execution ground, most notable for the Newcastle Witches who had been selected for death (apparently at random) by a fraudulent witch hunter in the 18th century. It's probably unrelated but still get nervous crossing the moor at night, the well-lit paths form a corridor of safety across a stretch of pitch-black unknown and it is hard not to imagine what could be standing in the darkness.