Penny Nettles



A small fishing house sits by the water’s edge in the Tattershall area of Maundbury, where the suburbs trail away to swamp and mosquitos.All that separates this old house from the rest of the suburbs is a thin tangle of woods running along the waters edge. It’s often immersed two or so feet in the sea water when the tide is up and is green with algae, snails and barnacles encrust it’s sides. During the day the house seems abandoned and ready to fall down but by night you can see a weak light emanating from the windows, which appears green from the algae on the windows. Despite any curiosity, a sense of horror surrounds the leaning, decrepit house and no one will venture near.

Kids in the local neighbourhood assert that the small, leaning house is occupied by an elderly woman roughly child like in stature and they call her Penny Nettles. At night they see Penny Nettles wading out into the water, wearing clothes from the Salvation Army, and pulling in nets she presumably set herself. There are guesses as to whether she catches anything and what it is but no one is sure. On occasion she has been seen meeting individuals who arrive from the water in small dories. Whether it is the same person or a number of people is unknown. She is a figure of legend among the children of this area. And they are terrified of her. Some children who claim to have gotten close to her describe her as having stitches on her body, as though she had been sown together of various parts not originally her own. She walks with a strange gait, favouring her left side. Her eyes are two different colours, green and blue.

A few still know that Penny Nettles is Penelope Nettleton, from Maundbury. Born to a wealthy family of English descent she worked as a PHD student for the infamous Dr. Palsgrave, who was disgraced and prosecuted for his horrific experiments on fresh cadavers in 1914 at the Oxwain Occidental College physiology department. After the Oxwain Occidental College fire and Dr.Palsgrave’s disappearance it is thought that Miss Nettleton was committed to the Cartwright General Hospital. How she ended up in a Maundbury suburb and her movements since 1914 are unknown.