With a peaceful and poetic appearance, no one would expect the Strid stream in England to be a monster “swallowing” people mercilessly.
According to OD, the Bolton Strid is a tributary of the picturesque Wharfe River in Northern England.
There are no exact figures for the official death toll at Bolton Strid, but deaths there are well known throughout Yorkshire and the UK.
There have been many literary references assessing the danger of wanting to “eaten” humans for centuries.
Located between Barden Tower and Bolton Abbey in Yorkshire (England), Bolton Strid (also known as Strid Stream) looks like a gentle stream flowing between the mountains but is actually the most dangerous trap in nature. course.
The poetic stream contains deadly danger in England. (Photo: James Whitesmith/Flickr).
If only looking at it like that, no one would have guessed that underneath the clear blue water was a deep abyss with a crazy flow that made anyone stepping down to be sure of death. Anyone who falls into the stream has no chance of survival, even losing their body.
Why is only a creek less than 2m wide so threatening? Walking upstream of the stream will understand the reason for that fearsome danger. Less than 100 meters away, before becoming a “small stream” , it was a large river with a width of nearly 10 meters. It is the Wharfe River that flows through the town of Yorkshire.
The Strid Stream originates from the nearly 10m wide Wharfe River flowing through the town of Yorkshire. (Photo: Andy Hawkins/Flickr).
But when it arrived at Bolton Abbey, the river was forced to pass through a narrow rocky crevice, making the water speed and depth of this area terrible, that is, the Strid stream. If you look closely, you can see that the rocks on both sides of the stream are watered, causing serious erosion.
Hidden under the water is an intricate system of caves and tunnels , containing all the water of a large river. No one knows how deep the Strid is.
There are many danger signs posted along the Strid. (Photo: thetelegraphandargus)
On the surface, the Strid looks so peaceful, it seems to be only knee deep with the banks so close that many people think they can dance or walk in the streambed. And indeed, the name Strid means “step forward” . Currently, around the area, there are many signs warning tourists not to approach the stream or jump to the other side.
There have been many stories of unfortunate victims who slipped and were mercilessly swallowed by this “angel-faced devil” in countless caves and underground passages.
In the work of famous British writers such as Gertrude Atherton, the death of the stream can be traced back to the 1800s.
Part of what makes Bolton Strid so dangerous is its calm and seemingly innocuous exterior to first-time strangers.
However, the rocks around the stream are extremely slippery and the water is strong and tight.
The Wharfe River is more than 105km long from the confluence of Green Field Beck and Oughershaw Beck, the river bed is nearly 1 meter wide. But, when it came to the Bolton Strid, the river narrowed and squeezed, the water flowed stronger.
This section of the river also becomes deeper, more chaotic than the rest of the river. Therefore, almost anyone or anything that falls down is sucked down to the bottom.
One of the first unfortunate victims of the “cannibal” stream was young William de Romilly, the son of Lady Alice de Romilly. In 1154, the boy tripped while trying to jump to the other side and would never come back. Mrs. Alice was so grief-stricken that she donated the surrounding land to establish Bolton Abbey. This tragic story was immortalized in the poem “The Force of Prayer” by the great poet William Wordsworth.
Barry and Lynn Collett died on their honeymoon. (Photo: Roger Fenton/Wikimedia Commons).
In 1998, young couple Barry and Lynn Collett walked along the banks of the Wharfe River during their honeymoon. The disaster occurred when the water level suddenly rose about 1.5 m in less than a minute because of the heavy rain the night before and washed away the young couple. Lynn’s body was found six days later in the west Yorkshire town. Barry’s body was found more than a month later, more than 16km downstream from the crash site.
Boy Aaron Page was “swallowed” by a stream on his 8th birthday. (Photo: Dr. Neil Clifton/Wikimedia Commons).
Another tragic accident happened in 2010 when 8-year-old Aaron Page was “swallowed” by a stream of Strid on his birthday. The boy slipped while playing on the rock next to the stream. A nearby person immediately ran over and grabbed the boy’s hand and tried to pull him up. However, the fast-flowing water still washed away the bad boy. Aaron’s body was found after 3 hours of searching.