Caution – information below contains references to crimes which young or sensitive geocachers may find disturbing.
This cache and all associated locations are in areas with seasonal hazards, which may include brambles, nettles, deadfalls and extremely wet/muddy underfoot conditions. Waterproof boots/wellingtons will most likely be required, and a torch, pen and notepaper are essential. I discourage attempting this cache on your own or at night.
Kent McGee was born in Southampton, England, on 6th April 1859, and by 1892 he was a qualified draughtsman living in Woolston, close to Southampton, with his wife, Susan, and their children - three daughters, Nellie, Eva and Frances, and son James.
In the Winter of 1892, Susan McGee and all four children were murdered in a most horrific way. Kent McGee vanished, and immediately became the prime suspect and a wanted man. The search for Kent McGee - perpetrator of what became known as the "Southampton Slaughter" - attracted the attention of press up and down the United Kingdom. The attention was short-lived however, as lack of fresh developments came to light, and by 1896, Kent McGee had been all but forgotten....
In 1897, records show a Mr. Craig Innes residing – alone - in Dumbarton, Scotland, working for shipbuilders William Denny and Brothers. Craig Innes was in fact Kent McGee, living as a fugitive in Scotland having fled Southampton after the murder of his family. McGee was finally tracked and apprehended in August that year close to Helensburgh, west of Dumbarton.
Locals were troubled by reports of involvement the occult, spurred on by McGee’s own sinister confessions. When McGee escaped custody only days after his arrest, residents grew more unsettled. Although he was never seen nor heard from again, vague rumours of his presence in the surrounding area became folklore and were often used to scare children who stayed up past their bedtime.
No satisfactory explanation has ever been given to explain the motive behind this tragedy and McGee's subsequent plight.
This cache is located close to where McGee was reportedly last seen prior to his final vanishing act in 1897. What was he doing here? Why was this area significant? Take a moment to look carefully around this cache – maybe you’ll be the first to uncover the key to the Mystery of Kent McGee.
The following rhyme, familiar to locals, might guide you along the path...
Beneath the cliff McGee did dwell, during his flight from fiery hell,
where farmers and the fishers tell of a dark man drinking from the west-ward Well
From there few followed south-west still, for it was well known McGee would kill
the souls who thought themselves most brave, and cache their bodies inside his Cave
South from that point, along the path, few dared provoke the madman's wrath
A well-known Tree which held a hollow defined a line beyond which few would follow
Those fools who circled further east, would quickly find themselves deceased,
their corpses dragged to McGee's bower, and their eyes excised inside the Tower