Looking For Newspaper Reports
September 17, 2015
I start my research with a visit to Janet’s local library and find the original newspaper report from March 1976 … More Looking For Newspaper Reports
Author: helenp1977
What Happened During Those Missing Five Days?
September 10, 2015
Janet lost five days of her life and when she ‘woke up’ Fred Handford had disappeared. … More What Happened During Those Missing Five Days?
A Good Friend Will Always Tell The Truth
September 3, 2015
24 February 2010 Two weeks go by until Mary, Janet’s friend of 20 years, calls me. Mary is a lovely, chatty woman, about my age (48) who is totally shocked at Janet’s story: the lost four days, the nightmares, and of course the mystery of what on earth has happened to Fred Handford, Janet’s business … More A Good Friend Will Always Tell The Truth
My First Interview Results In More Questions Than Answers
September 2, 2015
12 February 2010
As we drive up Laneside Road, the open fields and hills of Derbyshire take over and by the time we pull up into the muddy farmyard we could be a world away from suburban New Mills.
In the distance the hills of the Peak District are covered in snow and the fields leading up there look forbidding and harsh. … More My First Interview Results In More Questions Than Answers
Janet And I Meet For The First Time
August 31, 2015
4 February 2010
My good friend, Dr Erica Smith, a psychologist, says two very important things to me when I speak to her about Janet’s missing five days – or fugue state.
She says that no-one buries good things that have happened in their lives, only bad things – although these things can be brought back to the surface again with good psychological therapy, possibly including hypnosis. … More Janet And I Meet For The First Time
My Research Begins
August 18, 2015
I make a list of possible interviewees, it includes Fred Handford’s daughter, Katrina and the Derbyshire Police … More My Research Begins
Did He Commit Suicide?
August 14, 2015
30 January 2010 I’ve just finished reading Janet’s life story. I call her and launch straight in with talk of Fred’s disappearance. This is the part of the story I am particularly interested in. Yes, I realise the funny stories of farming life are great, but I think the glaring gaps: the lost five days … More Did He Commit Suicide?
I Finish Reading The Manuscript And Realise I Have More Questions Than Answers
August 13, 2015
NB THESE ARE MY NOTES, JOTTED DOWN IN 2010, BEFORE I STARTED WRITING THE BOOK. Nine months go by in Janet’s life and it is now March 1976. Janet seems to be doing the brunt of the work on the farm while Fred appears to be suffering from depression; he is either now scared of … More I Finish Reading The Manuscript And Realise I Have More Questions Than Answers
Janet Meets Fred Handford For The First Time
August 12, 2015
28 January 2010 (cont) I carry on reading Janet’s manuscript, fascinated by the world she describes in the 1960s in the Peak District of Derbyshire, but feels, to me, like a generation earlier. In 1963, when Janet is 13 years old, she goes looking for grazing for her pony, Lucky, and Fred Handford at … More Janet Meets Fred Handford For The First Time
Janet’s Original Manuscript Arrives
August 11, 2015
28 January 2010 Just days after my phone conversation with Janet the 70,000 word manuscript arrives, typed neatly on yellow paper. I read it one sitting. It starts with a bang. There’s a vivid description of an horrific nightmare that’s incredibly intense and literally leaves me reeling then, second paragraph, Janet starts her story again … More Janet’s Original Manuscript Arrives
The Stranger In My Life 