Sheep impaled on pitchfork and left next to cross in latest 'occult' killing in New Forest

'It gave me the creeps,' says local

A previous killing, pictured, saw a sheep stabbed to death and covered in Pentagrams. Hampshire police are now investigating if the two incidents are linked (PA)

A sheep has been found impaled on a pitchfork alongside an upside-down cross made of hay in the latest animal killing to feature occult imagery in the New Forest

The animal is reported to have been stabbed multiple times before being left on a road near the village of Cadnam in the Hampshire national park.

The death of the ewe, found on 2 January, is the latest in a spate of animal attacks apparently linked to the occult in the region. It comes after a dead sheep was found with five pointed pentagrams sprayed onto it near the village of Bramshaw, around 2km, in November.

Two cows have also been attacked and Satanic symbols were painted on the door of a church.

"I'm extremely saddened that we seem to live in a society where someone gets pleasure by attacking and stabbing to death innocent, non-aggressive animals," Wendy Maughan, who owned the latest sheep killed, told the Southern Daily Echo.

Her neighbour Andrew Parry-Norton, who was alerted to the ewe's carcass by his wife, said: "A broken pitchfork had been placed on the sheep's body, along with a cross made of hay and straw. It gave me the creeps."

Other incidents have seen a cow and two calves stabbed in the nearby Linwood area – with all surviving their injuries – and occult symbols including inverted crosses and the number 666 sprayed onto St Peter’s Church in Bramshaw. A number of phallic images were also painted on the church.

Hampshire Police are investigating if the latest killing is linked to the previous incidents.

Reverend David Bacon, the vicar at the 12th century church, said in November: “People are concerned. I’ve been here 15 years and seen a lot of stuff, but nothing like this.

“It could just be kids, but I don’t think it is, given the context.

“There’s been witchcraft round here for hundreds of years – the New Forest is well known for witchcraft and black magic happening, and this has obviously gone up a level.”