HORATIO BRIGHT - THE MAUSOLEUM AT MOSCAR SHEFFIELD
PART 7 - A POSTSCRIPT
Desecration - "the act of depriving something of its sacred character, or the disrespectful or contemptuous treatment of that which is held to be sacred or holy by a group or individual".
In March 2026 I was contacted by email by a reader of my articles on the Bright Family. They were particularly interested in the Mausoleum and burial ground section as this formed the basis for what can only be described as a fascinating recollection of a past event .
"Around 1980 my friend David’s son was given the book “Masquerade” written and beautifully illustrated by Kit Williams. Apparently intended as an elaborate puzzle for children which through the process of interpreting words and illustrations would lead to the discovery of a
bejeweled Golden Hare. A prize with a token value of around £5,000 at that time. The clues were well beyond most children, but it did attract many adults, eventually internationally.
David became obsessed with the challenge and eventually determined the prize was buried somewhere near Sheffield. I joined him in the final parts of the search, and our
visit took us to a very rural country road near Moscar, where we expected to find a Trig Point based on David’s interpretation of the clues. On a subsequent visit we climbed over the hillside running along the same road and found the burial site. We were told (I cannot recall the source) that in the nineteenth century Jews could not be buried within Sheffield city limits. Perhaps this site was chosen as it was not easily detected by passersby in this rural area.
David had decoded the story book meaning that on the 8th of August there was a bright star in the sky when the Hare fell to the ground. I cannot recall how these details were extracted from the book clues.
It was very convincing that this was the intended site where we should find the final directions to the treasure as on tombstones, we could see Estella Bright (the bright star) plus the names Augustus and Octavius (8th August).
Returning several weeks later to continue the search we found the entire site desecrated with the mausoleum door open and the coffins inside apparently disturbed. I have a vague recollection one was empty. Another disturbing feature was
that a bird had been hung by its neck over one of the graves. I believe it was a crow. We rapidly
retreated!
On the three hour drive home there was plenty of time to mull over what we had seen that day. Was it simply wanton vandalism, deliberate desecration, or something even more sinister such as black magic? Why had the bird been strung up by its neck hovering over one of the headstones? All had nothing to do with the treasure hunt but the subsequent need for it to be impossible for a repeat of whatever had driven the culprits obviously meant that if the site did indeed hold the final clue to the Golden Hare, it was no longer accessible. Our theory is that an alternative, perhaps plan B, became essential so that the whole purpose of the books treasure hunt could be fulfilled.
We made one further visit to find the entire site covered in concrete. David remained convinced (and I support him) the author’s original intention was for this location to be the last step towards finding the Hare but there had to be an immediate change so that if others followed the same clues to bring them to this site the final clues would be inaccessible.
Shortly afterwards a man walking his dog and not involved in the clue solving process found the hare in Bedfordshire, many miles away.
Is the connection to Masquerade new to you or have others also been redirected due to the vandalism? Perhaps after all we might have just been a couple of oddballs wasting our Sunday afternoons.
It adds nothing to the Bright family history unless?
Sadly David has passed away and I am unable to ascertain why he deduced that the prize would be located in the Sheffield area.
This page was last updated on 04/04/26 15:03