A tremendous presence of evil

The other day, feeling like going for a walk, I walked up the hill
behind my house. On the edge of the small wood I got talking to an
old gentleman who was coming down quickly through the wood.
We got talking for about 15 minutes, during which he I said that I
liked to come up here every now and then, and he asked me if I had
ever come up here at dusk in the summer. I told him that I may have
done, but I wasn’t sure.
He told me that he had been up there once at dusk in the summer
and felt a tremendous presence of evil, and had to run out of there
quickly. He later remarked on this to a man who lives in a cottage
down the hill, who said it was funny that he should say that because
he himself had been up the hill at night with his dog, and though he
hadn’t actually felt anything himself, all of the hairs on the dog’s head
had stood on end.  We talked some more, during which the man told
me that he had lived in various places in St Andrews over his lifetime
always on the edge of town, because the edge of St Andrews kept
getting further away. He told me that when he was a boy anyone on
the wrong side of the Kinnesburn was not considered to live in
St Andrews. He also told me that in 1959 his grandmother paid a rent
of 50p and found even that a difficult amount to manage. He said
people should be grateful with the welfare system that exists today.

As he was about to leave I asked what had happened in the past up
here. He said he didn’t know, he had just felt a tremendous presence
of evil. I had had my back to the wood all the time we were talking.
When he went down the hill, I turned around and walked into the
wood. I hadn’t taken more than 10 steps in when I turned around and
ran straight out again! I then had to slow down and stop running to
make sure he didn't see my about turn.