One correspondent likened them to Masai tribesmen. Other sources say they could be witches performing ancient rituals, druids or merely frustrated mums hoping to harness the powers of a mystical fertility stone. Since the Observer postbag started receiving reports of a group of white-robed people walking on Blackstone Edge moor the theories have come in thick and fast. But as yet no concrete answers have been found.
Archaeologists have unearthed a "mini-Stonehenge"... on the moors of Rochdale. The two nearby sites - an oval made up of collapsed slabs, and a 30-metre circle of rounded stones - are believed to be ancient burial sites dating back as far as 5,000 years. They were spotted by archaeologist Stuart Mendelsohn during a walk on the hills in December and could now become a major tourist attraction.