NOT many people remember now, but back before The Beatles took to the stage, before man walked on the moon, and before smartphones ruled the world, Abergavenny and its inhabitants were pulled out of shape by a strange and unsettling series of events that wouldn’t be out of place in a Stephen King novel.

It began in early June. The year was 1955.

Winston Churchill had resigned as Prime Minister, and Anthony Eden was in charge. J.R.R. Tolkien published The Return of the King, ITV was launched, Ruth Ellis was sent to the gallows, and the first edition of the Guinness Book of Records hit the shelves.

Further afield, James Dean was killed in a car crash, Disneyland opened its doors in California, Albert Einstein shuffled off this mortal coil, and Rosa Parks took a seat on a bus and changed the world.

Meanwhile, in Abergavenny, a series of murders, suicides, road traffic accidents and sudden deaths had all conspired to create an uneasy and unnerving atmosphere in the town.

Under the heading “Diary of Disaster” the Chronicle of July 15, 1955, made the strange announcement that “Hundreds of Abergavenny people will breathe a sigh of relief at the news that for the first time in six weeks there were no sudden deaths in the area this week.”

It was reported that “suicides and road fatalities followed each other with heartbreaking rapidity, and many worried people must have been left wondering where next death would find its victim.”

The sudden and unsettling wave of death and despair began on June 2, when a twin baby under two months was found suffocated by its parents.

Two days later, a 69-year-old woman patient at Pen-y-Fal Hospital fell off a chair and died.

On June 8, a 17-year-old from Rholben Road was killed when the motorbike he was riding was involved in a head-on collision.

On June 12, a landscape gardener is struck by a lorry and dies instantly.

The next day, a 17-year-old cyclist is involved in a collision with a car on the Abergavenny to Crickhowell road and dies in hospital.

On June 17, death came to an 84-year-old male patient at Pen-y-Fal Hospital after he fell while being undressed.

On June 21st, a 25-year-old student who is visiting Abergavenny from Rhymney commits suicide by lying on the railway line near Abergavenny Junction.

Eight days later, a retired farmer shoots himself while staying with his brother at Llantilio Crossenny.

July starts in equally terrible fashion when a six-year-old girl drowns in the river Usk and a 21-year-old motorcyclist loses his life in a crash near Gilwern.

For six long weeks, the town and its inhabitants felt as if they were cursed as grief and shock became commonplace.

And then, in the wake of all these terrible and tragic events, the unexpected deaths seemingly stopped.

Leading the Chronicle to write, “Last week was free from such tragedies which have profoundly shocked all local people.

“Surely it was one of the most tragic periods in the history of the town.”