Black Eyes & Broken Souls: The Corpse Wood follows Detective Mick Hargraves and his demonic partner Marchosias as they investigate a series of bizarre deaths in the Forest of Dean. Environmental criminals—fly-tippers, toxic waste dumpers, and illegal loggers—are being found dead in impossible circumstances that suggest supernatural intervention. Each death appears elaborately themed to match the specific environmental crime being committed, from victims impaled on branches to others buried alive or saturated with the very chemicals they were trying to dump illegally.
As the Special Investigations Unit delves deeper into the case, they encounter an ancient entity known as the Green Man—a towering, bark-skinned creature that appears to be hunting those who damage the woodland. What initially seems like a straightforward case of a supernatural serial killer becomes increasingly complex as the team discovers the Forest of Dean represents one of Britain’s last remaining fragments of ancient woodland. The entity demonstrates disturbing intelligence, apparent moral judgement in its choice of victims, and an intimate connection to the forest ecosystem that suggests it has been present for centuries.
The investigation takes Mick, Marchosias, and Detective Inspector Reeves deep into both the physical forest and its layered history, from Celtic sacred groves to Roman mining operations to centuries of systematic deforestation. As they uncover the true scope of what Britain has lost environmentally—87% of its original ancient woodland destroyed over millennia—they begin to understand that their case involves forces far older and more significant than simple environmental vigilantism. The team must navigate an increasingly dangerous supernatural landscape where the boundaries between protector and predator, justice and murder, become disturbingly unclear.