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Beast of Sizergh Castle

A

Anonymous

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Hello.. my first post, so be gentle...

I was just wondering whether anyone can help identify a truly strange creature I saw with my girlfriend, just outside the grounds of Sizergh Castle in N Lancs... we were just walking along a path adjacent to 6-foot or so bank at the edge of a field.

Suddenly, and enormous creature walks casually out of the undergrowth and crosses our path at a stroll, about 8 ft in front of us.

It was as bigger than the biggest dog I've seen, though not by much - it was perhaps up to my midriff at the shoulder - a chocolately-black colour all over, a narrow face that looked perhaps a little deer-like, though checking it's feet I could see it didn't have hooves. it had a medium-length curled tail. One aspect I remember clearly was that it seemed very elongated.

We stood there agape, trying desperately to memorise everything about it; it crossed us, climbed the bank and disappeared over the other side. I raced after it, but coming to the top of the bank, I could see it going into a copse right across the other side of the field (about a quarter of a mile away).

Chances are, we'll never know what it was, but I'd really be very grateful if anyone had any ideas?

Cheers
Matt
 
Was it walking on 4 legs or 2?

If 4, it sounds very much like a large dog, possibly an alsatian, or perhaps an escaped wolf? Are there any zoos or wildlife parks in the area?

Welcome BTW
 
Sizergh beast

It was on 4 legs - it's appearance most closely resembled a dog, although it was rather out of proportion with itself to be one. It certainly wasn't an alsatian or wolf - I'm well aquainted with what both of these look like.

The face was too long for it to be a dog, its elongated body, though a little dog-like, was just too long and large (as I said its shoulder would have come up to my midriff, and I'm 6ft. Only wolfhounds and great danes get this big, and it certainly wasn't a either of these.

Thanks for your thoughts, though!

Cheers
Matt
 
Could it be an "Alien big cat" (not as in from space - i'm not fully gullible)? Your reprt sounds like a lot of reports that people intertpret as these - surrey pumas or whatever. :)
 
Could you draw a picture and scan it in? If you are not very good at drawing things accurately (like me), I would suggest finding a picture of a wolf or dog and photoshopping it until it looks like the creature you saw (stretching out the face/body etc until the proportions are about right).

I am trying to rack my brains as to what it could be, without much success - but one thought is that North Lancs is not far from where the "Girt Dog" was killed (Cumbria IIRC) in the late 19th century - do a search for either Girt Dog or Cumbria Thylacine (not suggesting what you saw was a thylacine, but one website I saw with quite a detailed description of the Girt Dog "flap" surmised it could have been one).

Edit: Girt Dog/Cumbrian Thylacine website here
 
Originally posted by Oxmatt
It was as bigger than the biggest dog I've seen, though not by much - it was perhaps up to my midriff at the shoulder - a chocolately-black colour all over, a narrow face that looked perhaps a little deer-like, though checking it's feet I could see it didn't have hooves. it had a medium-length curled tail. One aspect I remember clearly was that it seemed very elongated.
Click to expand...

If you hadn't said that it didn't have hooves, I would be sure that it was a muntjac or a chinese water deer. Both of these small deer look surprisingly dog-like.

They're both asian species that have been introduced to the UK in various places. There are some pictures at:
http://www.deer-uk.com
 
Cheers...

... for your thoughts...

It certainly wasn't a deer - no hooves as I said, also, the neck was too short.

The closest to it was the Scottish deerhound (although, shorter neck, much higher back). The tail was about right and it had a similar(ish) face.

The thylacine is also similar in shape, but no stripes (it was an almost black brown all over) and this was bigger. The face was very similar, though.

As I said, I don't think I'll ever know - I'd be tempted to go with "big unidentified breed of dog", but it just didn't have that kind of vibe, if you see what I mean - ie. when one sees a dog, it's immediately identifiable as such - our reaction to this creature was more "wtf was that?!".

Unfortunately, I don't think my attempt to draw it would clarify anything for anyone!

Cheers
Matt
 
Another thought: You could also try looking up the various fables and local legends (especially in northern England) of "Black Dogs", which are not necessarily always exactly like dogs in appearance, although these are usually seen more as paranormal beings (zooform phenomena) than flesh and blood animals. I think Conan Doyle's "Hound of the Baskervilles" was loosely based on the Black Dog folklore, and they have also been associated by some forteans with the "Alien Big Cats".

"Black Shuck" I think is one of the Cumbrian/Lake District area names for them.
 
I know someone who saw a creature round here that doesn't fit with anything I can think of- big as a large dog with a very short face , long feet and tail and large pointed ears like a German Shepherd ( so not a puma) It was white and gave off an unnerving spooky aura. Some things will remain a mystery I think!
 
Welcome Oxmatt :)

I would suggest if it looked a lot like a dog, it probably was one - perhaps a cross-breed with a deer hound or great dane or something similar. I know you said it didn't give out a dog-vibe, but some unfamiliar breed or mongrel might have caught you out. Dogs come in so many shapes and varieties, and each one has a vibe of its own IMHO. I have a greyhound myself, and people often comment on her appearance - partly because she's very much larger than most people expect, and also because she doesn't have a dog-vibe either. She moves like a wolf and looks like a deer, with a touch of giraffe and a wee bit of velociraptor. When we first had her, we joked that we'd been had and sold a mongoose instead, or maybe a foal. It's not so much her appearance that is unusual - everyone's familiar with greyhounds from pictures, after all, but she moves like... something else. :) The last thing she brings to mind when you see her is "dog".

Hound-types, I think, always have a kind of ancient, other worldly vibe anyway. As you said it had a face like a deer, a curled tail, and was rather out of proportion with itself, I'm tempted to suggest a kind of greyhound crossed with something much larger, perhaps.

I know it's patronizing to suggest you don't know a dog when you see one, but I can't think of what I would consider a typical dog to look like. All breeds look different, and move different, and have a different air about them and they all look like something else. I pride myself in knowing dogs, but I still have to gawp when I see a breed in the flesh I've only known from pictures before. And cross-breeds are just a whole new ball game. Our old labrador cross exactly resembled a bear from certain angles, and I also have a bull terrier cross that looks part otter and part monkey...

Maybe it's just me, on second thoughts. :D
 
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