Fake ABCs

[SmirnoffMule]

Wasn't sure whether to put this here, or the ABC thread in Crypto, or in Urban Legends. Mods, get your moving gear out

http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/dis...ayContent&sourceNode=103331&contentPK=3354823

A woman who claimed that the Beast of Bodmin Moor was laying siege to her house has made the list of the top ten funniest calls to the RSPCA.

Christmas is the animal protection group's busiest time of year, with calls from the public coming in at a rate of one every 20 seconds.

But it is able to laugh at a few that turn out to be mistakes, and yesterday published some of the most amusing calls - without giving away any caller identities.

A woman phoned to report that she was trapped indoors because a black cat-like creature had been crouching on her doorstep for 24 hours.

She thought it might be the infamous "Beast of Bodmin Moor" - but the skulking beast turned out to be a delivery of phone directories in a black plastic bag.

I have a feeling this might be a FoaF story, rather than a real call, because I've heard a very similar story before twice with all the elements in tact - Stupid hysterical housewife is trapped for hours by ferocious monster which turns out to be mundane object. My mother told me that she read about a woman in Surrey at the height of the Surrey Puma scare who was trapped in her house for hours by a brown paper bag stuck in the hedge. And near where I live in Worcs, we had a few ABC sightings a few years ago, and a girl at work told me about a woman who apparantly called into work saying she couldn't come in, because she couldn't walk past a panther crouching on the edge of the pavement. Said panther turns out to be a black bin bag.
'Course, just because it's a FoaF tale, doesn't mean it's never happened ^_^ Any one else heard it before?