• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Inexplicable Small Watcher By The Roadside

Ermintruder said:
Very strange....

Yesterday, early morning in the frozen dark, I was driving on an icy country road. It was much icier and challenging to drive than I'd expected, and my senses/reactions were working overtime.

As I turned slightly to the right, on the roadside standing facing me (and apparently following my movement) was this small...upright....furry...two-legged....totally-disconcerting: small thing. Standing watching me going past.

My first impression was of it (somehow?) being the animated back half of a massive rabbit or hare- but very long-legged, forming a shape like a capital 'A' . And I was very struck by the impression that this whateveritwas seemed to be watching me with utter controlled confidence and/or disdain (I can't explain this aspect fully: but I cannot shake the feeling off).

I was totally-unable to brake or stop (or I would've crashed, without a doubt)- had it been summer I would've done a full emergency stop. I'll estimate maybe around 0.5m in height.

There was no discernable head, from the body, and no perceptable eyes. It definitely had fur/hair, which was paler towards the...'apex' of its outline.

I'm not at all sure of what I saw...I presume it was some kind of visual illusion. Except: it really gave me the weirdest feeling. The movement of it (actual, or impression thereof) was totally-purposeful. Not so much menacing...but somehow insolent?

Very shaken by it. Just makes zero sense.

EDIT1 Not only did it appear to track my driven movement, it seemed to move up & down, a tiny amount. And not affected by my headlights in the least

EDIT2 I wonder if somehow the movement I perceived was similar to this amazing....concavic pseudokineticity effect?

(A small manipulated animal corpse malevolently displayed by a hunter, as a trophy? I am just struggling to find a rational explanation- hence my reductionist propositions)
Click to expand...
Weirdly enough, I came across this after I read your post and wondered if you happen to live anywhere near to Norfolk?
https://www.edp24.co.uk/news/weird-norfolk-have-you-seen-the-beast-of-the-a1075-1-5254140
 
Bigphoot2 said:
The first thing that went through my mind was wallaby.
Click to expand...
That was my initial conclusion also... :cool:

Hmmm....

Screenshot_20191123_224645_compress7.jpg
 
EnolaGaia said:
I'm betting there's no connection ...

The sightings reported in that article refer to entities that are 6 or more feet tall when standing upright.

Ermintruder's sighting was of an anomalous object that was only circa 18 inches tall.
Click to expand...
Totally get where you're coming from but before you shut me down, remember it was stated that only a glimpse of the thing was seen (no features, etc).
 
Trish71 said:
Totally get where you're coming from but before you shut me down, remember it was stated that only a glimpse of the thing was seen (no features, etc).
Click to expand...

???? ... I wasn't trying to "shut you down" - I was simply pointing out that the sightings described in the linked article all indicated a creature significantly bigger than whatever it was Ermintruder saw.
 
Comfortably Numb said:
Absolutely and we know how unreliable perceptions of size can be in such instances. :)
Click to expand...

Does this mean you're challenging the reliability of Ermintruder's estimate for the observed object's / entity's size?
 
I will say that the location (near Tullibardine, Scotland) is a familiar context for me, as is that wooded road segment.

And whilst I (must...) doubt whether the 'A-Thing' was really moving the way it seemed to be: I'm certain regarding its apparent size. Small, animal-scaled. But in no way normal animal shaped. It's also relevant to say that its location (bracketed between an inarguable tree-line and the road edge) gave totally-reliable references for size/location/distance from the road

It really seemed to flex- as it turned. Without any obvious repositioning of what looked like its legs. And it appeared to alter slightly in overall height as it did so, tensely. This was all over in possibly less than a few seconds....but, I'm good at eidetic recall (on a tested basis)

@Trish71 - note that I'm saying that it had no features, because it really did appear not to have any.

EDIT
@Comfortably Numb - here's an adaptation of your wallaby picture into what I saw....leaner than this, at the 'hips'
2019-11-24 00.38.29.png

It had no chiaroscuro light rolloff (ie no rounded haunches) appearing as I've repeatedly said as if it were just an upright very-thin semi-animated capital letter 'A'.
 
Last edited:
Comfortably Numb said:
Any chance it might inherently have been... a polecat?
Click to expand...
Now....that looks very interesting. I am not familiar with that species of creature at all....

The way in which this polecat's features are very-small, and very-much at the top. Do they have widely-seperated/splayed quite-long rear legs? And would they....in effect....challenge, upright, a bright/loud car?

I'm wondering if this could >actually< have been what I saw...it might've been thin-enough, and tensely upright, and turned with me.

Serious possible candidate.....perhaps
 
Ermintruder said:
Now....that looks very interesting. I am not familiar with that species of creature at all....

The way in which this polecat's features are very-small, and very-much at the top. Do they have widely-seperated/splayed quite-long rear legs? And would they....in effect....challenge, upright, a bright/loud car?

I'm wondering if this could >actually< have been what I saw...it might've been thin-enough, and tensely upright, and turned with me.

Serious possible candidate.....perhaps
Click to expand...

wildlifetrusts_40679124727.jpg


As you’re in God’s country, l’ll suggest a pine marten.

They’re up to 21” in body length.

maximus otter
 
I agree that a polecat or marten would be a good candidate, except for two things.

First ... Every photo I've found of these creatures standing erect affords a profile more "straight" and "thin" than the sort of "wide bottom tapering to smaller top" profile Ermintruder has consistently described.

Of course, given the brief observation timeframe the wide lower portion may have been or included some ground feature (e.g., hump, plant, etc.) that Ermintruder interpreted as part of the figure.

Second ... Ermintruder has consistently described the figure as standing on visible legs long enough to discern them as separate supports holding the figure off the ground. Polecats / martens don't have long enough rear legs to achieve this sort of visibly elevated stance, and I've yet to find a photo of a standing polecat / marten that shows it lifted far enough off the ground on its rear legs to clearly match Ermintruder's description.
 
Otter?
One thing it does remind me of, we once saw what I took to be what was often called a Will O The Wisp
a sort of small spinning patch of white gas.
 
David Plankton said:
@Ermintruder -

I know you said this thing was furry/hairy and I think you also mentioned that the legs were hairy too, but the overall shape of a Bittern seems to match IMO.

View attachment 21203View attachment 21205
Click to expand...
My immediate thought was knowing roughly where the sighting took place was not a chance and then I looked at the distribution of the Bittern and it was not what I had in mind! So I’ve learned something today about Bittern distribution if nothing else!
 
Wallabies move in a certain way.

They sit upright, and hop upright (like an Australian nature film...unmistakable) but they walk slow on all fours.

I saw them on the Isle of Man. (and suprised my dad with such beasts)

They live in certain areas, but, like Wild Boar, they are often found well out of those areas.
 
There is of course one other candidate...

Right size, roughly fits the outline and *a critical clue*... it will observe and turn its head to check for any dangers...

Then again... this is probably just as likely...


Screenshot_20191124_220222_compress45_resize_7.jpg
 
Ermintruder started all this, and he needs to show up and post before his IHTM thread gets pirated to extinction ...
 
David Plankton said:
@Ermintruder -
I know you said this thing was furry/hairy and I think you also mentioned that the legs were hairy too, but the overall shape of a Bittern seems to match IMO.
Click to expand...
Although extremely rare, it seems bitterns are resident in Scotland and notably in the Perthshire vicinity:

Screenshot_20191125_033309_compress65.jpg


Screenshot_20191125_033128_compress13.jpg



I know we have apparently ruled out a bird, however... the sighting was of an a-framed creature, no discernable arms, which swayed from side-to-side.

Would be interesting to know what Ermintruder makes of this:

 
EnolaGaia said:
Ermintruder started all this,
Click to expand...
Hmm- I'm conflicted. You make a good point @EnolaGaia, regarding the evidence against the polecat as the possible candidate (probable short leg-length, and an anticipated non-widening body towards the legs): factors which were key to the A-frame morphology I saw. Until you made those valid observations, I was thinking we might have an answer to what the Furry A-Thing was.

I wonder (clutches at straws...): the Wiki page on the European polecat makes specific mention of giantism being a not-unknown characteristic in the species. If a small breeding group occupied an ecological niche, does that affect body shape, or proportions? Unknown (to me).

And the bittern....wow. @Comfortably Numb, another animal I've never (knowingly) seen before, nor was I aware they were semi-indigenous to Scotland (despite my half-century-plus of flawed familiarity). There is some definite similarity in the presumable shape (the legs didn't seem anything like as stick-like...but was that foliage?), and it has 'hips'. Whilst the movement/colouring is neither immediately-familiar nor a million miles away from what I saw....it isn't the same tensed almost-diaphramoid effect I feel I witnessed. My gut impression was of the A-Thing being a furry/hairy 'flat animal' (albeit shaped very oddly) rather than a skinny convex bird....as far as I could tell.

Uncertain (bites the table in frustration... )

Hopefully I shall get a daylight (ice-free) chance to travel that road again, soon....maybe that will help in the determinations.

EDIT- Scots speakers might notice an uninintional pun...when I'm writing "the A-thing"....mibbi it's nearies aa-thin' tae aabudy (English: maybe it (The Thing) is almost everything to everyone...cf "aathin" is Scots for 'everything')
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top