Staffordshire Werewolf

[YogiAgain]

Not sure if this is in the correct place so mods feel free to move it.

There has been a story recently in our local free newspaper about a werewolf apparently spotted in local woods, Cannock Chase near to the German cemetery there. I only live a few miles away and haven't heard anything about this before and wondered if any one else had.

I have tried to find the article on line but can't find it (if we’ve still got the newspaper at home I’ll copy the article).

Does anyone have any other stories about this part of the country?

i thought the only fortean thing that had happened here was the Cannock crocdile spotted last year.

 

[TheQuixote]

I've checked the icCannock network, there's nothing on it about a 'werewolf' yet. I'm assuming it was in the Cannock Chase Post? They've been covering the Chase 'Bigfoot' for the past year or so and even have a little section devoted to it on there. (just don't ask Emps what he thinks about them )

YogiAgain: I'll keep an eye out for it but in the meantime, if you do happen to find the article, please post it up!




As for other Cannock weirdness on here:

Bigfoot gets a mention in British Bigfoot plus other bits and bobs from that post onwards
http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewt ... 556#609556

Cannock Chase UFO crash
http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewt ... 795#610795

Crocodile in Cannock
http://www.forteantimes.com/forum/viewt ... 537#233537

 

[Analogue Boy]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. There was a similar story but the location was switched to the a wildlife reserve on the coast near Alnwick.

I wonder if this is a Wandering Myth?

 

[corsair2000e]

Over the last couple of weeks there have been reports of a creature being seen on the Chase in a few local papers. These have been of the ABC variety and I have not seen it described as a "werewolf" in any report as yet. There have also been various accounts of jokers putting a large toy orang-utan in the forest and moving it around from place to place. There has been at least one photo of the orang-utan published in a local paper. I did wonder if someone had spotted the toy and created a story about a werewolf or perhaps the ABC sightings have, indeed, been described as a werewolf in an account that I have not seen.

 

[hallybods]

My family live in Staffs.

Coincidence?


I think not.




Could it have something to do with talk of introducing wolves to Cannock Chase?

 

[gerardwilkie]

There's also the Monkey-Man of Ranton .......Nick Redfern is writing a book on that at the moment.

 

[YogiAgain]

Below is a copy of the story from The Stafford Post

Thursday, April 26, 2007

Werewolf spotted in Stafford

BY KEVIN EDGE.

A rash of sightings of a 'werewolf' type creature prowling around the outskirts of Stafford have prompted a respected Midlands paranormal group to investigate.
West Midlands Ghost Club says they have been contacted by a number of shocked residents who saw what they claimed to be a `hairy wolf-type creature' walking on its hind legs around the German War Cemetery, just off Camp Road, in between Stafford and Cannock.
Several of them claim the creature sprang up on its hind legs and ran into the nearby bushes when it was spotted.
Nick Duffy, of West Midlands Ghost Club, said the stories of werewolf sightings in Chase area were something that he had encountered before.
He said: "The first person to contact us was a postman, who told us he had seen what he thought was a werewolf on the German War Cemetery site.
"He said he was over there on a motorbike and saw what he believed was a large dog. When he got closer, the creature got on his hind legs and ran away. "I’ve spoke to many witnesses and I know when they are putting it on. But what struck me as strange about this was the way he told it.
"I'm in no doubt that he was telling the truth."
The creature was also spotted by a scout leader walking over the forest land earlier this month.
The man, who does not want to be named, said he saw what he initially believed was a large dog prowling by the bushes. It was only when he got into his car to drive away that he realised something was strange.
He said: "It just looked like a huge dog. But when I slammed the door of my car it reared up on its back legs and ran into the trees.
"It must have been about six to seven feet tall. I know it sounds absolutely mad, but I know what I saw.”
The sighting is the latest in a long line of mysterious Encounters over the Chase, with witnesses also seeing a 'Bigfoot' type creature in the forest land.
Nick dismiss the possibility that the two creatures could be one
and the same thing.
He said: "I think they are probably different creatures. One is ape-
Like and the other is a dog or wolf-like creature that walks on its hind legs."
Werewolf type creatures have also been sighted in other areas of the country and dedicated websites have reported numerous encounters.

 

[LordRsmacker]

I dunno about werewolves, but there's certainly doggers out on Cannock Chase.

Don't ask how I know......

 

[YogiAgain]

Well yeah there are lots of dog walkers over there or is that not what you ment you naughty boy !!!

:lol:

 

[corsair2000e]

Well yeah there are lots of dog walkers over there or is that not what you ment you naughty boy !!!

:lol:

My dad walks our dog every morning on the Chase around 6am and has done so for years. He's never seen anything unusual on his walks as yet.

Nick Duffy appears to be taking the existance of two distinct types of creature on the Chase rather seriously. I do find it very hard to believe that a colony--or two colonies--of man-sized unknown creatures could exist on the Chase. I don't buy the "supernatural entity" explanation either. That is invoking a mystery to explain another mystery.

 

[Semyaz]

That is invoking a mystery to explain another mystery.

I thought that was how we humans answered the mysteries of the universe anyway... we seem to have done for long enough, why stop now??

 

[OldTimeRadio]

There was a similar story but the location was switched to the a wildlife reserve on the coast near Alnwick.

Shades of the "Alnwick Vampire" (AKA the "Alnwick Monster"), even if it was 900 years ago.

 

[OldTimeRadio]

I don't buy the "supernatural entity" explanation either. That is invoking a mystery to explain another mystery.

But if supernatural or paranormal entities actually exist, and at least some of the reports seem evidential, wouldn't they create the phenomenon rather than merely "explain" it?

 

[Peripart]

I love this story - it's the thought that something so mysterious could be so close to home. If I stand at the end of the road, I can clearly see the BT tower on the Chase, only 10 or so miles away as the crow flies. I do find it hard, though, to get my head around werewolf and bigfoot sightings in so small an area. After all, we're only talking about a few square miles of woodland - the Pacific Northwest this is not!

I feel tempted to take a drive up there this weekend, and soak up the atmosphere. Can't say I'm totally convinced by the idea of an actual werewolf prowling the woods, mind you, although I won't be wandering around after dark, all the same.

Time was, you wouldn't see anything odder than Stan Collyomre near Cannock Chase...

 

[corsair2000e]

I love this story - it's the thought that something so mysterious could be so close to home. If I stand at the end of the road, I can clearly see the BT tower on the Chase, only 10 or so miles away as the crow flies. I do find it hard, though, to get my head around werewolf and bigfoot sightings in so small an area. After all, we're only talking about a few square miles of woodland - the Pacific Northwest this is not!

I feel tempted to take a drive up there this weekend, and soak up the atmosphere. Can't say I'm totally convinced by the idea of an actual werewolf prowling the woods, mind you, although I won't be wandering around after dark, all the same.

Time was, you wouldn't see anything odder than Stan Collyomre near Cannock Chase...

I would expect that we really would have a great deal more evidence than appears to exist if there truly was a colony of large, unknown creatures on Cannock Chase. It is, after all, a fairly small area of land and surely a sizeable population would be required for the gene pool not to deteriorate through routine in-breeding. Could such a population live so close to man yet escape his attention for so long?

The Chase is a beautiful area and though I doubt you will see anything very mysterious, it is a great place to walk and catch sight of the deer population--my dad has seen herds of over 20 animals on his early morning walks.

 

[corsair2000e]

I don't buy the "supernatural entity" explanation either. That is invoking a mystery to explain another mystery.

But if supernatural or paranormal entities actually exist, and at least some of the reports seem evidential, wouldn't they create the phenomenon rather than merely "explain" it?

Please could you give an example or two of reports you consider to be evidential.

 

[gyrtrash]

"On April 26, 2007, the Stafford Post newspaper (which covers the area in question) stated the following: "A rash of sightings of a 'werewolf' type creature prowling around the outskirts of Stafford have prompted a respected Midlands paranormal group to investigate. West Midlands Ghost Club says they have been contacted by a number of shocked residents who saw what they claimed to be a `hairy wolf-type creature' walking on its hind legs around the German War Cemetery, just off Camp Road, in between Stafford and Cannock. Several of them claim the creature sprang up on its hind legs and ran into the nearby bushes when it was spotted."

The newspaper continued:

"Nick Duffy, of West Midlands Ghost Club, said the stories of werewolf sightings in Chase area were something that he had encountered before. He said: 'The first person to contact us was a postman, who told us he had seen what he thought was a werewolf on the German War Cemetery site. He said he was over there on a motorbike and saw what he believed was a large dog. When he got closer, the creature got on his hind legs and ran away."

Or perhaps not a werewolf, but something else entirely... :shock:

... the Chase Post newspaper (whose official website is home to countless weird animal reports from the area) and the Birmingham Post ran the following story:

"A tribe of subterranean creatures who surface on Cannock Chase to hunt for food could be behind a rash of 'werewolf' and Bigfoot sightings near Stafford. And the mysterious beings could also be responsible for a string of pet disappearances, it has been claimed.

Theories behind the sightings range from a crazed tramp to aliens. But now another paranormal expert has put forward the theory the sub-human beast is not a werewolf at all - but a Stone Age throwback...

Full story here:-
http://monsterusa.blogspot.com/2007/05/ ... gland.html
(Nick Redfern's blog?)



Wolfman? Phantom Black Dog? Stig of the Dump?

 

[OldTimeRadio]

Please could you give an example or two of reports you consider to be evidential.

No, and not through any unwillingness, but because it simply doesn't work that way.

The reason I strongly suspect that paranormal entities exist is because I've studied a tapestry of thousands of ghost and psychic experiences I've collected and collated over the decades, each one re-enforcing and supporting the others.

I doubt that one or two examples would (or for that matter even should) convince anybody. They certainly wouldn't have convinced me.

 

[tilly50]

The area around Cannock and Stafford has the sort of phenomena (UFO's, bigfoot sightings, ghosts and now werewolves) that it would merit the possibility that there is some sort of portal (if that is the right word) between realities in that region.

By the by, and a little off topic, does anyone know why there is a valley in Shropshire called Apedale?? The place is not that far from the Cannock area and it has always made me wonder if there are any tales of strange sightings in the area for it to get the name. (It would be handy to know as I am hoping tobuy a property in that neighbourhood and would like to know what the local legends are).

 

[Spookdaddy]

There's also the Monkey-Man of Ranton .......Nick Redfern is writing a book on that at the moment.

Ah yes, the Man-Monkey of Graham J McEwan's Mystery Animals of Britain and Ireland. Always gave me the creeps that particular story but I don't think I've read anything about it anywhere else - although I suppose there must be more information out there somewhere if there's a book in it.

 

[markcoop3000]

The Beast of Cannock Chase

Has anyone else heard these reports over the last 18 months of an unidentified beast - could be an ABC, could be a cryptid hominid - wandering around on Cannock Chase.

If so I'm more than game to go over the Chase and Castle Ring looking for anything out of the ordinary - and I don't mean the Satanists who like to burn things up there!!

 

[Jerry_B]

There's an overview of the various events at The Cabinet of Wonders site.

 

[Peripart]

... and a dedicated FTMB thread over here, which also has links to other CZ threads which mention Cannock Chase.

Anyhow, welcome to the Board, Mark, and good luck hunting on the Chase! Last time I was up at Castle Ring, mind you, it would have been tricky to see anything in the downpour. Good job there's that nice pub just outside the gates...

 

[OldTimeRadio]

Please could you give an example or two of reports you consider to be evidential.

First, Corsair, please forgive the extreme tardiness of this reply. It got by some somehow.

Second, I should have been more clear. The evidence is in the body of reports themselves. The reports of these and similar phenomena create a tapestry, in which each thread supports the other. You can remove individual threads from a tapestry, but that merely destroys the picture and leaves us with tatters.

A comparison can be made to Phantom Hitchhiker reports. For the first 40 years of my Foretean life I assumed that these were every last one of them figments of the folkloric imagination.

But I eventually realized that there are hundreds and perhaps even thousands of FIRST-PERSON PH reports. They're NOT all just FOAF tales.

So I now consider the PH stories to be a body of evidence to be studied and collated and analyzed and no longer just a literary motif to be critiqued.

But that DOESN'T mean that I'm going to be able to hand you two Phantom Hitchhiker cases and say, "Here, here is your proof!"

 

[wembley8]

Second, I should have been more clear. The evidence is in the body of reports themselves. The reports of these and similar phenomena create a tapestry, in which each thread supports the other. You can remove individual threads from a tapestry, but that merely destroys the picture and leaves us with tatters.

Does this mean you don;t have any cases which actually stand up to close scrutiny?
In many areas of the paranormal, say Mediums, you can have thousands of people quoting amazing stories - but in the end all of them can turn out to be hoaxes or inaccurate reports or wishful thinking (or a combination of these) . Ultimately you need to have something factual to base it on, or you fall prey to the symdrome of 'oh well, this one turned out to be bogus too - but what about this one...'

 

[OldTimeRadio]

Does this mean you don't have any cases which actually stand up to close scrutiny?

Look, you can have a creature sighting witnessed by the Pope, Billy Graham, the entirety of the British and Canadian Parliaments, both Houses of the US Congress, the Jewish War Veterans, the Knights of Columbus, the Masonic Order, the World Baptist Convention, every Boy and Girl Scout in the world plus the Sons and Daughters of I Will Arise and somebody's going to come along and cheerfully "debunk" it.

I don't claim to be a scientist, and never have. What I claim to be is a Fortean scholar who attempts to establish the morphological shape of various Fortean and paranormal phenomena and does so by comparing and collating massed reports.

You are perfectly free to disagree with that approach, and - guess what - you may very well be right.

 

[wembley8]

Does this mean you don't have any cases which actually stand up to close scrutiny?

Look, you can have a creature sighting witnessed by the Pope, Billy Graham, the entirety of the British and Canadian Parliaments, both Houses of the US Congress, the Jewish War Veterans, the Knights of Columbus, the Masonic Order, the World Baptist Convention, every Boy and Girl Scout in the world plus the Sons and Daughters of I Will Arise and somebody's going to come along and cheerfully "debunk" it.

No, they can only debunk it if it's bunk in the first place.

A creature which is properly recorded and has specimens filed and examined is not going to turn out to be a figment of the imagination.

Now, there may be arguments over details (e.g. which species or subspecies an elephant belongs to) but not over whether there is something present.
- Whereas the very existence werewolves is still open to doubt.

Equally with phantom hitchhikers: the reports show that something is going on, but certainly not that the supposed hitchhikers themselves exist in any objective sense.

 

[Semyaz]

A creature which is properly recorded and has specimens filed and examined is not going to turn out to be a figment of the imagination.

Not really. Tulpas are beings (and/or objects??) that are willed or summoned into being by an individuals imagination, and are artifacts of the imagination (so to speak).

Basically, just because it's real, doesn't mean it isn't imaginary...

 

[OldTimeRadio]

No, they can only debunk it if it's bunk in the first place.

Alas, that's an out-and-out Skeptical statement on a Fortean list.

I've got an entire shelf of books "debunking" the physical existence of Jesus Christ; forget any miraculous aspects. Does that automatically prove that Jesus was entirely fictional? I've got another shelf crammed with books "debunking" the Holocaust. Personally, I'm still convinced that the Holocaust took place. There's a third shelf "debunking" Evolution. Me, I'm sticking with Darwin.

A creature which is properly recorded and has specimens filed and examined is not going to turn out to be a figment of the imagination.

You are totally ignoring even the possibility that there could be entities which occasionally make appearances but do not fully exist in our workaday reality. My own studies indicate to me that such entities may very well exist. You very likely would maintain that they don't. But as I said in my previous post, maybe you're right!

Whereas the very existence werewolves is still open to doubt.

"Open to doubt?" Are you saying that there is some evidence for them?

Equally with phantom hitchhikers: the reports show that something is going on, but certainly not that the supposed hitchhikers themselves exist in any objective sense.

Could you be a little clearer as to what you mean by "something is going on"?

 

[wembley8]

No, they can only debunk it if it's bunk in the first place.

Alas, that's an out-and-out Skeptical statement on a Fortean list.

I've got an entire shelf of books "debunking" the physical existence of Jesus Christ; forget any miraculous aspects. Does that automatically prove that Jesus was entirely fictional?

Maybe it's juat a matter of semantics- perhaps you count any skeptical attack as debunking. In my view, something can only be debunked if it's bunkum in the first place. (Just as you can only disprove something that is not true).

And Skepticism is a vital part of the Fortean mindset.

You are totally ignoring even the possibility that there could be entities which occasionally make appearances but do not fully exist in our workaday reality.

I'm not sure what you mean by that. I'm afraid it sounds like B-movie-inspired fudging.

Whereas the very existence werewolves is still open to doubt.

"Open to doubt?" Are you saying that there is some evidence for them?

No, that's why their existence is so open to doubt.

Equally with phantom hitchhikers: the reports show that something is going on, but certainly not that the supposed hitchhikers themselves exist in any objective sense.

Could you be a little clearer as to what you mean by "something is going on"?

Many people report the same thing: it suggests that there's some sort of cultural transmission at least (i.e. and urban legend). However, I don't know how many actual firsthand accounts of PHs have been tracked down.