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Werewolf Sightings In North Yorkshire

lordmongrove said:
Paul Sinclair's doc on modern werewolf sightings in Yorkshire.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wolf-Lands-Paul-Sinclair/dp/B0C93Z55R7/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2MMQYP49J1UOG&keywords=wolflands&qid=1691610417&s=instant-video&sprefix=wolflands,instant-video,119&sr=1-1
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Glad it has finally landed, there will be some very interesting witness interviews, however I'm certain he stated it would be released free on YouTube (for ad revenue). However, it is his his choice and his hard work
 
lordmongrove said:
Paul Sinclair's doc on modern werewolf sightings in Yorkshire.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wolf-Lands-Paul-Sinclair/dp/B0C93Z55R7/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2MMQYP49J1UOG&keywords=wolflands&qid=1691610417&s=instant-video&sprefix=wolflands,instant-video,119&sr=1-1
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Some lovely locations in North Yorkshire shown here. You can't get that wrong, really.

As for the rest of it; well, my word, there are some stretches here. I enjoyed listening to the various experiences, not all of which had anything obvious to do with werewolves. Some of this documentary feels a bit disjointed, but otherwise it's an intriguing enough watch. But the maker's motivated reasoning causes him to make some very tenuous connections, I thought.

Occasionally, there's some mention of our ancient history. Instead of accounts of mysterious lights that have no obvious connection to wolf men, perhaps some information regarding that would have been a better place to begin. To my knowledge, Britain has no werewolf lore, unless you count the disputed wulver of the Shetlands. Attempts to relate the location Broxa with the broxa of Portuguese folklore are ridiculous, and it's especially telling the broxa was described merely as a shapeshifter from folklore, without any of the details that would have demonstrated how daft it is. I won't spoil the most ludicrous attempt to fit a place-name with wolves.

Okay, I had fun with this documentary. I suppose most forteans would, whatever their thoughts about Yorkshire werewolves, especially as the doc touches on several other phenomena familiar to us. But I remain unconvinced that wolf men prowl the moors and forests of North Yorkshire.
 
PeteByrdie said:
Some lovely locations in North Yorkshire shown here. You can't get that wrong, really.

As for the rest of it; well, my word, there are some stretches here. I enjoyed listening to the various experiences, not all of which had anything obvious to do with werewolves. Some of this documentary feels a bit disjointed, but otherwise it's an intriguing enough watch. But the maker's motivated reasoning causes him to make some very tenuous connections, I thought.

Occasionally, there's some mention of our ancient history. Instead of accounts of mysterious lights that have no obvious connection to wolf men, perhaps some information regarding that would have been a better place to begin. To my knowledge, Britain has no werewolf lore, unless you count the disputed wulver of the Shetlands. Attempts to relate the location Broxa with the broxa of Portuguese folklore are ridiculous, and it's especially telling the broxa was described merely as a shapeshifter from folklore, without any of the details that would have demonstrated how daft it is. I won't spoil the most ludicrous attempt to fit a place-name with wolves.

Okay, I had fun with this documentary. I suppose most forteans would, whatever their thoughts about Yorkshire werewolves, especially as the doc touches on several other phenomena familiar to us. But I remain unconvinced that wolf men prowl the moors and forests of North Yorkshire.
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Thanks.

I admire Paul for being someone who knocks on doors and gets out there chasing leads. However, he can be quite intense and gets his historical perspective muddled up sometimes. There is the tale of the Flixton werewolf from that area, were you aware of that?
 
PeteByrdie said:
Some lovely locations in North Yorkshire shown here. You can't get that wrong, really.

As for the rest of it; well, my word, there are some stretches here. I enjoyed listening to the various experiences, not all of which had anything obvious to do with werewolves. Some of this documentary feels a bit disjointed, but otherwise it's an intriguing enough watch. But the maker's motivated reasoning causes him to make some very tenuous connections, I thought.

Occasionally, there's some mention of our ancient history. Instead of accounts of mysterious lights that have no obvious connection to wolf men, perhaps some information regarding that would have been a better place to begin. To my knowledge, Britain has no werewolf lore, unless you count the disputed wulver of the Shetlands. Attempts to relate the location Broxa with the broxa of Portuguese folklore are ridiculous, and it's especially telling the broxa was described merely as a shapeshifter from folklore, without any of the details that would have demonstrated how daft it is. I won't spoil the most ludicrous attempt to fit a place-name with wolves.
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I have to say that I live in North Yorkshire, and our local newspapers (The Gazette and Herald, The York Press and the Scarborough News) have not a great deal to report - it's a low crime area and not a lot happens. So you'd expect reports of werewolves etc to make an 'amusing report' if nothing else, however, I've yet to spot anything resembling a sighting of an anomalous creature (apart from the odd big cat sighting). So if we are chock full of werewolves, it's yet to hit the local press.
 
Paul_Exeter said:
Thanks.

I admire Paul for being someone who knocks on doors and gets out there chasing leads. However, he can be quite intense and gets his historical perspective muddled up sometimes. There is the tale of the Flixton werewolf from that area, were you aware of that?
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Aye, I have to say a lot of the most important fortean work is just gathering accounts. When a fortean phenomenon ceases being primarily anecdotal, it ceases being fortean. Yes, I'm aware of the Flixton werewolf, and Old Stinker. I haven't looked deeply into them, but I've yet to be convinced of age of these entities. I tend to think of them as part of the modern phenomenon. An early part, but not really part of our lore. None of my books have anything much about them, and last I looked, the Internet was big on assertions but low on sources.
 
catseye said:
I have to say that I live in North Yorkshire, and our local newspapers (The Gazette and Herald, The York Press and the Scarborough News) have not a great deal to report - it's a low crime area and not a lot happens. So you'd expect reports of werewolves etc to make an 'amusing report' if nothing else, however, I've yet to spot anything resembling a sighting of an anomalous creature (apart from the odd big cat sighting). So if we are chock full of werewolves, it's yet to hit the local press.
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Unless the local papers are all run by werewolves.....:eek:
 
For YouTube fans I can find a video link to absolutely the most terrifying werewolf account from the UK I've ever heard. Not Yorkshire, though. Will look.
 
PeteByrdie said:
But I remain unconvinced that wolf men prowl the moors and forests of North Yorkshire.
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Personally I remain unconvinced werewolves prowl anywhere on Earth, let alone North Yorkshire.

Are they still dependent on a full moon or can werewolves now appear at any phase?
 
hunck said:
Personally I remain unconvinced werewolves prowl anywhere on Earth, let alone North Yorkshire.

Are they still dependent on a full moon or can werewolves now appear at any phase?
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To give a serious answer to a possibly flippant question: the association with the full moon is far from universal in folklore.

Werewolves, vampires, and zombies all had their origins in folklore, but once they became staples of horror literature and, especially, film, they had to be given "rules": often a curse, specific powers, and, importantly, specific vulnerabilities.

The British Standard film werewolf changes into a wolf, whether they want to or not, at the time of the full moon, and can only be killed by a silver bullet. The common theme of the werewolf being incredibly strong was perhaps a result of it being very difficult in the early days to create a convincing quadrupedal werewolf. The lurching bipedal werewolf of early films could be unintentionally risible without super strength.

The modern film vampire is closely associated with bats and/or rats, is unable to go out in the sun, has to sleep in a coffin, and can be warded away by a cross or by garlic, and killed only by a stake through the heart.

The modern film zombie, which is probably the furthest removed from its folklore origins, is driven by an insatiable desire to eat brains, and can only be killed by a severe trauma to its own brain.

In modern film and literature, all three have the ability to pass on their curse by biting the victim. This is a handy device for driving the plot of a film.


In authentic folklore, there was no single version of the werewolf, or of the vampire. There were shape-changers and there were blood-drinkers and cannibals, and these ideas were combined in different proportions for each local folk tale.

The zombie, of course was something completely different from the "infected hordes" we see in films today.
 
On looking it up, it seems the werewolf/full moon association is a 20th century invention, possibly from the film Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)
 
hunck said:
On looking it up, it seems the werewolf/full moon association is a 20th century invention, possibly from the film Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)
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This had me diving for my bookshelves to consult Moon Madness by Paul Katzeff; the earliest specific association between the transformation into a werewolf and the full moon comes from classical antiquity, and is referenced to the Satyricon by Gaius Petronius in the 1st century AD. If you have access to the Moon Madness book, this is on pp. 53-54 of the hardback edition, in the somewhat racy chapter on lycanthropy. The same source mentions that werewolf traditions are scanty in England but common on mainland Europe.
 
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SimonBurchell said:
...the earliest specific association between the transformation into a werewolf and the full moon comes from classical antiquity, and is referenced to the Satyricon by Gaius Petronius in the 1st century AD.
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Satyricon, Chapter 62:

“It so happened that our master had gone to Capua to attend to some odds and ends of business and I seized the opportunity, and persuaded a guest of the house to accompany me as far as the fifth mile-stone. He was a soldier, and as brave as the very devil.

We set out about cock-crow, the moon was shining as bright as midday, and came to where the tombstones are. My man stepped aside amongst them, but I sat down, singing, and commenced to count them up. When I looked around for my companion, he had stripped himself and piled his clothes by the side of the road. My heart was in my mouth, and I sat there while he pissed a ring around them and was suddenly turned into a wolf! Now don’t think I’m joking, I wouldn’t lie for any amount of money, but as I was saying, he commenced to howl after he was turned into a wolf, and ran away into the forest. I didn’t know where I was for a minute or two, then I went to his clothes, to pick them up, and damned if they hadn’t turned to stone! Was ever anyone nearer dead from fright than me?

Then I whipped out my sword and cut every shadow along the road to bits, till I came to the house of my mistress. I looked like a ghost when I went in, and I nearly slipped my wind. The sweat was pouring down my crotch, my eyes were staring, and I could hardly be brought around. My Melissa wondered why I was out so late. “Oh, if you’d only come sooner,” she said, “you could have helped us: a wolf broke into the folds and attacked the sheep, bleeding them like a butcher. But he didn’t get the laugh on me, even if he did get away, for one of the slaves ran his neck through with a spear!”

I couldn’t keep my eyes shut any longer when I heard that, and as soon as it grew light, I rushed back to our Gaius’ house like an innkeeper beaten out of his bill, and when I came to the place where the clothes had been turned into stone, there was nothing but a pool of blood! And moreover, when I got home, my soldier was lying in bed, like an ox, and a doctor was dressing his neck! I knew then that he was a werewolf, and after that, I couldn’t have eaten a crumb of bread with him, no, not if you had killed me. Others can think what they please about this, but as for me, I hope your geniuses will all get after me if I lie.”

https://gutenberg.org/files/5225/5225-h/5225-h.htm

maximus otter
 
If someone has seen something that looks like a werewolf I can guarantee it's not a flesh and blood creature it's just the cosmic joker having a laugh at our expense again, whatever it is it likes the attention, be it presenting as winged fairies, black panthers or other big cats, and now werewolves

Whatever the prevailing Zeitgeist is you bet it will make an appearance, and people will chase it and sometimes they go insane trying to get to the bottom of it all, but it's beyond us there is no rhyme or reason to it's appearances although it will leave lots of clues that lead people up the wrong road, an animal carcass and bit of metal from a space ship or even a cake

It seems to get great pleasure in all the fun and games it creates, but that's the whole point of it, but what if we refuse to take part in the game and see it for what it is? A force that has always been with us since the dawn of time perhaps there are some deep lessons to learn from it
 
catseye said:
I have to say that I live in North Yorkshire, and our local newspapers (The Gazette and Herald, The York Press and the Scarborough News) have not a great deal to report - it's a low crime area and not a lot happens. So you'd expect reports of werewolves etc to make an 'amusing report' if nothing else, however, I've yet to spot anything resembling a sighting of an anomalous creature (apart from the odd big cat sighting). So if we are chock full of werewolves, it's yet to hit the local press.
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The Hull Daily Mail from 2021:

"Take a trip to the Wolds on a sunny summer day and you will be enamoured by the gentle rolling hills and stunning valleys.

What you will not be thinking about is the threat of werewolves, vampires and dragons.

But this area of East Yorkshire is a veritable who’s who of supernatural beings and incidents."

https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/history/bermuda-triangle-east-yorkshire-inhabited-5468144

Also some Scarborough rag:

https://issuu.com/yourlocallink/docs/sr_november_2016.compressed/40

But, yes, not a great deal to be found
 
Paul_Exeter said:
The Flixton Werewolf:


and:

"...It must have been quite a wild, remote spot in the 10th century when the first known report of the Flixton werewolf tells of it terrorising the local countryside."


http://earthworks-m.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-flixton-werewolf.html

So the Flixton werewolf reports date back to the 10th Century and not 20th Century Hollywood
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Yes, but (I don't have time to watch the vid right now, but I will later) is that the 10th century story of a lodge being built to protect travellers from the werewolf? Because I seem to recall that, under scrutiny, it turns out it was built to protect travellers from packs of run of the mill wolves. They were still a problem in Britain at that time and, in spite of them not being supernatural, being torn apart by a wolf pack is still rather tiresome.
 
PeteByrdie said:
Yes, but (I don't have time to watch the vid right now, but I will later) is that the 10th century story of a lodge being built to protect travellers from the werewolf? Because I seem to recall that, under scrutiny, it turns out it was built to protect travellers from packs of run of the mill wolves. They were still a problem in Britain at that time and, in spite of them not being supernatural, being torn apart by a wolf pack is still rather tiresome.
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Having read Paul's books he does acknowledge this, hence the title of his documentary being 'Wolf Lands' being inspired by how many place names in that area have a connection with wolves. However, wolves very rarely if ever attack humans:

The risks associated with a wolf attacking a human are ‘above zero, but far too low to calculate,’ a new report says​

Between 2002 and 2020, researchers found 26 fatal attacks throughout the world. Of those, 14 were due to rabies​


https://wolf.org/wolf-info/factsvsfiction/are-wolves-dangerous-to-humans/

Therefore he postulates that it was actually more a fear of the werewolves of Flixton and the Wold that did attack people.

Anyway, his theory not mine.
 
Paul_Exeter said:
"...It must have been quite a wild, remote spot in the 10th century when the first known report of the Flixton werewolf tells of it terrorising the local countryside."
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I would like to know the source for that claim...
 
Paul_Exeter said:
The Flixton Werewolf:


and:

"...It must have been quite a wild, remote spot in the 10th century when the first known report of the Flixton werewolf tells of it terrorising the local countryside."


http://earthworks-m.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-flixton-werewolf.html

So the Flixton werewolf reports date back to the 10th Century and not 20th Century Hollywood
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"There is no way of knowing now just how far back the Flixton werewolf tales go, but in the year 940 the situation was such that a hostel was built in Flixton specifically for the protection of travellers. The werewolf had reportedly attacked sheep and local people as well as travellers. The winters at that time were recorded as being particularly cruel in northern Britain and food was scarce. Freshly buried corpses were dug up and devoured, and anyone out after dark was risking being attacked. The Flixton werewolf became quite notorious around this time, not just around Flixton itself but also in other local villages.

However, the reports then stopped, and he the werewolf doesn't seem to have been reported again for a couple of hundred years or so, when around 1150 (ish) the reports began again. It, (even assuming it was the same, very old, creature), devoured a local shepherd and a young girl, as well as farm animals. This werewolf walked upright, was incredibly stinky, had a particularly long tail and ferocious looking eyes."

https://earthworks-m.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-flixton-werewolf.html

The only reliable written record of this era of which I know is the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and it has no entry for the year 940 AD.

https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/657/pg657.txt

​

"Old Stinker, Legendary Beast​

At the foot of Staxton Hill, on the northern edge of the Yorkshire Wolds, is pub and caravan park located at a place called Spital Ho. This was first mentioned in the reign of the Saxon Monarch King Athelstan who, in AD 937 AD, granted the local lord of the manor a charter giving him the right to found a “Hospitall, for the defense of way-faring people passing that way from Wolves, least they should be devoured.” "

https://members.ancient-origins.net/medieval-legends-meet-21st-century-werewolf-hunters

I've found a list of 10th-century charters by date, but nothing between 937 and 940 (the two dates mentioned re the werewolf) seem to mention Flixton and/or wolves.

Edited to add:

Spital Ho, the alleged site of the refuge from wolves, appears on the 1971 1" to the mile OS map:

Flixton-werewolf-Fortean.jpg


- but oddly not on the older, more detailed 25"/mile map:

Flixton-werewolf-Fortean-01.jpg


maximus otter
 
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Paul_Exeter said:
The Hull Daily Mail from 2021:

"Take a trip to the Wolds on a sunny summer day and you will be enamoured by the gentle rolling hills and stunning valleys.

What you will not be thinking about is the threat of werewolves, vampires and dragons.

But this area of East Yorkshire is a veritable who’s who of supernatural beings and incidents."

https://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/news/history/bermuda-triangle-east-yorkshire-inhabited-5468144

Also some Scarborough rag:

https://issuu.com/yourlocallink/docs/sr_november_2016.compressed/40

But, yes, not a great deal to be found
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Wash your mouth out! Hull is not North Yorkshire - we are incensed by the assumption and I now need to go for a lie down...
 
Paul_Exeter said:
Here;

https://earthworks-m.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-flixton-werewolf.html

Plus old maps I imagine. Still an sparsely populated area:

North Yorkshire Population 2023​


Varbes
https://www.varbes.com › population › north-yorkshir...


North Yorkshire's population density of 77 people per km 2 is 358 people per km 2 lower than England's 435 people per km 2. North Yorkshire is the 23rd County ..
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Having read that report, I have to wonder whether the first reports weren't - well, an ordinary wolf. As the post says, much of North Yorkshire is very rural and there were forests and unassarted lands for a long time. Wolves could well have lived out there, on the periphery of the Wolds and hunted up as far as Flixton. And given the severity of the winters, frozen lakes and starvation, wolves which may not have been generally seen might have come into more populous areas in search of food.
 
Paul_Exeter said:
Here;

https://earthworks-m.blogspot.com/2014/05/the-flixton-werewolf.html

Plus old maps I imagine. Still an sparsely populated area:

North Yorkshire Population 2023​


Varbes
https://www.varbes.com › population › north-yorkshir...


North Yorkshire's population density of 77 people per km 2 is 358 people per km 2 lower than England's 435 people per km 2. North Yorkshire is the 23rd County ..
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Thanks - I was thinking more of an original source, since I don't necessarily trust that because someone has said it on their blog, it is true... Where does this claim originate? Where are these reports drawn from?
 
Flixton, home of the legendary werewolf, is within strolling distance of Star Carr, “…generally regarded as the most important and informative Mesolithic site in Great Britain…”

Some of the most significant finds at Star Carr were 21 red deer skull headdresses, the bone and antlers modified to allow them to be worn by men to simulate the appearance of animals.

cd67f2fc692dc1dd435952c004f396f9.jpg


11,000 years ago, men were disguising themselves as animals in the same area where there have been tales of man-beasts for centuries. Coincidence? You be the judge…

maximus otter
 
SimonBurchell said:
Thanks - I was thinking more of an original source, since I don't necessarily trust that because someone has said it on their blog, it is true... Where does this claim originate? Where are these reports drawn from?
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Yeah, fair point. I think this article better pinpoints the origin:


"Old Stinker, Legendary Beast
At the foot of Staxton Hill, on the northern edge of the Yorkshire Wolds, is pub and caravan park located at a place called Spital Ho. This was first mentioned in the reign of the Saxon Monarch King Athelstan who, in AD 937 AD, granted the local lord of the manor a charter giving him the right to found a “Hospitall, for the defense of way-faring people passing that way from Wolves, least they should be devoured.”"

"After these initial reports of wolf activity in Saxon times, there is an account two centuries later (circa 1150) of a large wolf prowling the area and taking and eating a local shepherd and a young girl, as well as a few farm animals. Although wolf-like in appearance, this creature is described as walking upright and having a particularly long and powerful tail, almost as long as its body, that it used to knock its victims to the floor. It is also at about this time we hear the first reports of the creature’s ferocious red eyes “crimson and darting fire” and foul breath."

https://members.ancient-origins.net/medieval-legends-meet-21st-century-werewolf-hunters
 
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