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Wodewose & The British Bigfoot

Could ancient beliefs and sightings of Herne the Hunter possibly be a type of Bigfoot?
 
Stu - I'll have to look up the case I referred to, just to add some details. I'll post more tonight if poss'.
 
I recall one mediaeval account of a woodwose which seemed more like a BHM then the usual folklore business; something about a large hairy arm seen gathering berries.

Now, it occurs to me that a lot of stories relate to creatures being seen on a Sunday, i.e., implicitly, the witness was being punished for not being in church. Is it not possible that if these creatures had a 'real' existence, they would only approach human settlements when they were more deserted (I'm suggesting a degree of rational cohesion here).

Were you after more 'flesh and blood' accounts, or did the more 'ghostly' ones appeal also? The Graves Park beastie wasn't hairy, but it certainly had all the other characteristics, including the odd whistling cry...
 
Martin Jeffrey said:
Thanks Evil Sprout.

So basically we have sightings in:

Derbyshire
Staffordshire
Notts
Snowdonia
Scotland.

Anymore anybody....?
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Scotland is a rather large area, you know. We even have Shires and everything.:rolleyes:
 
It's a lesser spotted hippy.

You can tell it isn't a garden hippy, because of the lack of stupid hat and tie-dye.
 
It's not just a bloke with a stick. That's a spear. And I thought it had just the right quality of "out of focusness" to give it that authentic "crap photo of what may or may not be something mysterious" effect. :)

I wouldn't be surprised if various mysterious sightings of odd-looking creatures in the woods were actually related to live-roleplayers- people seeing masked, costumed and potentially beweaponed figures from a distance and not having the slightest idea what was going on...
 
There was a bloke at St Pancras the other day with a bleedin' battleaxe of all things sticking out of his luggage and no-one batted an eyelid. Mind you, that photo is definitely a bloke with a stick.

Oo! Oo! I've just thought of another one. The 'hooting tor' incidents from Cornwall, early last century (I think). Little, hairy men dancing at night round a, well, a tor, obviously. There are a few like that, aren't there? Rather reminiscent of fairy lore or neanderthals, don't you think? I'll try and find the actual reference.
 
There was a local report some years back I recall, concerning a semi-human hairy man spotted in nearby woods. Why the observer believed the hairy man was anything other than one of the native inhabitants, who all look like that, was not made clear.
 
Cumbria BHM report

Web cache of the source (which is reproduced below anyway)

Strange Sighting In Wood
A reader's letter to 'The Whitehaven News' - March 5th 1998

Sir - Following your story that you ran in The News on February 19th, 1998, I would like to recount the tale of a sighting made by myself some weeks ago. While walking my dog on the evening of Sunday, January 25th on the road out of Beckermet towards the A595, I passed Nursery Woods. The time was approximately 16.45. It was starting to get dark so my visibility was not that good, but as I walked past the woods I heard the snapping of branches.

Thinking it was a deer or another animal, I stopped to try and see what it was. Looking through the trees I noticed a large creature covered in a sort of ginger brown hair that seemed to be drinking from a pond about 150 metres into the woods. As the lighting was getting bad I was straining to make out what the animal was but as I stopped and stared it appeared to see me, at which point it reared up onto it's hind legs and made off slowly further into the woods. I would estimate it's height when upright to be approximately six feet and six inches and it's weight to be about 14 stone.

This was not a man as it was naked except for it's covering of hair. Also it was not a deer as it made off on it's hind legs.

After the sighting I rushed to my home in Beckermet and told my wife what I had witnessed. Let me assure you, this is not a hoax. I was going to report the incident to the police but my wife persuaded me not to for fear of ridicule. I have lived in Beckermet for seven years and walk past these woods almost every day and have never witnessed anything like it before of since.

Name and address withheld by agreement.


Source - 'The Whitehaven News' 5th March 1998
 
That'll be the one. Never seen any of these things, but we do have a beast that screams at night. It's probably a bird, but it's so loud it's unbelievable.
 
Desperado said:
That'll be the one. Never seen any of these things, but we do have a beast that screams at night. It's probably a bird, but it's so loud it's unbelievable.
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That sounds like the bird who lives upstairs from me. A bit of a beast and definitely a screamer :D
 
BIGFOOT IN THE NORTH EAST OF ENGLAND!!!

Did anyone see the breaking news piece I submitted about the Geordie Bigfoot?

This is something that has hit the news all of a sudden over here in england. It actually was reported back in September but hit the radio on Monday 6th Jan and then was quickly taken up by the local tv (in a very urine extracting manner I may add).

Looking at the description in the original report it could also possibly be our old friend the Mothman, only the witnesses weren't familiar with him so interpreted it as the most familiar odd entity they knew - the Yeti.

Because this is on my doorstep virtually (the wilds of the frozen north east of england) I will be looking into this and I'll keep you all posted.

For the original report look here -

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/lincolns/page25.html

[Emp edit: Due to the nature of the Internet things move on and links die so I'm adding the report in here:

It's Geordie Yeti

Jan 6 2003

By Vince Gledhill


A yeti with glowing eyes is living in a North East park, according to a fisherman's tale.

A report on a website dedicated to hunters of the Yeti and his Big Foot buddy, carries details of three encounters between the half-ape creature and three pals.

They tell how they spend hours in Bolam Lake near Belsay, Northumberland, pike fishing late at night.

But their tranquility was disturbed on one fishing trip by a catch they did not expect to make.

The anonymous writer tells how he was between his friends Neil and Nathan walking on a wooden path back to the car park, just after midnight.

"About halfway along the path I turned around to talk to Nathan. He was further back along the path, picking his bag up off the track. Behind him, standing in the middle of the track, was a dark figure. The light was moonlight and shining through the trees."

The others did not see it at first until he pointed it out to them.

He said it was "a dark figure, looked about 8ft tall, heavy built, its eyes, or what seemed to be its eyes, glowed in the darkness.

"We ran, top speed, all the way back to the car."

His friend Neil also reported seeing the figure in March last year at night on a hill close to the remains of an Iron Age settlement by the park boundary.

He described the creature as dark brown in colour and with huge muscular arms and said that a few weeks later while camping on the hill he was woken at about 1am by a loud thud.

He heard a growling sound and something rummaging in his bait box outside the tent.

Geoff Lincoln, who runs the British Hominid Research website, http://www.lincolns.org.uk, has appealed for anyone else who has come across the Bolam Lake Bigfoot to call him on 07985 518042I or e-mail him on [email protected].

He added that after receiving the report he travelled to the country park to "get a feel for it".

A police spokesman said they have no record of Bigfoot reports at Bolam Country Park.
Click to expand...

Source
 
eh?

Did you try my link?

Or just go to the breaking news bit on the start page and look at Geordie Yeti.
 
Bump! Some posts moved here from 'Bigfoot in America'.

Please note, folks, there are SEVERAL Bigfoot threads (even after much merging!), so please try to use the appropriate one.
 
Hunt is on for Bolam's Beast
Jan 10 2003

By Vince Gledhill , The Evening Chronicle

Yeti hunters are heading to the North East to discover if the Beast of Bolam Lake is real or fake.

Jonathan Downes, director of the Centre for Fortean Zoology, will lead a team of four who will carry out the investigation in the Northumberland country park.

The Chronicle reported on Monday how anglers came across a strange figure in the woods at the end of a late-night outing. They described it as 8ft tall and with glowing eyes.

Since then explanations for what they saw have ranged from Bigfoot to a monk from a nearby Buddhist monastery on a late night stroll in the woods.

Mr Downes said: "I'm very wary about this one. I would like it to be true, but I've a sinking suspicion that it could have been a practical joker in a monkey suit. But my job is to discover the truth, and if it turns out the truth is prosaic and there's no mystery at all, then we'll still have done our job."

The team are bringing specialist equipment to carry out scientific observations in an effort to resolve the mystery.

Mr Downes, based in Exeter, is the author of several books and has travelled the world in search of mysterious creatures.

In 1992 he founded The Centre for Fortean Zoology, with the aim of co-ordinating research into mystery animals, bizarre animal behaviour and the paranormal.

His team for the trek to Bolam Country Park will include Richard Freeman who, in 2000, went to Thailand in search of the Naga, a gigantic snake with a scaly crest on its head.

Last July they were involved in the hunt for the biggest and oldest freshwater fish in England, at Martin Mere, Lancashire, after reports of a mysterious monster attacking swans in the lake of a nature reserve.

With the help of sonar equipment and a couple of sightings, they established it was a species of catfish about 8ft long.

Mr Downes said: "We expect to spend about a week or so in Northumberland, when we hope to speak to some of the eye witnesses."

A report of three encounters with the half-human, half-ape creature were sent to the British Hominid Research website, http://www.lincolns.org.uk, run from Newcastle by Geoff Lincoln.

The report's unnamed author said he was between two friends walking on a wooden path back to the car park, just after midnight when he saw the 8ft figure.
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(From here. )
 
I have lived within one mile of Bolam Lake for the majority of my life and have never heard of, or even rumours of, a BF. The area is about four acres in total, two of which are covered by the lake and another by a car park. This leaves another acre which is patrolled by swans, moorhens and small ducks. There are a couple of small buildings from which birdwatch tours, fungi hunts and if your really desperate, bat spotting (in the dark!) are organized. No BF tours (yet). As far as I know, there are no eight foot tall monks at the monastery at Belsay, and I have it on good authority that they prefer to wear saffron robes rather than monkey suits. Maybe it was an eight foot Lama (or even an eight foot Llama?!).

J McKeith
 
As much as I am a sceptic , I would like to hear any comments about the above article.....


Hunt is on for Bolam's Beast
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posted by Rynner.

Being "Local" (LOfG jokes welcome) I'm extremely interested in this.
Thanks
Jamie
 
More on Beast of Bolam
Includes URL for British Hominid Research website

[Emp edit: Adding in report:

We ain't senn nothing Yeti

Jan 18 2003

By Sara Wallis, The Evening Chronicle


Monster mania is set to sweep a country park when a team of hunters begin their search for Northumberland's own yeti.

Experts in the unknown are arming themselves with infra- red night-sight and high-tec recording equipment in a bid to prove the Belsay Bigfoot exists.

Last week two anglers claimed they had been confronted by a tall hairy creature with glowing eyes in woodland at Bolam Lake on a late-night fishing trip.

Jonathan Downes, head of the Centre for Fortean Zoology in Exeter, has arrived with his team to get to the bottom of the mystery and says their electro-magnetic frequency devices will read changes in temperature and frequency to alert them if a hulking hairy primate is close by.

But Mr Downes, who has spent 10 years hunting for strange unknown creatures, is not convinced that a yeti has been found in the North East.

He said: "Our job is to find out the truth, whatever that is. We're totally impartial.

"We don't have a preconceived idea of what we're looking for.

"Nine times out of 10, sightings turn out to be something quite ordinary, but if we've solved that mystery for future generations I'll be happy.

"I'm absolutely convinced the yeti exists - but not here. I think people would've found it by now.

"People who say they've seen the yeti here are like people who claim Elvis is still alive and working in Sainsbury's."

Team-mate Richard Freeman said: "There's no doubt that there are flesh and blood creatures still undiscovered."

Mr Freeman, who says he was inspired by the 1970s Doctor Who series, is a crypto-zoologist, a specialist in animals that are only known about through myth and folklore, or creatures presumed to be extinct.

He added: "I actually hate apes. They are filthy, vicious, dirty, horrible things. I prefer working with reptiles.

"If the yeti were here it would've been found centuries ago. But there's definitely something here - I think it's something paranormal."

The group does a lot of work with Twilight Worlds, an X-File-style association in South Shields whose volunteers investigate the paranormal.

Its next mission is a journey to West Africa in August to hunt for the Ninka Nanka dragon which is said to have killed several people.

John Fuller, Mr Freeman's assistant, said: "I don't know what to expect, but I've got an open mind.

"We haven't seen anything yet, but you never know what's out there."

The fishermen claimed they fled to their car in terror after encountering a figure about 8ft tall, with muscular arms and eyes that glowed in the dark. One of their friends also reported seeing a figure in March last year at night on a hill close to the remains of an Iron Age settlement by the park boundary.

A few weeks later he said he had heard a loud thud and a growl. You can follow the trail of the yeti hunters at their website www.cfz.org and on the British Hominid Research website www.lincolns.org.uk.
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Source
 
Could they have been born prematurely? I ask this because human fetuses (feti?) have a full coating of fine, animal-like hair which is usually lost a couple of months before birth, but sometimes persists until a few weeks before birth with the result that it is rare but not unheard of for premature but otherwise healthy babies to be born hair covered, but obviously they will lose and not regrow that hair not long after birth.

There are occasional cases (i believe it is a recessive gene) of people born with permanent shaggy hair covering their faces or even whole bodies. In the past such people were often exhibited as freaks, I think there is a modern example of Mexican twins who are in their late teens or 20s and are local celebrities (i think they might have a TV show).
 
Bolam Yeti What is it

The Bolam Yeti has been in the news alot in the north east but what to the rest of the board thing of it.???
 
Its a Yeti!!

I mean they've already named it havent they " Bolam Yeti" they can turn invisible so no one will find it.
 
Saw this on another forum, and thought I'd register and post it in here:-

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
19 JANUARY 2003

"CONTROVERSY SURROUNDING
BRITISH BIGFOOT GROWS"
FROM
NICK REDFERN



A team of full-time "monster hunters" from the Exeter, England-based Centre for Fortean Zoology (named after an early chronicler of all-things-mysterious, Charles Fort) have obtained exciting evidence for the existence of a so-called British Bigfoot. The 4-man team, which is comprised of author and journalist Jonathan Downes, professional zoologist Richard Freeman, Graham Inglis and John Fuller, arrived at Bolam Lake, Northumberland, on Thursday, 16 January to investigate recent reports of a large "ape-man" seen in the area by several, independent witnesses.
In conjunction with the North of England-based Twilight Worlds Paranormal Research Group, Downes and his team have carried out an in-depth investigation of the incidents in question and have uncovered some startling new evidence.
On the evening of Saturday 18 January, Downes and 3 members of the Twilight Worlds Paranormal Research Group joined the ever-growing list of witnesses to the mysterious creature when they briefly saw it, too. Downes, whose monster-hunting quest began as a child in the 1960s, described the "Beast of Bolam Lake" as being around eight feet in height, three feet wide and dark in colour.
"We only saw it for a few seconds then it vanished into the trees," says Downes. "This is the latest in a bizarre series of Big Hairy Man sightings which have confounded zoologists and which have taken place in the UK in the last six months." He adds: "I have been a professional monster hunter for years but the thing I saw has prompted me to completely reevaluate my whole world view."
Thirty-three year old Freeman, who previously worked at Twycross Zoo, states: "This is undoubtedly the most important Fortean-zoological incident in the past half century." The events at Bolam Lake are part of a larger, nationwide spate of similar reports that has included encounters at Cannock Chase, Staffordshire; Sussex; Sherwood Forest of Robin Hood fame; Cumbria; and Longridge Fell, Lancashire - a place renowned for "monster" sightings.
"Hair samples" acquired by the team at the site of the mysterious encounter are to be examined by specialists in Scotland, England, the USA and Denmark.
Last year, the Centre for Fortean Zoology attracted major media coverage when they solved the mystery of "The Monster of the Mere." Numerous people had reported sightings of a strange creature within Martin Mere, Lancashire, England, that Downes and his team were able to identify as a large catfish.
NOTE TO EDITORS:
* The Centre for Fortean Zoology was founded in 1992 and is now an officially registered non-profit-making trust.
* The Twilight Worlds Paranormal Research Group was formed by Mike Hallowell, a respected author and journalist based in the North of England.
* In 2002, Colonel John Blashford-Snell, OBE, became the honorary life president of the CFZ.
* The CFZ has carried out monster-hunting expeditions in Mexico; Puerto Rico; the USA; the UK; and Thailand, and the results of their investigations have appeared on British television's Channel 4 and on the Discovery Channel.
* During 2002, in addition to solving the mystery of "The Monster of the Mere," the CFZ assisted Cleveland Police in an investigation of a spate of animal mutilations in the area.
* For more details of these new developments on "The Beast of Bolam Lake," contact (in the UK) Jonathan Downes on 079 019 35443 or at [email protected]; or (in America) Nick Redfern on 409 729 2774 or at [email protected]. The CFZ can also be contacted at its website: http://www.cfz.org.uk
 
the bolam yeti could be me

...well perhaps the one seen by the czf team on saturday night - I went up there by myself to check it out and arrive when it was dark, there is a two mile walk frm the nearest bus stop and everytime a car went past (which wasn't often) I had to pretty much dive out of the way.

I must have got to the lake about 10 or 15 minutes after the guys left and probably past them on the road. I was wearing a long black woollen coat, black jeans and I am not a skinny bloke by all accounts.

This doesn't account for the previous sightings tho. And one more thing - just before I arrived I passed a wood just around the corner from the lake and as I was walking past I heard loud, fast footsteps as if something was running through the woods. I froze and then finally whipped out my nightsight but couldn't see anything. Then a car went past. Maybe this was the time of the sighting and what I heard was it running away?
 
The Bolam yeti is.... me!

.well perhaps the one seen by the czf team on saturday night - I went up there by myself to check it out and arrive when it was dark, there is a two mile walk frm the nearest bus stop and everytime a car went past (which wasn't often) I had to pretty much dive out of the way.

I must have got to the lake about 10 or 15 minutes after the guys left and probably past them on the road. I was wearing a long black woollen coat, black jeans and I am not a skinny bloke by all accounts.

This doesn't account for the previous sightings tho. And one more thing - just before I arrived I passed a wood just around the corner from the lake and as I was walking past I heard loud, fast footsteps as if something was running through the woods. I froze and then finally whipped out my nightsight but couldn't see anything. Then a car went past. Maybe this was the time of the sighting and what I heard was it running away?

But as it goes I think the many many aincent sites around the area go a long way to explain this phenomena - I believe it's a thought form, a cloaked entity.

When I was up there at the night time I was by the side of the lake taking pics, in the total darkness but I know no fear (yeah right), and I suddenly heard something that sounded like a man's voice right next to me or at least about 10-20 yards away. I at once thought it was a night fisherman I had disturbed or maybe a drunken old tramp so I beat a hasty retreat. The next day when I saw how many swans lived on the lake I put it down to these creatures. But something was nagging at me. The voice sounded weird, kind of archaic, speaking in an accent akin to welsh. Is this the way the natives spoke back in the days they inhabited those iron age settlements?

And just one last thought = did you know Bolam is only about 15 miles away frm Hexham? The site of the Hexham Heads?
 
A wood full of eager scientists, UFOlogists, zoologists, cryptozoologists and Forteans. What could it all mean?

A Midwinter night's romp. A strange, dark, hairy figure. Did it have donkey ears? Possible cases of mistaken identity abound. :D
 
.....yeti hunters.....

ufonerd said:
I was there on saturday it was probaly us chasing though the woods ( chasing shadows) that you heard.
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You weren't hanging around the far side of the lake (away from the road) with a flashlight and some kind of trolley or cart? With a van parked on the road?

However it was made a swift getaway - they came pelting out of the woods, the sound of the trolley rolling behind them sounded like thunder!

Maybe next time we should all make a joint concerted effort? Instead of being all separate and incomunicado? Plus we could bring some booze and a picnic and have a party! :blah:
 
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