STRANGE SIGHTING ON DARTMOOR

Dear Mr Downes

I thought an incident that occurred several years ago on the edge of Dartmoor may be of some interest to you. I have never really been able to make much sense of it but thought you may be interested.

I’m writing this account around 12 years after it occurred however I can remember it quite clearly, I think it was around 1998 – 1999, I was staying at the Haldon Lodge caravan site near Kenford in Devon.

I spent a great deal of time in the Haldon hills especially around the Bird of Prey watching point and the surrounding pine woods. On one occasion while alone I explored a really dense area of pine trees, literally moving on hands and knees to get through the area. I was heading for a clearing on the hill side that was visible from the caravan park. After maybe half an hour or more I came across a huge clearing surrounded by trees. It was in this area that I encountered something that I could not really work out.

Shortly after emerging from the tree line I immediately spotted what looked like a large hairy shape sitting on a tree stump. At first I thought it looked like a man in a fur coat however it was a blistering hot day. What ever it was I believe I was seeing it from behind. I was a little on edge but decided to move a little closer. On doing so I noticed what looked like the back of a head although only the top, again this appeared to be hairy and connected to the main body and I noted that its colour was a brown/ grey colour. I could not tell if it was fur or hair but could now get a good gage of its size. What ever it was it was big, easily the size of a very large man and very wide. It was at this point that I took one step closer and what I presumed was the back of the head moved down and slightly to the side as if moving around. It was at this point I had had enough and moved back towards the trees what ever it was it had now changed position and appeared to be looking in my direction. Once in the trees I ran as quick as could towards the road.

As I have noted the clearing was really hard to get to, took a great deal of time to reach and surrounded by dense trees on all sides so I was at a loss as to what this was, I can’t really see this as a man in a costume as this was not an area people visit and again it was vey hot.

I re visited the area several years latter and located the tree stump in question. It was apparently clear that what ever it was was huge. When working out the distance between where I was standing and the size of the stump, it was Cleary very big, bigger than an average sized male.

Do you no if there have been any other or similar sightings in the area or parts of Devon if so I would be interested to hear of them?

Kind regards

Ben