MUIRHEAD'S MYSTERIES: Wildcats in Cheshire

I have recently uncovered a number of mystery-cat stories from Cheshire, which is the county I live in. Whilst looking through some newspaper cuttings in the Macclesfield Library I found this cutting, which shows a man sitting at a desk (his name is Brian Beeken; unfortunately I haven`t been able to track him down) sitting next to a display with a sign saying: `Wildboarclough Outdoor Education Centre`. The article came from the now defunct Wilmslow Advertiser of March 11th 1976. It appears to show, if you look closely in the top right-hand corner, two wild-cat skins of unknown provenance.

I was told by a local Womens Institute member of a black cat in a cage being released near Wildboarclough about 25 years ago. Also, only today (June 20th) I was told of a probable lynx hunting rabbits in Tegg`s Nose, a wild area of rocky outcrops and valleys just outside Macclesfield. This was also around 1987. The animal had the tufted ears of a lynx.

In the early 1990s a couple of large feral cats were reported in Bosley Woods near Macclesfield in E. Cheshire by an acquaintance. They were the size of foxes.

I contacted Carl Marshall because I wanted to know about ageing and wild cat skins and he told me: “Insects, such as moths and also damp are devastating to the preserved fur on a pelt - but in the absence of these, a dried out skin just hung up (even without a case) and left alone on a wall indoors could last a thousand years, maybe more as it is effectively mummified. But it must remain dry.

"Sunlight will bleach out colours and distort patterns, but it wont really effect the actual structure of the hairs themselves.” (1)

But this information, although interesting, didn`t answer my question as to where the skins had come from and when so I wrote to the Macclesfield Express asking readers if they knew of any stories of wild cats near Wildboarclough, and in mid-May my letter was published (see the accompanying image) and it won the star letter of the week, winning me £10, which I spent on a decent lunch, for once! But I received no news from that line of enquiry.

So I went to the County Archives in Chester. I found in a log called the “Game and Fishing Book” a mention of one cat shot on November 13th 1847 by a game keeper at Tabley, on the Leicester-Warren family estate. I also found a cutting from the Cheshire Observer dated November 18th 1882 concerning a meeting of the Neston and District Literary Society at which the Rev J. Towert gave a talk on “ Edward the Naturalist” who “once emerged bleeding and torn from a struggle with a wild cat, but delighted with the capture of a fine specimen, which only succumbed on receiving a large dose of chloroform.” Neston is in the far west of Cheshire on that part of the Wirral that lies within Cheshire.

T.A. Coward in his `Invertebrate Fauna of Cheshire and Liverpool Bay” vol 1 1910 includes a wild cat trapped some years before 1883 as mentioned by “the late J.F. Robinson “ (Manchester City News 3/11/1883) in Delamere Forest. (Although Coward doubted this was a bona fide wild cat.) The article said:

THE WILD CAT IN THE NORTHERN COUNTIES


Is the Wild Cat still to be found in the northern counties? I ask this question merely to elicit information, because many domestic cats , being poachers from natural instinct, often become wild, especially in districts where game is abundant. These by game keepers are called wild cats. I nave seen many domestic animals nailed behind the barn-door, and denounced as veritable wild cats, whereas nothing could be more erroneous. The last true wild cat, and I believe the only one I have handled, I set up for the late Mr John Hayes. It was caught in a trap, somewhere in the neighbourhood of Oakmere [a village next to Delamere-R] It had a lean and lanky, as well as a powerful and ferocious appearance, with a coat not unlike a tabby cat. The tail was tufted at the end like a fox`s brush, with dark hairs, and was considerably shorter than the tame species. The latter tapers to a point. Still I would not found any specific character solely upon the tail, for these vary so much, as is well known, in crosses with the Manx cat…I doubt very much if the tame animal is identical with the wild cat, though I have heard this asserted frequently by those who never saw a wild cat. It may possibly still be in existence in some of the wild portions of the northern counties, but some intelligent gamekeepers declare it is now extinct in one of its last shelters, Delamere Forest JAMES F. ROBINSON. (2)

1. E-mail from Carl Marshall to Richard Muirhead April 27th 2012
2. Manchester City News November 3rd 1883

SEPARATED AT BIRTH

Look at this latest picture of a mystery cat from Cannock Chase






















Is it just me, or does it look just like CFZ moggy Helios7?

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

NICK REDFERN: Britain’s Paranormal Big Cats

For years, people all across the British Isles have been reporting sightings of large, exotic cats of a type that most certainly should not be prowling around the nation’s countryside, and which have become known as “Alien Big Cats,” or ABC’s. While I am personally convinced that the overwhelming majority of these curious cats are wholly flesh-and-blood animals, there are, a few incidents that, for some people who have been exposed to the controversy, seem to suggest far stranger points of origin for at least some of the cats in question. Three such cases from my files all originate within the dense woods of an area of central England called the Cannock Chase.

Read on..

GAVIN LLOYD WILSON: The Cardigan Cardigan

Hi Jon

On the local news last Wednesday there was an item about how the people of the town of Cardigan in Ceredigion had got together to knit a giant cardigan in honour of the town's 900th Anniversary. As I was in Cardigan the next day I popped into the Guild Hall to have a look for myself.

The the whole town and outlying countryside is depicted on the body of the garment as you can see on my attached photos.

What I was interested in, however, was the four-legged creature picked out in black wool on the left arm. It could have been a cow, but I thought it would be more than likely that someone would illustrate a cow as being black and white. I asked one of the women who had been involved in the making of the cardigan and she told me it was supposed to be a big cat. "A leopard?" I asked, and she replied "Yes."

Such is the fame of our local ABCs that one made its way onto the Cardigan cardigan.

I was quite impressed that this phenomenon had caught the local imagination and was considered important enough to be included.

As well as there having been panther sightings in these parts, I personally have spoken to someone who told me of a creature he had seen that fitted the description of a lynx, and he also showed me where he'd seen it just outside the town of Crymych. A similar creature was described in the recent sightings in Pembrokeshire at the end of last year. I'm going to try to keep abreast of the local big cat news as and when I hear of it.

Gavin

MIKE HALLOWELL: More Cleadon Conundra

In some parts of our globe there is a mooted connection between certain cryptids and the UFO phenomenon. Sightings of Bigfoot, for example, are occasionally accompanied by reports of weird lights in the sky and the odd silvery-coloured disc or two. Likewise, in Puerto Rico those who espy the Chupacabras may also be privileged to spot glowing orbs or metallic-looking spheres hovering above in the ether.

In my last blog I announced that Darren W. Ritson and I have been planning a trip to Cleadon Hills in South Tyneside, which is now famous (or perhaps infamous) for two cryptids; a strange felid known as the Cleadon Big Cat and an even stranger hairy hominid called the Beast. Cleadon Hills has also had its fair share of UFO sightings, although what connection they have, if any, to the afore-mentioned cryptids is difficult to determine. "The Hills", as they are known locally, were even the location of a mysterious "Black Helicopter" incident some years ago, which I had the privilege of covering in a newspaper column.

Back in the 1990s I scripted a documentary called Anatomy of a Haunting, which was produced by filmmaker Gary Wilkinson and his company Northeastern Films. Jon and Richard kindly travelled to the Frozen North to take part, and provided an excellent (if somewhat eerie) introduction to the Fortean phenomena at Marsden Bay. Marsden Bay, for the uninitiated, is only a hop, skip and jump away from Cleadon. During the intro, Mssrs. Downes and Freeman spoke about the existence of "window areas", in which all sorts of diverse phenomena can, and usually do, occur. The thought struck me that Cleadon Hills may be just such a window area. Perhaps, then, UFO sightings in the area might be connected in some way to the appearance of the afore-mentioned cryptids or at least, their existence in the same spot may not be entirely coincidental. It was a long shot, but who knows?

In preparation for our trip Darren and I reviewed some of the photographs we'd taken on previous visits. One caught my attention in particular, not because of the scene, but simply because I'd forgotten to re-size the image previously. I decided on a whim to re-size it there and then and make it "book ready" should I want to use it in the future.

The picture was of the ruins of the old mill house at Cleadon – allegedly the home of the ghost of a young woman in a red dress who had killed herself when her father insisted she terminate her relationship with a young local lad. I'd taken the picture on Sunday 26 March, 2000, which I noticed, oddly, was almost ten years to the day before Darren and I's next trip.

I double-clicked on the image and re-sized it. I then tweaked around with the lighting and contrast. It was then that I noticed what looked like a small blemish in the top right-hand (facing) corner. As I zoomed in on the anomaly I was struck quite forcibly by its odd appearance. It certainly wasn't a bird or a plane, and looked for all the world like an elongated dumbbell hovering vertically in the sky. Curious, I decided to hunt out the original picture and take a look. Sod's Law, I didn't have it, having destroyed the original pic after copying it electronically. However, on another picture taken at the same time the strange object can still be seen, although it is much further away and barely visible.

To be honest, I haven't a clue what it is, but I do know that I'm not the first person to capture airborne anomalies with their camera upon Cleadon Hills. I checked to see whether there had been any UFO sightings over the area the last time either the Beast or the Cleadon Big Cat was seen, and was gratified to find that a number of strange lights had been observed in the sky over adjacent Sunderland.

Personally, I reckon that the Beast of Cleadon Hills was taking his Big Cat for a walk before settling down in front of the telly, and that the lights were the souls of his ancestors, who according to my spirit guide include Elvis and Doris Stokes.

Unless any CFZ acolytes have a better theory, of course, which you'd better not have coz I know where you live….

ABC: Yorkshire Dales large cat pawprint photographed

Lancashire Telegraph:

The hunt for a large wild cat thought to be prowling the Yorkshire Dales has been bolstered following a discovery by an East Lancashire walker.

Ongoing speculation that a fearsome feline, possibly a cougar or puma, is stalking the picturesque landscape has been strengthened after pictures of a creature’s tracks were taken..

More on this story

MAX BLAKE: Natural England Dossier

First, a quick thanks to Dave Baldwin for highlighting this on Facebook.

The Telegraph reported on 6th March on a dossier released by Natural England (the public body responsible for protecting and improving England’s natural environment), which contained reports of over 100 exotic animals in England. The reports are from 2001 to 2007 and cover pretty much the whole of England. By far the most commonly reported exotics were Alien Big Cats, with wild boar a distant second. Some of my favourite species sighted are capybaras and racoon dogs in Reading, a coatimundi in Cumbria, a prairie dog in Buckinghamshire and a walleroo in Cornwall.

What amazes me is how few reports there are! Reports of both wild boar and ABCs seem to be miniscule in number compared to the number of sightings (and trace marks) that I am aware of. I’m sure that Neil Arnold’s book Mystery Animals of the British Isles: Kent has more reports of ABCs just in Kent than Natural England have had reported across the whole of England! There has to be some link in the chain missing between the person who has evidence for an animal and the governmental body in place to collect the reports. Someone with a better knowledge of the police force and government policy would know more than me about if the police have to report sightings reported to them to Natural England, or if Natural England only collects reports from the public if they contact Natural England specifically.

Anyway, you can read the whole dossier here, as well as the Telegraph’s coverage:

http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/Images/exoticsstatssummary_tcm6-4154.pdf

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/7384536/Britains-big-cat-X-files-revealed.html

LINDSAY SENT THIS ALONG...

Lindsay Selby sent us this cutting which shows the extent of some 2007 Big Cat sightings in Co Durham. 'It might make a blog.' she writes. Yes, well I think it might. In fact, it has.

What is more disturbing is that she has not been well, and has to go to hospital for tests next week. Poor dear. You are in our thoughts and prayers...

MIKE HALLOWELL: Cleadon BHM

Greetings earthlings, or whatever. Sorry about the delay in getting this blog completed, but this narcolepsy thing has slowed my work rate down considerably. Still, I've been feeling pretty good this morning and decided to get cracking.

In August 2001 I penned an article for Animals & Men about a mystery big cat sighting in Cleadon Village, which is only a couple of miles from where I live. The case caused an absolute sensation in the local press but for some reason was never to my knowledge picked up by specialist magazines dealing with cryptozoology and other weird stuff – except for Animals & Men, that is. To be honest, given the frequency of the sightings and the multiplicity of witnesses, the fact that no one outside of the Borough of South Tyneside seemed even remotely interested in the Cleadon Big Cat baffled me even more than the critter itself did.

The Cleadon Big Cat was first spotted on January 11th 1999 and continued to make unscheduled appearances for several weeks. I wrote the entire story up in my book Mystery Animals of the British Isles: Northumberland & Tyneside (CFZ Press, 2008) and actively sought out the creature on a number of occasions. Eventually, like most out-of-place cryptids, it simply disappeared and has never reappeared since. And there the story ended, or so I thought. However, over a decade after the Cleadon Big Cat first strutted onto the cryptozoological stage, something has happened to resurrect it. Or maybe not, as it's all a bit confusing.

Several days ago I visited the Marsden Grotto pub in nearby South Shields – which I've also written extensively about (The House That Jack Built, Amberley Publishing, 2008) – and was accompanied by several researchers from Northumberland. Two of them happened to be John and Kelly Triplow, who have singularly impressed me by their professional approach to preternatural research. John told me about a website that contained an intriguing BHM story, not unlike that of the infamous Beast of Bolam Lake, which I actively investigated with a CFZ team in early 2003. What puzzled John – and it certainly puzzled me – was that this BHM sighting allegedly occurred in Cleadon Village in that very same year.

Let me explain why I was so baffled. The Borough of South Tyneside is the smallest Metropolitan Borough in the UK. It consists of six towns and villages, a few farms and…well that's about it actually. It also happens to be one of the hottest spots around for paranormal research, and I've written a good few books, articles and columns dealing with the wacky stuff that seems to happen here more than anywhere else I know. South Tyneside is Spook Central, the Grand Central Station of UFOs and the King's Cross of Weirdness. But it is incredibly small nonetheless, and nothing – and I mean nothing – of paranormal provenance escapes my notice if it occurs within this petite but perfectly formed landscape of Geordie culture. How, then, did the presence of a BHM almost literally on my own doorstep slip past me?

The website drawn to my attention by John is http://www.blogger.com/www.ufoinfo.com and the BHM report in question was posted there on http://www.blogger.com/www.ufoinfo.com/humanoid/humanoid2003.shtml

According to the website, the unnamed witness stumbled upon a large, bipedal animal. As the sighting occurred at night-time it was impossible for the witness to give a detailed description of the creature, although they did believe that it was covered in thick fur.

The witness was apparently 50 yards or so away from the creature, which they spotted walking adjacent to a nearby line of trees. When the creature saw the witness it became startled and ran into the trees and disappeared. The only other detail in the account was that the first witness saw a second person in the vicinity who was apparently walking a dog.

Firstly, it needs to be pointed out that there is nothing in this report that is inconsistent with the topography of Cleadon Village. There are numerous fields lined with trees that could tentatively serve as the true location of the sighting. However, it seemed more than a little odd to me that this BHM sighting should occur in the same village that had only a short while previously been the setting for the infamous Cleadon Big Cat incident. Two spectacular cryptids in the one village, only a few short years apart? It also seemed odd that the Cleadon BHM should have made its first appearance only months after the Bolam Lake story broke the news. Both stories had a common denominator, and it was I. I'd written both accounts up in my WraithScape column in The Shields Gazette. Further, I'd actively investigated both encounters and lived only a hop, skip and jump away from Cleadon. Was it possible that the two stories had somehow become confused?

My suspicions were further fuelled by the presence of someone walking a dog when the Cleadon BHM was allegedly seen. During my investigation into the Cleadon Big Cat case, the press (The Shields Gazette, January 14, 1999) reported that a woman who had been walking her huge Burmese mountain dog on Cleadon Hills believed that she – or rather her pet – may have been mistaken for the big cat. I was subsequently able to discount this, but the fact that both the Cleadon Big Cat story and the account of the Cleadon BHM included a dog-walker on Cleadon Hills at the time of each sighting again made me wonder if the two stories had been melded together.

And there was another similarity. One of the witnesses in the Cleadon Big Cat case claimed that he'd seen the animal running past his hedge, approximately fifty feet away. If one substitutes the words 'tree line' for 'hedge' and 'fifty yards' for 'fifty feet', the two accounts are unnervingly similar. Nevertheless, if there was even the remotest possibility that the two accounts were different and that the BHM report was essentially genuine, then I knew I'd have to look into it further. I promptly penned an e-mail to the UFOINFO site and asked them if they could provide me with the source of the original story. I haven't had a reply as yet, but as soon as I do I'll keep CFZ acolytes informed.

Until I heard from UFOINFO, I decided to work on the presumption that the story was genuine and investigate it anyway. My first task was to track down any potential witnesses, and so I decided to write up the story in my WraithScape column. The Shields Gazette is one of two provincial papers sold in Cleadon Village, and I knew that if there were any people out there who had witnessed a huge biped stomping around the vicinity then I'd sharp find out about it. My column is due to appear on Thursday 17th December, and if I get a positive result you'll be the first to know.

Meanwhile, if anyone reading this blog knows about this story or has read it elsewhere, please get in touch. Anyway, I must dash – I've a bus to catch to Cleadon Village where a hot date with a hirsute biped awaits me….

PAUL HARESNAPE: Weird Winkleigh 3

A pair of Firedrake dragons, Top Secret Black military aircraft, JFK’s brother, frequent UFO sightings (including a dramatic Close Encounter on a former RAF airfield), crop circles, alien big cats, witchcraft, spectral black dogs, a pub haunted by two ghosts, the discovery of a strange tunnel...Winkleigh in North Devon, England, is an intriguingly Fortean place!

In this, our third and final foray into weird Winkleigh, we lift the lid on a variety of Fortean goings-on that all add weight to my belief that the village is a diverse and active ‘window’ for Fortean activity.

The Kings Arms public house in Winkleigh was built as a coaching inn to serve travellers on the ancient turnpike route between the cities of Exeter and Plymouth. Today it is one of two thriving pubs in the village and still retains its traditional thatched roof as well as, it would seem, two of its former residents:

‘"George been playing up lately?'' asks the chap in the tweed cap. ''Nah, but Cecilia was going some the other week,'' says his drinking companion.’ [A]

Known the landlords and locals as George and Cecelia, these two ghosts seem rather keen to remind staff and customers alike of their presence. George it seems is rather adverse to change in what must have been his former business or local and will register his displeasure by dropping breakables such as crockery and bottles in slow motion [!]. Cecelia is a mischievous little girl who apparently likes to hang on the aprons of waiting staff and knock over pots and pans to gain attention. [B]

But the intrigue doesn’t stop with George and Cecilia. One of the pub’s dining rooms, sited in what was formerly a courtyard, incorporates a glass-capped, presumably spring-fed well. Or so people thought until a team from the local Cave & Mine Exploration Group decided in 2002 to undertake a full survey of the ancient feature. They successfully drained what was found to be a 30-foot deep stone-lined shaft and were astonished to discover two 5-foot high tunnels, one leading towards the North West and the other in the direction of the church.

Silver and even gold deposits have been found elsewhere in Devon and it has thus been theorised that some enterprising villagers were engaged in surreptitiously mining for such precious - but highly taxable - metals! [C] However, I cannot help but think that as Winkleigh is home to a pair of legendary dragons, and, given the association between dragons and vast hordes of treasure - mightn’t they have been tunnelling for a rather different reason?

I grew up in the village of Witheridge, about 10 miles to the East of Winkleigh. It was whilst at primary school in the late 70s that I first heard of the ‘alien’ big cats the local farmers were sighting on Knowstone and Witheridge moors (both a few miles to the NE, towards Exmoor). The creatures were variously described as puma, lynx and leopard-like by rural folk who certainly knew their foxes from their badgers (!). A large number of sheep were being killed and the farming community had taken it upon themselves to track down - and no doubt eradicate - the elusive creatures. However, the killings continued and by 1983 the story was picked up by the press, who would dub these far-ranging cats ‘The Beast(s) of Exmoor.’

It was at this time that a resident of our village had a close encounter with a large puma-like cat whilst driving the school minibus. This sighting made headlines in the local and regional press:

‘I could have touched it...It came out of the woods in front of me. It had a long tail, a puma-like head, pricked ears and a grey-body’. [D]

As Mrs Yendell had been my next door neighbour for a number of years I can at least vouch for her integrity!

The Government of the day drafted in Devon-based Royal Marines; however, not only did the creatures avoid capture but sightings were being reported of large cats of varying descriptions the length and breadth of Britain. In the years since, there have been literally thousands of big cat sightings in Britain, with Devon consistently at or near the top of the sightings table, although like all Forteana, they have proven to be rather camera shy.

The authorities continued to deny the existence of these big cats right up until January of this year when - under the Freedom of Information Act - The Forestry Commission admitted that their own rangers had, on two separate occasions, watched big cats through night-viewing equipment whilst undertaking deer population surveys in the Forest of Dean, Gloucester, England. [E]

Moving closer to home, the North Devon Journal reported on 15th January 1999 that:

‘Newquay Zoo managing director and big cat expert Mike Thomas said a puma, with a territory of up to 40 miles and no den, would survive "brilliantly" in North Devon because of its landscape - a mixture of rocky, wooded and open spaces. "The climate is perfect for them," he said. "Their main diet would be smaller prey, such as mice, voles, rabbits and birds. There have also been some reports of cats attacking lambs." He said this sighting could be a second, third or even fourth generation puma which would have been born into the North Devon climate.’

No surprise, then, that there have been many big cat sightings in the countryside around Winkleigh over the years. Too numerous to list here, I would recommend the excellent website http://www.bigcatsinbritain.org/ and an ordnance survey map of the area to those wishing to learn more.

Local legend has it that a spectral black dog haunts the A3072 between Copplestone and North Tawton, to the south of Winkleigh and an area of former Roman occupation. This spectral beast has also been associated with the village of Morchard Bishop to the East of Copplestone [F] Details are elusive and it is a story that I personally would like to investigate further.
Finally, please forgive me for including this final Fortean legend as it belongs to the village of Colebrook, some 10 miles to the SE of Winkleigh. However, it is to my mind the most intriguing and elusive paranormal tale to come out of these parts. In the steep-sided lanes around Colebrook a phantom monkey is said to lurk. This creature apparently has red fur and attacks people! [G] Again, details are elusive but anyone who has read Man-Monkey by Nick Redfern will surely see an eerie parallel here....

Well, I hope you have enjoyed our third and final visit to weird Winkleigh. Personally, I can’t wait for the warmer weather so that I can pack up my tent and spend a long weekend at Cadbury Hill on the look-out for dragons, UFOs et al. If any readers of this blog have any further information on the phenomena we have covered, or know of any other weird happenings in the general area of Mid/North Devon, I would be delighted to hear from them: paulharesnape@yahoo.co.uk


[A] The Daily Telegraph: 14th March 2008
[B] http://www.jackiefreemanphotography.com/
[C] Ibid.
[D] Express & Echo: 29th March 1985
[E] The Daily Telegraph: 7th January 2009
[F] Weird Devon. Downes, Freeman, Inglis. Bossiney Books.
[G] Ibid.

BEAST OF OSSETT

Steve Jones writes: "I have attached a scan of the article on the latest ABC sighting from Wakefield . It's locally known as "The beast of Ossett". I was informed back in 2000 that some of that year's sightings were actually a cut-out being used by a group of hoaxers."

Richard Thomas is a new member of the CFZ family. He is a mate of Richard Freeman, and he asked whether we would be interested in the following article about strange mystery cats in Wales:

Anyone who listened to that interview will know that my younger sister (with a friend) actually had an ABC sighting in the Welsh countryside. It happened a couple of years ago. Basically, she saw what she said looked like a puma or other large black cat, and, for anyone who thinks this must have been a little tomcat seen from far away, the animal was carrying a very large, dead sheep in its mouth.

Read on: http://www.binnallofamerica.com:80/rr9.12.8.html

Snow leopard in Poland...

This is fairly peculiar. Polish TV news claiming that a snow leopard is roaming the country wantonly killing pigs, and that the spokesman from the zoo claims that human lives may be at risk.

There are no known records of snow leopards attacking people (of which we are aware) and they are secretive hunters rather than the blatant behaviour described in the film...

"DOC" SHIELS SENT THIS CLIPPING...

There were bits in here that amused him greatly...

RICHARD FREEMAN: Hibagon - ‘and the nature of monkey was irrepressible’

This weird Japanese ‘mini-yeti’ is described as an upright walking ape-like beast. It has been reported from the forests around Mount Hiba in Hiroshima prefecture.

In the Autunm of 1972, Reiko Harada and her son encountered a Hibagon whilst walking home near Hiwa. It stood at the roadside and raised its hands as if signalling her to stop. Both mother and son ran home terrified. A search later revealed crushed shrubs and a stench like a rotting cadava.

Yokio Sazawa was digging wild sweet potatoes in the foothills of Mount Hiba when he encountered the beast.

“All of a sudden, this thing stood before me. It was about five feet tall with a face like an inverted triangle, covered with bristles. Having a snub nose, and large, deep, glaring eyes.”

Mr Sazawa was certain that what he had seen was not a monkey.

Albert Kubo was spreading fertilizer on his rice fields when he saw a figuer standing on a path. It seemed to be holding a paper bag. Not knowing who it was Mr Kubo approached it.

“He seemed to be lost in thought or puzzled…I was just about to say something when I realized it was the Hibagon. I was petrified, but the stench was what really got to me. He must have bathed in a septic tank and dried off with cow dung. I mearly passed out. Luckily enough, though, I managed to turn and run before it realized I was there. I ran five miles straight home without ever looking back over my shoulder.”

A nervous populace began to attribute livestock and even human disappearances on the creature even though it never behaved in an aggressive manner.

Creatures much like Hibagon feature in many Japanese legends. One such is the Hi-Hi, an ape like yokai that was covered in long silver hair that could turn back the blows of a sword. Those who drank its blood were said to be able to see demons usually invisible to the human eye. It may be the same species as Hibagon, but with mystic attributes grafted onto it. Some say the Hi-Hi was a monkey that rolled in turpentine to make its pelt bullet proof. Just how turpentine can turn back musket shots is unclear!

In Minamiaizu District, Fukushima Prefecture, the people were disturbed by a hideous screeching each night. A brave man called Teppōuchi set out to solve the mystery. He saw something white at the top of a tree and tried to shoot it. All the bullets turned back, except the last that struck the beast in the eye. Next morning he found a huge, dead Hi-Hi with white hair. It had plastered itself in pine sap then rolled in the riverbed sand.

Natives in Canada say that the sasquatch will smear pine sap upon its hide and roll in sand to give itself a hard coat against the winter frost. This led to the folk belief that it had a hide of stone. Could the same thing be happening here?

In his 1910 book ‘Tôno Monogatari’ (translated in 1975 as‘The Legends of Tono’) folklorist Kunio Yanagita records a belief in Iwate Prefecture that old monkeys use pine resin and sand to make their fur so hard that even bullets cannot penetrate it!

In Hamamatsu City, Shizuoka Prefecture a girl was sacrificed once a year to a Hi-Hi. The god of Mitsuke sent a dog called Shippeitaro to kill the beast. After it was dead, the Hi-Hi’s body was enshrined on Kannon Mountain near the village of Kuma.

Dogs and Hi-Hi seem to be enemies. Another story that took place in Tokushima Prefecture involved a Hi-Hi that devoured a hunter. The man’s dog rushed back home to alert the hunter’s brother. He followed the dog back to the Hi-Hi. The dog attacked the beast and the hunter managed to shoot it. But the dog was also killed in the fight. The gravesite of the hunter and his dog remain.

A soldier named Daijirō was fleeing from Sendai capital city of Miyagi Prefecture with his family. His brother and his family were following behind Daijirō when a Hi-Hi killed his brother’s daughter. Daijirō and his brother killed the beast. The monster and the weapons used to kill it were supposedly buried in the grounds of a primary school.

Another Hi-Hi was buried in land were now a modern primary school stands. It was meant to have been killed in Sannai Village, Hiraka District, Akita Prefecture. As far as I am aware, no excavations have been undertaken. Perhaps the remains of some kind of unknown primate lie there to this day.

Another weird monster ape from Japanese legend is the Yama-chichi. This creature is a nocturnal ape that inhales people's breath while they are sleeping and pounds their chest until they are dead. However, if it happens to rouse its victim's companion, then the victim will be blessed with long life. It is said that many of them once dwelt in Michinoku Province.

In 1665, the second year of the Meireki era, Tokuemon,who served under Mihayashi Banyaku of the Kiriguchi house, was on patrol in the mountain forest when he met the Yama-chichi. He slew it with a bayonet.

A hunter named Nagasōmura no Ennemon met a Yama-chichi in the mountains of Kochi Prefecture. It said that it was going to eat him, but the hunter persuaded it to watch him dance first. He did such a silly dance that the monster roared with laughter. The hunter took this opportunity and shot it in its gaping mouth.

What was Hibagon and its kin? The Japanese macaque (Macaca fuscata), or snow monkey is found throughout the wilder, mountainous areas of Japan. But the macaque is a quadruped and reaches a size less than half that of Hibagon.

Another idea is that Hibagon was an escaped pet chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). Exotic pets are popular in Japan and strange as it may seem a number of these savage and dangerous apes are kept. Chimps can walk on their hind legs for a while but they are knuckle walkers by nature. This clashes with the description of Hibagon as a bipedal creature. It is likely that an escaped chimp would have also attacked humans.

Hibagon is more like other short, upright hominids or pongids reported elsewhere in the world. On mainland Asia there are supposedly three types of yeti. The giant Dzu-Teh, possibly a surviving form of the giant Pleistocene ape (Gigantopithecus blacki) the man sized Mi-Teh, perhaps a mainland species of orang-utan and the smaller Teh-lma. This last kind is four to five feet tall. In Malaya the Batutut is also a small upright walking primate. It is said to be fond of stealing shiny objects from human camps. On the island of Sumatra the orang-pendek or ‘short man’ is well known. It is a five foot tall muscular bipedal ape of great strength. It has black or honey coloured hair and a long mane that hangs down from its head. The author has twice taken expeditions into the deep jungle in search of orang-pendek and even followed its tracks. I have spoken to many witnesses including Debbie Martyr, head of the Indonesian tiger conservation group, who has seen orang-pendek no less than four times. I have no doubt it exists. My colleague Adam Davis brought back hair from Kerinchi National Park in Sumatra that was examined by Professor Hans Brunner, the world’s leading expert on animal hair. He announced that it was from a new species of ape related to the orang-utan

Could Hibagon be related to one of these creatures? Japan is certainly not tropical like Malaya or Sumatra but the Teh-lma inhabits cool mountain climates. There have, as far as I know, been no recent sightings of Hibagon. The animal might have died out or it just might still be awaiting discovery in Japan’s trackless mountain forests.

MAX BLAKE IS ON GEOFF WARD'S `MYSTERIOUS WEST`

Our old friend Geoff Ward of the Western Daily Press has a regular podcast called `Mysterious West`. Every week he covers the weird and the wonderful, the freaky and the fortean, the creepy and the cryptozoological, and (dammit I've run out of alliterations...)

This week he interviews none other than our very own Max Blake who talks cheerfully about his ongoing hunt for the `Beast of Wells`. Check it out..

BIG CAT HOAX UNMASKED

Our friends over at Big Cats in Britain [BCIB] have uncovered the first big cat hoax of the year. Good for them!

Check out the whole story at:

http://bcib.wordpress.com/2009/01/21/bcib-uncover-a-hoax/

and be amused at these quotes from the Ashbourne News Telegraph which tell us quite a lot: "All evidence of alleged big cat sightings the News Telegraph receives is forwarded on to experts and this picture was sent to the British Big Cat Society for verification. Unfortunately their spokesman, Danny Bamping, failed to get back to us before we went to press so we had no way of ensuring its authenticity before we published Dave and Ralph’s tall tale."

and

"The British Big Cat Society used the article to declare that the Forestry Commission coming clean over its own sightings was “proof” that big cats exist in the wild, and accused Government-run organisations of “sitting on” information."

Well done to BCIB for this, also kudos for their round up of strangely coloured British wildlife which can be found:
http://bcib.wordpress.com/category/uk-cryptozoology/

As far as the BBCS is concerned, their day has - in the opinion of this humble writer - gone!