The Rise of the Shug-Monkey?

Here's a weird one: there may be a bear running around Rendlesham Forest, England!

As some of you may know, the forest's main claim to fame is that it was the site (in December 1980) of what is without doubt Britain's most famous UFO incident.

So, is a bear really on the loose in an area of forest that just happened to already be dominated by high-strangeness?

My guess is no.

Rather, I suspect that - like so many places around the world - Rendlesham Forest is a classic "Window Area" of the type that attracts (or opens doorways to?) Fortean oddities of a particularly odd nature.

Interestingly, in my 2004 book Three Men Seeking Monsters, I related the story of a man named Sam Holland who claimed to have seen in Rendlesham Forest a beast that sounds somewhat like that which is currently being reported - but way back in 1956.

It's very possible that Holland may have seen the Shug-Monkey: an odd, perhaps spectral "beast," that is alleged to have roamed the area centuries ago.

Moreover, I have a couple of other reports on record of people seeing large, lumbering animals in Rendlesham Forest walking on four-legs. And, yes, they could conceivably be mistaken for bears - except for the fact that when they realized they had been seen, the creatures suddenly reared up onto their hind-legs and took off running.

Bears, of course, will stand on their hind-legs for brief periods, but when it comes to hunting or making good their escape, they will drop back to all-fours and set-off at a very fast pace.

So, has the Shug-Monkey returned to Rendlesham Forest? Time, perhaps, will tell...

And for more information on the Shug-Monkey, click right here.