Man-Monkey Latest

As many of you may know, the one British Bigfoot case that fascinates me more than any other is that of the so-called "Man-Monkey": a wild, hairy and glowing-eyed monstrosity that has been seem roaming the woods that surround Bridge 39 on the Shropshire Union Canal since at least the late 1800s.

I recently wrote an extensive article on what is undoubtedly a beast of paranormal - rather than flesh-and-blood - proportions for Fortean Times, and which has just been published.

Check it out.

And, if you ever get the chance, take a trip out to the bridge: it's easy to find, very accessible, and has a small amount of parking-space. Who knows? Maybe you'll be the one to solve the riddle of this diabolical beast...

I'm going to be offline from now and until July 6; but already have some new and intriguing British Bigfoot-based stories to post on my return.

See you then!

Beware of the Bog

As some of you may know, I have written pretty extensively in the past on the issue of strange creatures (predominantly British Bigfoot-style entities) seen at the ancient Castle Ring, on the fringes of the Cannock Chase, Staffordshire.

Well, now it seems that hairy man-beasts aren't the only hazardous things to be found at this historic site.

Scotland's Big Grey Man

Over at the main blog of Jon Downes' Center for Fortean Zoology, Lindsay Selby has an excellent (and lengthy!) post on Scotland's most famous man-beast (or Fortean phantom), the Big Grey Man of Ben Macdhui.

In part, Lindsay says:

"The big grey man is often said to be Scotland’s Bigfoot and the stories go back hundreds of years.In the 17th Century, a man of the clan Murray was reported as having captured a wild man in Craigiebarns Rocks and a chained wildman still appears in his family's heraldic shield. The next written report I could find was in 1791.

"Poet James Hogg, known as the `Ettrick Shepherd`, described seeing a huge figure on Ben Macdhui whilst tending his sheep. As he watched the halo, which had formed around him due to the combination of sunshine and the mist, he looked up and saw a huge, looming figure. He fled, not stopping until he reached some of his fellow shepherds. Hogg later said he believed that the phenomenon, which had so frightened him was, in fact, an uncommon natural phenomena known as the ‘Brocken Spectre’ and was a reflection of himself caused by the weather conditions - so could the grey man be just an effect of climatic conditions?"

And, here's the rest of Lindsay's illuminating post.

Blogsquatcher Comments

The Blogsquatcher comments on the British Bigfoot.

B's blog always has good stuff at it, and it's definitely well worth checking out on a regular basis for all the latest on Bigfoot and high-strangeness.

The Kent Bigfoot

Over at my main cryptozoology blog - There's Something in the Woods - you can find a new interview I have just done with author and cryptozoologist about his new book: Mystery Animals of the British Isles: Kent.

Here's the link to the full interview; however, during the course of the interview, we discussed Bigfoot-style reports from Neil's home-county of Kent, and here's what Neil had to say on this matter.

Nick: "Some of the creatures you feature in the book - such as British Bigfoot reports - seem more zooform in nature. Can you discuss a couple of British Bigfoot reports and your views on what they may be."

Neil: "The last few chapters of the book talk about sightings of 'things' which quite simply are too weird to be flesh and blood. Eight-feet tall red eyed, hairy humanoids are not part of our nature, yet somehow people are seeing these creatures. I've often believed Bigfoot, the Yeti to be real, but when these creatures, or something similar starts turning up in the UK we have to look more at the human psyche, or the lay of the land. I don't know what they are but I've met genuine people who've been terrified by sightings of hulking man-beasts in the local woods. As the book was going to press I received a report from a young lady who was driving one night and saw a tall, spindly humanoid cross a stretch of road. The creature had long arms and knees which, as it walked, came up under its chin. It was completely black in colour with a domed head, and scared her so much she almost crashed. These are genuine encounters but I really don't know why people see these kind of things. Maybe such encounters originate with the original 'woodwose', or 'wild man of the woods,' depicted in old scriptures etc. There are some creatures, or forms seen all over the world which are beyond human understanding and they can't simply be creatures awaiting discovery, they are from some other place, and not the woods, sky or waterways."