BLUFF CHARGE & INTIMIDATION

Much has been posited about the likely existence of a bipedal, ape-like creature, that is alleged to have been beheld by thousands of people, in some of the most remote and isolated regions on the planet.

Trace evidence, like footprints, hair samples and some very compelling film and photographic footage; have been captured, catalogued and studied with an almost microscopic diligence paid to every detail, by the obsessive devotees of this particular, fabled, fauna fetish!

"Get Off My Land!!!!"

The tales of the North American Sasquatch draw most public focus along with the Himalayan Yeti,(only from a pop culture retrospective nowadays)and now thanks to the work of Adam Davies and others, The Orang Pendek of Indonesia also, is a subject of serious scientific study.

There are in fact, many organisations worldwide, investigating other Bigfoot-like creatures, like the Chinese Yeren, the Russian Almasty, and Australia's Yowie. Viewed together, they seem to form a conglomerate of 'far off legends' that are only credible to our minds, due to their environmental isolation.

We have little trouble believing in these creatures or considering them real, simply because we do not have to consider the viability of their habitat or the means of their survival into our modern epoch; famously absent from our yearbook of the natural world and somehow, managing to evade even the most diligent scientific researcher, without ever having landed themselves caged, in carnival or zoo!

So, we preponder that maybe an animal like Bigfoot could avoid detection in the Pacific Northwest, or that the Yeti might remain unseen in the vastness of its 'alleged' mountain home; solely because our detachment from these lands makes it more tolerable to believe that we could have overlooked the presence of such faraway beasts. But, what of those sightings in a more'closed system' like the UK? How could it be possible that a type of 'Wildman' could also be roaming our countryside, for the most part avoiding the detection of our teeming millions and managing to live sustainably; without ever piquing the interest of our mighty British naturalists; who have, in ages past, been held responsible, for classifying so much of the natural world?

With this egotistical disqualification in mind, we turn to the study of the British Bigfoot or Wodewose; a subject that seems to invite derision from even the most seasoned of researchers, who, while juxtaposing the ecological needs of its ape-like cousins on to its island kin, judge the claims of our witnesses as somehow falling outside of the 'what we know to be true' paradigm. Which, even in cryptozoological circles can be fixed in its observance of the official line.

What I intend to present in this blog series, are behavioural characteristics of the British Bigfoot, that not only corroborate characteristics observed by witnesses of these creatures in more acceptable locations in the world but also, as we will see, are almost indistinguishable from them and their other simian cousins.

We will start with a relatively untouched area of Bigfoot Research, bluff charges and intimidation - which are behaviours that are regularly observed in great apes, which have also been observed in 'bigfoot-like' creatures around the world. It should be noted that these witnesses reported this behaviour without any prior knowledge of the existence of an ape-like hominid in the UK.

PLAS DOL Y MOCH -GIANT APE CREATURE

In April of 1966, two teenagers staying at the Plas Dol Y Moch outward Bound centre in Wales were taking part in a night navigation exercise when they encountered a thick and bulky black shadow, like a giant ape, that came crashing through the undergrowth and roared at them. The Boys, dropping their maps and equipment ran back to the centre and alerted the staff, who to their surprise believed their story and called the police, who promptly questioned them and even organised a search.

CHILD'S ERCALL - MAN BEAST

In 1971 after an evening spent with her then-boyfriend at the home of his parents in the village of Child's Ercall, Shropshire, a teenage girl was happily riding her bicycle back home when she was shocked to see a large, hairy animal dash across the road directly in front of her and glaring at her menacingly. The animal was human-like in shape, covered in long flowing dark hair, with bright yellow eyes and a black-skinned, shiny face.

CANTERN BROOK WOODS - GREY HAIRY THING

A witness recalls how he and several other small children were regularly run out of the Cantern Brook Woods in Shropshire, by a huge grey screaming figure, whilst cutting wood to make their dens. The creature would chase them to the edge of the woods and then stand watching them, from the trees.

STOWE-BY-CHARTLEY - GIANT CHIMP

Late one evening in September 1986, a man and his wife were driving past the ancient ruins of Chartley Castle in Staffordshire, England; when they were forced to brake to avoid a huge stag crossing the road, followed by what looked like a large chimpanzee, which came bounding after it. Halfway across the road, the creature looked directly at the couple and angrily charged their vehicle, breaking off at the last second. In a panic the husband tried to reverse, stalling the car and leaving the couple briefly stranded in the road. Over the next twenty seconds, the huge ‘Chimp’ charged their car twice, before finally bounding off in the direction of the stag.

THE CANNOCK CHASE - THING

Some local residents of Cannock Chase were chased by a Bigfoot whilst driving through the area at 2am. The creature was human-shaped, but around seven to eight feet tall and very broad and stocky. When it realised it had been seen, it stood up straight and ran towards the terrified witnesses who sped away in their car.

THE IVY DEN - CREATURE SIGHTING

In the 1980’s several children were playing at a place called The Ivy Den, at Hackenthorpe Sheffield, when they were chased away by a 6-7 ft tall, dark figure, with very bright red eyes, which they saw running up the side of a stream about 20 feet away from them. The creature jumped across the stream with ease, at which the children fled. An interesting aspect of this sighting is that one of the children fell while running, only to see that the creature had ceased chasing him and was watching him a little distance away. This might indicate that the creature had simply meant to scare them off.

THORPE PERROW - SCREECHING FIGURE

In 1983, a young teenager living in a rural area called Thorp Perrow in Yorkshire was riding his bicycle back home at night, without lights. Taking a shortcut through a farmland track, he was singing to himself when he swerved to avoid hitting a ‘person’ in the road. He stopped to look back, only to see a huge ‘person-shaped thing’ with its arms above its head, screeching at him angrily. Over 30 years later he still can’t forget the way its eyes stared at him.

FRANKS WOOD CRANHAM - WILDMAN

In 2002, In Cranham Essex, A black shadowy figure, standing two and a half metres tall with no discernible features, gave chase to a group of friends as they left the wood.

THE CLEADON GEET

In 2003, around 11pm, a 16-year-old girl was waiting for her bus home, when she felt an urgency to relieve herself. She snuck off into some bushes nearby, when suddenly to her terror, a 7ft tall, skinny, hairy ape-man; lunged from the bushes and chased her. Needless to say, she ran all the way home.

THE RED CHESTED BIGFOOT - OF SALTFLEET MARSH

In the winter of 2004, two sisters were walking their dogs along the edge of the salt marsh at Saltfleet, East Lincolnshire; when they were pursued by a large ‘person’ covered in red and brown shaggy hair. Needless to say, they ran all the way home and have not been back to the area since.

MIDDLE WOOD - APE-MAN

In August 2015, a man walking in Middle Woods, Offten, Sussex; suddenly became overwhelmed by a fear that he wasn't alone. He explains that as a large man of 20 stone (127 kilos) that he is pretty fearless, but inexplicably on this occasion, he lost his nerve and decided to leave the woods. On leaving the area he heard a monkey go ‘woo woo’ and an almighty crashing noise. Then a 2 legged ‘thing’ like a chimp in colour but a gorilla in build, approximately 5’7 in height, came hurtling across the trail, using its long arms to knock aside the trees. He noted that its arms were at least a third longer than his own.

DORKING DEEP DENE - CREATURE

Two explorers visited an abandoned tunnel in Dorking Deepdene late one evening in 2016. Hearing noise inside and thinking that it was other explorers, they waited outside for them to finish. Their two dogs started barking and were suddenly silenced by a loud Roar. Then they heard the sound of something big moving the trees, breaking and snapping branches like they were twigs and then it stopped. After 10 mins of sitting in silence afraid to even breathe, they left the area, slowly. Returning some days later, they found a large footprint around 20 inches long. 8 inches wide at the top and about 3 inches wide at the bottom.


In these rather extensive examples, one can see, bluff charges and intimidation, with some people, even being chased out of an area. However, what is also quite clear, is that these animals tend to stop short of any physical action against the humans they encounter. One of the important aspects of the Ivy Den Creature encounter is that The 'Ape-man' that chased the children out of the woods, was observed to stop its pursuit when one of the fleeing children fell; indicating that the creature was lacking any real intent to harm; or the Dorking Deepdene Creature, which roared and broke branches in the woods facing two explorers, but remained out of sight, throughout the entire confrontation.

What remains certain, is that for all the doubts about the veracity or plausibility of the witness reports in the British Isles, our sightings are replete with lesser-known behavioural characteristics, that appear throughout other multitudinous and unconnected reports around the globe and testify, against the preference of the paranormal promulgators, to the mundane and physical character of the British Bigfoot.

In part 2 of this series, we will take a look at HOWLS & GROWLS -  WHOOPS & WOODKNOCKS

Written by Andrew McGrath


(Extra special thanks to Deborah Hatswell of the British Bigfoot research organisation and to the witnesses of these extraordinary creatures, for their tireless research and bravery in this little-known area of British Cryptozoology)

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THE BLACK COUNTRY STALKER

The Wodewose or British Bigfoot
Sketch by Andy McGrath
(I'm clearly no artist!)

Tales of the Wodewose abound across the length and breadth of the British Isles. Contrary to popular opinion, these aren't simply tales of yore, or folksy myth and legend passed down by generations past. They are actual, real-life, modern day sightings, that are taking place year upon year, in this misty, green island, of pasch and pessimism!

Sometimes in the world of Cryptozoology, and especially because of the difficulties of researching undiscovered or thought to be extinct animals, we researchers, have a tendency to make 'concessions for credibility'. This in its most basic form, is a sacrifice of one 'principle' to build up 'another'. So, for example, if I say, that I believe that there is a monster in Loch Morar, but that because of 'poor' conditions and over-imaginative public desire, that there is unlikely to be a monster in Loch Ness; then I imbue myself with a type of objectivism and subconsciously increase my credit within the public sphere. Similarly with Bigfoot, if I say, that I believe there is a North American Bigfoot, because of the multitudinous eyewitness testimonies and the available habitat, but I don't believe that there is a British Bigfoot, that is attested to, with the same types of eyewitness testimony; simply because I assume that the conditions for habitation don't exist in the UK. I again, sacrifice one equally valid 'principle' to build up the credibility of 'another'.

Bigfoot research in the UK, has until recent times, been entrusted to those few indentured initiates, who willingly took on the mantra of 'laughing stock' within the British cryptozoology community, (a community that has at times been more sceptic than skeptic!), in order to follow the delightful track and trail of one of the delicacies of our trade - the rejected cryptid. These faithful followers in the footsteps of other great and mocked explorers, have kept tryst in hard times and nurtured interest in this subject, when even those, born-again believers, of the US Bigfoot belt, laughed at their claims for a British Bigfoot, due to unsubstantiated perceptions about poor habitat and a 'residual image' of the UK, as one giant city, covering every scrap of green in sight.

To the consternation of the Hubbard-like adherents to the cult of zooform, this flesh and blood phenomenon, shows no sign of dying away and instead what we are seeing, is increased awareness and a greater willingness to report these strange sightings, due to the availability of a now established and respectful infrastructure of experienced and open-minded organisations and researchers.

So it is, with this 'out with the old and in with the new' peaceful takeover, that new faces, fresh field researchers, healthy debate and evidential enquiry, has begun to spread in the study of the British and European Bigfoot and their long history and current presence, in our part of the world.

To continue these 'Tales of The Wodewose', we have another previously unreported sighting from Baggeridge Country Park, near...ish to Wolverhampton, England, in an area that is commonly known as the Black Country.

I would like to thank Hal Smith, for travelling to the location and engendering a safe environment within which, this elderly couple, without access to the online world, or even any knowledge of the 'bigfoot phenomenon', were able to speak openly and without fear of ridicule; and finally, get closure and reassurance, on what after all, must have been a very traumatic experience for them.

Here is their sighting as reported by Hal Smith.

On Tuesday morning I was up on Baggeridge Ridge at around 9.30 when I saw an elderly gent walking his dog. He said morning to me and carried on down towards the car park. I finished around 10 and headed for the cafe. The gent was in there.. I got a coffee and sat down.. after a while, he came over and sat down.. He pointed at my t-shirt (Gone Squatchin') and asked If I believed in it. I said yes and told him that I investigate sightings..He said he had something to tell me but wanted his wife present.. We arranged to meet back at the cafe on Thursday at 9am.

Thursday I got there around 8.55 and they came at around 9.15. We sat, had a coffee and chatted in general. I brought up the subject of sightings and the old fella said not hear and we left the cafe. They led me up a path that I know well as I had put owl boxes up there about 10 previous. This area I call horseshoe path because it follows the treeline in a half circle. The path is only single file-wide with trees on both sides. One side falls downhill and the other side has a slight incline and it is very quiet there.. very few people use as it is off the beaten path. We reached an area around halfway around the trail. Then they told me what they had seen.

One morning around 9.30 in April 2017 the elderly couple were out walking their little dog as they did most mornings. They chose this path as their dog does not get on well with other dogs and it's very rare to see anyone else up there. As they walked along the man noticed a dark figure in the trees around 30 feet away. He thought it was strange as it seemed to be watching them from behind a tree then ducking in every time it was noticed. The man decided not to say anything to his wife as he did not want to alarm her. They continued to walk but the figure stayed around the same pace as them and continued to try and remain hidden. After around 10 minutes had passed the man's wife noticed he seemed anxious and asked what the matter was. He told her and pointed the figure out. She eventuality spotted it and saw it duck back in and start peeping at them from around the tree it was hiding behind. The dog then started barking and growling at it. They rushed as best they could with the dog now on the lead and eventually reached a fork in the path and they knew that one way would take them back to the car park. As they turned at the bottom of the path that leads out of the woods and onto open fields they stopped to catch their breath. As they looked back from where they had come from, the creature had stepped out onto the open path.. They both agreed it stood upright, was very dark in colour and covered in hair. She said it was around 8 feet tall, but he said it was closer to 7. It didn't follow them any further. They got back to their car and now, don't walk that area any more. In fact the rarely use Baggeridge Country Park anymore, so our accidental meeting was a spot of good fortune, as I got the story they have never told anyone before and I was able to put their minds at rest that they had nothing to fear from these animals, as there have never been any reports of anyone being harmed by one in the UK.

They wish to remain anonymous, but I have no reason to disbelieve their story as they seemed very scared to me and the elderly lady had to keep wiping tears from her eyes.

There is nothing fanciful in this report. The witnesses are disconnected from the modern world by age and lack of technological awareness, In fact, if not for Hal's Bigfoot 'Bat Signal', shining out into the village either, in the form of his 'Gone Squatchin' Tee!  The old gentleman who spotted it, may never have felt secure enough to tell another soul about the strange encounter, that he and his wife had experienced. I can only imagine what mental reassignment of reality, they must have had to cope with in that past year, in order to both rationalise their encounter and to keep it secret, likely fearing local ridicule, amongst their peers. This particular fear being something I understand intrinsically, as I struggle with my intentional overexposure to this world of cryptozoology and my desire to see its popularity grow.

There are other sightings in this area, one of which took place in Showell Lane, in Lower Penn, near Wolverhampton, in May of this year (2018) and describes a witness seeing a man-shaped creature, covered in shaggy, 'orangey' hair, standing around 7 ft in height and in the words of the witness it was, "built like an American football player". This and many other sightings around the UK can be found on Deborah Hatswell's British Bigfoot map.

In the coming years, myself and other researchers that are, 'out in the field', hope to set you on the road, to entertain the plausibility of the existence, of a large hairy hominid, here on our tiny, yet mostly uninhabited island, in the gloomy, yet gorgeous - North Atlantic!

Written by Andrew McGrath, 

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THE APEMAN OF ABERNETHY FOREST

Satellite Map of Abernethy Forest

Abernethy Forest in Scotland is the largest part of what remains of the Old Caledonian forest, located in Strathspey in the Scottish Highlands, it is an area that comprises 4000 hectares of forest. It has an abundant red and roe deer population and black grouse and the capercaillie (wood grouse) as well as 70 bird species in total. There are otters and pine marten, as well as wildcat and red squirrel, multitudinous rabbits and ample wild food sources, like blackberries, cowberry, crowberry, sorrel and abundant edible fungi. The area has a tiny population, below 5000 people, nearly all of which reside in the towns of Nethy Bridge, Boat of Garten and Aviemore.

Scotland is a country comprising of 30,090 square miles of land, 10,250 miles miles of coastline, including it's many islands, with varied landscapes such as fertile farmland, thick woodlands, mountains, moorland, beaches, beautiful islands and stunning sea views, interspersed among 31.460 lochs and lochans and boasts, as a country, an almost unbelievably diminutive 1.9% of its land area that is actually built upon. Representing a tiny urban landscape, in a vast wild land, with a population of approximately, 5,404,700 million people.

It is no surprise then, taking in to consideration the provident conditions present and the sparsity of human habitation, that from time, some of the local inhabitants and visitors to this area and to Scotland in general, claim to have had encounters with strange, bipedal, 'ape-men', that resemble in appearance, superficially at least, the North American Bigfoot.

I have been intrigued recently, to receive a very descriptive British Bigfoot (or 'Wodewose') sighting, that occurred in Abernethy Forest in 2012, witnessed by two brothers, whilst on their annual camping and hunting holiday. One of the most compelling facets of this particular sighting, is that one of the brothers, has spent many years working in Zoos in the UK and around the world, as a primate keeper; making his description and his assertions about the animals appearance, of a highly important nature, to us laymen, who often have to traverse the highly controversial and divisive seas of opinion on the possible genus of these unknown animals; believed by many researchers, to be either a form of advanced ape or alternatively, a relict hominin.

My name is Al Smith but everyone calls me Hillbilly Al, which got shortened to Hal some years ago, and it stuck. After leaving school,  I decided that I wanted to be outside as much as possible so thought that a job with animals would be ideal  Through BIAZA I found a job as a field biologist's assistant, which I loved and it gave me a great opportunity to travel and see some amazing places, meet different people and to see animals in their natural habitat. 

I soon learnt that I had a real passion for primates and talked to people about furthering this passion into a career. I was told about Rodbaston College and found I already knew someone that was a lecturer there, so enrolled. After leaving Rodbaston I decided to look into zoo keeping as the Field Research had become a little bit too much, and I had at that time met the girl who would later become my wife, and wanted to spend more time with her.  I was lucky enough to work at several zoos all over the UK, my favourite being Dudley Zoo, because I met some of the best primate keepers I had ever worked with and had total respect for them.

During this time, my elder brother and I, would make sure we booked our yearly holiday together - fishing, hunting and wild camping in Scotland. We always chose Scotland because their laws on wild stays are different than ours (In Scotland, you can camp for two days in one spot as long as you respect the land, then move on to another spot.) In August 2012,  It was my brothers turn to chose the location for our annual holiday and that year he chose a wonderful spot in the Abernethy forest, Strathspey, in the Scottish Highlands. 

The site was perfect, Water nearby, open grassland and plenty of tree cover.. We set up camp around 20 feet inside the forest using tarps and hammocks and then set about building a fire.. While out collecting wood I looked for game trails and found loads of signs of rabbit activity in the clearing not far from camp.. There were also lots of fruits such as blackberry and plenty of dandelion and cats tails. 

The next morning I woke around four am, way before my alarm was due to go off, but that's usual for me.. I've always been an early riser. I got out of my bunk, dressed head to toe in realtree camo, stoked the fire and put the coffee pot on. My brother was still lightly snoring so I kicked the bottom of his bunk to gently wake him. I could see it was starting to get light above the canopy, so got my rifle ready (only a point 25) and we quietly made our way to the treeline and the rabbit field as I now call it. As we stepped out, we stayed close to the treeline and headed left towards a huge blackberry bush I had noticed the night before. 

Now, I usually hunt alone because my brother has a heavy footfall, but after a few steps, I couldn't hear him behind me, so I looked back to see if he was still there. The look on his face was something I had never seen from him before. Both his mouth and eyes were wide open and he was looking straight past me. Now to be as honest as I can be, I don't remember fully if he pointed or spoke, because the next few seconds are a little blurry in my head. I looked to see what was upsetting him so much and got the shock of my life. 

There was a dark figure crouching down with its back to us, I reckon it was about fifty feet away and even crouched down, looked easily to be my height (5'2").  It looked like it was eating berries from the bush, from the way its shoulders were moving and the way it was hunched over. It then raised its head a little, turning slightly towards us, and tilted it to one side, as if listening. It stood up and turned at the same time and was now looking straight at me. It must have stood seven to eight feet tall!  It was covered in jet black hair all over its body, except for the upper chest and face and its skin was very dark, except for its bottom lip which looked pink. It had a wide nose and large eyes. Its features reminded me of an older bonobo chimpanzee, but the face was much flatter, especially around the mouth. It was going bald on top and to my eyes, this picture of a bonobo is what i was looking at, but with a much flatter muzzle.

An old Bonobo Chimpanzee, 

an animal, according to Hal, which closely

resembled his British Bigfoot sighting.

(Source unknown)

It looked to be around four feet across its shoulders, with longer hair on its forearms and and on its chin. I have never been so scared in my life, although it never once took a step towards me or made any threatening movement, It was just its sheer size and the fact that in my mind it should not have been there. I don't know how long we stared at each other, it felt like forever. I had an overwhelming feeling to put my rifle down, so I dropped to one knee, really slowly, and placed my rifle on the ground. It then turned and walked off into the treeline, just looking back one more time, to see if we were following it. Then It was gone. I looked back to get my brothers reaction but he wasn't there, he'd also gone, so I grabbed my rifle and ran back to camp, panicking now realising that I was all alone. 

By the time I had got back to camp, my brother already had his tarp, bunk and bits stuffed in bags and was working on mine. I tried to stop him as I wanted to stay and look for what we had just seen, but he wouldn't even speak to me. I'd never seen him like that before. He later sold all his camping and fishing gear.  Not very long after, we stopped speaking all together. Although I still see his wife occasionally, she tells me he never leaves the city now.

I went back in 2016, to the exact location and I admit now that I had taken on looking for these creatures. I was full of such big expectations, but other than tree breaks, leans and a very quiet vocalisation, that I couldn't quite make out, nothing happened. I had, of course, heard of Bigfoot before all this happened but never really thought about them.. Now my eyes are wide open. In all of my years spent in woodland and forests I have never seen anything that I could not explain straight away, that is before this sighting, which has changed my life. As someone who has worked closely with primates, I believe that what i saw was a simian and not a hominid. To me it was not human in any form, to me it was a big ape. The body looked very much like an upright gorilla, the arms and thighs were huge, Just like a gorilla. The face was much flatter, but still very ape like.

 I can't even walk my dog now without wondering if there something in the trees...

Abernethy Forest, Strathspey, Scotland
Photo by Richard Webb

Although a much maligned subject in cryptozoology, There is a growing congregation of British Bigfoot reports, nationwide, that are as descriptive and matter of fact as this one and share many of these corroborative details and, thanks to organisations like: British Bigfoot Research and other dedicated Bigfoot groups in the UK, more reports and evidence of the presence of these mysterious animals are being catalogued year on year. 

One of the commonly reported physical attributes in this report and something that I always thought contributed to making Bigfoot, 'seem' man-like, to some witnesses, (apart from its bipedalism), is its flat face. Which, seemingly has, a separate nose and lips, instead of an ape-like muzzle. Could it be, that this unusual physical presentation leads many witnesses to the conclusion that what they are looking at, is a for want of a better word, a relict hominin, instead of some possibly extant species of great ape, like Gigantopithecus living on into our modern times?

For witnesses like Hal, the British Bigfoot is a real creature and conceptually speaking, a game changer, as far as one's perception of the order of the world and its many inhabitants, are concerned. What most people find hard to fathom of course, is how such an animal could escape detection in a land such as ours, that is, allegedly, one of the most thoroughly explored in the world, and to that I would say, simply: - That it is difficult to discover something,  you are not seeking to find! 

Written by Andrew McGrath, 

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