Hi Deborah
I stumbled across your podcasts by complete accident and I was amazed that we have all these Bigfoot and Cryptid sightings in the UK and now I'm hooked ! Anyway I'm messaging because my interest stems from a story that my Sister told me some time ago.
Back in the early 1980s my Sister was going out with a chap that lived not far from Cannock Chase (I know you have made podcasts about this place before. Anyway my Sis was going to stay at his house (which was a quite remote place and old if I remember rightly. My Sister also said she felt the house was haunted, but that's another story!) They were both driving through the chase, it was a clear evening and they were just driving around and talking, when off to the side of the verge in front of the car stepped a Creature they thought at first was a pony, this 'Thing' stopped in front of the car and slowly moved away from them, so they were able to get a good look at 'It' in the car headlights and she said 'It' had the body of a horse but the torso, head and arms of a man!!!! They both saw 'It' at the same time and they both agreed on exactly the same thing without speaking and they sped of like a shot! The boyfriend refused to discuss what happend and what they saw and he never mentioned it ever again. They only went out together for a while and she lost contact with him years ago now. We are in our 50s now and she still maintains what she saw that night. But she doesn't have the absolute interest in the subject and the event that I have. She was almost a bit matter of fact about it all, but then she does seem to have paranormal experiences happen around her quite often.
My Sister can see spirit and the energy of things so I think she has become a bit blase!!! Where as I want to know what 'It' was!!! I recently asked her about 'It' hoping to find out more and she said 'It' was very dark in colour and the human parts were also very dark and looked as if they were sleek but hairy. 'It' just stared at them and they definitely saw human facial features! I wondered if anyone has seen this type of phenomena before? There seems to be a lot of strange stuff related to Cannock chase. My Sister is not a very imaginative person, she is more practical if anything and not prone to exaggeration or story telling. I believe her and I still remember her telling my Mum and me about it all those years ago!!! I am just wondering if anyone else has reported what I guess would be a 'Centaur' type creature. I hope you might be able to shed some light on this!! We have wondered about this for years and didn't really know who to tell!
The Cromarty Satyr
In an old dusty copy of Ghost stories I came across two reports related by Violet Tweedale, Violet an author of many books stated: I remember Lilian, Countess of Cromartie, telling me of a strange incident that once happened to her.
She was walking alone one bright summer morning in Windsor Great Park. Suddenly she saw an amazing looking creature loping slowly towards her. It resembled an enormous hare. That is to say, its legs and head were those of a hare, but its size was that of a goat and its horned head was half-goat, half-hare. This creature, loping without any fear, and with a hare’s movement straight towards her, caused her to pause. She stood still and breathlessly waited its approach. It passed quite close to her, and as it did so she struck at it with her parasol. Instantly it disappeared.
A troop of centaurs frighten an aristocratic couple on holiday in Greece.
Many years ago there was much talk amongst a certain set of an experience that had come to a foreign Grand Duchess and her husband, who spent much of their time in England. This couple were traveling in the wilds of Greece, and one night they wandered out together on to a bare mountain side. Sitting down to rest they were enjoying the beauty and utter loneliness of the moonlit scene, when they suddenly heard the galloping of many horses’ hoofs approaching them. This astonished them greatly, as they were in so wild and unfrequented a part of the country. There was no road near them, and it seemed strange to hear horses galloping so fast on such rough ground at night, even though there was a moon.
Husband and wife stood up immediately in order to show themselves. The sound suggested a headlong rush, and they feared that in another second a whole regiment might ride over them.
They had not long to wait. A troop of creatures, half-men, half-horses, tore past them, helter-skelter. Fleet and sure-footed they thundered by, and they brought with them the most wonderful sense of joy and exhilaration. Neither the Grand Duchess nor her husband felt the smallest fear; on the contrary, both were seized by a wild elation, a desire to be one of that splendid legion. The thundering of their hoofs spread over the hills, and died away into the distance.
On returning to their camp the husband and wife found an uproar. Something had gone wrong with the Greek servants, who were shivering with terror, and struggling with equally terrified horses to prevent a stampede. All that could be learned from the Greeks was that they had heard something, something known of and greatly feared.
The Kirkaldy Goatman
There were several people in the room whilst the Grand Duchess was explaining in the most impressive manner, this strange event about the encounter with a Centaur tale. Amongst them was the first Lady Henry Grosvenor, born Miss Erskine Wemyss of Wemyss Castle.
She told us that when she was a child of seven years old, she had passed through some minutes of such absolute terror, that as long as she lived she would never forget the experience.
With another child, and a nurse in attendance, she was playing one summer morning out of doors. After a little while the nurse rose from her seat amongst the heather, and wandered away a short distance, out of sight but not out of hearing.
A few moments after the two little girls heard some bushes behind them rustling, and a huge creature, half-goat, half-man, emerged and leisurely crossing the road in front of them plunged into the woods beyond and was lost to sight. Both children were thrown into a paroxysm of terror, and screamed loudly. The nurse ran back to them, and when told what was the matter scolded them for their foolish fancies. No such animal existed, such as they described, an animal much bigger than a goat, that walked upright, and had but two legs, and two hoofs, that was covered with shaggy brown hair from the waist downward, and had the smooth skin of a man from the waist upward!
The nurse bade them come home at once, and as they gained the road Miss Wemyss pointed down into the dust. Clearly defined was the track of a two-hoofed creature that had crossed at that spot. The nurse stared for a moment or two, then with one accord they all ran. She never took her charges near that spot again.
Lady Henry said that the memory of that experience was so firmly grafted on her mind that she could always recall with perfect clarity the exact appearance of this appalling Creature. In after years, when grown up, she realized from pictures that what she had seen was a Faun or Satyr. Such pictures or statues always sent a thrill of horror through her. She attributed this apparition to the fact that she and her companion were playing close to the site of a Roman camp, and the road was an old Roman road.
She went on to say that the Grand Duchess had given her courage to tell this incredible story. It was as absolutely real to her as was the passing of the Centaurs to the Grand Duchess.
The whole scene stood out in brilliant light as a picture before her, whenever she thought of it, which she very often did. She never mentioned it to any one, as she felt that no one would believe her. She could always smell again the scent of summer, and the odor of pine trees, and hear the trickling of water from a tiny stream. She could always see a wide, white road, ribbon-like stretching away to the horizon. Then, suddenly, she and her young companion stood face to face with a presence, a hideous, unspeakable shape, that was neither man nor beast.
She believed that there was a real world beyond the glamour and vision of our ordinary senses, and sometimes this veil was lifted for a few seconds. She believed that much of the tradition of mythical creatures represented solid fact.
The Kirkaldy Goatman
There were several people in the room whilst the Grand Duchess was explaining in the most impressive manner, this strange event about the encounter with a Centaur tale. Amongst them was the first Lady Henry Grosvenor, born Miss Erskine Wemyss of Wemyss Castle.
She told us that when she was a child of seven years old, she had passed through some minutes of such absolute terror, that as long as she lived she would never forget the experience.
With another child, and a nurse in attendance, she was playing one summer morning out of doors. After a little while the nurse rose from her seat amongst the heather, and wandered away a short distance, out of sight but not out of hearing.
A few moments after the two little girls heard some bushes behind them rustling, and a huge creature, half-goat, half-man, emerged and leisurely crossing the road in front of them plunged into the woods beyond and was lost to sight. Both children were thrown into a paroxysm of terror, and screamed loudly. The nurse ran back to them, and when told what was the matter scolded them for their foolish fancies. No such animal existed, such as they described, an animal much bigger than a goat, that walked upright, and had but two legs, and two hoofs, that was covered with shaggy brown hair from the waist downward, and had the smooth skin of a man from the waist upward!
The nurse bade them come home at once, and as they gained the road Miss Wemyss pointed down into the dust. Clearly defined was the track of a two-hoofed creature that had crossed at that spot. The nurse stared for a moment or two, then with one accord they all ran. She never took her charges near that spot again.
Lady Henry said that the memory of that experience was so firmly grafted on her mind that she could always recall with perfect clarity the exact appearance of this appalling Creature. In after years, when grown up, she realized from pictures that what she had seen was a Faun or Satyr. Such pictures or statues always sent a thrill of horror through her. She attributed this apparition to the fact that she and her companion were playing close to the site of a Roman camp, and the road was an old Roman road.
She went on to say that the Grand Duchess had given her courage to tell this incredible story. It was as absolutely real to her as was the passing of the Centaurs to the Grand Duchess.
The whole scene stood out in brilliant light as a picture before her, whenever she thought of it, which she very often did. She never mentioned it to any one, as she felt that no one would believe her. She could always smell again the scent of summer, and the odor of pine trees, and hear the trickling of water from a tiny stream. She could always see a wide, white road, ribbon-like stretching away to the horizon. Then, suddenly, she and her young companion stood face to face with a presence, a hideous, unspeakable shape, that was neither man nor beast.
She believed that there was a real world beyond the glamour and vision of our ordinary senses, and sometimes this veil was lifted for a few seconds. She believed that much of the tradition of mythical creatures represented solid fact.
Lon Strickler published a report from a gentleman who had an encounter with a Centaur like creature a number of years ago. "Hey Lon...this is a second hand account that I heard from my father's trusted friend. I'm sorry I can't provide any more details than what I was told from the witness.
When my father's friend was younger he was a Deputy for the Apache Reservation Police. I believe it happened in the early 1980s, but Im not sure. One night he was on patrol in his squad car alone on the reservation. He was driving along the deserted highway that passed through town. When he reached the church he saw something moving back and forth along the church, peering into the windows. He stopped the car on the highway, and observed for a while. It was too dark to make out much at first. Then, the dark shape took notice of him and began moving out of the shadows and into the front of the church.Under the orange light of the street lights was a 8 foot tall Demon-Centaur!!! The bottom half was indeed a dark haired horse, while where the neck and head should have been was the upper torso of a man. The man was staring right at him as it strolled by, all 4 hooves clanking on the pavement. His skin was a dark red and it had horns on either side of his head. He said they were like ram horns, curled around on either side of his skull. He was terrified and while the thought of shooting the beast crossed his mind, he reasoned against it. He didn't want to provoke it and have it attack him. It completed crossing the road, and down a steep slope into a farmland field below. Once it reached this open ground, he watched as it started to run away as fast as possible until it disappeared into the darkness and trees beyond.
He was deeply troubled after the encounter and couldn't reason why a demonic creature would be looking into a building as holy as a church. The way he told the story, you couldn't help but believe it to be true and I'm sure that it actually happened"
One of the best known centaurs is Chiron or Cheiron, who is depicted as a wise centaur. Although most centaurs were depicted as lustful, barbaric and wild, Chiron was a notable exception; modest and civilised, he was known for his medicinal skills as a healer and his teaching abilities. Another legend tells of the THE KENTAUROI who were a tribe of half-man, half-horse savages who inhabited the mountains and forests. They were a primitive race who made their homes in caves, hunted wild animals for food and armed themselves with rocks and tree branches. The Kentauros was depicted as a hybrid creature with the upper body of a man--from the head down to the waist--with the body and legs of a horse. It had the facial features of a normal man or, sometimes, the snub nose and pointed ears of a Satyros (Satyr).
There are many reports of Satyr like beings and they are known by many names, one witness a lady named Heather had this to report: I had planned a 3 day trip up north camping in the wilds. We had planned this trip way back around christmas, we'd assumed the snow would be completely gone, but our trail was really damn cold and slushy. So the original 3 nights was cut to 2. We saddled up our horses and headed out. The first tip off that this trip wouldn't be fun was our horses. My trusty old white gelding was off his rocker. He'd never been aggressive, ever. But he was wailing and bucking and biting the moment we got onto the trail. My friends horse, who was usually the energetic one, stayed completely silent and hung his head the whole way to the first stop.
When the sun started setting we found a patch of trees to make a pen around. We use this electrified cord that connects to a battery. Then when I unsaddled my boy and put him in the enclosure, he calmed down and grazed alongside his buddy. While I tended the horses my friend set up the tent, and noticed that my bed roll was gone, along with my hat. This made no sense, as I had tied them to my saddle just a few minutes ago. So I looked around and couldn't find them near us. Then I went back to my saddle and noticed that the leather cord that tied the items down had been crudely sawed in half. I thought it had snapped along the trail, and that I was going crazy and didn't put my hat there. I walked up from the small valley we were in and looked around. I found my hat about 80 feet from where we had followed the trail in. I had thought it maybe flew away when I was riding...until I picked it up. It STANK. Really, really badly. It smelled like a mix of burnt hair and rotten milk. I held it far away from me and went back to the camp. When I got there, my friend said that he left to chop wood, came back, and the boots he left outside of the tent were moved and stank too. With the same smell. By this point we assumed a skunk was around. But it did not smell like skunk, my friend pointed out. Indeed, it was waaaay more putrid. It was so bad we resorted to piling snow on the items just to block the stink. My friend began getting scared wondering if an infected wolf was out there. I laughed because I knew this area well, and no wolves live around here (too many farmers with shotguns). Besides that, no animal but something like a skunk would so thoroughly stink up the place. I thought it may had been a small animal that was sick marking its territory. I've seen coyotes do similar things. But coyotes would never come that close to humans/foreign objects. But we dismissed it as harmless and went to bed.
The next morning we saddled up the horses and noticed that my friend's mare was covered in leaves. But they stuck to her skin with what looked like tree sap. She got really angry when we peeled them off, even trying to bite me, as if she was protecting them. We looked around and couldn't find any sap leaking, and my horse was still clean. This was the point when my friend brought up woodland creatures/spirits and how they're known to do this. I really don't like to believe in such things, but the way that his horse had protected the leaves and was licking at the sap made me wonder. It'd be nice if it was a good omen, because my stinky hat certainly was not. My poor friend had to wear those boots, too. But we rode on and set up another camp the next night.
We settled in without anything unusual, the horses were calm, the wind had settled, and the stench had almost gone from our stuff. But then I went to the bathroom at about 3am, and before I turned behind a tree I smelled the same smell as before. I was nervous now, because whatever was making that smell had followed us. I was really scared that it may have been a cougar that wandered too far south because of the long winter. I went back and grabbed the small hunting rifle we brought, and told my friend were I was going. Because damn it, if I gotta pee, I'm gonna! I went around a tree and finished my business, then got back up and looked around, gun on hip. A shadow moved slowly behind a tree about 40-60 feet away. I hummed lowly, hoping to hear it move/breath so I could figure out what it was. The thing perfectly echoed my melody, but it had a gutteral sound to it. Okay, definitely not a cougar. But my heart began to pound as I realized nothing could do that but a person, it was mimicking the noises I was making. I yelled a "who's there" and then the rotten smell came back. So strong that I began to heave. My friend was calling out from the cabin for me. I kept my eyes on the tree the thing stood behind and called out again, covering my nose. The leaves crunched and it hummed again. I was beginning to cry and back up towards the tent. The horses were letting out really low, rumbling nickers. Which made me more uncomfortable because horses only do that when they're happy. And I certainly wasn't. My friend ran to my side just in time for me to keel over and vomit. He also was on the verge of sickness, but he pointed the flash light around and yelled out into the trees. The thing ran, the leaves crunched behind it. And I kid you not, what I saw looked like a man, but with an animal's head. It was so dark, so I might be wrong, but dear god, I know what I saw. 'It' was about the height of a man, 'It's legs looked all broken and 'It's limbs were skinny. And 'It' was hairy, especially on its head.
Cryptomundo reported on a number of cases in Plain Dealing Louisiana. “The Plain Dealing Devil”
In 1993, some friends and I were sitting around swapping stories when a friend’s sister hesitatingly told us about a small Imp or Satyr type Creature she encountered at a trailer park near Plain Dealing, Louisiana.
She related that she was outside when she heard a voice calling her name. Out of the darkness a pair of red eyes stared and moved closer to her until she could make out a small black hairy devil creature that appeared and said, “I’ll follow you forever” then 'It' disappeared back into the forest. Later, a woman that lived in a nearby trailer home with whom she was friendly told her she was driving into the trailer home park one night and saw a small black Satyr type creature dancing on top of a fencepost. I have to admit that at the time I wanted to write that one off as being too far out there. But it wouldn’t be the last time…
In 1999, I was working on the side as a projectionist in an Imax theatre and while the movies played, the staff gathered in the booth, one day the scary stories started. A young lady with no apparent connection to the aforementioned young woman intimated that her brother had been home alone in Shreveport and had stepped out back to smoke a cigarette next to the family swimming pool. He heard something call his name, and at first suspected some local children were hiding in the bushes near the fence after sneaking in to trespass in the pool. Then he caught sight of a “hairy little man with horns” and went and retrieved a .22 caliber pistol from inside the house, he tried firing at the creature a couple of times but 'It' managed to evade him and laughed the whole time. 'It' then leapt to the top of the fence, turned it’s head and smiled at him – revealing sharp teeth. The creature then bolted over the fence and apparently ran off into the woods.
I’ve since lost touch with both of these young women, the first actually told her story on tape reluctantly by my urging in 1993 but that tape [has been misplaced through a friend]. I’ve seen her since then and she flatly refuses to be interviewed and won’t discuss it for fear of ridicule, “It was just too weird, I want to forget about it!”
The White Thing
The "White Thing", is a woolly-haired Cryptid Creature reported across numerous counties in West Virginia, predominantly within the southwestern region of the state. The counties with the most sightings are Boone, Kanawha, Putnam and Mason, with a surge in sightings taking place in Boone County during the mid-1990s.
The Creature is described as being a quadruped about the size of a Bear, with entirely white wool-like fur. It has a long and pointed head, similar to a dog but with long, saber-like teeth and a single-point set of horns not dissimilar to those found on a young goat. 'It's forelimbs end in paw-like hands, similar to those of a raccoon but larger, while 'It's tail is long and hairless like that of an opossum.
1994
In 1994, a former Navy seaman stated he had witnessed the beast breaking through the forest. The white 'Thing' breached the brush line and knelt to drink from the creek. Here 'It' drank for a few minutes before crossing the creek and continuing on toward the nearby road. The witness stated that they observed the animal for a while before 'It' moved on into the surrounding brush.
Within the same year, two children observed the Creature while playing in their yard within Boone County. What they reported having observed looked like a large white Bear yet in this case 'It' was stood up on its hind legs, making 'It' over six feet tall. Startled by the children, the Beast ran off through the forest, breaking medium-sized limbs off the trees in its path.
1995
The Creature was next spotted a year later, this time involving a car. A couple driving through Boone County observed a large white Beast sitting in the ditch alongside the roadway. As many curious passersby might do in such a situation, they stopped their car to get a better look at 'It'. They came to describe the Creature again as mostly similar to earlier descriptions, yet they added that the Creature had "four eyes". In stark contrast to the last sighting where the 'Sheepsquatch' fled the scene, the Creature leaped out of the ditch and started to attack the car. Frightened by the attack, the couple drove off quickly, and once they arrived back at home noticed large scratches on the side where the Beast had attacked.
1999
Another incident in 1999 involved a couple of campers who were in the forest at night, again in Boone County, around a bonfire. They eventually heard an animal snorting and scuffling around the camp in a manner similar to an aggravated Bear, though 'It' did not come into the light of the campfire immediately. All of a sudden the 'Sheepsquatch' suddenly charged out of the darkness at the campers. Reacting quickly, they jumped up and ran back into their house, all the while being pursued by the Sheepsquatch (giving chase is a natural reaction of a predator when a creature flees; 'It's initial "attack" could have simply been a mock charge). The white Thing stopped at the edge of the forest when they crossed it and let out a "terrible scream". 'It' then turned around and headed back into the woods. The next morning, the campers returned to their campsite and the trail home, finding it to be torn up; they referred to it as "like someone had tilled it up for gardening".
2015
In Fulks Run, Virginia, the Beast was spotted once again in the forests of Appalachia. The Creature was spotted close to midnight by six campers, spending the night in the dense woods. The Beast was reportedly 8-9 feet tall with a shoulder length of 4-5 feet across. One of the campers first saw the Beast at the top of the nearby hill, in a crouching position. Then 'It' stood up, and he alerted the other campers. 'It' started running down the steep hill toward the campers, but they were separated by the river that was flowing through. They look in horror as 'It' searched for a way to cross, and with no other option, began to wade through the river. 'It' finally came out of the water, and the campers reported that 'It' appeared like a bipedal Dog in the chest area, with 'It's fur wet from the river crossing. Then a loud gut-based screech was heard about two miles off from where they were. The Sheepsquatch looked up in shock at the screech, just high enough so the moonlight was in 'It's face, and the campers looked on in fear as 'It' let out a pathetic whimper, then in a sprint, 'It' ran in the opposite direction of the noise. The campers quickly packed and left, then reported the incident to the locals, fearing that if the authorities were informed, they would be ridiculed.
The Devil's Footprints - Multiple Reports in the UK
On Feb. 9, 1855, in the county of Devon, England, residents were mystified when they awoke to find strange tracks in the snow—tracks unlike any animal tracks they’d seen before. As groups of people across multiple villages spanning some 40 to 100 miles followed the tracks, curiosity turned to a mounting sense of horror and dread.
Some 4–5 inches long and in the shape of cloven hooves, they went up walls, across rooftops, from one side of objects inexplicably through to the other side. They seemed to sink so low in the snow, it’s almost as though they were hot and seared their way through. At spots, the tracks seemed to disappear, only to reappear some ways off, as though the being that made them had flown for a short stretch. The single-file prints suggested a biped.
In some villages, it seemed the maker of the tracks had visited nearly every home.
Was it animals? Was it a case of mass hysteria? Was it a trick played by some mischief-makers? Was it, as many believed, the Devil himself? No one really knows. This was not the only time strange unexplained hoof prints have appeared here in the UK.
In Exmouth, a port town in East Devon, a one witness to these strange unexplained Prints named W. Courthope Forman said: “The footprints came up the front garden to within a few feet of the house, stopped abruptly, and began again at the back within a few feet of the building.” Others made similar comments about the prints crossing garden walls and other objects. In one case, the prints stopped on one side of a haystack and resumed on the other, without leaving a trace on top that anything had moved across it.
In March 1855, the footprints were sighted in Inverness, Scotland, where a local naturalist dismissed them as hare or polecat prints, according to an Inverness Courier report from that time.
In January 1855, near Wolverhampton, England, about 200 miles north of Devon, hoofprints were said to have appeared on vertical walls and the roofs of pubs. According to Elizabeth Brown, a landlady of The Lion pub in this region, told a public meeting that “her house was mainly frequented by quarrymen and the tracks were nothing new to them. Similar hoof marks were to be seen burnt into the rock at Pearl Quarry, on Timmins Hill.”
Similar descriptions have been given in other cases. In the Spring 1957 edition of Tomorrow, a Quarterly Review of Psychical Research, anthropologist and psychical researcher Eric Dingwall reported one such case. A business man named Mr. Wilson found perplexing prints on a Devon beach in 1950. They appeared to be hoof marks, though not cloven. The stride from one to the next was some six feet—a stark contrast to the small stride of the 1855 Devon prints which were only 8–12 inches apart—and he noticed, Dingwall wrote, “that no sand was splashed up at the edges: it looked as if each mark had been cut out of the sand with a flat iron.”
Dingwall continued: “He had realized how totally inexplicable they were. For here was a biped with a track shaped like a hoof, starting immediately beneath a perpendicular cliff on a closed beach and ending in the sea. There was no returning track.” Dingwall asked Wilson if it’s possible that the animal, or whatever may have made the marks, turned right or left in the sea and returned to land elsewhere. “But Mr. Wilson produced photographs which showed that the beach was a comparatively narrow space completely enclosed by rocky headlands on either side.”
In the winter of 1957, Lynda Hanson observed hoof marks in her parents’ garden. In a letter to Fortean Times editor Bob Rickard, she wrote that it had snowed about an inch overnight and in the morning she saw the prints, “shaped as a cloven hoof, 4 inches across, approximately 12 inches apart, in a straight line and stopping in the middle of the garden.”
She said dry concrete could be seen where the prints were, unlike with normal animal or human prints, which leave compressed snow.
In 2009, retired local government official Jill Wade of North Devon awoke to find prints in her yard, about 5 inches long, with a stride of 11–17 inches. She called in experts to investigate. Zoologist Graham Inglis stated :“This is certainly a first for me. The footprints are peculiar, I can not identify them but they are not the devil’s.
1945, January 10: Strange Tracks seen in Belgium
On January 10, 1945, at 10am, Eric Frank Russell was one of a number of people who discovered strange prints in the snow on a hill behind the Chateau de Morveau, near Everberg, Belgium. Each print was only 2.5 inches long by 1.5 wide, and formed a single-file line with no left/right variance, as if the creature had been hopping. The prints were in distinct pairs of two prints about nine inches apart; these pairs were then separated from each other by a varying distance of about twelve to fifteen inches apart.
This odd line of prints was followed by Russell for about a half-mile in a north-westerly direction until they abruptly vanished shortly after entering a tiny wood; Russell then traced them back in the south-easterly direction for about two miles across fields and a stream until he reached a hillside on which they were worn away by windblown snow. The crest of the hill and the side opposite - which was sheltered from the wind - did not have any further tracks in evidence.
The oddest part of trail was that Russell struggled through snow between two to four feet deep to follow it... but only ever described seeing the prints, he never saw the Animal that made them. Russell stated that "judging by their depth, whatever made them was at least the weight of a good medium-sized creature such as an Airedale;" but if it was an animal walking, signs of its body should have been evident in such deep snow.
The prints remained visible for two days (thanks to good weather). Russell questioned a number of the locals about it, but they had not seen such a sight before. Sadly, no film was available in the area, so photographs could not be taken of the prints. While Russell speculated the tracks might have somehow been caused by a goat - being that the area was littered with them - he himself didn't find the thought very convincing.
All in all, Russell couldn't help but compare the tracks he saw to the more famous occurrence of strange tracks that appeared in Devonshire, England, in 1855 - an event commonly now called the "Devil's Footprints" - though in Russell's case the tracks didn't stretch anywhere near as far, nor climb to roofs of houses as the Devonshire prints had.
Dogman With Red Eyes, Claws and Hooves
A woman named Olivia made a report of what happened to her and her daughter while horseback riding in August 1976. Here is her story in her own words: My daughter and I decided to take our horses out riding, like we occasionally did in the Lakeland area by Blackwood. It was August 9, 1976. I remember the date because we knew Hurricane Belle was soon to hit the New Jersey coast, so we wanted to get some riding in before that. It was a windy day, but we followed the usual trails, going along dirt paths that were close to a junkyard. We approached one section of woods when suddenly there was dead silence. We usually heard all sorts of wildlife in the area, but heard nothing now. Then a crow cawed loudly three times, and the horses started acting up—we couldn’t figure out what was going on. And then up in front of us, about one hundred feet or so, we saw this “Thing”! 'It' was about six feet tall. 'It's back, which 'It' was scratching against a tree, was facing us. At first to me 'It' looked like a large Dog on top of a horse. I asked my daughter, “What is that?” 'It' started walking along the path we were riding on, and we slowly followed 'It' up the hill, but the horses were reluctant to stay calm. They started to go wild.
The Thing turned around, and I could better see what 'It' looked like. 'It' had whitish hair, with black spots on 'It's hips. 'It' had horns coming out of 'It's head and red, slanted eyes. 'It's nose had a pig-like snout. 'It' stood on two feet that ended in cloven hooves; 'It's hands were tipped with large claws. And 'It' looked like 'It' was slobbering all over. 'It' jumped into the path with 'It's arms opened wide, lowering 'It's head like 'It' was going to charge us. At the time I felt as though I was in some kind of trance, like I was in a movie or something. Only when my daughter yelled, “Let’s turn around and get out of here!” is when I realised we might be in danger. We were certainly afraid of whatever 'It' was. Then 'It' did charge at us, tucking 'It's arms in and running like the Bionic Man. 'It' tried to grab one of the horse’s tails, but we took off.
When I looked back I noticed 'It' had stopped in the spot we had taken off from. Like in the movies, after we got away from this Thing, we saw a Washington Township police car by the junkyard and told the policeman driving it that there was a strange Creature in the woods that came after us, and we described 'It' to him. The policeman said, “Well, I hope to hell we don’t catch 'It'!” and started to fill out a report. But amazingly, this Thing showed up in the junkyard and we all saw as 'It' hopped over the eight-foot fence, galloped in front of the police car and then ran into the woods! After that, we took the horses right back to the stables. The policeman wanted my address so he could speak with me later, but I didn’t make it home in time. He had already come and gone. I never found out if he filed the report. Maybe he didn’t want to report it.
Later on, the owner of a local ranch told me one time he found one of his horses dead in a field, with its stomach ripped open. I am telling you: I believe there is something out there. There were three witnesses that day and my daughter and I can recall vividly every moment of our encounter with this Thing even after 40 years. I’ll never forget it. I’ve never told this story to anyone outside of the family, but my daughter convinced me that we should tell it.
No doubt there will be more witnesses out there to the cloven hooved Creatures. The legends of Centaurs and Pan like Sylphs appear in many cultures and as we can see the reports still come in. If you know of any reports like this or would like to report an experience yourself please get in touch at debbiehatswell@gmail.com. If you would like to help us investigate these cases worldwide or have an interest in chatting with like minded people, use the email to join our community members group for news on meets, exclusive podcasts and sighting reports. And a special Thank You to our Patrons, without their help this channel would not be able to bring you the amazing sighting reports from all across the globe.
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