Of late, there has been an increasing number of claims by people who think that they have seen Bigfoot in Great Britain. If you think Bigfoot is a physical being, descended from gigantopithecus blacki, then for me, that particular idea of seeing such gigantic creatures in tiny England is almost beyond ludicrous.
If you think Bigfoot and all his pals come through vortices in time and space, wormholes in the structure of the dimension, then I suppose his existence here would perhaps be a definite maybe.
Rather reminiscent of the “Barmston Drain Dog Destroyer”, this is a tale from Tunbridge Wells. I have précised the account in the Daily Mail, although it did appear in a good few other newspapers in almost identical form.
Tunbridge Wells, incidentally, is located in west Kent, forty miles from London. The population is about 56,000:
“Terrified walker claims 8ft-tall creature roared at him…
A man walking in the 200 acres of woodland beside the town’s common claims to have spotted an 8ft tall black beast with demonic red eyes and long arms.
The ape-like creature, which looked like America’s legendary Bigfoot, roared at the walker, who immediately ran off in fear.”
And of course, that is not the only report in Tunbridge Wells. All the people who have seen Bigfoot in the local library car park suddenly come out of the woodwork to tell the tale.
“Over the past six months there have been a number of sightings. Locals in Tunbridge Wells have mixed opinions, with some believing it could be a joker wearing a fancy dress costume.
Scientists say rumours of its existence have come from folklore and hoax.”
Interestingly enough, though, there is a tale of a strange creature being seen in Tunbridge Wells well over seventy years ago in 1942. Every monster has to have a name, preferably slightly comic, and presumably in an effort to make it a little less monsterish. He has, therefore, been christened “The Kentish Apeman” or “The Apeman of Kent”. The tale was told best in the Kentish News:
“He was first spotted on the town’s common seventy years ago.
An elderly couple saw it in 1942.’They were sitting on a bench when they became aware of a shuffling noise behind them.
Turning around they saw a tall, ape-like creature with eyes that were burning red moving slowly towards them at a slow pace.. They observed this creature for some time until they became afraid and both fled – terrified.”
“The old lady went on to say that they told the police and members of their family, thinking that a gorilla had escaped from a zoo, but they were laughed at and were not believed.”
This account also mentions other reports of the creature in more detail. One extraordinary tale, even in the context of gigantic unknown apemen, came in Dartford when a student saw a creature with long arms and knees which came up under its chin as it walked. If it’s nice weather tonight, or perhaps tomorrow morning, then go out on your lawn, and give that a go. And don’t forget: “knees which came up under its chin as it walked”.
Five members of the Territorial Army in 1991 spotted this beast on Blue Bell Hill, near Maidstone. They threw stones and shouted at it before running away. A young girl in Chatham saw the apeman appear then run off into the bushes.
Well, there we are. No real, concrete explanation. Not like the famous Man-Monkey of Ranton. (The what?):
“On January 21st 1879, a labourer was employed to take a cart of luggage from Ranton in Staffordshire to Woodcock in Shropshire.
“He was late coming back. His horse was tired, and could only crawl along, so that it was late at night when he arrived at the place where the road crosses the Birmingham and Liverpool canal.
“Just before he reached the bridge, a strange black creature with great white eyes sprang out of the plantation by the roadside and alighted on his horse’s back.”
A bit like this?
“He tried to push it off with his whip, but to his horror the whip went right through the thing, and he dropped it on the ground in fright.”
When the man recovered from the fright, he returned home and excitedly spread the story.
A few days later, a policeman came round to his house and told the frightened man: “That was the Man-Monkey sir.”
Not much gets past our police, does it?
John Knifton 
An interesting read thanks for sharing
Thank you for your comment. To be honest, I’m not too sure on what level to take the reports of Bigfoot in England. I posted it for Halloween but I wonder if Ill be re-blogging it next April Fools’ Day!
Well huh. I knew we heard of such things in North America, and Asia has its own version. But maybe this thing is global?
Obviously to believe there are breeding populations of giant man-beasts scattered throughout the world is pushing the limits of reason.
I would say the most likely thing is a subtle sort of mass hysteria. People have all heard such stories, so they glimpse a bear reaching up a tree, or a hermit in a shaggy coat, and jump to a bizarre conclusion. But some of these sighting going back before the modern media age are harder to dismiss that way.
Of course there remains the possibility there are things in this world that go beyond our understanding of nature and reality. It sends a chill down my spine, but science may not hold all the answers. That may also be why these tales are so fascinating, but then that sends me back to the previous paragraph…
“pushing the limits of reason” is absolutely the correct phrase to use about a Bigfoot in England. Our country is smaller than most American states and has a population density that is the biggest in Europe, except for the tiny states like Vatican City and Monaco. “Mass hysteria” is also the correct phrase for the process now going on in England. TV programmes about Bigfoot are shown daily on satellite, and as you say, when somebody sees a fat man in a fur coat they automatically think it must be Bigfoot. For me the biggest difference between England and North America or Asia for this creature is that the latter two places have a long history of seeing them. The most convincing thing, for me, about Bigfoot in the USA, is that they are sightings “going back before the modern media age ” People in Oregon a hundred and fifty years ago were completely isolated from people in, say, Kansas or Texas, and yet they all saw pretty much the same thing. That takes a lot of explaining away!
Finally, thanks a lot for your comment. It was very nice of you to take the time.
I enjoy your posts a lot. They’re very different from most of what’s on my reader! But always fun and informative.
I love these posts they really make me laugh. Big foot in Tunbridge wells? As it was in the Daily Mail it must be true, after all they have predicted both the hottest summer and coldest winters every year for as long as I can remember! Or perhaps the Tunbridge Wellians have been supping too much ‘Spitfire’ ale!
I’m so glad that you understand what I’m trying to do with this type of post. Too many people nowadays seem to have lost the ability to work out for themselves what is important and what is just plain silly. Back in the day, I could always make my classes laugh, and it’s nice to know that I still have some of that ability.
And of course laughter is what’s important.
I love this post! I’ve been considering a blog on the many different theories about the origins of everybody’s favorite cryptid, Bigfoot, or shall I call him Sir Bigfoot? lol 🙂 You must have read my mind, because it appears you have beaten me to it. 🙂 Dagnabbit! lol…joking.
You have mentioned most of them, except for one I recently saw presented on a TV show about aliens. They proposed perhaps Bigfoot are pets of extra-terrestrial beings that somehow (either intentionally or accidentally) got left behind when Martians visited our planet.
Thank you for mentioning several different plausible explanations for the sightings. Very well written and extremely informative. I shall have to conduct internet searches to research this creature more in depth.
My guess is the most logical explanation is the Samhain/Halloween hoax. This time of year is prime opportunity for practical jokesters to try to scare the pudding out of their friends and neighbors. I just hope if this is the case they practice extreme caution. One never knows how people may react to being frightened.
When it comes to Bigfoot, it seems people either believe or do not believe. Analyzing the “evidence” seems to be quite fun for both believers and skeptics. It does get a little boring watching the same old “blob squatch” videos on YouTube over and over.
Thanks again for presenting some exciting new evidence to analyze. Look forward to your next post. Have a fantastic evening!
Thanks a lot for your interesting comment. I think that the idea of Bigfoot being a pet the aliens left behind is a brilliant one, although it does make you wonder just how big the original aliens must be!
Reblogged this on The Curious Fortean.