Today in Bigfoot History | JAN 15, 2003 | 3 Day British Bigfoot Expedition

The British Bigfoot posing in front of the Union Jack

"I have seen the beast!" -- Jon Downes after a 3 day expedition searching for the British Bigfoot

Today, January 15th, in 2003, Jon Downes ventured out to  Bolam Lake to investigate an encounter reported by three fishermen earlier in the month. Mr. Downes with five other members of the Twilight Worlds Paranormal Research Group left for the area near the lake and three of the members saw the British Bigfoot.

Nick Redfern recounts the Jon Downes experience as well as the fishermen's encounter that proceeded it in an article for FATE magazine in 2005. You can read the excerpt below:

 "In an article published in the North of England Evening Chronicle of January 6, 2003, it was stated: "A yeti with glowing eyes is living in a North East park, according to a fisherman's tale. A report on a website dedicated to hunters of the Yeti and his Big Foot buddy carries details of three encounters between the half-ape creature and three pals.  

          

        "They tell how they spend hours in Bolam Lake near Belsay, Northumberland, pike fishing late at night. But their tranquility was disturbed on one fishing trip by a catch they did not expect to make. The anonymous writer tells how he was between his friends Neil and Nathan walking on a wooden path back to the car park, just after midnight. "About halfway along the path I turned around to talk to Nathan. He was further back along the path, picking his bag up off the track. Behind him, standing in the middle of the track, was a dark figure. The light was moonlight and shining through the trees.'  

          

        "The others did not see it at first until he pointed it out to them. He said it was "a dark figure, looked about eight feet tall, heavy built, its eyes, or what seemed to be its eyes, glowed in the darkness. We ran, top speed, all the way back to the car.' "  

          

        Interestingly, the newspaper revealed that during the previous March, a similar creature had been seen on a hill close to the remains of an Iron Age settlement near the park's boundary. On January 15, 2003, Jon Downes headed to Bolam to conduct a firsthand investigation of the sightings. Four days later, he telephoned me: "I have seen the beast, " he said quietly and with a degree of fear and trepidation in his voice. It transpired that Jon and five members of a local research group, the Twilight Worlds Paranormal Research Group, were on watch at Bolam Park the previous evening as darkness began to fall. Suddenly "something " appeared that defied all explanation, said Jon. He and three of the group only caught a glimpse of it for the briefest of moments, but the fast-moving creature was around eight feet tall, three feet wide, and dark in color.  

          

        Although lost in the failing light and the trees, Jon was able to determine that the "creature " seemed to be without real form and, incredibly, one-dimensional in appearance.  

You can read the Nick Redfern's full article about other British Bigfoot encounters at Bigfoot Encounters.

Kentish Apeman a/k/a The British Bigfoot Returns after 70 Years

The Kentish Apeman a/k/a The British Bigfoot triggers a 70 year-old memory

News from Britain has been reporting a return of a Bigfoot-like cryptid. Locals call it the Kentish Apeman, and have recently spotted it in Tunbridge Wells Common. This is the exact place it was spotted 70 years ago.

The beast is describes as hairy, eight-foot tall, with red demonic eyes.

According to the paper, Tunbridge Wells People, "Other sightings have claimed the monster has also been on the prowl in Darftord and Blue Bell Hill, near Maidstone". Early this year we reported on another alleged British Bigfoot trackway find in Cotswolds. 

Read the excerpt from the Kent News below:

The most recent sighting is believed to have taken place last month on Tunbridge Wells Common – the 200-acre wooded site which sits in the centre of the town and is one of its most picturesque features.

But after it was reported, it jogged the memory of another local resident who went online to reveal how it tallied closely with a story he had heard years ago.

The author, who billed themselves as Graham S from the town, revealed how when he was working as a painter in the house of an elderly lady, she regaled him with a tale of coming face to face with the apeman on the Common during World War Two.

The post read: “One particular day she went to the Common with her husband and was sitting on a bench when they became aware of a shuffling noise behind them.

“Upon turning around both her husband and herself saw what she described as a tall, hairy ape like creature with eyes that were burning a reddish colour and it was moving towards them at a slow pace. They observed this creature for some time until they became afraid and they both fled – terrified.

“She went on to say that they told the police and members of their family, thinking that a gorilla had escaped from a zoo, but were laughed at and were not believed.”

Sharon Hill of
Doubtful News

Even our favorite skeptic at Doubtful News has weighed in on the whole idea of Bigfoot living on an island like the U.K. We assume it's preposterous to her for multiple reasons, but we think she is calling out that the U.K is an island.

"Another point in the piece is that apemen are sighted in the U.K. Frankly, it’s a preposterous idea. It’s SO preposterous that investigators, like Arnold who is quoted, have entertained that the explanation is not of an actual animal but of a supernatural thing." --Doubtful News

Doubtful News is responding to Neil Arnold, a paranormal expert from Rochester. The Kent News article further describes Mr. Arnolds position, "[he] doesn't believe the apeman to be a flesh and blood 'monster', but a paranormal figure..."

Click the following link to read the Kent News article about the Kentish Apeman a/k/a British Bigfoot