London Flood Troll
By Cole Herrold
In February of 2014, London was starting
to prepare itself for the oncoming deluge from Storm Ruth. During this time,
the city was hit with a massive onslaught of rainclouds that, on several
occasions, seemed to overtake the city. On one of these days, the rain hit hard
and resulted in excessive flooding in London as well as the rest of the
Southern portion of the country. During this time, many people were active in
preparing not to be dislocated during the storm. Apparently, all were not so
lucky as a 25-year-old student would find as the storm seemed to of not only
affected the people in the area but at least one Fortean beast that had made
itself seen during the deluge.
An unnamed 25-year-old student was visiting
his parents in a rural area and assumedly was helping in any way to stop any
damage to his parent's property or simply to make sure that they were safe and
prepared for the incoming storm. He had initially planned to stay with them for
a little bit but realizing the possibility of the trains to London being stopped
due to the weather decided against it and upon finishing his visit with his parents.
Proceeded to head towards the train station to book a train to get back to his
home in London. This trip home was a long one, and during the ride, he
proceeded to fall asleep several times; and on one occasion of waking from deep
sleep, he happened to look out the window and had an almost Twilight Zone-esque
surprise that would shock him for the rest of his life. It was getting dark
out, and as he began to gather his bearings from waking up once more from a
restful nap, he, upon looking out the window to his left, saw a strange dark
figure running next to the train at a rather close distance. He at first
thought that this figure was a person, but as he stared at the strange runner
in the flooded landscape that the train slowly trudged through, he soon
realized that this was not the case. As the figure came exceptionally close to
the train, he was able to note that the being was an astounding 9-10ft tall and
that it was running in a strange erratic fashion, not like how a person
normally would. He also noted that the figure was exceedingly large and notably
"fat" in form, and the man noticed that the water from the flood barely
touched the being’s knees. This, however, was not the strangest part of the
creature's appearance; as the man peered closer at the figure, he could see
that the creature bore no clothes but was covered in long shaggy hair all over
its body with the exception of its face and chest. As he stared at the figure's
head, he noted that its eyes reminded him of a gorillas, but this would be the
end of any similarity to a primate as the creature also bore two short white
horns and had large and long wolf ears. As he stared at this anomalous
apparition, he had wondered whether he actually was awake and whether this
whole scenario was not some dream within a dream. Yet as he looked over to his
fellow passengers, he noted that others had seemingly noted the strange being
yet were hesitant to openly draw attention to the being running alongside the
train. Even if those who did see the creature spoke up, however, it would be
for naught as there was barely anyone on the train, and so it was a secret they
all must share.
The 25-year-old witness would, during the
event, talk to two other witnesses who were in the same car, a young boy and
his mother, but just what they discussed went unreported. As they sat, however,
the train started to speed up, and they could tell that this new acceleration
was too fast for the creature to keep up with, and so he watched as the
creature was left behind to waddle in the flooded mire. When asked about his
encounter further and asked why there were no photos, the witness said the
following “No, I wasn’t dreaming, mate. I also know what a bear looks like, and
it looked more like a troll. Remember, from the Lord of the Rings?...” Well
mate, I was quite surprised, like I said. You just don’t have got any time to
reach your phone and take a picture. Things happen fast, that’s what people
don’t get. So, unless you are a trained journalist or similar…and you are
expecting something to happen, you’ve got nothing,… “Friends and other
people say it’s rubbish, but I know what I saw,”.
As far as this case goes, this is all we
have. None of the others on the train seemed to of come forward with their
sighting. There were no photos or any other follow up outside of the initial
report, which the anonymous witness had that was later uploaded onto Cryptozoology
News. Yet the encounter at least has enough information for us to attempt
to break down his sighting. Obviously, starting off skeptically, it could be
possible that this was some internet hoax. This is fairly common with creature
reports of all kinds, and we see more of this now arguably than ever before.
Another reason one might point to the hoax angle is even the description of the
creature. The witness said that the creature reminded him of a troll and that
it specifically would be reminiscent of one from the Lord of the Rings. Now
clearly, as a Tolkien fan, I would at first venture and say that this depiction
makes no sense as being compared to trolls or any of really the other creatures
in Tolkien's World. The Trolls in the book are more or less giant humanoid
creatures that, much like the folklore they’re based on, turn to stone when in
contact with sunlight. Other than that, there's not much of an official
description, yet early artwork in Tolkien books tends to show them as giant
human-like creatures with sharp facial features. In the Peter Jackson films,
trolls are hairless, colossal, and have unique, almost pug-like faces. This is
very different from the gorilla-furred horned creature reported, and while this
could lend credence to an actual sighting, I offer this other option the
witness might have gotten the wrong Tolkien creature to describe it as. In the
animated sequel to both Rankin Bass's The Hobbit and Ralph Bakshi’s Lord
of the Rings, Rankin Bass once more returned to the helm and directed The
Return of the King. In this animated classic, as well as the original
Rankin Bass Hobbit, even though the presence of them is not as prevalent
in that one, there are creatures that bear a strong resemblance to the creature
seen by the witness; these are the Orcs and Goblins. In the film, they had
large bulky gorilla-like forms, they were incredibly fast, they had no hair on
their faces with some exception on the top and sides of their heads, and also
they had large protruding horns. The only major difference between these
creatures and the troll reported in this case is the excessive amount of hair
reported, which could have been an extra detail placed to remove the overall
fantasy appearance of the creature that it could have been based on.
Now while I've really gotten into how this
case is possibly a hoax inspired by the classic film adaptations of Tolkien’s
work, there is always the chance that what was actually reported in the account
did occur. If this is to be the case and not the ramblings of an animated
Tolkien fan, then what are we to make of this account. My first thought would
be that this creature would be a cryptid as the timing of the sighting and the
storm would seem to indicate that this creature might have been displaced by
the storm or that the overall storm would increase the creature's activity as
it searches for food. Horned sasquatch-type creatures, which would be the
closest type of creature that would match the entity reported, do occur, yet
oftentimes they are lumped in or misinterpreted as other cryptids. One of the
most famous horned cryptids I covered, which gets lumped into the bigfoot
category, for example, is the Wood Eating Amish Country Goose Grabber, which is
more of a horned Were-lion as opposed to a bigfoot. Yet let's say for argument
sake that Sasquatch can get the same or a similar disease as the Shope
papilloma virus (SPV). This disease creates growths that one could compare to
as horns and is primarily found in certain types of rabbits, and is most likely
the inspiration for the lore of Jackalopes. Now we do know that Bigfoot-type
creatures are reported in England; there have been several interesting cases
and findings primarily in the area of Cannock Chase, so perhaps if SPV is
applicable to other species in the same way that Rabies is, then its possible
that reports of Goatmen and other horned humanoid cryptids could be examples of
bigfoot with SPV. Yet, of course, this is also speculation.
Another possibility in the Cryptid
department is that this could be an example of a Goatman with mange or old age.
Now Goatmen are a highly debated cryptid, and the phenomena, in general, sits
at the tri corners of both the cryptid, Faerie, and Demon categories as there
are reports that are reminiscent of each different category. Now when one looks
at how a witness describes any phenomenon, it is always important to remember
that the witness is putting their encounter together in their words the best
way they can, and that does not always mean that what they are describing is
100% accurate hence why we have some issues with descriptions with even famous
cases like the Flatwoods Monster where multiple witnesses described the
creature as mechanical whereas others felt it was a completely flesh and blood
being. So perhaps, in this case, the witness humanized the creature more than
it actually was, or perhaps the creature was seemingly more primate-like or
human-like, but that this was caused by a disease like mange. This could
explain the ultimate lack of hair on the face or chest and the bizarre behavior
of chasing a train. Now granted, if that's the case, then this would be the
first case, at least to my knowledge, of a Goatman with mange as unlike
Sasquatch, where we do have reports with mange, there has never been a Goatman
one, so if that's accurate, this is a revolutionary report in the annals of
Goatman research.
Now other options for this creature are
seemingly lessened as opposed to other cases as this does appear to be a very
physical creature, at least from the description. If this is the case, one
could always entertain extraterrestrial, but this case does not have a UFO, or
any other element that one could point to that would indicate that this entity
comes from off-world. There is no history, at least to my current knowledge, of
this entity or a similar one being reported with UFO or alien cases, so it's
safe to say it does not match that category. I would argue the same for some
sort of paranormal entity in the way of a demon or ghost; the fact that this
being seemed physical and that it interacted with its environment in a very
tangible way does not seem to imply something supernatural in the way that we
associate ghosts or spirits with.
With that said, though, there are some
other options; the first and, to me, most important is the Faerie category. Now
I’ve covered the Fae extensively in other articles, and they are something that
constantly keeps coming up with these stranger cases hence why I feel its an
option we as researchers need to focus more on but let's say that the witness
was not using the word troll as semantics but that the witness either had some
insight or knowledge that what he was seeing was from beyond the hidden veil.
Now I've covered countless Troll cases from all over the world, and I will say
this entity has many features reported in other troll cases, but the horns are
new. Trolls typically are described as humanoids of varying sizes and shapes,
and they are excessively hairy and are connected to people of a certain pagan
origin or the landscapes they are connected with. They have many abilities that
involve growth, weather-controlling, disappearing, and that is simply from what
has been reported over the years with other cases. Now, as stated, I’ve over
the years only found one official case of a Troll with horns, and that
involved, interestingly enough, another case where the creature was seen in
water, this time in America. So perhaps River or water trolls have this
feature; yet again, I will say I have never come across any reference to this
outside of modern artwork of Trolls from individuals like Brian Froud or other
artists.
Another possibility is that this creature
could be from another dimension, Ultraterrestrial or tulpa, as they are sort of
the answers which function as the ultimate answer for how any phenomenon could
occur. Now, needless to say, there are problems with all of these topics,
especially since they are also the most difficult to gather evidence or data
of. Also, of them all, the only one that would make sense would be an
interdimensional being since on another world or plane of existence, there are
countless evolutionary possibilities that are out there, and therefore, it is
almost impossible to claim that at least in one of these worlds that one did
not create a creature like this. If this is an Ultraterrestrial, it really did
not seem to do what the traditional Ultraterrestrial is known for, as the
entity did not exactly attempt to generate fear in a more aggressive manner or
attempt to confuse or make the witness out to be ridiculous in some insane
scenario as how some felt Woodrow Derenberger was made out to in his encounters
with Indrid Cold. It just seems that this encounter is purely random and bears
no true significance, and that, of course, would be if this entity is an
Ultraterrestrial.
This case is interesting on multiple
levels, both in not only the analysis of witness testimony but also in general
data regarding other Fortean phenomena. Just what this entity is and whether
this is a true case or not is obviously debatable. I tend to lean more towards
the skeptical on this case simply due to just how the creature was described
and the mention and focus of Tolkien in the original testimony, yet that does
not obviously mean it's a hoax by any means. The world we live in is stranger
than fiction, and so it's very possible that this witness had access to a
once-in-a-lifetime experience with the unknown yet just what that being might
have been is truly anyone’s speculation.
Quick Facts:
Species/Potential Species: Mammal. Faerie,
Paranormal Entity
Location: Outside London, England
Sighted: February 2014
Works Cited:
Humanoid Encounters 2010-2015 By Albert S.
Rosales
“British student comes forward with
close-range account of troll-like creature chasing train” Altered Dimension.
February 12, 2014. https://www.altereddimensions.net/2014/british-student-reports-troll-creature-chasing-train.
Accessed March 22, 2022.
"The Troll of London" UFOlogy
and More. April 7, 2014. https://ufohotspot.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-troll-of-london.html.
Accessed May 24, 2022.
"Troll Runs After Train in Flooded
London" Before Its News. February 13, 2014.
https://beforeitsnews.com/paranormal/2014/02/troll-runs-after-train-in-flooded-england-2464210.html.
Accessed May 24, 2022.
“Troll Runs Train Flooded England” Cryptozoology
News. February 2014. http://cryptozoologynews.com/troll-runs-train-flooded-england/.
Accessed March 22, 2022.
“Strange creatures that people report
seeing.”. MissionQuest. February 12, 2014. https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/missionquestfpb/strange-creatures-that-people-report-seeing-t1176-s220.html.
Accessed March 22, 2022.
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