Brentford Griffin

 Brentford Griffin

By Cole Herrold

In the annals of Cryptozoology and Fortean studies in general, there are creatures that appear to of been ripped straight from the pages of classical mythology. There are countless cases, many of which I had covered in the past, from Blackwood, New Jersey’s Pigtaur and Centaur, to the Tangipahoa River Cyclops and, of course, the countless reports of more human-looking Goatmen, which are mirror images of their faun, satyr, and Pan mythic counterparts that seem to indicate if these reports are accurate that there may be more to our myths than just tales to explain natural phenomenon or simply to entertain a group when things like film or Dungeons and Dragons were not around. It is interesting to note that a lot of these beings are reported not in the country from which their tales originated but instead in areas with little to no real direct connection with these legends. Of all of these entities from the Mythic Menagerie, there is one in particular that had for a time captured the attention of a nation and remains one of the most interesting cases in Fortean history simply from the fact that this heraldic beast is one of according to legends the noblest albeit aggressive flying freaks ever written about since the early epic poems and playwright days.

In the middle of 1984, 28-year-old telephone technician Kevin Chippendale had left his home on Brooke Road South and was strolling along Braemar Road. Upon this walk, Chippendale, out of boredom or complete adoration of the current state of weather, proceeded to look up into the sky but upon doing so, he was greeted not just with the marshmallow mists commonly referred to as clouds but also a strange dark form that was beating its way through the azure sky. He could tell that whatever this dark form was, it seemed to be some sort of animal flying some hundreds of feet up in the air and was coming from an area known as the gasworks and was just about to pass a group of tall apartments which coincidentally was known as the Green Dragon Towers. Chippendale, as he strained to make out just what the creature exactly was, could soon tell that this being was far from the traditional fauna said to inhabit, at least to his knowledge, the United Kingdom. The creature was about the size of a large dog, yet an exact height and length were difficult to the distance the creature was seen, and he said there was a likelihood the creature was larger. He noticed that this creature could not have simply been a bird because while he noted large feathery wings flapping in the wind, the overall morphology was off as they appeared to come from the shoulder area and that the way the creature flew was almost as if it was in slow motion. Chippendale could soon see why there was a noticeable displacement of the wings, for dangling below the body of the creature were four legs that appeared to end in features similar to paws. As Chippendale followed up the creature's neck, he noted that the creature had a strange head similar to a birds in most respect, except that there was no noticeable beak but instead a kind of muzzle that had some sort of strange nose at the end. The creature's skin also was not what he expected either as he watched, for there were no feathers on the body itself but what appeared to be a smooth texture to it that made the creature look aerodynamic in flight. Kevin could not make out any further details from this creature but did feel that he had seen the creature’s eyes as well as a kind of tail.

Chippendale was completely flabbergasted at just this strange flying anomaly and had no clear indication as to just what it was that he saw, but he remained quiet about his sighting for fear of being labeled “unbalanced” and moved on with his life until several months later in February of 1985 he was out walking, and upon looking up again into the sky near the Green Dragon Towers he saw the same creature flying again. This time Chippendale, however, had an inkling as to just what the creature could be. During both of these walks, Chippendale passed a pub known as the Griffin Brewery and, upon thinking about the design of the creature on the sign, felt that this creature was fairly close, if not identical, to a Griffin. He would say the following "The first time was last summer when I saw something flying low across the ground in the gaswork. At first, I thought it might be a plane, but it was too low and made no noise. I was intrigued to know what it was and, as I walked past the Griffin pub, realized it looked like the animal on the sign. I saw it again a couple weeks later in exactly the same place". Chippendale realizing he was not crazy due to his second sighting, felt comfortable enough to open up about his encounters but even then, only to his close family and friends, yet as time went on, he would be put into the center of the storm of reports that would flood and engage the area throughout this time period.

Word soon spread about Chippendale’s sighting even with the discreteness of who he told, and it was then that a short time later, one of Chippendale's coworkers, a woman by the name of Angela Keyhoe, would go to him and also claim that she too had seen the strange creature. Angela claimed that she had seen a large, winged animal perched on top of the gasworks, a colossal utility tank that has served as a Brentwood landmark. She had seen the creature while seated on the top floor of a No. 65 double-decker bus, and apparently, she was not alone as others seated allegedly also had seen the flying freak of nature. Angela could not withhold her excitement after her encounter and as she began to tell several local arts center workers about what she and those on the bus had witnessed.

Also, during this time, a psychologist by the name of John Olssen came forward and said that he too encountered a strange flying creature. He encountered what he described as a colossal bird-like creature while out jogging along the Thames River in the early morning hours. It was from this that many felt that the creature was living on one of the many islands that darted the river, Thames. And John Baroldi of the Waterman's Art Center would come forward with several firsthand accounts from people who told him that they too had seen the creature. One of these sightings involved a woman who came from a nearby park along the street of the Art Center who he noticed was in a terrified state. When he asked her what was troubling her, she said that she had seen a large dark-colored bird in the park that scared her so bad she couldn't stop shaking during the sighting.

During this time, the press had picked up the stories, and for several months recounting of the sightings would be told along with several artistic renditions throughout the millennia of just what the creature was supposed to look like. During this time, the interest of the Griffin even led to a Griffin Spotting Club that searched the area of the sightings for any evidence of the creature as well as attempted to catalog any further sightings of the creature. During that time, only one sighting came forward, and there was barely any detail or information on that encounter.

Robert Rankin, the towns poet in residence at the Waterman’s Art Center and writer, took great interest in the Griffin, writing about it in the May 1985 edition of the Magonia Newsletter. He also started to organize a UFO symposium upon which he discussed the Griffin and stated that reports of the creature could be traced back to at least pre World War II. Yet he did say all of the sources that mention the creature was ambiguous at best.

After 1985 sightings of the Griffin completely disappeared, and it remained a strange little chapter in the colossal book of Fortean subjects. Until in 1995 when Robert Rankin came forward attempting to claim that the Brentford Griffin was a hoax perpetrated by himself and several other friends of his and members of the Waterman's Art Center. For many, this killed the idea of a Griffin in Brentford, and so history became legend, legend became myth, and the creature stayed in the shadows of lore for a time. The creature, in fact, was practically forgotten about until a man by the name of Martin Collins wrote a letter which later appeared in an issue of  Fortean Times (specifically issue 110 from May 1998) He wrote: “I first encountered the story of the Brentford Griffins while I was at St John’s School in the 1950s (note: some thirty years before the first sightings!). St John’s in those days sat in the shadow of Brentford’s football ground, Griffin Park. Inquiring why there were so many griffin references in Brentford, I was told that it was due to the family of griffins that lived on Brentford Eyot, an island in the Thames.

The story of how they got there was that the first Griffin was brought to Brentford by King Charles II as a gift for his mistress, Nell Gwynn, who had a house in the Butts at Brentford. One day the Griffin was playing on the banks of the River Brent, which flows past the Butts, and fell in. The hapless creature was washed down the Brent into the Thames, finally being washed up on Brentford Eyot. As it was assumed to have been killed, it was left alone and was able to live on the Eyot for many years – griffins having a lifespan of centuries.

Then Sir Joseph Banks brought back a griffin from a Pacific island where he had been with Captain Cook. This Griffin was originally housed in the Pagoda in Kew Gardens, which is on the opposite bank of the Thames from Brentford Eyot, where it found a mate awaiting it.

There was soon a whole colony of griffins, and they spread out from the Eyot all over the town of Brentford, where they can still be seen to this day if you look closely enough.

This story has stayed with me…it is a nice bit of Brentford mythology.”

With this letter, the story of the Griffin was much like another mythical bird, the Phoenix reborn from the ashes of the alleged hoax, and many speculate now that there might have been some truth to the legend and hoax after all. Even Rankin though his testimony needs to be taken with a grain of salt, to say the least, wrote about other Griffins or Griffin like creatures in the area that appeared in his Magonia article:

This is the Magonia Article in its Entirety

 “Throughout history, the gryphon has been a symbol evocative of power and majesty. As an emblem, it is employed by nearly 200 companies in the UK alone, from the Midland Bank to Fuller's Brewery. Jung once stated that "it is a subconscious symbol of such encompassment that it is unlikely to be the product of mere myth; we are dealing with something born from folk memory." Although a seemingly impossible hybrid of eagle and lion, there now appears little doubt that the gryphon is a Jiving reality. Up until a few months ago, zoologists would have ridiculed the possibility of such a chimera, but the recent spate of sightings coupled with the gryphon skeleton currently on exhibit seems to have added the flesh of reality to the bones of myth. "I went along suspecting hoax," stated Attenborough, "but came away convinced. This discovery has set the zoological world upon its heels."

Reports of gryphons crop up with startling regularity throughout the pages of history. Dr. Johnson records one he saw at Brentford's Bull Fayre: " ••• it was somewhat smaller than I had expected, but the proprietor assured me that it was 'yet young'... it had the body of a lion cub and the neck, head, and forelegs of an eagle ... curiously formed wings issued from its shoulders." Johnson was in no doubt that the beast lived "and was not the product of the gypsies' craft ."No further mention of is made of the gryphon in his writings, and one is left to wonder what became of it. Possibly it was the same live specimen my father saw at Olympia before the war. He was informed that it was several hundred years old and was shown old showman's posters as proof. From the substantial body of information, I have on my own files alone, I am inclined to place the Brentford Gryphon alongside the Yeti and the Loch Ness Monster 'as yet unsolved'. The local sightings have been too widely reported to require further mention here, and I have no cause to doubt the testimony of the witnesses I have interviewed. Having been scrupulous in discounting sightings which might be misinterpretations of natural phenomena, we are still left with statements such as "unlike any living creature I have seen •.. ", "rising from the Thames on outspread wings. •• ", " the front half looked like an eagle, I saw a long tail and claws like a cat." London Weekend Television's 'spoof send-up' on 15th March fell flat on its face, with Cockney 'personality' Danny Baker openly admitting before an audience of several million that the witnesses he had interviewed were genuine. Such unprecedented honesty on his part seemed more than at odds with LWT's obvious intention to send the whole thing up. Since the television coverage, Brentford has found itself playing reluctant host to all manner of fringe elements. Andy Collins of 'Green S tone' notoriety arrived hotfoot, with ghetto-blaster, Instamatic, and the usual bevy of nubile lady acolytes. Viewpoint Aquarius stated that it was a 'genetic mutation' escaped from a government establishment, and the Chiswick Wildlife Trust offered the considered opinion that it was noth1ng more than a four-legged vulture blown off course! In fact, Speculation on all sides led to such an astonishing plethora of 'logical explanations' (the logic of which defies all explanation) that one is left to consider the indisputable fact that it is a gryphin pure and simple - a species of animal as yet unstudied and therefore considered non-existent. One can certainly discount John Rimmer's recent ' authoritative article,' which suggests that it is Brentford's old friend, the giant feral Tom, making yet another of its unwelcome nocturnal appearances. Mr. Rimmer would do well to explain how the famous 5-foot pussy manages to grow upwards of 8-foot, sprout wings and fly across the Thames. I note with growing alarm the plan of some local stalwarts to instigate a gryphon hunt one night in the near future. I hear talk of a flotilla of small boats, tracker dogs, powerful searchlights, steel nets, and tranquilizing darts. The plucky Brentonians would do well to exercise extreme caution, as the beast is notorious for its ferocity and love of human flesh. It is my feeling that the matter should be placed in the hands of the experts. But I am sure also that it will require private backing, as the local council has shown its customary reticence in raising the necessary funds, even for so worthy a cause. Whatever the eventual outcome, I cannot contain the thrill that rises at the prospect of a successful capture. Such would be a rare achievement indeed. I look forward with great interest to future developments. Magonia welcomes any correspondence on this interesting subject and is eager to contact anyone who has had a personal experience with a gryphon or any other form of creature previously believed to be mythical”.

Skeptically speaking, there are many ways to interpret this case. Robert Rankin, one of perhaps three main players in the saga of the Brentford Griffin and the one who wrote the most about the case, was a comedic fantasy writer best known for eleven books known as the Brentford Trilogy, which deal with all sorts of paranormal and supernatural events that affected Brentford. It is known that Robert Rankin, who focused heavily on publicizing the Griffin, came forward in 1995 and said that most if not all of the reports of the Griffin were perpetrated by him as a kind of joke. So taking just that report at face value, most if not all the information on the Griffin straight out, is a hoax. The reason for this hoax was said to be that Robert Rankin and several other locals had planned to hold a Festival in the Waterman's Art center on July 13, 1985. Yet this date would coincide with Live AID, which was taking place at Wembley Stadium, and to raise awareness of their event, they concocted the story about the Griffin being seen around the arts center with all of the witnesses being involved in Rankin's joke and Rankin then proceeded to write a historical background of the creature. Now, this would seem to be the final nail in the coffin for the Griffin, except that in 1985 during these sightings, Andrew Collins investigated and interviewed as many eyewitnesses as he could and felt that they were indeed truthful. He ended up publishing his findings in a 42-page pamphlet entitled The Brentford Griffin: The Truth Behind the Tales. So, it’s possible that at least the initial encounter with the Griffin was based on an actual sighting.

Another possibility is that at least with Chippendale's sightings, if they are not a part of Rankin's acclaimed joke that perhaps he predisposed the image of the Griffin on a natural bird or plane or kite having passed by the Griffin Brewery, which also is near the Griffin Stadium where Brentford's football team play and also that two Griffin's are on Brentford's coat of arms so perhaps he had Griffins on the brain and affitted the description to something mundane. Or even possibly hallucinated the creature due to all the surrounding Griffin influence but this seems less likely compared to being either interconnected with a hoax or having seen a real creature since a lot of Chippendale’s description while Griffin like is not 100% how a griffin is supposed to look and if one were to generate a hoax why wouldn't they go full out and describe the creature as the classical depiction? This, too, would, of course, add to the joke hypothesis even more if one was to say they saw a classic regal griffin and not the more flying canine or lion-type creature. Yet, of course, this still does not rule out Chippendale being interconnected with a hoax.

Now assuming that, at the very least, Chippendale's sighting is authentic, what are we to make of it? Well, the most obvious answer would be that this would have to be some sort of cryptid. There's nothing really to indicate any other major categories, such as there's no UFO sighted in connection with the creature as it quite is its own Unidentified Flying Object, so it's safe to take an extraterrestrial angle off the table. Griffins, from a folkloric or mythological view, first appeared primarily in the literature of the Greeks but first appeared in Aristeas’s lost epic poem the Arimaspea in 675 BC and then showed up repeatedly in the works of Greek playwright Aeschylus in his tragedies like Prometheus Bound. Griffins also showed up in Scythian artwork and gold dating from 3000-100BC, implying that these creatures, if real, were well known or prominent in Mediterranean and Asian culture for countless years. Griffin-like creatures are not entirely unknown in the world of cryptozoology; one of the most famous examples would be the 1925 flap of sightings of a creature that has come to be known as the Vermont Awful. This creature terrorized the towns of Berkshire and Richford as it tromped on rooftops, stole milk cans, and stared at residents through their windows. The creature even reached the ears of cosmic horror author H.P. Lovecraft who was so interested in the creature that he went to the area and interviewed the residents who had seen the creature.

A similar creature was reported sometime later, but this time it was lumped into a different cryptozoological identity, and that was the Jersey Devil. In the late 1920s, there was a report of another quadrupedal flying creature that the press were quick to call a "flying lion" that was seen in West Orange, NJ. This encounter led to the creature being chased by several would-be monster hunters who allegedly not only chased the creature away but also found and captured one of the creature's offspring. Yet further information on this case is scant, to say the least. It is interesting, however, to point out that a flying lion is very similar to what was reported in Brentford, as well as in the Griffin lore, the Griffin is half eagle and half lion, so this report might very well be another example of a Griffin sighting. And as a sidebar, note the fifth example, at least to my current knowledge, of a creature from Greek Myth being reported in New Jersey.

Another creature slightly similar to what was reported in Brentford is the Beast of Barrisdale. This tri-legged flying Waterhorse tormented the area of Loch Hourn on the land while a colossal black serpent frolicked in the lake. The Beast of Barrisdale was described as about the size of a horse or ox and with a myriad of similar features to what we see on the Brentford Griffin, such as large wings attached to the shoulders, smooth skin, a long muzzle like feature, pawed hands and a long tail so perhaps they may be the same species or a related one. For more information on the Beast of Barrisdale, definitely check my February 2, 2021 article on the creature.

Now, of course, while all of these creature reports seem to indicate a biological flesh and blood animal, and while there always is the chance something evolved to be like what these creatures seem to be, the problem with this is that we have nothing in the fossil record or known zoological record that matches. Wings are essentially modified arms and hands to allow the capacity of flight with creatures like the Beast of Barrisdale, the Awful, and the Brentford Griffin; this is not what we're seeing, as this would imply that all of these creatures would have evolved with 6 limbs four which evolved like legs and two that were modified as wings. This is something unheard of in vertebrates as it goes against everything we know about how evolution works. The only way something like this could exist is if these creatures were not mammals, birds, or reptiles but instead colossal insects, which totally goes against their descriptions. So, needless to say, there are some problems with the earthbound cryptid theory.

Now the next possibility for the existence of the Brentford Griffin would be if this is an interdimensional entity. This theory is sort of an extension to the cryptid theory, but instead of them coming from our world, these creatures somehow, through some fluke of the universe or dimensions or whatever, somehow end up entering and being seen in our world. This theory could explain just how a creature like this could exist as with multiple dimensions, there are an infinite amount of possible evolutionary lines and "worlds" where a creature like this could exist.

The next possibility seems kind of slim, but it's one that I speculate all the time about with such strange cases, and that is the Fae option. Faeries are a mixed bag of phenomena and involve creatures of an animal nature like the Cu-Sith or Cat Sith as well as the Kelpie and Each Usiage and even the Dobhar-Chu. Now some folklorists and faerieologists will include the Griffin as well as Dragons and Unicorns into the classification of Fae due to the alleged mystical and magical abilities they are said to have and the fact that they occasionally are seen with, in service of, or in some connection to more traditional Fae like Elves or Dwarves. Now with a creature like a Griffin, if this is an example of a faerie beast, they would have some of the same abilities seen with others, like the ability to vanish. Now there's nothing exactly to indicate that with this case, nor is there any direct faerie connection, such as in the case of the Bridgemont Gnome Race where the faerie horses are seen with gnomes.

Now there’s one possibility that seems so off the track for a phenomenon like this but does occasionally become interconnected, and that is the demonic. Irish paranormal investigator Elliot O'Donnell in his book "Dangerous Ghosts," wrote about a curious encounter with a pair of homicidal supernatural griffins from around the 1660s; he wrote the following regarding the incident where a Mr. John Luck encountered the entities:

“(Mr John Luck) a farmer from Raveley, set out on horseback one morning to the annual fair at Whittlesea. On the way he met a friend, with whom he had a drink at a wayside inn. After drinking somewhat heavily Mr. Luck became very merry and perceiving that his friend was getting restless and desirous of continuing on his way to the fair, he said, "let the devil take him who goeth out of this house today ."The more he drank the merrier he grew. Forgetful of his rash saying, he called for his horse and set out for the fair. The fresh air seemed to have a sobering effect, for he had not travelled very far before he remembered what he had said. He was naturally superstitious and became so perturbed that he lost his bearings. He was endeavoring to find the way home- it was getting dusk and far too late to go to the fair- when he espied ‘two grim creatures before him in the likeness of griffins’. They handled him roughly, took him into the air, stripped him, and then dropped him, a sad spectacle, all gory, in a farmyard just outside the town of Doddington. There he found himself lying on the harrows. He was picked up and carried to a house which belonged to a neighboring gentleman. When he had recovered sufficiently to talk he related what had happened to him. Before long, he 'grew into a frenzy', so desperate that the inmates of the house were afraid to stay in the room with him. Convinced that Luck was under evil influences, they sent for a clergyman of the town. No sooner had the clergyman entered the house than Luck, howling like a demon, rushed at him and would have torn him to pieces had not the servants of the house come to his rescue. They succeeded with great difficulty in overcoming Luck and tying him to the bed. No one was allowed to enter his room, the door of which was locked".

The following day Luck was found dead. His body was contorted, and his neck was snapped; he was covered in black and blue marks, and his tongue was dangling from out his gapping maw. A scene not unsimilar to what those seeing Anneliese Michels had seen. Now, this is the only official instance I found of a demonic griffin, but the idea of a mythological creature as a demon is something that has been referenced time and time again by some religious Forteans. So, needless to say, it is a hypothesis we need to include.

With creatures like this, we are left wondering just how could something like this exist in our world. It would be easy to accept the whole series of encounters as hoaxes, but there's so much gray in this encounter that I'm open to saying that there probably was something there, at least in regard to the Kevin Chippendale sightings. Just what this being could be, I have no conclusive idea, but I would lean more towards the cryptid hypothesis seeing as similar creatures have been reported elsewhere, but even then, there's nothing to confirm that hypothesis either. Perhaps the interdimensional route is the more appropriate. I've mentioned that there have been several creatures seemingly ripped from the pages of myth; perhaps there is a dimension where all of these entities originate from, and it is a world where mythology as we know it is reality, yet as with everything this is just speculation. In conclusion, I feel that the story of the Brentford Griffin will continue to be told as long as people still hold mysteries in their hearts and as long as there are researchers to write and keep the story alive, but the answer to this mystery will never truly be discovered.

Quick Facts:

Species/Potential Species: Mammal/ Bird/ Possible Hoax

Location: Brentford, England

Sighted: Mid 1984-1985

Works Cited:

Encounters With Flying Humanoids By Ken Gerhard

London Urban Legends By Scott Wood

Mysterious Creatures Volume One by George M. Eberhart

Paranormal London By Neil Arnold

Shadows in the Sky: The Haunted Airways of Britain By Neil Arnold

Fortean Times Issue 110, May 1998

Magonia 19, May 1985

Acton Gazette (Ealing, London, England) March 15, 1985

Acton Gazette (Ealing, London, England) August 16, 1985

Ealing Gazette (Ealing, London, England) March 22, 1985

“The Brentford Griffin” Beasts of London.April 6, 2007.http://beastsoflondon.blogspot.com/2007/04/brentford-griffin.html. Accessed May 25, 2022.

“The Brentford Griffin and Other Mysteries”. St. Margarets.7 May 2009. https://stmargarets.london/archives/2009/05/the_brentford_griffin_and_other_mysteries.html. Accessed May 25, 2022.

 

 

Cannock Chase Slenderman

 Cannock Chase Slenderman

By Cole Herrold

Sometimes there are moments in Fortean history that are completely confounding. Perhaps the most perplexing is cases where individuals encounter characters that are seemingly fictional. One of the most famous cases of this variety is when comic book writer Alan Moore saw his occult antihero John Constantine walking down the street in broad daylight. The encounter was relatively uneventful and more mundane than some of the other cases, which seemingly have been growing more and more frequent in the reoccurring years. The most alarming and horrifying of these seemingly real representations of fictional characters is a malevolent, extremely tall shadowy figure dressed in dark-colored clothing. This figure, however, has one haunting feature, or should I say lack thereof, that leads an eternal impression in all those who see it the entity has no facial features or hair.

This entity which is known as The Slender Man or Slenderman, was originally created in June of 2009 by Eric Knudson, aka Victor Surge, on the Something Awful forum later being collected and elaborated on in various Creepypasta websites. The figure has since been embraced by a generation and has appeared in films and video games. Yet while there has been a general spooky nature to this internet meme, it does have a dark side as the character's stories were taken as authentic by several children around the country. One child attempted to burn down his home, and in Waukesha, there was an unfortunate incident when two schoolgirls proceeded to stab their friend to appease the dark entity. While there is no doubting that Victor Surge created the Slender Man, there are interestingly enough reports of a creature similar in appearance much earlier than 2009. One of the most interesting of these accounts came out two years earlier, in 2007 from Cannock Chase, England.

In June 2001, Mike Johnson, an ecologist from Wolverhampton who worked for the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust and the University of Wolverhampton, was in Cannock Chase to work on a project revolving around the Midland Hawthorn, a plant that can grow to 25ft in height. Mike had entered the Cannock Chase area near the old German Military Cemetery and parked his car around there. It was 2:00 pm, and it was a warm, bright day with barely a cloud in the sky, and he was headed towards an area that was at one point a plantation forest that was cleared sometime earlier. He noticed that the woods were extra quiet today, and there was a strong looming silence over the forest that Mike thought was rather odd. There were no sounds of bird songs or insects, and even the sound of vehicles passing the area was practically nonexistent. Mike, however, did not think too much of this at this current moment and simply proceeded to head further on down the path. As he was heading down the path towards where the plantation used to be, he noticed a herd of 50 or so deer suddenly appearing on top of a nearby ridge. He smiled, seeing this as he had only ever a few deer occasionally, and watched as the herd seemingly ran towards a large plantation that was positioned on Mike's right. It was almost as if they were running away from someone.

As Mike headed further down the path, an eerie thought arose in his head. This area seemed wrong. Sure enough, as he looked around, he could not tell where he was the path that he took from the cemetery was seemingly now on the west of him when it was currently on the east, and as he looked up into the sky, even the sun was seemingly in the wrong direction as while it should have been high in the west it was now currently directly north. Even some of the landmarks were off while the ridge was in its original position, the entire area to the south was now in the west. It was almost as if someone had taken a chunk of the area away and moved the sun. The fact that he was seemingly lost was bizarre to him as he had traversed these paths many times before. So taking the position of the sun, he proceeded to get his map out to try to figure out his position.

As he looked at the map that he brought to try to determine if he could find the path he was on, he soon realized that the path that he should have been on that was only 700 meters from his car was not the path that he was on. The landmarks were gone, and the path's overall shape did not match that of his map. He then reached down and attempted to find his way back by use of his compass, but as he waited for the needle to spin towards magnetic north, he watched only in confusion as his compass needle stayed dead still. As he looked in the area, he also had a growing sense that something more was wrong as the area had grown to be uncomfortably silent, and an oppressive feeling seemed to permeate through the air.

He noticed that while his environment had seemingly changed around him, he was not alone as he could see three elderly hikers coming his way in the distance. Seeing this potential aid, he decided that he would wait for the group to approach him so he could get directions from them. He waited ten minutes for the couple to approach, and when they got within about 500 meters away, he was able to get a good look at them and could hear everything they were saying. The trio of nature enthusiasts were about in their 50s or 60s and comprised of a man who was tall and wore cream-colored trousers and a shirt with a rucksack; the other two were women who wore waterproof coats tied around their waists. He watched them as they approached when something peculiar happened; they seemed to disappear. Mike could not believe what he had just witnessed; he stared at the spot and could only think that they had popped out of existence. However, as he did this, he attempted to rationalize what he just saw and felt that perhaps they had descended into the gully and disappeared from sight naturally. So, Mike began watching the area for several minutes, waiting to see their heads rise out of some grassy decline, but they did not appear from the direction he had thought. Instead, the group proceeded to reappear approximately 200 meters from his left, but as he looked, he noticed that there was something different about the party.

Further back from them, there appeared to be a fourth figure; it was a relatively short distance away but still undefined compared to the three figures seen in front. The figure as he watched seemed to move when the group moved and stopped when they stopped, and each time it did this, the figure came closer and closer until Mike could tell that the person behind them was not normal. As he looked, he could tell that the figure was wearing gray-colored trousers and a tight long-sleeved shirt of the same color and that the figure was incredibly tall with long thin arms. As he watched the group, he noticed that the figure was now incredibly close to the trio and that it towered over top of them. He realized that this was not a normal person as he estimated the height of the figure to be well over 9ft tall. As he craned his neck upward, staring at the colossal man, he realized that the man was deathly pale and that on top of its shoulders was an incredibly long thin neck which led to a top slightly elongated head. As he looked at the head, he noticed that there was no hair and just a glistening slick skin that covered the dome, and as he focused in on the head, he came to the shocking realization that the figure bore no facial features; no eyes, mouth, nose, or even ears just absolute blankness. As he looked at the body, he realized that while he initially thought the arms were long, he now realized that the arms actually hung down almost beyond the knees.

Seeing this well-dressed entity was bizarre enough as well as the trio of vanishing hikers, but Mike soon felt that this entity and the hikers were, interestingly enough, unaware of each other's existence. Mike firmly felt this after one of these moments when the hikers stopped. The figure was now a short distance behind them, and as one of the women reached down to grab her bottle of water and proceeded to take a drink that the creature stretched its long arms over the expanse of grass and proceeded to grab the woman's shoulder. The woman simply continued to drink and talk with her friends and was seemingly oblivious to the figure behind her. Mike felt that the entity, however, was aware of him as the figure turned its head to look at him and that this grab to the shoulder was the entity protecting the woman and possibly the rest of the group from him.

It was around this time Mike felt an extreme sense of disorientation and started to bend down to the rucksack that was on the ground. He had full intention to go over and approach the group, but when he looked up with his bag in hand, the environment was back to how it used to be. The sun had returned to its position in the west, and all the landmarks that he was familiar with in the past were back to their designated spots. The overwhelming confusion and disorientation were gone, and so too was the oppressive feeling. As the location seemed to shift to normal, so too did the sounds of nature seemingly return birds were chirping, and the sound of zooming cars too could be heard. In front of him was the path to the German Cemetery, and he could see a large German shepherd running down it, followed by a group of children and adults. As he could now find the way out, he began to run down the path, hop in his car and drive away, never to return to the area again.

While Mike would never encounter the sinister Slenderman type figure again, he would continue to have similar bizarre emotions in the woods. A year later, in 2002, while up near Loch Garten in Scotland, Johnson once more had an overwhelming bizarre sense that something was wrong in the woodlands around the Loch. He felt a bizarre tingle that went up to his back and a similar sense of disorientation and was unable to find a clear direction, but this happened rather quickly, and he was able to get out of the area with little issue. Johnson would tell of his experience in 2001 and follow-up sensation in 2002 to British Fortean researcher Nick Redfern in 2007, and his account would appear in Redfern's book There’s Something in the Woods. Several years later, the Slenderman would pop up, and Redfern couldn't help but notice that there is an uncanny similarity to the fictional internet being and the entity Johnson saw. Redfern would later collect other reports from all over the United States and England, which along with Mike's encounter, would appear in one of the only books on the subject of the Slenderman phenomenon, the Slenderman Mysteries.

Following Redfern, other paranormal researchers would go to write about the entities, such as Pastor Robin Swope, who is considered one of the primary paranormal investigators of Erie County, Pennsylvania, and also wrote a book on the subject called Slender Man: From Fiction to Fact. Another researcher who has put their hat into the Slender Man ring is British paranormal investigator Lee Brickley. Lee Brickley, interestingly enough, had spent a great deal of time investigating the Cannock Chase area and had written several books on the subject, and it was during late 2014 to early 2015 that he came forward with several accounts that he felt were Slender Man accounts. These sightings, however, were much different from what Johnson experienced, as you shall see, and also that two did not occur in the grassy ridges and tree-surrounded woodlands but inside the homes of those who live in the forest.

The first sighting Lee mentioned occurred on January 2, 2015, and occurred at the Castle Ring in the Cannock Chase. The Castle Ring is an old Iron Age fort that has since been a frequent British Bigfoot and ghost hotspot. It was late at night when the witness who was there saw a strange figure on the fringes of the ring. He was unsure if it was another visitor to the location but watched in abject terror as the figure proceeded to rise up off the ground and begin to hover in the air. The sky was perfectly clear and filled with stars, so he was able to make out the figure more clearly; the figure wore an old black homburg style hat and bore a dark coat. The figure's eyes glowed a vibrant red and had a mouth filled with sharp fangs. As the witness watched this airborne anomaly, he saw that it turned looked at him and proceeded at superhuman speed to fly towards him. Afraid that the entity would hit him, the witness dropped down to the ground as the figure flew by overhead. The figure then seemingly descended back down into the nearby trees, and the witness high-tailed it out of there. In an interview with Lee, the witness did mention one thing about the entity that brings it to a whole new level of weirdness. The witness claimed that the figure to him best resembled the infamous paranormal entity that belched blue flame and terrorized England in the mid to late 1800s, namely Spring-Heeled Jack.

The next sighting Lee connects to the Slenderman occurred at 2:00 am also in 2015. The witness to this sighting was lying in bed asleep when she was suddenly awoken by strange scratching sounds that seemingly were coming from her open closet. As she looked into the dark abyss, she noticed a spherical shadow that was hovering off the ground. The dark orb, seemingly aware that she noticed it began to change its form as it began to shape into an eight-foot-tall pale humanoid. The witness would describe this figure as being very similar to a vampire. In a complete state of shock at the anomalous apparition in front of her, she fell back onto her bed, her head hitting the pillow. Yet her eyes continued to watch the freaky fiend she watched as the figure's arms continued to morph. They seemed to extend, stretching out to twice the length of a traditional human's, and proceeded to close in upon her. The creature's claws were running down her face, at which point she screamed, and the entity, upon hearing the sound, seemingly retreated back into the shadows from whence it came and disappeared.

The final case, which occurred at similarly 2:30 am around the timespan of these sightings and also near the Cannock Chase, involved a similar bedroom invader. The witness woke up that night to a loud sound in his bedroom and, as he scanned the room, saw a floating humanoid figure over his bed staring malevolently down at him with fiery red eyes. The entity was dressed completely in black, and the witness claimed that the entity spoke to him in a telepathic way (but what was said went unreported). This haunting apparition, however, left the man shortly thereafter floating upwards towards the ceiling and vanished. The witness then did not sleep the rest of the night.

Now while I'm sure everyone else can agree, none of these sightings are by any means a Slenderman sighting. They have elements of that kind of phenomenon, from the ever-growing arms to even the shadowy body type; however, these accounts are more akin to encounters with entities like shadow people, Hatman, and Sleep paralysis demons than what we would consider a Slenderman encounter. I chose to include them simply out of completeness due to the fact that they are now interconnected with both the location and the phenomenon.

Cannock Chase is just one of several areas on our planet that seems to be either what John Keel would call a Window Area or what would be classified as a haunted forest. The area is littered with countless types of paranormal phenomena. Cryptids like the British Bigfoot to giant snakes and black panthers to even Mothman, Pigman, and Dogman type creatures are constantly reported in the area; there are also reports of ghosts, anomalous lights and sounds, UFOs, and the nefarious Black-Eyed Children. There are countless reasons as to why this could be from lay lines and magnetic reasons or simply because of the isolation this location represents. I've always been a proponent that these areas hold no true supernatural significance and that they are just prime locations for such a phenomenon to occur. Cryptids, seemingly if they are biological animals, have mandatory needs like shelter, food, and water sources, and this is twofold since the species need a larger area to remain elusive. UFOs might go to the area to conduct research outside of our intrusive eyes, and the history of the area can explain why ghosts occur there. All of these reasons for each separate phenomenon can explain the reasons they are so frequently seen there. However, with the nature of all the bizarre phenomena, there is the chance that a more supernatural reason could occur.

While there are tons of reasons as to why phenomena are drawn to the Cannock Chase region, it still does not explain what this particular entity is. One of the big theories with the Slender Man sightings is that the Slenderman is a tulpa, a kind of thoughtform that is featured heavily in Tibetan Mysticism. Now the simplest explanation for this phenomenon is that a person's belief and controlled thoughts can create a life form. The idea behind this with Slenderman is that enough people who have read his story online now believe in him, and so this collective belief resulted in making the entity real. Now, this theory does not exactly work in the way most paranormal researchers point to with these kinds of sightings as the Mike Johnson case predates the appearance of the 2009 Slenderman creation, so that seems to go against the direct connection therein. Now perhaps there's some archetypal figure such as a child's stick figure drawing or something like that, that over time, because of its rudimentary form became something similar to a tulpa, and that could explain why there are sightings today, but this is just speculation.

Interestingly enough, featureless or faceless creatures are somewhat common; there is a phenomenon known as Stick Men, which appear as black, white, or gray living stick figures that have similar anomalous abilities like Slender Man. There was also a creature reported in Georgia of a pale-skinned faceless entity known as the Faceless Thing of Dahlonega. I also covered a bizarre extraterrestrial case involving a faceless apparition that appeared with several jogging suit-wearing Hawkmen aliens that occurred in Montvale, New Jersey (See The Jogging Suited Hawkmen and the Faceless Woman of Montvale for more info). So, the existence of a seemingly faceless creature is nothing new.

Now with all that being said, I have to say I do not think the Cannock Chase Slenderman is a cryptid, tulpa, or ghost; it just does not seem to fit those categories. If there was a light in the sky, I would argue that the creature could be an extraterrestrial as there have been cases of seemingly faceless ETs, but there's not, so it's not as likely. This seems to leave three big categories: Demonic, Faerie, or Interdimensional. Now the clearest and most likely of these categories is that this entity is from another dimension. The fact that the whole area seems different seems to be very reminiscent of countless other cases where people have stumbled into other worlds or other times. Another interesting thing that sort of points to this is that the three hikers seemed to be oblivious to the entity even after it touched one of the women. There's almost like a mergence of several worlds at once as though one was to put three different colors of tissue paper together, and it makes a totally different color, yet all three are their own separate planes. Perhaps the entity is much like something from Stan Gordon's masterpiece From Beyond, a being that is around all the time and could interact with us without us being aware only occasionally when some event happens, we have the ability to see it. Again, all this mere speculation, however.

One thing that really sticks in my head is the Faerie possibility; many researchers have compared the Slenderman to the Pied Piper of Hamelin, an elf or faerie type being, and this whole encounter with the elderly and the assumed protectiveness of them from the creature seems to match that kind of lore. In Faerie lore in general, there are stories of the Fae taking humans away to fairyland, which could be interpreted as another dimension or a subterranean or spiritual world. The fact that this encounter took place in the wilderness and there was a bizarre feeling is also major similarities to faerie encounters in general. Perhaps Slenderman is a particularly rare variety of faerie that we currently have very little information on aside from folktales and, for some reason, are just now seeing a resurgence of encounters. Now with all that said, I will say there are, at least to my knowledge, no faceless faeries, so linking Slenderman to a specific kind like troll, dwarf, gnome, giant, etc., is currently difficult.  Interestingly enough, while there are no faceless fae, there is a faceless entity from Japan known as Noppera-bō. These entities are described as spectral apparitions who have the uncanny ability to impersonate friends, family members, or acquaintances for the sole purpose of scaring people by dissolving its features to reveal a pale white slate of a face. I have often wondered if there might be a connection between Yokai and classical Faeries, as many of the entities reported in Japan do have striking similarities to entities reported in Europe. If the Japanese Yokai are indeed the Eastern equivalent of the Fae, then perhaps the Slenderman is a variation of this kind of species.

The final possibility for this entity is that it could be a demonic entity. Now typically, when people have encounters with this entity, it is not a pleasant experience. People typically do not want a reoccurring encounter like some bigfoot or lake monster witnesses do. The creature's genuine surreal quality to some of the more religious-centered researchers tend to imply a more diabolical origin to the beast. The fact that the creature appears along bedsides and seems to cause oppressive feelings is very indicative of what most would consider demonic behavior. Another reason that this entity could potentially be an agent of the infernal one is that the featureless guise, if intentional, could be a way to terrify any who encounter it. Much like Ultraterrestrials, demonic entities are believed to feed on fear and other negative emotions, so a haunting figure such as this could be the perfect way to illicit such a response.

While one can argue that the whole current wave of Slenderman sightings are a form of mass hysteria or a kind of cyber folklore, its accounts like this that make me think there might be something potentially real going on as faceless entities have seemingly been reported for generations. Just what exactly they are, I can only speculate, and most encounters, while downright terrifying and disorienting, these entities do not seem to be particularly aggressive or violent, so what their motive is, we can only guess. All I do know is that the next time you're out in the woods and things seem off, keep an eye out for you just might encounter a creature straight out of your worst nightmares.

Quick Facts:

Species/Potential Species: Paranormal Entity/ Interdimensional Entity

Location: Cannock Chase, England

Sighted: June of 2001

Works Cited:

There’s Something in the Woods By Nick Redfern

The Monster Book By Nick Redfern

The Slenderman Mysteries By Nick Redfern

Sara C Nelson “Slender Man Now Said To Be 'Haunting British Beauty Spot Cannock Chase'” Huffington Post. January 30, 2015. https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/01/26/slender-man-haunting-british-beauty-spot-cannock-chase_n_6545294.html. Accessed November 28, 2021. 

Staffordshire Trolls of Slitting Mill

 The Staffordshire Trolls of Slitting Mill

By Cole Herrold

As a researcher I've always been fascinated with cases that seem to echo accounts that happened years ago. Whether the account is an identical sasquatch type entity or a series of lights that seem identical to others across the globe its consistent accounts from geographically different locations that really help assert my belief that these accounts are genuine. Of all the seemingly geographically similar phenomenon there’s one in particular that really piqued my interest since the entities in question are of a bizarre place in the paranormal spectrum. Faeries and their ilk have reports that are found all over the world yet most paranormal and fortean researchers seemingly have no idea with what to do with these claims. Some can be pegged in the hairy hominid file under proto-pygmies, or aquatic apes, others can be interconnected with the UFO and extraterrestrial phenomenon, and yet other accounts seem to be of something that can only be defined as magical.

In Staffordshire, England an account occurred where several eyewitnesses encountered the more rugged and loathsome form of faerie known colloquially as trolls. Troll sightings are not unheard of in fortean circles even though they are considerably rarer than encounters with merfolk and the flying faerie variety or leprechaun type yet the most interesting thing to me is that this encounter happened in an urban area whereas other troll sightings tend to take place in the Scandinavian wilderness.

Two witnesses known as Elaine and Barry a married couple in their late twenties who had a home near Staffordshire were returning home with their two children one late December night after a Christmas party in Peckridge. They had gotten into Staffordshire when Barry started to notice that the car was starting to act up. The engine seemed to sputter soon ultimately cut out as they coasted down the road to a safe spot. Barry being the dutiful father and certainly cursing his luck exited the warm automobile and worked his way to the front of the car. Barry popped the hood open and soon began to examine the vehicle’s motor “even though I’m mainly useless at mechanical stuff” as he would later say. Even though he was not an expert on car repair he had some points to look for and proceeded to check the cars wires, radiator, and fuses and none appeared to be loose or overheated. So, Barry simply shaking his head was at a loss for what the car’s ailment might be. He looked down the road as he shut the hood of the car and began to assert how far they were from the home and figuring that they were only half a mile or so and so began to plan accordingly he would later describe his plan thusly: “We had a picnic blanket in the boot (trunk) of the car and I got it out. I got back into the car, and I said to Elaine something like ‘lets cover you up and the kids with the blanket’. They were in the back sleeping and (were) only four and six at the time. So, I said to (Elaine) ‘you stay with them, and I’ll run back home and get your car, pick the three of you up, and then we’ll leave my car here, and we can get someone out from a garage to look at it tomorrow”.

Elaine now nestled in the warm trunk blanket was agreeing to her husband’s decision and was beginning to wait till her husband returned but as he was just about to turn around and head up the frozen winter road she saw something run by exceptionally quick in front of the car. Seeing this bizarre figure startled her enough for her to uncurl a loud scream. Yet soon this singular figure would be followed by several other dark figures that seemed to of stepped from the furthest realms of imagination. Elaine would describe the scene “I just about saw it at the last second, and then another one followed it, and then a third one. The best way I can describe them to you is like a hairy troll or something like that. We had some moonlight, and they were like little men, but with hunchbacks and big, hooked noses and not a stitch on them at all. Not a stitch, at all; just hair all over them. I’d say they were all four-feet-tallish, and when the third one crossed by us, you could see them at the edge of the trees – wary, or something, anyway.”

The events that followed are anyone’s guess for the family seemed to have a period of time that appeared fuzzy to say the least. The family seemed to blank out as though their memory was spliced by some cosmic editor as the figures they encountered seemed to seemingly disappear and their car suddenly revved back to life. The family confused by what had just occurred but more determined than ever to simply get home led the family to stop any would be investigation and instead continue the half of a mile drive back to their house. In the safety on comfort of their home however they felt uncomfortable about the events, and they seemed to be missing some time from when they sighted the creatures and when their car returned to life. These memories however would return in time as what happened at the car once they seen the diminutive denizens would happen in flashes. Barry would later say “We both know from memory that they came forwards, towards us, very slowly to us, and I’ve thought since that they were interested in us or wanted to know who we were. They came very slowly, and it was a bit like we were being hunted, to me. Elaine was hysterical; and with the kids with us, I wasn’t far-off, either”. “But that’s all we remember. The next its all gone, nothing. Neither of us remembers seeing them go, and the next thing it was about two o’clock and the car started fine, then. It felt like something had happened to us, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on, you know, what I mean? But the memory thing is the biggest problem, even now, what was it? I did have a dream later about them surrounding the car, but that’s it really. But they were there, and we did see them, right up by the Stone House”.

Barry and Elaine now in their mid-60’s to this day feel uneasy about their loss of memory but is certain that their encounter did happen stating “I know, and we know, that we both saw them. The kids don’t remember a thing, thankfully. They were horrible little things. All that hair: Trolls, Goblins, something, but they were there, and they were real”. Barry and Elaine later would state that they never had any paranormal encounter before or after, but they were certain the encounter happened.

This case is extremely interesting, and I wish I had more details on it, I would love for an eyewitness sketch or some one on one discussion with Barry and Elaine on some of the other details with this case, but unfortunately I don’t think that will come into fruition. With this case it has so many hallmarks to other cases that its difficult to point to specifically one category for these creatures. I guess to begin with we could look at these creatures from the realm of cryptozoology as these could be a kind of hairy hominid. These creature’s height is realistic for an organism to remain hidden now a days as opposed to the 6-9ft tall Bigfoot reports that are also said to have occurred in England and Ireland. From this it could be plausible that the creatures seen are some offshoot of hominid evolution especially since there’s a phenomenon called Island dwarfism which caused organisms that are typically large on other continents to be smaller on islands to help deal with competition of resources. There’s a very good chance that this is a possibility.

The Norwegian Film Troll Hunter dealt with the idea of Trolls being biological creatures as yet undiscovered by mainstream science

The next possibility is that these creatures are extraterrestrials. There have been several sightings of creatures similar in appearance that have been seen in connection to UFOs. The most famous is the rash of hairy dwarf sightings or as we here at the New World Explorer’s Society call them Space Morlocks. These creatures are about the same height and the first sighting which eyewitnesses Jose Ponce and Gustavo Gonzalez experienced on a road near Caracas in Venezuela is eerily similar to what Barry and Elaine had witnessed. Now the big difference between the two is that in the Caracas case the two witnesses saw a large oval shaped object hovering in the middle of the road and when one went to investigate happened to run into one of the hairy entities. While similar these entities feature wise are also different in the Venezuela case the entities were essentially featureless aside from a pair of glowing eyes set in a round head whereas the trolls had hooked noses and other human like features. The Caracas aliens also wore loin cloths as opposed to the nude trolls and these space entities also wielded “wand-technology” (cylindrical shaped machinery that emits light) whereas the troll case featured no reference to any kind of machinery or tool use. Also, there was no confirmed UFO sighting in the area that these entities assumedly would travel on so that is also another issue with this hypothesis.

Sketch of the Hairy Dwarf from the Caracas case

To me the most obvious answer to these creatures seems to be the most absurd and that is that they are faeries in the truest sense of the word. Faeries are a variety of creatures that are deeply connected with both nature and historical sites. These entities have many of the same elements associated with extraterrestrial encounters including time loss and in some cases memory loss. These entities are not fond of being sited in fact there are several accounts of faeries scaring people away, chasing them, causing great emotional distress, or in more aggressive cases like the typical Scandinavian Troll or Kelpie eating those they encounter. These entities are interconnected with green places and that seems to be the one consistent element to all reports as faeries are found in areas with high concentrations of trees, grass, flowers, what the exact connection to this is, is cannot only be speculated but the most common belief is that they are the avatars of nature if this is the case it would make sense as to why these creatures were seen in England even though it is a decidedly more urban area than most of the other reports out there.

With that said there is very little modern research on the phenomenon. There’s tons of accounts that can be found in old books and some modern day podcasts feature some eyewitnesses but other than that there’s no “Faerie Quest” or some other research oriented study of the phenomenon. The last big one was the Fairy Investigation Society which for more information definitely read Seeing Fairies by Marjorie T. Johnson. So, it’s difficult to speak with any certainty that these entities really do belong in their own category and not in the trinity of paranormal (Cryptozoology, Ufology, and spirit research/Demonology).

With this case its resonated with me for some time when I first came across it in the Monster Book by Nick Redfern and it is perhaps to me one of the most interesting ostensibly fae encounter. These creatures are entirely unique only in that they seem ancient as though they have leapt from a John Bauer painting yet the thing that haunts me is their motives. In a sinister take on their sighting one has to mention the phenomenon of changelings how trolls and other faeries will kidnap human offspring and swap them with their own and it is very eerie that Barry and Elaine’s children were asleep in the car and the couple had memory problems afterwards. Perhaps their children were given the old switcheroo and now their real children are down in the faerie kingdom somewhere. I do not know and this is just a hypothetical based on legends but it is important to say about that time loss for who knows what really happened during that time maybe they were given a tour of the land or the great Seelie courts or perhaps nothing happened at all and the Trolls used the time loss as a kind of blanket for them to get away but its all speculation and something that we will never more than likefully know the answer to.

Quick Facts:

Species/Potential Species: Hominid/ Mammal

Location: Slitting Mill, Staffordshire, England

Sighted: December 1975

Works Cited:

Beasts of Britain By Andrew M. L. McGrath

The Monster Book: Creatures, Beasts, and Fiends of Nature By Nick Redfern

Combing, Beach “Trolls in Staffordshire (in the 1970s!)”. Beachcombing’s Bizarre History Blog.  June 13, 2012. https://www.strangehistory.net/2012/06/13/trolls-in-staffordshire-in-the-1970s/. Accessed October 12, 2021.