Blobsquatch? Or Perhaps The Blob?
Posted by: Craig Woolheater on October 5th, 2006
From the Whitby Gazette out of the UK comes this strange report:
Mystery black creature spotted
A SLEIGHTS woman who saw a mysterious creature in Sandsend is asking others to help shed light on the mystery.
Joanne Pearson of Birch Avenue was returning home while walking with her dog and a friend, Phil along Sandsend ravine on a stormy night last month.
She said it was around 10.30pm at night as they walked under the golf bridge and turned to the right that she first caught sight of the animal which appeared to be an enormous four foot high and three foot wide.
In a letter to the Whitby Gazette she recalled: "The bottom of it seemed to have no legs and just resembled an over sized bean bag sat there.
"It certainly was not a badger or a deer as it was too big, fat and round."
The strange creature was positioned next to a hedge and it looked so unusually big that both Joanne and her friend stopped in their tracks and the pair didn’t dare move and it wouldn’t move either. "If this was an animal then it would have scampered off but it seemed quitecontent to stare back at us.
"We stopped where we were and we let the dog investigate it as we were not preared to go any further until it budged.
"The dog spotted it and went racing up to see it off so it was obvious by her natural chasing instinct that this was some wild animal.
"As she approached it the odd thing was that there was no scuffle or running involved. The black thing seemed to glide sidewards very gracefully and quietly like a ghost into the grass. "The dog then ran up through the hedge and she gave a yelp. Only the dog will know what it was I expect," she said.
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005.
I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films:
OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.
Perhaps it was a giant slug? That would explain the gliding off.
I wish she had some description of it’s face since she could obviously tell it was staring back at them.
Big fat and round? If it was an animal then perhaps its one of the newly colonised wild boar? Doesn’t account for sliding though! I have read previously quite genuine reports about gelatinous faunal “blobs” that are semi-aquatic I can’t remember if they were algae or bryozoans or something similar, anyone else shed any light on these vauge recolections?
Near a bridge? Maybe some sort of troll. Now there’s a scary thought….
These reports always amaze me. Maybe the editor is just leaving out this important information, but: Where did it go?!
I mean this person obviously felt this was strange at the time, and still thinks so since she reported it, so isn’t the question of where it went when it “glided” away and important one?
I sure would like to know.
It went behind the hedge, the story sort of implies.
Hey, folks… I don’t think this story is one for cryptozoologists, personally. This is more of a paranormal encounter. What are those folks called, besides Forteans (of which I am one)? Paranormal investigator?
The story suggests that the U.K. may be entering a period of “high strangeness,” a la “Springheel Jack,” “MIB,” “Mothmen,” and other friends from Forteana. Stay tuned for further postings from the Whitby Gazette.
Black trashbag!
Hmm, a bipedal hedgehog?
Maybe a bear? I don’t know if there are any wild bears there, but maybe one loose from a pen or sanctuary? When bears sit up they sort of resemble big slouch bean bags. Some people keep sun bears for pets. They are black. They aren’t quite as big as described here, but maybe the size was overestimated in the excitement of the moment.
Or maybe even a great big woolly dog, a big black fuzzy Chow or something (oh no, the Maine Mutant’s cousin from across the pond!) Really though, a big woolly longhaired dog sitting up on its haunches fits the bill pretty well, all things considered.
Doubt it was wild boar, bear or a (wild/feral) dog based on the report of the witessss dog’s behavior. Wild boars can be plain mean and attack. Bears, provoked so can they. Feral dog I seriously doubt will tolorate another dog in it’s territory suddenly charging it.
What was it? I have no idea. A description of the face would be helpful — most likely.
Might not have been a stranger to the woman’s dog. Just because SHE had never seen it before doesn’t mean her dog was unacquainted with it. Could be one of his lamp-post buddies.
the Dark Schmoo!
Escaped domestic hog?
This sounds oddly enough, too odd to be made up. It just doesn’t fit with normal bigfoot, sasquatch, or yeti sightings. I like this one and would like to know more.
kittenz,
You have a valid point. It could be familiar enough the woman’s dog wasn’t raising the alarm before allowed to investigate.
Feral domestic hogs can be just as dangerious as wild boars if provoked so I don’t think the hog family is a good candidate.
Otherwise I am stumped at this point.
After all the talk of Blobsquatch around here we now have an actual Blobsquatch. Too bad she wasn’t able to give a better description or take a photo. Truly a strange account.
I sort of get a mental picture of a small Jabba the Hut. This one’s Fortean, I think.
Natural chasing instincts prove it was an animal? I’ve seen dogs chase everything from Fritos bags to leaves. But I’ll put in my vote here for a trash bag caught in the hedges with the wind ‘puffing it’. Unless the thing I have in my kitchen is an actual albino creature of similar origin that has been consuming my garbage for the past week.
The nonchalant attitude of the mystery creature makes me think of a skunk. I come across skunks all the time (in the city). It’s not unusual for them to offer no reaction whatsoever to a human presence. They’ll just carry on with whatever they’re doing, smack in the middle of the sidewalk. You have to walk around to get by.
If the skunk was facing away and if the longish grass was obscuring the animal’s short legs, then the limbless furry mass that was visible may well have suggested a blob as the skunk waddled along. The observer said it “seemed to glide”. That’s exactly the effect a skunk’s tail can produce when viewed from behind.
In order for my explanation to work I have to assume that the witnesses overestimated the size of the thing.
It would be nice to have the second eye witnesses version of the sighting.
While I’m the first to hang all my hopes and dreams on one woman’s anecdotal evidence, it would probably be prudent just to file it away in our minds under “Huh.”
If in the future, corroborating accounts surface from reliable sources then it might be worth looking into but as it stands we have one individual’s account of something strange on a dark and stormy night – certainly the recipe for misidentification.
The bigger questions to ask? Who is this woman? Why is she making this near-innocuous encounter into something “strange”? I’d wager most would brush the incident off and file it away in said folder marked, “Huh.”
Also, as for skunks. I don’t think they have them in the UK.
So-called “bean bag aliens”, while not commonly seen, are reported in the UFO literature.
Did it look more like this?
Or more like this?
I don’t think skunks get that big either. It does have a very paranormal feel to it, this story does. Without any further sightings or evidence of any kind, this would probably be best filed under “huh” as eireman put it.(great expression, by the way!) Also, when someone is out on a dark and stormy night, the mind can play all kinds of tricks with perception and jazz the story up over time so that before you know it, what could have been a trash bag is now a weird blob thing. And the more the witness dwells on it, the more little details will spring up to fill in the mental blanks. Maybe she really did see some sort of cryptid. She also might have seen a brain sucking blob creature. Not enough here to work on either way. Huh.
Could it also have been a squatch sitting on its haunches? We read reports of squatches being absolutely still while observing humans, maybe it side stepped while still crouched down to draw as little attention to it as possible.
Just a thought…
No skunks or bears over here, although there are many big cats being seen. A big cat would spook the dog, and probably vice versa. The dog would probably not chase it.
Boar is a possibility if it went on four legs, although they are hardly graceful. Anyone considered a released monkey or ape? Also a great many wallabies west of this area. A leap could look like a graceful glide in the dark. Also wallabies like grasslands, and what is a golf course?
Most likely, an inanimate object (such as a trash bag) being bantered about by the storm’s winds.
If it was a physical alien animal of the described size, I can’t imagine a domestic dog not cowering….let alone, the women making an approach.
If it was a paranormal experience, well, it could be almost ANYTHING…but being large, massive, black, and moving ghost-like brings to mind the universal experience of phantom “Black Dogs” which occur quite commonly in the UK. Most of these dog-like apparitions are more the size of bears or ponies, and will always invoke fear in any domestic animal. Some of my essays on Black Dogs have been published in a British book called Explore Phantom Black Dogs — with errors and without my permission — but that’s another debate.
Maybe it was just a pleisosaur with mange.
This looks like a good time to call in the theory of dimensional bleed throughs.
They allowed their dog to ‘investigate’? That’s just wrong. Firstly it could have been an injured animal or even just a healthy one that could have either killed their dog or been killed by the dog. Secondly if they really feel safer with a dog then it needs to stay with them, did they look behind them when they let the dog go? Anyway, it was most likely a wild boar or an escaped pot-bellied pig or similar and the night lighting made it hard to ID. As for letting the dog chase any animal though, that’s just irresponsible.
As for the comments made about the phantom dogs, yeah they’ve been noted many times in different places of England/Britain. I’ve never seen a report in that area but if anyone knows of any it would be good to read. The only place I will say I’ve actually been scared/spooked was in some woodlands in Pluckley. I don’t believe 99% of ghost stories, so I didn’t go there for the fact Pluckley is meant to be extremely haunted, I went because of numerous ‘unknown sounds’ coming from the woods, and sure enough there were strange noises I’d never heard before. Pluckley is one place said by a few to have one of these large, black ‘phantom dogs’. Seems tricky to find info on it though, just from a few locals.
UKCryptid, What did these unknown sounds sound like? Were they suggestive of some type of animal, something more Human-like, or even stranger than that? Just curious…
I like fat-cat right now.
UKCryptid,
I believe the above report occurred in County Yorkshire; correct me if I am wrong. In County Yorkshire, the “Black Dogs” are locally referred to as Barguest, Padfoot, Skriker, etc. depending on the actions of the ghostly beast and the locale. There is a history of these Black Dogs in this county. That doesn’t mean it was a Black Dog — just that it’s not unprecedented. Most often the reports of such phantom do resemble a VERY LARGE dog, of supernatural size and behavior. It is interesting to note that the Barguest is one of the most shape-shifty forms of the Black Dog. Although, I can’t imagine it taking the form of a sedentary trash bag under a bridge. It’s hard to try to rationalize something totally irrational, such as the paranormal. If it made sense, it would be normal, not paranormal. I still believe the encounter in the above report was non-cryptid. I don’t even believe it to be a Black Dog, based on the reaction of the humans and domestic dog present. I think they encountered a trash bag that was just out minding its own business when these humans sucked it into the world of cryptozoology and the paranormal.
Now, about your experience in Pluckley…Pluckley is in County Kent? In County Kent, Black Dogs can be found in the lore throughout. Although your account of “unknown sounds” in the woods doesn’t even remotely resemble a Black Dog encounter. That’s not to say you didn’t experience anything significant — just that I don’t believe it is related to the Black Dogs of that area. Perhaps the sounds are of an unknown natural or supernatural origin. There was no description given.
I think it was a big fat dog that kind of waddled with a rolling gait into the ravine after it had greeted the woman’s dog.
We have legends and sightings of Black Dogs in Lancashire (a County to the West of Yorkshire). Strangely enough one of the local names is Trash.
Surprising lack of references to Dracula though given the locale!
If we’ve proved anything here, it’s that cryptozoology buffs are totally incapable of dealing with apparent paranormal occurences. Guessing known animals that don’t fit in with the (admittedly skimpy) description provided doesn’t explain anything.
What is this urge by cryptozoology buffs to EXPLAIN everything all about, anyway? The word “crypto” means “unknown”, “hidden” or “secret”!
Sorry Sky King, I don’t equate “crypto” with “paranormal”. And If we weren’t trying to explain hitherto unknown critters in a way that fits them into the natural world, the term “cryptozoology” would not have meaning.
There is an old adage in vet school: “When you see hoofprints, suspect horses before you suspect zebras.” (That is, if you’re not in Africa lol). If a sighting can be reasonably explained as a known creature or phenomenon, that known possibility must be considered, simply because of the law of averages.
I tend to see both sides here. There may be a perfectly rational explanation for a seemingly bizarre report, and it is in everybody’s interests for that to be considered. On the other hand, it’s easy to bend the facts as reported just a little too far- Sometimes here on Cryptomundo, I’ve seen the CZ equivalent of saying that that 30-foot-long cigar shaped craft that hovered 25 feet over the treeline for 15 minutes MUST have been Venus. It’s nice to see that Loren, Craig, et al. quite often has popped in and set us back on track in many of those cases, but they happen all the same. And it’s easy enough to do, and no doubt I’m as guilty as most everyone else here when it comes to that too. We all want answers. Sometimes we try a little too hard to get at them. Sometimes, we have to admit there may be no answers to be had, and content ourselves on the questions. Not an easy task…
The most frustrating thing about these cases is that sometimes there’s not a lot you can do with them, and few conclusions you can make. Either she saw what she said she saw, or she didn’t see what she said she saw. If it’s the first, well you got me on what the heck it was, almost not even worth speculating. It was some freaky little blob thing. OK. Now what?
If it’s the latter, well, exactly what parts of what she said she saw didn’t she see, and what parts were as she described them? And how can you tell which is which? Maddening, but all that can be done is to record what is presented to us, verify as much as possible, and move on. If this was a one-off event, not much can be said for it, but if similar events recur, then perhaps in time someone will get somewhere with it, or be able to draw some conclusions when new data presents itself.
Wow what a highly bizarre incident! Strangest I’ve read on here and very intriguing if true. More details, particulary the alleged animals facial features would be great. As for the skunk theory, as already mentioned they are not native to the British Isles and neither are bears so that likely rules those two possible theories out.