The Creature of the Castle
Posted by: Nick Redfern on April 6th, 2012
Late one evening in September 1986, an English truck-driver named Mick Dodds was driving his mother-in-law back to her place of abode, which was a small but picturesque cottage in the Staffordshire, England village of Stowe-by-Chartley.
All was completely and utterly normal until Dodds passed by the ancient and ruined Chartley Castle, that overlooks the A518 road, when something terrible and terrifying put in an unearthly appearance.
That “something” turned out to be hairy, ape-like and most definitely hostile: a definitive British Bigfoot?
And why am I mentioning all this now? Well, new and important data has recently surfaced on this curious affair. And, as a result, I’ll be embarking on a brand new investigation shortly – the results of which I will post here when complete. Stay tuned!
About Nick Redfern
Punk music fan, Tennents Super and Carlsberg Special Brew beer fan, horror film fan, chocolate fan, like to wear black clothes, like to stay up late. Work as a writer.
Might have been nothing more than what they already said it looked like….a large chimpanzee. An escapee??
Are we sure the mother-in-law was still in the car…? 😉
I live around 5-10 miles from their and its very interesting to hear this story as not heard before. Have heard about sightings and strange noises in a place called cannock chase (large wooded nature reserve) only a few miles from stowe-by-chartley so maybe there could be a link there. Would be interested to hear more on this.
Just done a quick google (bigfoot cannock chase) a few interesting articles came up. Here’s the first.
Normally I steer away from paranormal explanations for Cryptids, but this one does fit the paranormal, when looking further into the history of the region, i.e. other big ape sightings there, some of them describing a phantom. The above encounter with the chimp like animal above could have been an escapee animal, could have been the ghostly Monkey-man, but either way it would be hard to prove. With ghosts, impossible to prove.
If some believe that this is a ghost of a hominoid, or a more traditional quadraped ape, then fossils of the region need to be carefully researched. Heidelbergs once lived in Britain (they were around 6 feet tall to taller, lived before Neanderthals, unknown as to whether they were hairy or not, though most likely not, some populations saw individuals of 6 feet for or above), but I can’t recall if monkey or nonhuman ape fossils have been found there.
Another theory might hold that this is the ghost of a exotic primate brought to the region centuries ago and died, haunting the place ever since. Don’t really believe in ghosts myself, but it’s something for paranormal researchers to consider.
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Yeah seems more supernatural after reading that link. Thanks parksie. Definitely not enough remote rugged land to be the home of a bigfoot like creature hehe. Either there or anywhere in Britain.
On the other hand, Britain is positively swarming with ‘ghostly’ activity, or ‘alleged’ ghostly activity.
Interestingly, at the very site where the sighting of 1986 occurred, twenty years later – 2006 – a huge crop circle appeared right next to the castle. I went out to see it and if anyone would like a copy of one of the photos, let me know.
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I wouldn’t mind seeing the picture Nick.