The Falmouth Beast

(c) The Falmouth PacketThe small town of Falmouth in Cornwall, England has been rocked by several recent sightings of what locals have dubbed "The Falmouth Beast."

The first sighting happened on February 13th, 2009.  Sam Bradbury left his job at Falmouth Watersports Centre for the day, and decided to go for a walk along the coastal path between Swanpool and Maenporth,  between 4 and 5PM.  He spotted something rustling in the bushes. 

When he approached the creature, he spotted something that was "a little bigger than a dog and had the face of a cat with eyes that were glazed over and luminescent like a lion's at night. It left when it saw me but appeared to only walk on two hind legs much like a kangaroo would and had behind it a bushy tail like a fox."

Realizing that he had spotted something truly unusual, Bradbury committed the animal to memory, and raced home to sketch what he had seen.  The results of the sketch were published by local newspaper The Falmouth Packet, after he contacted them with his story.

The Falmouth Packet later staged a beast hunt, and has sent several reporters out to the path to interview possible witnesses, but no further evidence was forthcoming.  Several other people have reported having spotted the Falmouth Beast, but no one has yet captured a photograph or other physical evidence of the animal. 

Publication of Sam Bradbury's account has given other local residents the courage to come forward with their stories of having encountered the Falmouth Beast:

• Local author Sheila Bird, "who has written many books about the paranormal around Cornwall," contacted The Packet to report that she spotted an unusual beast near Swanpool back in 2006, but didn't think to contact the press.  She provided a journal entry, where she had noted her sighting of the animal, as evidence that the Falmouth Beast has been in residence for several years.

• John Ostins, a student of boat building at the Falmouth Marine School, has since come forward to report that he spotted the animal in January, but was too embarrassed to admit it publicly until now.  Ostins was walking his dog Oggy on the same coastal path where Sam Bradbury reported his sighting.  Ostins described the animal as "jet black with a long, bushy tail like I'd imagine a raccoon to have, and bigger in size than my Labrador. It also seemed to be moving on two hind legs."

The United Kingdom has a long history of escaped exotic animals roaming the countryside, and "beast" seems to be tongue-in-cheek nomenclature for same.  In the case of the Falmouth Beast, many experts suspect that it may be an escaped lemur or bush baby.  The shining eyes, bushy tail, upright ears, and general facial arrangement seem to point in this direction, surely.

Bush babies have recently become popular as pets among people who prefer to keep exotic animals.  As a primate species, they are under many travel and importation restrictions, due to the possibility of spreading diseases to humans.