Post by Joanna on May 28, 2016 20:45:32 GMT -5
Dog-Eating 'Werewolf' Stalks British Town
Residents of Kingston Upon Hull in Yorkshire’s East Riding district have reported several sightings of a mysterious “werewolf” which has terrified locals and sparked a hunt for the creature. Reports suggest the 8-foot “beast,” a half-man-half-creature, lurks around industrial estates and has allegedly been spotted eating a dog. Some believe it is an old folklore legend called “Old Stinker” – a wolf that transforms into a man at the full moon. Old Stinker is traditionally known to wander the Yorkshire Wolds.
The recent sightings were reported at an old water channel called the Barmston Drain during Christmas. One woman claimed to have seen the beast stand on its hind legs in a terrifying incident which left her shaking. “It was stood upright one moment. The next it was down on all fours running like a dog. I was terrified,” she related. “It bounded along on all fours, then stopped and reared up on to its back legs, before running down the embankment towards the water. It vaulted 30 feet over to the other side and vanished up the embankment and over a wall into some allotments.”
A couple saw “something tall and hairy” eating a German Shepherd by the side of the drain. They stopped to get a closer look and saw it jump an 8-foot fence, before vanishing into the night, still clutching its prey in its jaws. Another woman was walking her dog along the drain when she saw something “half-man, half-dog” in the distance. She was terrified and her dog began shaking and refused to go any farther along the path.
The reports have sparked a huge hunt for the beast in the town as worried locals have sought advice from a supernatural expert. They are waiting for a full moon to mount a werewolf hunt with cameras and recording equipment. They say when the creature transforms, its upper body is more wolf than man – similar to the American werewolf films. Mike Covell, an expert in the supernatural and Hull resident, said: I was skeptical at first, but then more and more people contacted me saying they had seen the same thing. No one really knows what to do. You can hardly pop down the local council office or police station and say you’d like to report a werewolf.”
Councilperson Steve Wilson said: “I am happy to keep a diary of sightings by people around here and report them to Hull Council.”
Norfolk-based barrister and author Charles Christian, who researched the legend for his book, A Travel Guide To Yorkshire’s Weird Wolds, indicated the sightings go back centuries. Until now, one of the most recent occurred in the 1960s when a lorry (truck) driver claimed Old Stinker tried to smash its way into his cab as he drove through the haunted Triangle. “The Yorkshire Wolds was actually one of the last parts of England to have wild wolves,” he explained. “Old Stinker was said to be operating on the other side of The Wolds, but that would be no distance at all for a large animal to cover to get to Hull. By their very nature, old industrial areas offer plenty of places to hide and if there is something there, it will know its way around. It would be the perfect habitat for a predator.”
Source: Jessica Haworth and Mark Branagan, The Mirror, May 16, 2016.