Surrey Puma

From The Red Pill

The Surrey Puma was a name given to a mystery beast which was sighted numerous times during the early 1960s, which has become just one of many Black Panther sightings (alternatively known as ABC sightings - 'Alien Big Cat') around the world. Most of the sightings were around the 300-acre Bushylease Farm between Ewshot and Crondall.

History

The first 'official' sighting of the creature was in 1962. However, the first sighting may have been in 1959, by Mr A Burningham (see below). Patrick Harpur, in his book Daimonic Reality, states that police accumulated 362 sightings of puma-like animals in the two years following the 1962 sighting.

Bushylease Farm manager Edward Blanks unleashed his dogs to track the animal, but they refused to follow the scent. Lights were reported shining on roofs shortly before many of the sightings, suggesting a possible paranormal origin for the creature, rather than it just being a cryptozoological case.

In 1964, locals reported hearing terrible howling noises at night. A steer was found dead in nearby woods, mauled to death and with what appeared to be bite marks on its body. A vet who examined the dead animal said that the wounds had been caused by an animal not present in the United Kingdom.

Naturalist Maurice Burton was skeptical of the sightings however. In a letter to Bob Rickard during the 1970s, he said "all the eye-witness accounts that I was able to investigate at first hand proved to be either otter, badger, fox, deer, or feral cats and dogs."

Sightings

• Mr A Burningham was driving along a country lane on an August evening in 1959 when he saw what appeared to be an enormous cat crossing the road. In actual fact, Mr Burningham described it as the size of a Labrador dog, but running with a feline gait.

• On 16 July 1962, Mr Ernie Jellett of the local water board saw an animal "like a young lion cub" following a rabbit. He described it as standing 18 to 24 inches high, with a flat face, large paws, and pale brown in colour. Mr Jellett said the creatures was "definitely not a fox or a dog."

• Mrs Christabel Arnold was walking near Bushylease Farm when she saw a beast which she found difficult to describe as a puma. "I got the stench of it first a long way up the lane (a common element in 'creature' sightings)...I froze and we just looked at one another, then it spat all the time. It had marks like a cheetah on its face and was grayish, browny-beige with spots and stripes. Its back was deep red-brown...it had a beautiful striped red-brown and beigy white-tipped tail...It had yellow slanted eyes, wire-like whiskers and tufted ears..."

External Links

• "The Surrey Puma", at Metareligion
• "Alien Big Cats in Britain" by Paul Sieveking (from Fortean Times #167)