The Beast of Bolam: 10 Years On

Next month, January 2013, will mark the 10th anniversary of an on-site investigation of a very weird set of events that involved a series of Bigfoot-type encounters at Bolam Lake Country Park, in Northumberland, England.

And it ended with a spectacularly bizarre encounter on the part of the Center for Fortean Zoology's director, Jon Downes, who was there coordinating the quest for the beast.

But, as Jon noted at the time, and as he still confirms today, whatever the thing was, it clearly was not a flesh and blood animal - at least not in the way we understand the term.

So, why am I mentioning this now?

Well, not just because of the anniversary angle, but because my new book, Wildman! The Monstrous and Mysterious Saga of the "British Bigfoot" tells this story in full, and includes a number of seldom-addressed aspects of the story, as well as photos of the site of Jon's dramatic encounter.

For me, it's a case that definitively demonstrates why the British Bigfoot should be perceived as a creature of paranormal - rather than flesh and blood - origins, however we define what the paranormal might actually be!