Jon Solo Sebastian 05/18/2024:

The Beast of Bodmin Moor is such an eye catching name. I stumbled across this during a research day, and had to make a note to read up on it when I had time. If you’ve ever played The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, you’ll get the reference I’m about to make. Every time I read “Beast of Bodmin Moor,” I read it in the voice of Dandelion (the Bard) as if he’s about to narrate the tale of how Geralt of Rivia tracked and defeated the beast. If you’re unfamiliar with this, I’ll post a link at the end of the article where you can find a video with all the loading screen narrations from the game.

What is stalking the Moorlands of Bodmin?

In the Cornwall area of Britain in 1978, mutilated livestock was on the rise. Folks in the area reported seeing a large panther-like creature. It had bright yellow eyes, sharp teeth, long legs, and has been said to be the cat version of a Great Dane. How do witnesses see the sharp teeth and live to tell the tale? They’d had to have been close unless the beast has huge fangs like the rabbit in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. If that’s the case, bang those coconuts together quickly and run away! I have to admit that I’m slightly disappointed the beast is a wild cat, rather than something Geralt might’ve hunted in a video game. I love cats of all sizes though, check out my Instagram where you’ll see plenty of photos of my cat, Tonks, if you don’t believe me.

By 1995, reports and sightings were so numerous that the government got involved and ordered an investigation. Their final report was about as inconclusive as the stories by eye witnesses. The conclusion was that they could find no verifiable evidence supporting its existence or not.

There is one theory that seems to track back to the early sightings of the beast. Three pumas were due to arrive at Dartmoor Zoo around forty years ago, but they never did. It’s suspected they were released into the wild, by the famous circus entertainer and former Plymouth Zoo owner, Mary Chipperfield. Rather than surrender them to another zoo, Ms Chipperfield is thought to have released her favourite breeding pair into the wild, plus a male to keep them company. While none of that can be proven, it does line up with the start of the sightings in the area. People say it’s unlikely Bodmin Moor could support a sustainable population of big cats, but enough sightings and missing or dead livestock say otherwise.

As I stated at the beginning, the name of the beast caught my attention. While this is likely not a supernatural or mythical creature, I still find it similar in that a beast of that size can elude confirmation of its existence. That being said, witnesses have uploaded numerous photos of the beast online. Though some photos look like they zoomed in on a house cat to make it appear larger than it actually is, and like most Sasquatch sightings—the images are blurry.

There’s no doubt there’s something out there, but what is it? Is it the missing pumas from the circus, or is it an interdimensional creature (cue the X-Files theme)?

If you’re interested in that narrator link I mentioned at the beginning of the article, here it is.