I’ve written before about black beasts and roaring animals that seem to be roaming the wilder areas of the United Kingdom. I think I figured out what they are/were. So when I saw an article about a “Beast of Brassknocker Hill,” I had to look into it.
The story starts in 1979 in the town of Brassknocker Hill. Residents Ron and Betty Harper noticed that the bark of their old oak trees had been ripped off. The markings indicated something with very large teeth had done the damage. They also noticed that all the birds and small wildlife seemed to have disappeared from the vicinity.
Later in August of that year, an eyewitness caught site of the beast believed to be causing the damage to all the old trees in the surrounding area. This man saw the beast one night along a stretch of road near Monkton Combe. He said it was bear-like with two stunning white rings around its eyes. He figured it was about 4 feet long.
From that alone I would surmise a bear had gotten loose, was living in the wild and s/he just happened to have a mutated set of markings around its eyes. That’s not unheard of in nature; we’ve seen these variances in other mundane animals from time to time.
According to the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, bears will strip bark off some trees looking for grubs or sap. Other times they claw the bark of hardwood trees and scientists aren’t sure why. In softer woods, the bears leave long grooves on the tree. Claw marks would surely show up on the hardwoods. So those might be the marks that the Harpers noticed.
This is where it gets weird. During 1980, several eyewitnesses came forward describing the creature in several ways: as a gibbon, a lemur, a baboon. Police Inspector Michael Price reports that he saw the animal and it was most certainly a chimpanzee.
Per my other blog articles about these beasts roaming Britain, if lions, bears, and whatnot could have escaped man’s grasp over the centuries, so could a few chimpanzees. In fact it happened during several hurricanes in south Florida, the apes escaped their zoos, or owners released them and now they are living wild in the Everglades.
I think the original reports were of a bear with unique markings. I know of a living species of bear that has rings of a unique color around its eyes, but it lives in Asia and is extremely endangered – but that’s another story for another day. (No, not the Panda bear, although their markings fit the bill too.)
Bottom line: I think there is a natural explanation for what people witnessed and saw in Brassknocker Hill back in 1979/80. The fact that there haven’t been anymore sightings in that area probably means the bear moved on somewhere else, or it died.
But if I lived in that area, I’d still be cautious moving around outside because there are other animals roaming around the UK that don’t quite belong there!
https://visitcryptoville.com/2012/06/27/black-beasts-of-britain-dartmoor-suffolk-norfolk/
https://visitcryptoville.com/2013/04/25/update-on-the-beasts-of-britain/
https://visitcryptoville.com/2012/08/28/beasts-of-britain-new-sightings/
Til the next time!
21/30
Scary indeed. To be outside in the dark of night would require a brave soul. I would not risk running into a strange beast……..
The fog was so thick at night that I could not see the moon. Very dark!
[…] events began in July 1979, amid wild rumors that a terrifying monster was haunting the dark woods of Brassknocker Hill, situated near the old U.K. city of Bath. Described variously, and in both excited and hysterical […]
[…] or unfortunately – depending on one’s personal perspective on the monstrous matter – Green did not have the opportunity to blast the baboon-like beast to kingdom come, or, […]
[…] or unfortunately – depending on one’s personal perspective on the monstrous matter – Green did not have the opportunity to blast the baboon-like beast to kingdom come, or, indeed, […]
[…] ou infelizmente – dependendo da perspectiva pessoal de cada um sobre a matéria monstruosa – Green não teve a oportunidade de explodir a besta parecida com um babuíno para o reino […]
[…] or unfortunately – depending on one’s personal perspective on the monstrous matter – Green did not have the opportunity to blast the baboon-like beast to kingdom come, or, […]
[…] o desafortunadamente, dependiendo de la perspectiva personal de uno sobre la materia monstruosa – Green no tuvo la oportunidad de enviar a la bestia parecida a un babuino al reino, o, de […]
[…] of a marauding, unknown creature. Nearby Monkton Combe became the next locale terrorized by the Beast of Brassknocker Hill. As for the creature, it was seen by a man who was driving through the area late one night, and who […]
[…] of a marauding, unknown creature. Nearby Monkton Combe became the next locale terrorized by the Beast of Brassknocker Hill. As for the creature, it was seen by a man who was driving through the area late one night, and who […]
[…] of a marauding, unknown creature. Nearby Monkton Combe became the next locale terrorized by the Beast of Brassknocker Hill. As for the creature, it was seen by a man who was driving through the area late one night, and who […]
As a local, I’d never even heard of this. Interesting! Also, Brassknocker Hill is a hill, not a town. Doesn’t give me a lot of faith in this page that you didn’t even look into where it took place.
I live in the US so I rely on what I can find on the internet. Here is a link to a photo of Brassknocker Hill from 4 years ago:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bath/comments/lugmf0/the_view_from_brassknocker_hill_today_stopped/
Google AI describes it as “Brassknocker Hill from Monkton Combe is a climb in the region [of] South West England. It is 1.1km long and bridges 120 vertical meters with an average gradient of 11%, resulting in a difficulty score of 155.”
Thanks for visiting CryptoVille. … Susan (Curator of CryptoVille)
Remembered the comment I left, my sincere apologies for how needlessly antagonistic it was.
That reddit post is in the sub for Bath, the city the hill is in. The view is not of a different town, but a small village within Bath (or “near” Bath, depending on who you ask) called Monkton Combe. The AI summary is pulled directly from a cycling website, on which “climb” refers to an uphill cycling route.
Again, sorry for the previous rudeness, I don’t know why my mood was so foul. Maybe I was just defensive because the nearby area is where I was born and raised. Have a good one!
No worries, MOF, we all have days like that. 🙂
Take care and hope to see you around CryptoVille again!
Susan (Curator of CryptoVille)