The Beast of Dean

koala · Site Admin Joined: 12 Oct 2006 Posts: 712

The Beast of Dean, also given the colloquial name 'Moose-Pig', is reportedly a large animal (possibly many) peculiar to a small area, Gloucestershire, in the south-west of the United Kingdom. The royal Forest of Dean became a a hot-spot for sightings beginning in 1802, with reports from locals of an exceptionally large wild boar, with occasional reports of felled trees, crushed hedges and fences, and a supposed 'un-earthly roar'. Eventually local hunters, from the village of Parkend, Gloucestershire managed to capture and kill the creature. The hunters, upon examination, all agreed their prey was no boar they had encountered before nor even any familiar indigenous species. After this revelation in March 1807, sightings stopped entirely for almost two centuries.

Over this period locals had frequently heard a low guttural noise in the woods between Parkend and the nearby village of Bream, Gloucestershire. Speculation had been made between locals to whether there was another Beast roaming the woodland of the Forest of Dean. This would not be apparent until 1998 in which a report had been made by two locals (James Nash, Marshall Davies), that had been passing through the woodland between Parkend and Bream. They had claimed the woods seemed eerily quiet, suddenly a low sound could be heard, slowly raising in intensity. Then a sound of rustling leaves was heard and the two saw a large sized shape come towards them in the darkness, at this time the men could not comprehend the size of the animal. They then ran frantically from the beast towards the village of Parkend as it pursued them through the woodland, the men then emerged onto a well-lit road near the centre of the village. As they came to a hault they heard an 'un-earthly' roar come from the woods behind them, the men where both mortified as they could not comprehend what had just happened.

The two locals claimed the bizarre creature was a similar size to a cow and made a grunt like a wild boar. This was the last known sighting of the anomalous 'Moose-Pig' in the Forest of Dean.