The Bigfoot and the Wendigo

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Story 1:

The Beast of Bolum Lake.

In the northernmost region of England, there lies a small, unremarkable lake.

Formerly known as Bolum Bog, it is part of a 65 hectare park teeming with deer and red squirrels.

But some claim that there's something else here as well.

Something far more dangerous.

Since the 1990s, dozens of visitors to the area have reported seeing a tall hairy creature with large fangs and glowing red eyes.

Is it possible that the wilds of Northumberland are indeed haunted by the beast of Bolam Lake?

Northumberland is located in the far north of England, just on the border with Scotland, and features an extensive, often treacherous coastline along the North Sea.

With an area of almost 2,000 square miles and a population of just 320,000, it is the least densely populated county in England.

The relaxed lifestyle, rustic charm and relative seclusion give it a certain appeal for those seeking a break from the hustle and bustle of city living.

Meanwhile, The abundant wildlife makes it a favourite amongst fishermen and hunters.

However, many experts contend that these factors also make Northumberland a perfect hiding spot for things that might not want to be found.

Looking at the description of the beast of Bolem Lake, it's impossible to deny the similarities with large humanoid creatures found elsewhere in the world.

The beast seems to have many characteristics in common with the Canadian Sasquatch, American Bigfoot, or Australian yowie.

Some of the most well-known and heavily studied cryptids of all, these creatures are usually described as tall, covered in hair, and boasting features which seem to be a combination of ape and man.

The thousands of eyewitness accounts across multiple continents have led many researchers to conclude that there is a race of unknown primates still inhabiting our woodlands from North America to Australia and mountainous peaks such as those of the Himalayas.

Some say they may be descendants of Gigantopithecus,

a 12-foot-tall ape that supposedly went extinct some 300,000 years ago.

Others claim these creatures are far more human and likely represent a surviving ancestor from our own evolutionary tree.

England, of course, has extensive legends of dragons, ogres and trolls.

However, it also has tales of wild men.

Perhaps the best example is the Woodwoes, a figure from medieval English folklore often depicted as a hairy savage man living in forests.

The Woodwoes appears frequently in art and heraldry across much of Europe, particularly from the medieval period.

But Old English literature also has tales of other, far less evolved wild men.

Unlike the Woodwoes, these creatures are described as more animal than human, hulking, brutish and violent.

Do these stories hint at an ancient race of primitive people left over from the earliest days of the British Isles?

Or is it possible that what people are seeing is some previously unknown creature or missing link?

Perhaps the truth is that the beast of Bolum Lake is something we simply can't explain with existing science.

In 2002, four men from Newcastle decided to head to Bolum Lake to go fishing for pike.

Most of the day had been relatively uneventful, and the group spent much of their time there laughing, joking and telling stories.

As the sun began to set, A cool breeze rushed over the water.

The men had a quick discussion as to whether they should head back to the car, but decided to sit out and enjoy the quiet evening a little longer.

As the sun sank lower, it cast a dim light across areas of brush on the lake shore.

It was at this point that the men noticed something unsettling in the tree line on the opposite bank.

At first, it was just a flicker of movement,

but then they saw it clearly.

A figure, towering and motionless, watching them.

Whilst it was unsettling, they were well aware of the fact that Bollum Lake is not entirely isolated.

There are dozens of farms in the region and a handful of villages.

They decided it was most likely just a farmer out for an evening walk.

But as they fixed their eyes on the figure, they began to get a better estimation of its size.

By comparing it with the surrounding trees and shrubs, they determined that it had to be nearly 8 feet tall.

As they stood in disbelief, the setting sun fell behind the tree line.

This caused the creature to become less visible, but it also revealed its most startling feature yet.

its eyes.

In the newfound darkness, the men could clearly see that the eyes were giving off a bright red glow, and they were completely fixated on the four men.

The visage was so terrifying that all at once, they began to hurriedly pack up their things, doing their best not to divert their gaze from the creature, which was still glaring menacingly at them.

As they prepared to head towards the car and make their escape, the four friends became acutely aware that they would need to trek through the woods for several minutes in order to reach their vehicle.

Time that could give whatever they were looking at a chance to attack them.

As if reading their minds, the creature suddenly began to move, stepping out of the shadows into some of the last rays of the dying light.

The men could see it far more clearly now.

It was heavily built, covered in thick hair, and sported two large fangs that glistened in the twilight.

At this, the men bolted, leaving behind their gear and sprinting down the muddy banks towards their car.

As they ran, they noted how the forest around them had become eerily silent, amplifying the sounds of their frantic footsteps.

They piled in and drove directly home.

Though they initially debated reporting the event at all, they soon decided to reach out to Jeff Lincoln from the British Hominid Research Organisation.

Despite their attempt at discretion, the local media soon caught wind of the story, dubbing the beast the Geordie Yeti.

As with most such sightings, People in the area were quick to dismiss it as a case of mistaken identity, or of the four fishermen having a few too many pints whilst out on the lake.

Little did anyone know that this was just the beginning of a rash of sightings that still haunt the lake to this day.

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The fisherman's story was quickly lumped in with other sightings of Bigfoot-like creatures.

Many cryptozoologists found this frustrating, as it had one feature that made it stand out.

Most cryptid sightings feature single individuals, not groups.

Sasquatch is most commonly seen by motorists driving alone in the dark, or by hunters who are camping miles from civilization.

It's rare that two or three, let alone four people, report seeing the exact same thing.

As any researcher will tell you, explaining away one person's story is quite easy.

But it becomes much more difficult when you have group sightings like the one at Bolem Lake.

And this seemed to be a trend that would continue, because most encounters with this particular beast feature more than one eyewitness.

Nevertheless, the authorities never took any real initiative when it came to processing reports, let alone performing a coordinated search of the area.

A year after the fishermen had their terrifying encounter, A woman named Naomi decided to spend a peaceful day at the lake with her 14-year-old son, David.

They later described the day as quiet and calm, saying that the water was particularly still that afternoon.

But as they strolled through the car park, David suddenly pointed towards the trees, frantically telling his mother to look.

As Naomi followed her son's eyeline, She saw something off in the woods, a huge shadow moving in amongst the trees.

She initially brushed it off, thinking it was just a trick of the light, but David's voice only became more urgent.

As she squinted, she was just barely able to make out a massive shape, standing there watching them.

Instinctively, she pulled her son behind her in a protective gesture.

As she did, she could feel that he was trembling.

Unsure of what to do, she kept her eyes fixed on the shadow, which she could now tell was dark, solid and enormous.

Though she couldn't make out any features, she had a strong sense that whatever it was was watching them.

This made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, and she had to fight an urge to scream.

Finally, the shadow suddenly vanished back into the woods.

In retellings, Naomi remains adamant that she did not see the creature walk or run away, just that it faded into the trees behind it.

To those following the sightings, Naomi's story seemed to have a more supernatural tinge to it.

At no point did she use the words ape or hairy beast when describing what she saw.

Instead, she claims to have seen a huge black figure and an enormous shadow.

As the weeks wore on, tales and reports persisted.

People claimed to see bent branches and what they described as makeshift nests.

Others claim to hear bizarre screaming at night, coming from the areas around the lake.

At the height of the sensation, cryptozoologist Jonathan Downes and his team from the Centre for Fortean Zoology travelled to Northumberland to investigate the sightings firsthand.

For five days and nights, the team scoured the woods around Bolam Lake, interviewing eyewitnesses and setting up their equipment.

But from the very start, things didn't go as planned.

Their advanced technology designed to track and capture any signs of the creature malfunctioned inexplicably, as if the very environment around them resisted their efforts.

On the second night, things went even further.

As with the fisherman's sighting, it was twilight, and as this is typically the noisiest time in the woods, the team was unsettled to hear the forest fall into complete silence.

No nesting birds, no insects coming out to feast.

In this disconcerting quietness, the 18 members soon realized that they could just barely make out the sound of something large moving through the undergrowth.

They frantically used their torches to try and identify a source for the sound, but the brush proved too thick.

That's when one of the members got the idea to hop into his car and point his headlights towards the trees.

As he did, five of the 18 members, including Downs himself, watched in horror as a massive humanoid figure move swiftly from one tree to another before disappearing.

Impossibly, the creature then reappeared back in the original spot before bounding off again.

The entire encounter lasted just a few seconds, so fast that three of the team members never even saw it.

Downes would later report that the figure he saw stood at least seven feet tall and had a barrel chest and muscular limbs.

He and his team made no report of glowing red eyes, but they did photograph some strange footprints they found at the site, which they maintained were from a different creature to the one they saw.

This implies that there were at least two, and possibly a family of creatures, living in the Bolum Lake region.

Although there have been several multi-person sightings since 2002,

UK authorities have shown little interest in the creature or in identifying what it might be.

Even Jonathan Downs remains uncertain about just what he and his team saw that night.

He would later describe it as a quasi-human piece of nothingness.

stating that it moved far too fast to be human and had angular features like a character from a a mid-90s video game.

This only exacerbates the question,

what exactly is in the woods at Bolum Lake?

The idea that there might be a missing link or other evolutionary throwback is not entirely far-fetched.

Whilst we generally think of the UK as being separated from the rest of the European continent by the English Channel, It has only been an island for around 8,000 years.

Before that, it was directly connected to France, Belgium and the Netherlands.

This allowed early homonyms like Homo antecessor to arrive in what would become the isles around 800,000 years ago, back when massive apes like Gigantopithecus were still very much alive.

Could a group of giant primates have crossed the same land bridge and taken up residence in the UK?

It's certainly possible, but it would be difficult to explain how they've they've managed to sustain a breeding population, let alone stay hidden for so long.

Sceptics of the Bolham Lake sightings state that the reports stem from either a case of mass hysteria or misidentification.

If the latter is true, it would be challenging to determine what these people might be seeing.

The largest animal native to the UK is the red deer.

which can grow to around 225 kilos and stand about 4 feet at the shoulder.

This doesn't account for sightings of a 7-8 foot tall hairy biped.

Neither do allegations that what people are seeing is an escaped zoo animal, like an orangutan or gorilla.

Not only were no apes reported to have escaped from nearby zoos during the time of the sightings, but even the largest silverback gorillas are only around 6 feet tall when standing on two legs.

Of course, neither of these theories address the glowing red eyes.

Though glowing eyes aren't reported in every sighting, there is a high frequency of this particular characteristic.

As it stands, the only known animals to have red eyes are certain types of doves and pigeons as well as certain insects, fish and reptiles.

However, Some nocturnal animals like cats, raccoons and owls may appear to have red eyes when light reflects off the blood vessels in their retinas.

Still, they do not give off a glow anything like what the fisherman described.

Taking all of this into account, we must consider the possibility that what is haunting Bolam Lake is not of this dimension or perhaps this earth.

There are places all across the UK and Ireland that are strongly associated with spirits, fairies and wraiths, not to mention the vast amounts of ley lines.

Could the magic of these places be a portal into a different realm or dimension?

This might explain why sightings tend to flip between ape-like wild men and formless shadows.

Is it possible that the entity is able to shapeshift but appears formless and black in between these formations?

Since the early 2000s, sightings of the Beast of Bolem Lake have dwindled.

However, whenever a film, podcast or documentary mentions the phenomenon, the comments are always full of anonymous Northumbrians claiming that they too have had run-ins with the creature, which they simply prefer not to report.

For now, the lake remains a popular area for fishing and hiking.

boasting a visitor centre and a charming cafe.

Still,

no amount of rebranding can make people completely forget what's happened at the lake during 2002 and 2003.

Likewise, no amount of reassurance can allow us to dismiss the notion that there are things out there that we just don't yet understand.

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story 2 Shadow of the Wendigo

In the remote northern parts of the United States and Canada Whispers speak of an ancient presence that stalks the forests.

Native tribes say it has always been there, a malevolent cannibalistic beast with an insatiable desire for human flesh.

But more recent accounts suggest that this entity's influence might extend beyond the wilderness.

Is it possible that even urban areas are no longer safe from the shadow of the Wendigo?

Most reported sightings of the Wendigo are concentrated in the far northern regions of America, particularly along the rugged, shadowy forests near the Canadian border.

It is here, within the ancient histories of the native tribes who first inhabited the area, that the oldest accounts of this malevolent force are found.

These tales speak of men driven mad by evil spirits, performing dark rituals that transform them into monstrous beings, cursed to haunt the very communities they once called home.

As the legend of this cannibalistic creature spread beyond its origins, so too did the reports of encounters.

Across the United States, News outlets and social media sites are rife with accounts of creatures resembling ape men and dogmen.

But even more chilling are the stories of pale, emaciated figures that lurk in the woods at the edges of our towns.

These nocturnal intruders with glowing eyes and the terrifying ability to invade the minds of those they encounter are said to mimic the voices of loved ones.

Those who survive often feel they've narrowly escaped a fate worse than death.

It's possible that these creatures are responsible for countless killings, hinted at by the numerous missing persons reports documented throughout rural America.

In the summer of 2019,

Bradley Clark, a former United States Marine, found himself searching for work.

During this time, he decided to reconnect with some old friends.

One of whom was Jacob, who had recently moved to a remote community in northern Alabama, near the Tennessee border.

As he had some free time on his hands, Bradley accepted Jacob's invitation to spend a long weekend together.

During the visit, the two friends decided to go hunting.

Wanting to play it safe, they chose to stay close to Jacob's home.

The day passed uneventfully, and as dusk began to settle in, they agreed it was time to head back.

Walking the trail towards Jacob's truck, a rising commotion deeper in the woods caught their attention.

Instinctively, they raised their weapons, ready for whatever might be approaching.

Whether it was predator or prey, they did not know.

After a tense moment of silence, a pack of coyotes suddenly bolted from the trees.

Though rare, coyote attacks can be dangerous, so Jacob and Bradley remained on their guard.

But to their surprise, the coyotes didn't even acknowledge their presence, instead racing across the trail and disappearing into the woods on the other side.

Just as they were beginning to relax, Another sound became apparent.

It was heavier, more deliberate, like something large was moving through the brush.

The forest had grown eerily quiet, as if nature itself was holding its breath.

Then, with a deafening crash, a massive pine tree toppled onto the path in front of them.

For a moment, Everything was still again.

Bradley and Jacob exchanged uneasy glances, unsure of what to do next.

Then, from the direction of the fallen tree, they heard a voice.

A voice they both recognised.

It was Jacob's teenage sister, Olivia.

Her cries were urgent.

filled with desperation as she called out for help.

Without hesitation, Bradley began to move towards the sound, but Jacob stopped him with a firm grip, whispering in a terrified voice, How could Olivia possibly be here?

She had no idea where they were, nor any means of getting to the woods.

Yet the cries persisted, pleading for rescue.

Olivia now claimed she was trapped behind the fallen tree.

Despite the growing unease gnawing at them, the men remained frozen in place, a nagging sense that something was terribly wrong keeping them from acting.

Then, as abruptly as it began, the voice cut off.

What then emerged from behind the tree made their blood run cold.

A grotesque figure loomed over the trail, standing at least nine feet tall.

Its gaunt skeletal frame was draped in deathly pale skin, stretched tight over its bones.

Its eyes glowed an eerie blue, devoid of pupils or irises, and it stared at the two hunters with an intense malevolent rage.

Bradley instinctively raised his rifle, but Jacob yanked him back, urging him to run towards the truck instead.

They sprinted through the thick forest, glancing glancing back repeatedly to see if the creature was following, but the dense trees obscured their view.

Only when they were safely in their vehicle speeding down the road, did Bradley muster the courage to ask what they had encountered.

Still shaken, Jacob confessed that he didn't know for sure, but he had heard disturbing stories from family and friends.

According to these tales, bullets were useless against such such creatures, which was why he had insisted they run.

He added that many local hunters had simply vanished without trace, their belongings later found abandoned deep in the woods.

Neither man spoke of the encounter again, though Jacob wasted no time calling for his sister as soon as they got home.

To his immense relief, Olivia was safe.

She hadn't even left home all day.

Tennessee might seem too far south for a creature typically linked to the US-Canadian border, yet this aligns with a growing number of reports suggesting the Wendigo phenomenon is no longer confined to the remote north, if it ever was.

In the autumn of 2015, Adam Reed, a Houston-based police officer, agreed to give his friend Luke a ride home at the end of a night shift.

The two lived on neighbouring farms in a small town and often car shared when heading into the city for social outings.

After a quick call home to ensure his kids were asleep, Adam drove to the bar district to pick up Luke.

The drive started off as usual, with the two chatting about their shifts that evening, families and weekend plans.

But as Adam turned off the highway and onto the drive leading to Luke's property, something unusual caught his eye near a fire pit, which Luke had dug.

Though Adam knew the pit was several feet deep, he could see two lights glowing from inside it, like a pair of torches staring back at him.

Puzzled, Adam stopped the car about 40 yards away.

Both men sat and watched the strange lights, trying to figure out what they were looking at.

Then, in eerie unison, they blinked out and reappeared, just like a pair of eyes.

Assuming they were trespassers on Luke's land, the men decided to investigate.

Adam reached for the handgun he always carried with him and cautiously began to approach the pit whilst Luke ran into his house to retrieve a rifle.

As a police officer, Adam was no stranger to tense situations, so he moved slowly, using the truck's lights to scan the area for any sign of intruders.

But when he reached the edge of the pit, it was empty.

Just then he heard footsteps behind him.

At first, he assumed it was Luke returning.

but the footfalls were far too heavy.

Suddenly a gunshot rang out.

Adam whirled around to see Luke standing on his porch, rifle raised, with a look of sheer terror etched upon his face.

Following his colleague's gaze, Adam spotted a tall thin figure fleeing towards the woods.

He estimated it to be at least eight feet tall, with grotesquely long arms and legs.

Its skin was a ghostly white, stark against the blackness of the night.

As it reached the tree line, the figure paused and turned to look back, its eyes glowing the same eerie light that Adam and Luke had seen earlier.

Without hesitation, they both opened fire, but the creature simply turned and disappeared into the trees.

Determined to track it down, the men grabbed torches from Luke's house and gave chase.

For over 20 minutes, they scoured the woods, desperately searching for any sign that they had hit their target.

Just as they were about to give up, they heard a rustling overhead.

Looking up, Luke saw the glowing eyes staring back from a branch more than 15 feet above them.

A blood-curdling roar echoed through the forest as as the creature vanished once again.

Despite their fear, the two men continued searching, firing at shadows and sounds.

They heard heavy footsteps and saw leaves rustling, but the creature seemed to vanish into the night.

Eventually, it disappeared entirely.

The next morning, Adam returned to Luke's property and together together they ventured into the woods, hoping to find any clues which might explain what they had encountered.

They found areas where the undergrowth had been trampled by something large moving at speed, and strange triangular impressions pressed into the soft ground.

Neither Adam nor Luke, both experienced outdoorsmen, could explain what they had seen or shot at that night.

The natives of North America are divided over the true nature of wendigos.

In some instances they are completely physical creatures equipped with mystical powers.

In others they are demons or spirits drawing upon dark energy from the netherworld in order to ensnare their victims.

While some cultures believe wendigos are capable of shape-shifting, like the skinwalker, others do not.

Late in the winter of 2010, a businessman by the name of Robert Garvey arrived back in his native Canada to reconnect with his family.

Having not seen each other for a while, Robert's father and older brother James were keen to make up for lost time.

They invited him to go hunting with them in the woods to the north of their home.

Whilst he had never really embraced his rural upbringing, Robert agreed to go with them.

His brother lent him the appropriate gear, and the next day, the trio spent most of their time trekking north along the winding bends and rapids of the river.

As the sun began to set, the party decided to make camp near the water's edge.

It had been dark for several hours when Robert felt the call of nature.

and headed down to the river to relieve himself.

Shortly after he had begun his business, the office worker began to notice a putrid odour emanating from the bushes a few feet away.

After he had finished, Robert took out his torch and shone the beam in the direction of where the scent seemed to be coming from.

To his shock, his older brother emerged from behind the bushes, smiling and holding out a hand towards him.

Relieved, Robert asked James why he had snuck up on him and what the horrific smell was, thinking his brother had detected it too and had gone off to investigate.

However, rather than reply, his brother simply stared at him intently, sporting the same tight smile on his face.

As the seconds ticked by, Robert noticed his sibling's expression begin to change in a way that he couldn't quite explain, but that he found extremely disturbing.

Then he looked at his brother's clothes.

They had begun to sag, as if they were too big for him.

As his eyes returned to James' face, he noticed that his skin had begun to sag as well, as if he were a wax figure melting under high heat.

Petrified, he could only stand and watch as his brother's hunting clothes and skin dropped off his body and onto the ground.

What was left standing there in James's place was something else entirely.

A tall, emaciated and altogether inhuman figure.

Where its eyes should have been there were two dark hollows, and a mouth which projected forwards from the rest of its face, much like an animal's snout.

With a scream, Robert turned to run back towards the campfire, only to feel a sharp pain in his left leg as something grabbed hold of it and pulled him to the ground.

Frantic, he kicked his legs wildly and rolled onto his back, looking for anything he could use to fend off the creature.

Suddenly there was a deafening crack and a burst of light.

Robert felt the grip on his leg loosen and as he sat up, he realized that the creature was gone.

Not too far away stood his father, still holding his rifle.

For good measure, his father fired another shot into the darkness before dragging his son back to the camp, where James was standing alert, wondering what on earth all the commotion was.

Breathlessly, Robert tried to explain what he'd seen.

but found himself growing angrier as his brother began to mock him.

Finally their father intervened.

He too had seen the attacker.

He then pointed his torch down at Robert's leg, revealing a deep laceration.

Whatever had caused the wound had passed right through the clothing and pierced his skin.

Without so much as a word, the men dressed the wound before abandoning the camp altogether.

beginning the long hike back home through the darkness.

The Wendigo legend belongs in amongst a unique category of paranormal phenomena in that there are centuries of stories all describing the same or at least similar things.

Stories across cultures and languages, from the first Europeans to native tribes who lived thousands of miles apart.

Though the majority of the sightings take place in the deep woods, more recent encounters have taken place in or at least near populated areas.

Another outlier is the lack of any good explanation.

People often explain away cryptid sightings which occur in the woods as mistaken identity.

Bigfoot can be explained away as a grizzly bear walking on its hind legs, whilst a supposed alien might just be a great horned owl with its eyes glowing in the moonlight.

Not only do Wendigo encounters typically involve experienced outdoorsmen and hunters, but the powers demonstrated by the creature are completely supernatural.

As reported in the case of Bradley Clarke and his friend Jacob, the Wendigo was able to somehow mimic the voice of Jacob's sister.

In Adam and Luke's experience, the creature had eyes that shone so brightly that an experienced police officer confused them for flashlights.

In Robert's case, the beast allegedly shapeshifted into his brother in order to lure him in.

Outside of a paranormal being,

no other animal could possibly possess these abilities.

Skeptics blame alcohol or accidental ingestion of magic mushrooms for the Wendigo phenomenon.

Though this could explain why sightings have persisted for so long, It does not account for so many people reporting the exact same type of creature, despite hundreds of years and thousands of miles existing between some sightings.

True believers feel that the answer is simple.

There is and always has been something in the woods.

To them, the reason why so many of the first peoples spoke about the Wendigo for so long is because it's really there.

Whether it's a physical creature or a spectral entity remains to be seen.

But it seems most likely that people are seeing something they can't explain.

It is clear from these stories and others that have been circulated online in recent times that there may be more dangers lurking in America's rural areas than previously believed.

In recent years, reports of inexplicable creatures, shapeshifters and skinwalkers which can be tied to Native American legends have only increased.

Meanwhile, remote parts of both the US and Canada boast some of the highest rates of missing persons in the world.

Think of that what you will.

Is there something supernatural out there driven to feed off humans?

And if it is a Wendigo,

can it ever be satiated?