Erica1987 Posted February 3, 2016 #1 Share Posted February 3, 2016 Ok so I'm not a big believer in all this but I saw something I can't explain. I live in a small-ish town called Horsham in West Sussex, I was walking home about three days ago it was late about 21:30-22:00 and I was walking down a road in front of Leachpool Woods when I heard an ear piercing scream I thought I was someone being attacked in the forest so I went to see if I could help but when I got into the car park I saw something that looked about the size of a deer but it had a long tail and cat like feet with what looked like large claws, the head was shaped like a dog with pointed ears that had a wide mid point like a leaf, I was looking at this thing for about 15-30 second before it turned and looked at me and let out the scream I had heard before and ran into the trees. Has anyone else seen/heard of anything like this? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XenoFish Posted February 3, 2016 #2 Share Posted February 3, 2016 Could be a lynx. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erica1987 Posted February 3, 2016 Author #3 Share Posted February 3, 2016 Not in Horsham we don't have any feline over domestic cat size Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XenoFish Posted February 3, 2016 #4 Share Posted February 3, 2016 Not in Horsham we don't have any feline over domestic cat size That you know of. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pokingjoker Posted February 3, 2016 #5 Share Posted February 3, 2016 i live in upstate ny and we have bobcats near me, they will scream i recall the first time i heard it i swore it was a woman in trouble was very human like and loud 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toast Posted February 3, 2016 #6 Share Posted February 3, 2016 British big cats 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XenoFish Posted February 3, 2016 #7 Share Posted February 3, 2016 i live in upstate ny and we have bobcats near me, they will scream i recall the first time i heard it i swore it was a woman in trouble was very human like and loud I live in SC. Imagine one in your backyard. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erica1987 Posted February 3, 2016 Author #8 Share Posted February 3, 2016 This thing was about the size of an adult stag and had a long face I don't know of any cats that are that size Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redefining Success Posted February 4, 2016 #9 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Apart from the "size of a deer", it sounds remarkably like a fox. What was the lighting like? At that time it should be pitch black, so guessing moon light which isn't best for judging size. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobertaStack Posted February 4, 2016 #10 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Is there any chance it could be a hyena that escaped from a zoo? I recall that the legendary Beast of Gevaudan was theorized to be an escaped hyena. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PersonFromPorlock Posted February 4, 2016 #11 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Deer aren't all that big, especially does, and some in built up areas aren't big at all. So "about the size of a deer" is a little imprecise. Could you give us something like 'about yea-high at the shoulder'? If you saw claws then it was more likely a dog than a cat, since cats normally walk with their claws retracted. The exception is the cheeta, which has only 'semi-retractible' claws. I quite like the idea of cheetas in West Sussex, it's the kind of thing that was always getting telegrams sent to 221B Baker Street. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pokingjoker Posted February 4, 2016 #12 Share Posted February 4, 2016 bobcats are in my back yard lol and as for deer not being that big you havnt seen a ny whitetail, 200lbs isnt uncommon, They sand approx 3-4 feet from ground to their shoulder so yeah pretty big animal. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pokingjoker Posted February 4, 2016 #13 Share Posted February 4, 2016 n ow im not actually familiar with the ops local wildlife, but possible wolverine the sound and size doesnt match but description kinda fits, 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erica1987 Posted February 4, 2016 Author #14 Share Posted February 4, 2016 (edited) Apart from the "size of a deer", it sounds remarkably like a fox. What was the lighting like? At that time it should be pitch black, so guessing moon light which isn't best for judging size. The tail was alot longer than a fox at least 2' long and the light wasn't amazing but it was artificial street lights Edited February 4, 2016 by Erica1987 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erica1987 Posted February 4, 2016 Author #15 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Is there any chance it could be a hyena that escaped from a zoo? I recall that the legendary Beast of Gevaudan was theorized to be an escaped hyena. Always possible but don't hyena have a short tail? Also the nearest zoo I know of if in London about 50miles away Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erica1987 Posted February 4, 2016 Author #16 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Deer aren't all that big, especially does, and some in built up areas aren't big at all. So "about the size of a deer" is a little imprecise. Could you give us something like 'about yea-high at the shoulder'? If you saw claws then it was more likely a dog than a cat, since cats normally walk with their claws retracted. The exception is the cheeta, which has only 'semi-retractible' claws. I quite like the idea of cheetas in West Sussex, it's the kind of thing that was always getting telegrams sent to 221B Baker Street. When I say the size of a stag I mean roughly 4-5' in height and by the same token I used the description of a cats foot because the feet looked more rounded like cat paws rather than the gentle point dog paws tend to have Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erica1987 Posted February 4, 2016 Author #17 Share Posted February 4, 2016 n ow im not actually familiar with the ops local wildlife, but possible wolverine the sound and size doesnt match but description kinda fits, Other than the size and sound its kinda close but unless someone imported it the chance of one living here is slim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kadssdak Posted February 4, 2016 #18 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Ok so I'm not a big believer in all this but I saw something I can't explain. I live in a small-ish town called Horsham in West Sussex, I was walking home about three days ago it was late about 21:30-22:00 and I was walking down a road in front of Leachpool Woods when I heard an ear piercing scream I thought I was someone being attacked in the forest so I went to see if I could help but when I got into the car park I saw something that looked about the size of a deer but it had a long tail and cat like feet with what looked like large claws, the head was shaped like a dog with pointed ears that had a wide mid point like a leaf, I was looking at this thing for about 15-30 second before it turned and looked at me and let out the scream I had heard before and ran into the trees. Has anyone else seen/heard of anything like this? This sounds extremely similar to what I saw and it was the same road if you want to please pm me and I would be happy to meet somewhere and talk in detail about what you saw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erica1987 Posted February 4, 2016 Author #19 Share Posted February 4, 2016 This sounds extremely similar to what I saw and it was the same road if you want to please pm me and I would be happy to meet somewhere and talk in detail about what you saw. I saw the post you put up a few years ago and linked it back on page 1. I do have a few things I want to know about what you saw like you describe it as being abit larger than what I saw and you talk about the claws in a way that makes them sound out of scale with the creature but what I saw had noticeably large claws but they fit the scale Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redefining Success Posted February 4, 2016 #20 Share Posted February 4, 2016 The tail was alot longer than a fox at least 2' long and the light wasn't amazing but it was artificial street lights A fox with a long tail then? Unless you deal with measuring every day, I'd probably take a slight exaggeration into account which would also be contributed to poor lighting. The average length of a foxes tail is 291 - 455mm , that's 29cm, which is just under a foot, to 45 centimeters, which is around 1.5ft long. There is only 6 inches difference between your approximation and average tail length. I'm firmly on the fence that it was a fox, possibly a well fed larger specimen, or in poor lighting an average sized urban fox. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erica1987 Posted February 4, 2016 Author #21 Share Posted February 4, 2016 A fox with a long tail then? Unless you deal with measuring every day, I'd probably take a slight exaggeration into account which would also be contributed to poor lighting. The average length of a foxes tail is 291 - 455mm , that's 29cm, which is just under a foot, to 45 centimeters, which is around 1.5ft long. There is only 6 inches difference between your approximation and average tail length. I'm firmly on the fence that it was a fox, possibly a well fed larger specimen, or in poor lighting an average sized urban fox. Th average urban fox is approximately 1-1 1/2 feet in height and 3 in length what I saw was 3-4 feet in height so no its not a fox. Also yes I do work with measurements on a daily basis in my work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redefining Success Posted February 4, 2016 #22 Share Posted February 4, 2016 (edited) Th average urban fox is approximately 1-1 1/2 feet in height and 3 in length what I saw was 3-4 feet in height so no its not a fox. Also yes I do work with measurements on a daily basis in my work Like I say, bad lighting. The biggest fox killed in the UK was 4ft 9 in length and nearly as big as a roe dear. Again, its more than likely a big fox. http://www.bbc.co.uk...etland-17259087 Its an old article, but shows the size. Edited February 4, 2016 by Redefining Success 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erica1987 Posted February 4, 2016 Author #23 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Like I say, bad lighting. The biggest fox killed in the UK was 4ft 9 in length and nearly as big as a roe dear. Again, its more than likely a big fox. http://www.bbc.co.uk...etland-17259087 Its an old article, but shows the size. If you look back I cay what the lightning was in a reply, I have no idea what I saw but I can say 100% it was not a fox Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freetoroam Posted February 4, 2016 #24 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Have you had a look at the link on post 6 yet? Maybe something there you recognise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ell Posted February 4, 2016 #25 Share Posted February 4, 2016 Maybe it was the Beast of Gevaudan. Or maybe it was a bo: a cryptid Chinese horse like meat eating animal that could make mincemeat of a tiger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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