Tales Of Bigfoot in The UK – The Wychwood Forest Beast Oxfordshire

The ancient broadleaved woodland of Wychwood, in rural Oxfordshire, is the remnant of a much larger medieval Royal Hunting Ground. Today much of this eight square mile forest is designated as both a National Nature Reserve, as well as a Site of Special of Scientific Interest. It is renowned as a habitat for plants such as adder’s tongue and early purple orchids. But in the early 1990s it became apparent that a more unusual and mysterious species might have made itself at home amongst the shady boughs.

At dusk on Friday the 14th January 1994, bus driver Greg Gilbert was driving his bus between Charlbury and Chadlington when he claims to have witnessed a curious creature crossing the road in front of his vehicle. The creature was described as looking like a bear – big, brown and hairy, standing up on its back legs and at least five feet tall. Whilst this sighting by Greg Gilbert was the first such formally reported, it turned out to be far from an isolated case.

Local resident James Graham-Cloete came forward to admit to having seen a large dark object in the headlights of his vehicle as he drove through the woods one evening. As he slowed down to observe the roadside anomaly more closely, he was able to identify it as a bear-like creature.

Farmer John Blackwell, from Dean, near Chadlington, claimed to have seen the mystery beast creature no fewer than six times since September of 1992. According to his report, he was in woodland near to the Council’s refuse tip site, when he was startled by an animal the size of a sheepdog, Upon sighting the farmer, the beast slumped off into the trees. Farmer Blackwell saw the creature again at the same location on the following two nights. Convinced that he had seen a young bear, the farmer kept a regular lookout, and saw the creature again in February, and then twice at the end of May, by which time it had grown to the size of a Great Dane. In addition to the sightings, Mr Blackwell also claimed to have come across physical signs of the animal’s presence such as claw-marks and large footprints, and to have heard a continual howling.

At the time the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF, now known as DEFRA) denied having received any reports of local bear escapes, but admitted that such a creature would have no difficulty surviving should it do so. Given the amount of woodland cover and green corridor across west Oxfordshire and the Cotswolds it would not be difficult for any animal to move over a wide area.

The elusive creature has never been captured or photographed, and neither has a body ever been found.

So the question remains….Bear or Bigfoot?