Mystery Animal of Kent…London and Sussex
‘Lions, and tigers, and bears oh my!’ gasped Dorothy as she and her companions tiptoed through the dark forest in The Wizard of Oz. She’d never exclaimed a truer sentence.
On Wednesday 18 March 2009 the Devon-based CFZ Press, fronted by Fortean researcher Jonathan Downes, published my unique, 400-page chronicle pertaining to 20 years of research into sightings and evidence of strange animals across the south. Although the book is mainly about Kent, Sussex and London come under scrutiny on several, in-depth occasions, as their own bouts of serious yet surreal weirdness remain often connected to that which occurs in the ‘Garden of England’.
‘If you go down to the woods today…’, indeed! The first section of the book is the first ever catalogue of sightings of ‘big cats’ around the capital, hence the title, Cats Around the Capital. So, if you’ve heard rumours about the ‘beast’ of Bexley. Or recall the whispers, ‘Surrey puma’.. .Or read snippets about the large cats resembling pumas, black leopards and lynxes said to roam Sydenham, Southwark, Abbey Wood and Bromley. Or if you have often scoffed at the one about the lynx caught in a back garden at Golders Green, then now is your chance to suspend your disbelief and chew on the facts of these cases. No stone remains unturned as I go on the track of the phantom cat-ripper, and the Plumstead ‘panther’. Where did these cats come from ? How are they surviving ? And just how many are out there ? All will be revealed…
Then, it’s off on another London safari, this time in search of mystery birds (and no, not those swingin’ Soho ladies) for example, escaped eagles and vultures, squacco herons over Bexley and other giant flappers. Then it’s on the trail of the wolves of Clapham Common, seals at Hampstead Heath, the kangaroo of Beckenham and the flying squirrel of Wimbledon Common…in fact, forget The Wombles!
And then, it’s time to wade in to the murky depths of London’s algae-ridden pools and silted waterways. Giant fish, alien species, terrapins, crocodiles, exotic lizards, sea serpents and monsters, rising from the depths of London’s rivers…not always the ones that got away!
And finally, this is where it gets creepy as I explore the darkest, most sinister unseen underbelly of London folklore, a void that seems to connect the human psyche to the most frightful of woods and mist enshrouded roads. The final chapter, The Others, speaks of bogeymen and freakish humanoids which surely cannot be. Phantom, frothing and fiery-eyed hellhounds said to haunt Wandsworth, and the Old Newgate Prison, where the most despicable of ghostly hounds is said to prowl. And what about West Drayton’s screaming bird-like spectre ? How about the ghastly cat-like ghost of Whitechapel ? Or maybe the apparitions of bears to said to have been sighted at Cheyne Walk, or more famously, at the Tower of London, where one such beast appeared and terrified a sentry to death. And of course, we must not forget the cursed apparition resembling a giant ape which haunted a Hampstead man in the early 1900s.
So, as you can see, Mystery Animals of Kent is more than your average folklore book. Guaranteed to cause a shiver and a glance over the shoulder. A book for the fireside and for candlelight, but not for the faint hearted, yet certainly for anyone hoping to undertake a magical mystery tour through the south-east’s most obscure and baffling zoological, and cryptozoological puzzles.
For a signed copy email: neil.arnold@live.com
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