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EP 162- Are there Cryptids and Bigfoot in the UK? with Cryptids Britannia
172 Plays2 days ago
We are joined by Harlem Karma, creator of Cryptids Britannia and I Talk Cryptids, to discuss his experiences as well as his research and investigation into strange phenomena in the UK ,particularity around cryptids, bigfoot, and big cats.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CryptidsBritannia
Search on socials for Cryptids Britannia
Title music provided by Steve Yarwood & Ambienfinity
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Transcript
Introduction and Future Plans
00:00:00
Speaker
almost i don't know where to white those on or what it was it wasn't an airplane it was not in your plane it was so off You're listening to Pursuit of the Paranormal podcast with your hosts, Ash Ellis and Greg Tomlinson.
00:00:25
Speaker
Good afternoon, evening. Greg, how's it going? and Good, mate. How are you doing, Ash? All OK? Very well, very well. How's the recovery going? Yeah, good, good. um Crutches for a bit longer, but on the road to recovery waiting for the next stop, so. Can't wait. Nice one. Nice those things for you. See, it feels like it's been ages since we spoke and.
00:00:54
Speaker
um I mean, we've been doing loads of independent videos every day on social media, but we're not not really been ah in conversation together, so it feels like it's been ages. We had a couple of council interviews, I think that's probably been the reason why, but yeah, no, and it's been the last one for a little while, I guess. Yes, yeah, yeah, because you're away, and you're going away on holiday. Yep, nice break, so yeah, Bill.
00:01:23
Speaker
catch back off in a week or two yeah definitely and we got some big big interviews hopefully coming out we've been contacted um by a podcast in india to come on they want us to go and talk on their podcast in india um and india has been one of our biggest um support in countries on the podcast we launched the podcast in india on just like a network thing called Ghana a couple of years ago and since then they've been significantly high listeners so yeah an untapped market and they're very spiritual over there and they want to talk to us about UFOs so that'll be coming up soon yeah I can't look forward to that one yeah yeah well I guess today's episode this week's episode doing a topic that we have covered a bit but not for a while I don't know
00:02:20
Speaker
So it'd be good to sort of get back into this topic for a bit, which is going to be cryptids, big cats, stuff like that.
Harlem Karma's Journey into Cryptids
00:02:27
Speaker
And we're welcoming on this week to Harlem Karma. Thank you very much Harlem for joining us. Thank you so much for having me on. I've been looking forward to it for the past week now. Nice one. Nice one, me too. So I guess for all our guests we have on, do you want to give us a bit of a Origen, how did you first get kind of interested in in the topic of cryptids or the wider paranormal topic? Yeah. Yeah. So I've been interested in the whole cryptid world now since I was born. You know, I grew up watching mainly American shows, such as Monster Quest, Finding Bigfoot. That's what really got me into watching about the school and all that. And then I started reading books from a library about the Himalayan Yeti Bigfoot over in America.
00:03:12
Speaker
And it kind of just spawned from there, you know, we've had such a big interest. I decided to start the channel and ended up with me going to my local ones, just having a look around to now spending weeks away in some of the most significant hotspots we have here in the UK, such as that of a Bempton on the East coast, kind of chase, Rendlesham, Loch Ness. And it's just been an absolute joy ride since then.
00:03:38
Speaker
Amazing, because you had your the channel you've got now is called Cryptid Britannia and he did have Ital Cryptids which kind of disappeared off YouTube. What happened with that channel? ah It was terminated by YouTube.
00:03:53
Speaker
so ah Yeah, kind of i'd like two and a half K subs on there. So if it just like disappear overnight, it was kind of frustrating. But I'm starting fresh. and I'm hoping I can build this channel up even more than I had done before. Now I've got a proper filming camera rather than just my phone. I'm hoping I can make more documentary-esque videos when I go out.
Documentaries and Sightings
00:04:15
Speaker
I watched um your documentary about the Dog Man.
00:04:20
Speaker
um on the Cryptive Britannia channel. You had loads of positive comments on in the comments as well about the quality of the the film. and And I must say, we speak to and have spoken to quite a few documentary makers over the years. And I like the style of your documentary. It's really good, well shot, the ah all the colouring. Not that I know much about anything, but it's nice and it's a nice watch.
00:04:49
Speaker
Some, some documentaries you watch, they just look like they've been shot on someone's phone and it's just cobbled together for YouTube, but very well presented. And it was a, as a good watch, it was a good watch. So, so I appreciate you taking the time and the comments back that up as well. So everybody needs to to go and at least watch it. And it's, I think I was the 3000th viewer of it. So and just to let you know.
00:05:17
Speaker
But yeah, no, it was really cool to watch, so well done on that. I really appreciate it, thank you. So I guess if we go back to kind of, like I said, the interest in cryptids and stuff, how did that originally, what was it that kind of set it off? What, I guess, began that interest? Or was it like a TV show or that started it? Like I said, it was, the biggest impact was Monster Quest because like each episode is like a different cryptid happening over in the US.
00:05:48
Speaker
But channel-wise, in 2019, during the winter, as with a group of friends, we went up to a local woods, which none of us had gone in before. It was a conifer plantation, ah which were always kind of creepy, player which vibes, you know, it's all dense. We went up there with the intention to build a bushcraft shelter, which never ends up getting built. Because when we got in there about five minutes through walking into these woods, one of my friends pointed something out in the distance.
00:06:16
Speaker
None of us else knew what it was, so we looked over. And there was a... It sounds crazy every single time I've ever spoken about it to anyone, but I always go back to describing it as one of the raptors from the Jurassic Park movies, just a bit smaller, brownish kind of colour. We were scared. shit it was it It was crazy. We didn't know what was happening. It it paid no attention to us, surprisingly.
00:06:46
Speaker
and they kind of just ran off into ah the thicker part of the trees. But by then, we weren't keen to stay around and we just ran back home. you know ah Yeah, I've been up to the woods quite a few times since nothing's happened. I don't think if anything will happen that I think it's something more than just a blood and flesh creature. But ah that's what really kickstarted it because I've had so many more experiences since then
00:07:15
Speaker
So whereabouts is what whereas where that first sighting was and kind of the other experiences that you've had.
UK Cryptid Hotspots and Encounters
00:07:22
Speaker
That experience was by the city of Lancaster ah in the north of England. Some of the other experiences I've had, ah a lot of them happened over on the east coast around Bempton, Speedon, et cetera.
00:07:41
Speaker
um I've felt the presence of, we've caught on camera why I believe to be some type of demonic entity. Obviously everything at the ah RAF base there will be satanic practices and stuff during the seventies and eighties. That all makes sense. Then that same week on the way to speed to one night, we witnessed again something crazy. What?
00:08:07
Speaker
looked like a direwolf, which is a prehistoric creature, but it's essentially like a large, canid animal. But the thing about it, it apparated out of nowhere. It came from this kind of mist in the middle of a road. And it went into fields besides us on our left. And it went, how do you say it? It went past the bush to the point where you couldn't see it anymore. And the two other people in the car saw this big, big tail, at least like five foot off the ground.
00:08:36
Speaker
ah We swiveled around, we turned back, we got out of the car to have a look around this field. There's nothing but some deers in the distance, but the deers were way too small to be whatever this creature was. you know But it's not even like it's a livestock field here. There's no horses about. It's all crops. So you wouldn't expect to see any horse, cow, or whatever in this area. But it's definitely changed my opinion on stuff. And then last year,
00:09:05
Speaker
in January, which is irrelevant to the project I'm doing at the moment, I witnessed a melanistic leopard up here in the the Lake District by a small quaint village, ah which ties to the documentary I'm currently making. Yeah. Awesome. I was going to come on because you are seeing me mentioning on social media about a big cat documentary coming up. Let's watch kind of your plans around that.
00:09:36
Speaker
I started filming today, ah like the first thingy. I've been in touch with ah the Westmont Gazette, which is one of the biggest news outlets we've got in Cumbria. and Just so I can get a few articles out, et cetera, promoting it in my research. But where I saw what I think was familiaristic weapons, I have received several reports in the exact same location, I'd say two miles apart.
00:10:05
Speaker
of what also seems to be a melanistic leopard, with swimming sightings dating back to as far as 2011. So clearly, whatever it is, the animal has no intention on leaving. So I think I've got a good shot of actually capturing it, if I do it right. So, you know, I plan on camping out ah every other week, just going out of here, looking around these woods. Deers have been found ah ripped apart up here, legs on the path of the woods. it's a Yeah, it's kind of scary, almost, uh, when you go out looking for something that's very, very real, you know, it's not Bigfoot or dark man. It's something that biologically is proven. You know, maybe not here in the UK, but in other parts of the world.
Investigation Techniques and Sites
00:10:51
Speaker
So, you know, what this animal is ah capable of, but, uh, yeah, you know, hopefully fingers crossed it's all worth it at the end of it and get torn apart while one of these, uh, expeditions for, uh, yeah, yeah.
00:11:06
Speaker
So what's what's going through your mind when you're, so we've spoken to other people that have hunting cryptids. What is going through your mind when you're trying to track down this entity of whatever it is that like you mentioned could apparate out of nowhere. um So you potentially you don't even know it's there until it's too late.
00:11:35
Speaker
What is going through your mind at that point? where And what what do you do different to try and find these cryptids?
00:11:45
Speaker
um I think it's it depends, because sometimes I'm in a group, ah the Winter Hill investigation team, I'm often out with, I was with them when we went up to Edmonton for a week. But a lot of the time I'm by myself, so it's depending on what i'm looking for it's like a different state of the state of mind i suppose because some of these things are blood and flesh like i say before with the big cats some i believe to be paranormal um you can't you can't be afraid of whatever it is because then it it'll take advantage of it if it is something more demonic i think you just kind of just go out there with an open mind and uh be open to
00:12:31
Speaker
anything that could possibly happen.
00:12:36
Speaker
Definitely, because you've been to a few places you mentioned where Wendell Shumkannock, Bempton, places that I've investigated myself ah for various things and they are kind of incredible places to go and a lot of work's been done but there's a lot of evidence like Pause and Claire and stuff up the north east and the Winter Hill team up in Lancashire. I've basically kind of changed me and Greg have been there a couple of times doing and investigation is more paranormal, although some kind of a guest group that comes under that, turns out what I've been looking for. Also, Delamere Forest has been, obviously, got quite a lot of stories going back thousands of years, in some cases, of creatures and stuff being seen up that way. I guess, what is, what's been your favourite place to go to, out of the places that you've been? It's always my back of mind.
00:13:28
Speaker
ah cao since I first went there several years ago. Not just my favourite hotspot but probably one of my favourite places I've been to ever. ah Because we always go there during the summer so it's always nice, sunny.
00:13:44
Speaker
And it's just like a wonderful location. I think that there's something about the stories that and makes you want to keep going back. Obviously, you've got things such as the pig man around Castle Ring, the dog man around the German military cemetery in the stores for Woodworth, et cetera. It's just such a ah wonderful, mysterious location.
00:14:05
Speaker
And we had some... I'll probably say, sorry, on a matter of fact, please. I mean, Greg went there. having a couple of times. It's just that feeling once you're there, there's a definite vibe to the place, both in the day and night time. I did War Cemetery, two o'clock in the morning on my own, a couple of hours, just seeing what's going on there. And just being there is just kind of that incredible place. We had some amazing results around Castle Ring, doing Yes's Method. And that's how you, Greg, got bit by a beetle and kind of chased. So when the end of daytime once,
00:14:41
Speaker
Drive it up, back up from Birmingham, up to Manchester, where I live. If I was kind of, let's just stop for a couple of hours and have a bit of a picnic and then kind of chase, set up a picnic table, a picnic blanket, start having some sandwiches or whatever. Then my partner's like, do you have snakes in the UK? I was like, yeah, yeah, look, there's snakes. Like, I think I can hear a snake. So I was like Googling what type of snakes are in Canada and stuff. And then next minute I could hear something. So I was looking like, is there a snake near us? All of a sudden a massive pain.
00:15:10
Speaker
just above, well, my lower back. If your pants were jumped up, I was like, what the hell's that? Big, massive black beetle was on the pit of banking, and It's not paranormal, but just, I always think back to being bitten by a giant beetle and kind of chase. and But I guess you
Bigfoot, UFOs, and Theories
00:15:32
Speaker
mentioned kind of, like you said, the woodrows and other creatures. I co-founded, what was the big, the British,
00:15:40
Speaker
the UK bigfoot research team ah about five years ago and one of the questions is that we always get asked and people obviously said put a lot of tourism towards it is there there's no way there's a big fort in the UK you can't delude to it that it's Tennessee not kind of blood and bones flesh and blood so what's your i guess you've just asked that simple question is there a big fort in the UK in your opinion hello We just don't have enough room. When you look at some of these stories, vi they seem more paranormal. Even the stories in America, they've got a hunter in the woods, sees this aims his rifle, and shoots at it. It's just a little hard to do whatsoever. And you've got stories here as well. But um it's different wherever you are in the world, these ape-like creatures.
00:16:33
Speaker
because what we have here, the woodworks, which dates back to the Middle Ages, yeah and in some circumstances actually predates the American reports, it so it's almost a completely different animal. Over in America, yeah, sure, it's so vast, expansive, that there's a chance that there is a blown flesh creature there. But here,
00:16:57
Speaker
Absolutely not, I mean the reports we get here, the more man-like almost, like a Neanderthal, there's a lot of slimmer, even some of the older depictions, they're holding clubs, like the Green Man almost.
00:17:11
Speaker
um Even going up to Scotland, like the Grey Man of Ben Mac doo, which seems almost like this paranormal big four-esque presence up on the mountain. so It's very strange but phenomenal.
00:17:28
Speaker
No, that's OK. So so you're saying about the the fact that the um so there's not enough room for a Bigfoot creature in the UK. So one of the the reports that very much like you said about this, Darwulf, that the these things can sort of appear out of portals. And like you mentioned about these things that you're seeing, it just sounds crazy to to talk about again.
00:17:57
Speaker
it is It's a crazy theory that these things can just appear out of polls so they don't actually need to to live here because they're not from here, which when I say that out loud, that sounds bananas, but looking at both of you with straight faces brings me down to earth and think I'm not entirely crazy. um so So what do you think, because there's Bigfoot sightings around UFO hotspots, paranormal hotspots. Do you think that that would be possible then for sort of a Bigfoot type creature in the UK? Or are you just completely discounting that? I used to be open to the idea that they could be on the leafle since we used to use mines, caves, caverns, etc. ah Now, not so much.
00:18:50
Speaker
um I'm definitely open to being interdimensional, like you were saying, with portals. I think ah definitely think Canuk Chase is ah some kind of portal that's got some kind of energy. Same with Bemton, because you get all this weird phenomena that differs from one another in the same huddled location. But I'm completely open to the whole portal scheme. I just don't think there's any possibility there's a blunt-flashed creature here whatsoever, being in the woods by myself, you know, going around. I mean, I have a hiker, so I'm constantly up in the fellas and the lakes, the Yorkshire Dales, etc. I just don't think there's enough land. becauses There's just not much forest unless you go up to the highlands. But again, there's just not much to support a population of man-ape-like creatures.
00:19:45
Speaker
So Greg sort of mentioned the UFO kind of link. It's been in the course of kind of our research. and We found quite a few stories that kind of what appears to be describing Bigfoot-like creatures or big apes coming out of the sky, where they reported the one from a native American just going back a few hundred years in America. And they described it as giant monkeys or giant apes. And a as ah moon came down from the sky.
00:20:20
Speaker
and these giant apes came out of it. So you think of a giant moon coming down at the sky could be their way of describing saucer or some type of craft. Obviously they've got no famous reference. They've said it's like a moon that came down. Then the giant apes got off that moon and went into the forest. So it's kind of like, would they pile it in? If this was a craft, was the Bigfoot-like creature piling the craft or do whatever the creatures are, if there are creatures, are they bringing them here and then maybe taking them back? Does that explain why they aren't found? Because they're going back up in a spacecraft. Greg says it's a bit mad to say little words out loud, but when there's that many reports and very, very similar reports going back literally hundreds and thousands of years potentially, we can't ignore it. It's mad.
00:21:18
Speaker
I mean, I've heard people say that Bigfoot could be an alien, you know, an ET. Maybe not Bigfoot, but I'd be open to the idea that being a Bigfoot-like alien, you know, could have been for like Chewbacca from the Star Wars movies. But I wouldn't say that's the reason people have seen Bigfoot. ah if it If it was a possibility, I'd say they're completely separate. ah It's just a coincidence that they look alike, because they've both got a lot of hair.
00:21:47
Speaker
but ah Yeah, i'm not I'm not too sure. have I've i've not never really looked into the ah UFO side of things, really. and so That's fair. That's fair. OK, so one thing you mentioned right at the start that you've been up to Loch Ness.
The Loch Ness Monster Theory
00:22:04
Speaker
What's your take on the Loch Ness Monster? Because it's always in the press. It's always in the press. Yeah. but um And it's been debunked, for want of a better phrase, or somebody said they've captured the best
00:22:19
Speaker
piece of footage of Nessie, what's your take on a Loch Ness Monster? It's definitely not a please you saw, I can tell you that much. I think it's most likely some kind of possibly undiscovered large eel that's in the Loch. Because obviously they've done DNA surveys and it's all come back eel. So I think it's more likely than not to be a large you know, unseat eel, sliver, grandma, lock, maybe even several of them. ah but I know. I mean, obviously we've got all the stories of Christopher Columbus with the fighting off the Loch Ness Monster, et cetera.
00:23:04
Speaker
And it's a, it's a weird one with so many people. I'm so certain it is some kind of prehistoric, pleasant dinosaur-esque thing, but I'm not sure. I mean, the whole block itself is quite weird. The Alastair Crowey stuff as well. ah Just beside of it. and Yeah, I don't really have much more of an opinion on it. Fair enough. I mean, it's the fact that it's sort of such a big vessel of water. um And so many sightings, it just seems that if there to me, if there was going to be something there,
00:23:43
Speaker
we We would have found it by now, but I know it's such so big, though. I don't ah don't know if it's it's possible to stay hidden. Ash, what do you think? I mean, I've been a couple of times made an amazing, amazing place. And yeah, the sheer size of it takes 20 or 20, 30 minutes just to drive down the length of it. it's It's that big. I think it's one. It's one of those stories that a lot of people hold in quite high regard. It's quite ah quite a romantic story.
00:24:14
Speaker
say like Nessie just even the name is like obviously a lot of Scots are very proud of it obviously it's world famous it's it's quite big in America they they always talk about Nessie things like that and but again there's been a lot of quite especially recent years quite scientific studies that haven't really come up with anything and maybe we need to keep doing it that way we're going deeper or whatever because obviously it is that deep It holds, I think I read that it holds every, you could have put every single human in the planet in the lock. Like it would hold every single human, like 6 million people that actually fit in the lock. That's how big it is. Which is just, can't even really imagine every single person on it all in that one place. So it's a big place, but it is beautiful as well. And there is up there as well a lot of, again, don't want to keep going to come back to UFOs and stuff, but one of the areas where
00:25:10
Speaker
There's a lot of reports up in Highlands around Inverness and that of UFOs, of cryptids, and going a bit further south. We we filmed up in and around Edinburgh in the summer. And again, there's quite a small area, really, in tree and classical in Edinburgh, where there's all these UFO reports, cryptid type reports, big cats, strange figures, goblins, all sorts.
00:25:40
Speaker
in these small areas. It could be these parts of Scotland and also these portal areas because it's just it's because there's not many people living in these places like Inverness or these villages near Edinburgh. There's only population like in the thousands but there's hundreds and hundreds of reports of strange power phenomena happening. So I think that's like one heavy one in three people who are reporting something. That's crazy. That's absolutely crazy. So it's what is It's just mad to think of what he's causing all this stuff. I mean, like I say, amazing place and definitely something going on in these places. Definitely. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, Loch Ness, you were saying before, it's like massive. There's also apparently underwater caves under Loch Ness. So if something could possibly hide under them and avoid radar scanning weather,
00:26:40
Speaker
But again, i'm I'm just not completely sure what the whole Nessie pleasy sort of thing or Nessie in general, to be honest. It's good for tourism. That's that's. Oh, yes. Well, it's got to follow the money sometimes.
Community Reception and Family Reactions
00:26:59
Speaker
ah So I guess if we go back to kind of you a little bit, and you're quite young, obviously the audience can't see you.
00:27:09
Speaker
yeah know You obviously don't say, well, do you have anything, but you are younger than us, let's say. and Most people are younger than me. I'm the oldest one of the three, let's just say that. so about
00:27:24
Speaker
So obviously you know don you've been doing quite a lot of stuff, quite prominent around this kind of the UK kind of cryptid scene and stuff like that. How can the reception been for you? guys You had any sort of roadblocks or people?
00:27:37
Speaker
not been as kind of welcome. There's people like Mike McClellan and people who I know quite well. Really nice people, going up to this like Paul Sinclair, amazing people, Chris Turner, all amazing people. than we've asked ven deryed ah field And When we started the UK Big Foot research team, we got quite a lot of hate from a certain community of people ah in the UK Big Foot field, I don't know many names, but got quite nasty at some points, for no reason. I wonder whether you'd had anything, hopefully you don't need to say anything I want to say, but you'd had any kind of experiences like that. I have. I mean, most people have been really nice, like you were saying, with Chris Turner, Ben Walgate from 401 file. So it's all been absolutely amazing. Like you were saying, there was a particular community that revolves around the UK Bigfoot.
00:28:34
Speaker
but wasn't so nice. Same kind of thing happened last year with another ah up-and-coming, some may even say young, ah researcher who wasn't too good to me either. ah Yeah, you're gonna get that, those were people of any community. So, ah you know. The paranormal community is similar. I don't know if it's just the way people are.
00:29:03
Speaker
across um society as a whole. I mean on the podcast here we we talk to all sorts of people and there's people that we we wouldn't touch based on them but we we generally have pretty good experience across the podcast itself but I am aware that the paranormal community at times is toxic so I can imagine It's a similar type of thing across other ones, especially like yourself, that you're doing well. You sort of, you're bringing this young, fresh look to to the field. So I can imagine that it can be quite threatening to people to see that coming. And people don't like people that are successful. It tends to to bring out the, um
00:30:01
Speaker
the dark side in some people. So ah I'm sorry that you've experienced that. You shouldn't have to experience stuff like that. It shouldn't be like that. if Especially if they start targeting family members. That's just bang out of order. So yeah, just keep doing what you're doing. Definitely. Because if it ruffles feathers, it means you're doing something right. And if they're talking about you, yeah it means you're doing something right as well. So so yeah. So I mean, what, what do you think the whole thing is? So you talked about you've seen this dire wolf type velociraptor type creature. What do you think it all is? I know that's quite a ah broad open question, but I don't know how to really define it any tighter than that. What do you think the hell is going on?
00:30:58
Speaker
i wish i wish on you honestly uh i wish i could give you a definitive answer that's fair that's fair you know be correct but no i mean it's all so bizarre you know dinosaurs giant wolves ghosts it's all kind of no one's gonna believe you if you if you start talking about that to a random you know family member or anything
00:31:27
Speaker
I think it's a mixture of, you know, paranormal stuff, blood and flesh stuff, and maybe extraterrestrial, ah interdimensional, but I'd group out with a paranormal subject. ah No, I wish I had the answer. But unfortunately, that's fair. That's fair. But that's that's also a good thing, because I just suppose you want to keep keep looking, I suppose. You mentioned I'd like talking to family members about it. What does your family say when you go, I'm going out hunting these weird creatures that you may or may not believe in, but I've seen and they're out there and I'm going out there. It's literally just like my dad's side of our family is are completely open to it. They've experienced stuff.
00:32:22
Speaker
And my mum's side is not. So I could show my mum like the clearest photo of the big cat. And she wouldn't believe me if she'd think I'd photoshopped it or something. ah So I tend to just tell more to my dad's side. But yeah, yeah, my mum's still open to it. But it's just like, just behind here, I think it's a bit out there. It's quite a scary.
00:32:48
Speaker
acceptance, if if you go and say, well, yeah, I believe it, it kind is kind of a ah opens this whole other world, um which is not nott like normal, as it were. Like you say, you can't necessarily open a conversation with somebody and go, oh, what do you think about velociraptors or velociraptor type creatures in the forest on the East Coast?
00:33:16
Speaker
and somebody will just look at you and go, what the fuck are you on about? just like Or you might be surprised and they go, I knew it. I've been seeing shit for years or I've read about it because i where I work, people don't necessarily believe in it all. um yeah yeah But you can have a conversation with them and some people will go, I watch Most Haunted, I watch Monster the Quest or I watch Ghost Adventures or whatever. So people people are aware of this kind of stuff. um So you'd probably be surprised that more people are open to it than not. And like Ash said, if one in three people in Scotland are reporting stuff, and that makes it even even more crazy. yeah yeah So, um I mean, do you work? Are you a college?
00:34:14
Speaker
I mean, no disrespect on that. yeah yeah So what what do your mates think about it? What do they say? I don't know about it. I keep it secret. I'll say it a little bit, but I won't go too out of there. like I won't just mention Bigfoot or anything. I'll say, oh, yeah. no other yeah I like to hike and the fake videos. but I won't go further than that.
00:34:42
Speaker
Because I don't want them to think I'm crazy with all this woo-woo talk and stuff. Yeah. That's fair. That's fair. It's mad out, by like Greg was saying, it's hard to have these conversations, it is. I think I'm old enough now. I stopped caring to what other people thought and kind of thing. Because I've always had this interest through my routines and then real life took over.
00:35:09
Speaker
only in the past kind of six, seven years, I've got back into it as much as I have to in terms of investigating in the podcast and the UFO, UFO work I do. And here's surprising how people are open to it a lot more than you expect. Like my my family, my my parents are quite close minded to it. And I have my own big cat sighting in Warrington a few years ago. um So I talked about at the time, mum, dad, the light, yeah, whatever. This was like three o'clock in the morning.
00:35:38
Speaker
And then, but there's a couple years later when I kind of remembered that, that happened. I was just putting in the area, I put Big Cat in virtual, didn't want to know what happened. And there's all these newspaper reports from like the past 10 years. I was like, well, I was like, that's exactly where I saw it. And there's all these newspaper reports. It's like, it's not like people are seeing these things. It's crazy. You have to look into it. People do see it. It is more widespread. And then people probably do realize, I think a lot of people have that where There are two people that are next to each other that probably don't want to tell every person what they do, but they both don't because they're looking crazy. It's just kind of getting past that kind of block to actually just say the words, like it's, hopefully. well ah What was it you saw? Was it like a puma or a pamper for what? So it's more, probably more puma-like. So I used to work in the casino in Manchester. So driving home, it's something I actually, it was like last Sunday morning, like early hours of Sunday morning, two or three o'clock in the morning, it's pitch black.
00:36:34
Speaker
It's just coming off the M62 into Warrington through Burchwood. There Burchwood, the way I think it's called. And that's the kind of chores on the roundabouts ahead. There's no street lights or anything. In the middle of the road was just a large, well, a dog size, but it was a cat. It was shaping walk of a cat. It's like a pamper for a puma, probably. and Very large, like a large sized dog. It just kind of sauntered across the road and into the woods at the side.
00:37:03
Speaker
So I pulled up further down thinking, what the hell, what the hell am I just saw? And actually a text me partner just put time and date. So I knew I had the time and date when I saw it. Now I still parked up and I got a bit like Heba Jeebies. I was like, it's black, no street lights, middle of the night, no one around. I'm sat in Pitt's darkness. So it's like, we get that kind of, want to get out of there feeling. So just, yeah, see about back on, got home. Told me family about it the next day.
00:37:30
Speaker
I kind of just forgot about it until I think a couple of years later, like I said, I've talked to my brother's partner about it and I said, oh, let me try to show you where it was. And it's just putting in big cat birch woods. And there's like four or five newspaper articles going back like 10, 15 years. I was like, you know, and literally one of the streets where they gave was just off the bit of the road where I saw it, where there's a bit of woodland there. So it's like, that's exactly where I saw it. It's bad that there must be something, there must be something around there from so many different people to describe them.
00:37:59
Speaker
wild black cat all have the same description as well so there must be something in Warrenton as well. I mean I've heard of plenty of a large fellow like creatures here around Warrenton, Cheshire or them areas. I mean it's strange because the reports differ wherever you go in the UK. Here in Cumbria I'd say about 90% of reports if not 99% are of black, melodic leopards, you know, what you think about as a panther, but then you go down to the west country, so ah Cornwall, Devon, and there is a mixture down there, you know, you get your puma, you get your panthers, obviously, you know, the exmoor bees, the dartmoor bees, and then in in the south, so like London area down there, it seems to mostly just be pumas, so ah
00:38:48
Speaker
Yeah, does that have something to do with a whether they were released ah due to the Dangerous Wild Animals Act? You know, because obviously people could have different things. You've got all sorts of the stories of pumas walking around Hyde's Park and stuff. So, ah yeah, though it's it's really yeah strange how widespread it is. and Definitely, definitely. ah You mentioned Wendell Shirm a bit earlier, that's one of the places. What was your, kind of what was your looking for guessing when the show was anything in particular? Yeah, he went down there as well.
00:39:24
Speaker
her Literally, just the UFO trail. I was really young when I went down there, so that's like the only thing I can remember, unfortunately. I'd love to go back down there now, but I don't have a vehicle. Like, the trains are so expensive, you know? I mean, you've got to put, like, Airbnb or something. We're lucky you've got so many locations up here.
00:39:45
Speaker
you know, like a winter hill and stuff and even kind of chase. That's not too far. It's just down the Midlands. But yeah, Rendlesham, it's one of the places I just want to go back to, but I I'm going to have to wait until I can get a vehicle or something, because no one's going to drive me down there, you know. Oh, I'm going to do it. So yeah, it's a it's a trick. I think it took me it was seven hours going down. And I think it was about nine hours going back because of stuff.
00:40:12
Speaker
stopgainst stuff It's like, ah it's just literally, it's such an arse end of nowhere. It's like, there's no main roads or anything. There's no phone signals. It's literally like backwater roads and stuff. It's an amazing place. I went a couple of years ago, after wanting to go there, I could say the UFO history.
Logistical Challenges of Investigations
00:40:31
Speaker
Like, it turns out being a UFO investigator, it's like the death story in the UK. And finally getting to go there. And we had we had weird stuff happening down there. You had a wild doggy experience, and it's like, why aren't you out there?
00:40:44
Speaker
yes Sorry. We had an awesome place. Again, I want to go back to that but about three years ago now. I need to get back to Windowsham. It's just a combination in the truck. I mean, obviously a happy drive there. It's just a pain in the ass drive. It really, really is. So it's up here in the North, quite populated. and You do have them open areas quite a bit, basically going up towards Lancaster and Lake District. Yeah. Mountains and the forest and stuff. and and towards the Midlands, kind of Delamere, North Wales, quite a lot of stuff happens in North Wales. Then he got off to the North Yorkshire Moors, then across to East Coasters. We are quite lucky with all the places we've got on our doorstep really. It's like I went up to Scotland to film a documentary. There's so much on the doorstep. I was like, yeah, Scotland was a bit of a trek, so I'm going to stick a bit more local. We do have it all on our doorstep, so we are lucky. That's right. Greg's going to move up to the North.
00:41:41
Speaker
it's to be in the middle of it all. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. She's not here, so I can. Yeah, I will be heading up north this year, I'm sure. sorry Yeah, I'm from Oxfordshire, so. Oh, yeah, so quite a bit away. Yeah, yes, a couple of hour drive, drive down from where I am right now. I'm up north at the moment, but yeah.
00:42:09
Speaker
is there is ah even like the paranormal stuff there's a lot more up north for some reason I don't I don't know why that is but yeah so I'm looking forward to exploring all the the north has to to offer I kind of guess on the on the topic of I guess let's talk wider paranormal you mentioned sort of UFOs a little bit but kind of you're going to sort of maybe ghosts that sort of thing is that something you have an interest in and to change that investigation or our research? um Not really, other other freak experience for be I Crowley graveyard that you owned. I was nine at the time, but my dad was into the whole occult stuff, so we went there at night but for some reason. It was like 10 o'clock pitch black. We pulled up, we went in there, and there's this stone hut
00:43:07
Speaker
almost and i really want to go back here but those stairs going down there's pentagrams all like all alongside it and my dad was going to go down there to have a look but uh this shadow like started creaking up the stairs it seems like an dasferatu uh the old black and white one was like crawling like walking up stairs very much like that and uh as soon as he got out A whole horde of flies, I started to attack us and chase us all the way back to the car. I'm not like, like, like bottle flies, like massive ones. It was like, I can't remember too much of it, but it was like really freaky. Like it definitely left an impact on my interest in the whole supernatural world, I suppose. That's creepy as hell. I think being a kid as well, my God.
00:43:57
Speaker
I'm looking, I've experienced so much at my age. jacketst I just can't talk about it all at once. through anyone so You just won't believe it. so It's annoying that it's cool at the same time. It's like a curse.
00:44:12
Speaker
ah you You're in a safe place now. You can talk to us. That's all good. So what's next for you? What what are your
Future Goals in Cryptid Research
00:44:21
Speaker
plans? You you mentioned that you started filming documentary parts today. What's 2025 got for you? 2025's going to be a year. I've started this documentary. I'm almost certain I don't know exactly where this creature is. Because it's been here since 2011, possibly even longer.
00:44:43
Speaker
it's clearly got no intent in leaving so it's all in kind of a smallish area that backs off into this big pine forest ground still but um yeah no i think as long as i keep on going out there every week i'm bound to find proof i mean like i was saying before uh i'm hopefully going to get an article out there i'm a westbound user and a few more after that uh today when i was out filming i put a few posters essentially saying if you've had a sighting uh here's my email address send it over i'll be really interested but uh yeah i think it's gonna be a big one i mean i've investigated um sheep killings before we've been torn apart like our livestock graveyard really strange like happenings but um i think this year fingers crossed
00:45:36
Speaker
I'll get some footage of something, you know, plan to set up some trail cameras around this area and just try out different things, see what works. Amazing. And like like Greg said, the the kind of filming you've done is really good. Is that kind of self-taught? Is that something you've just done kind of yourself or? Self-taught. I mean, um I'm not too happy about video personally. I think there's a lot of like mistakes made and there's ah this like these next few videos because i'm i'm going back out to the same location tomorrow just so i can do some shorter videos in between the documentary i'm a big cat now i know what i'm doing because i do photography at college which isn't film but it's like you learn some of the aspects of it so uh yeah these next few videos i'm hoping will be
00:46:28
Speaker
Really good. You know, look high production, et cetera. But, uh, I guess I just got to wait and see, see how it goes. I've been writing the scripts for it and stuff, but, uh, yeah. Amazing. I mean, I'm, I'm editing our doc and it's such, yeah, it's a learning curve for sure. It's, uh, it's hard. It's hard work. Um, it's, it's got, it's fun. It really is. Um, and he learns the whole time as you know it, but no, this has been great.
00:46:56
Speaker
Um, so we want to tell everyone, I mean, it's YouTube is cryptid Britannia. Can you socials and stuff where people can find you and follow your, your work? Literally everything is cryptid Britannia. So if if you know how to spell it, search it up rather the and you'll find me. Yeah. So that's Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, uh, tick tock even, I think, I don't know. Uh, yeah, just search up on anything and you should be able to find me. Amazing. Amazing. Well, good luck.
00:47:25
Speaker
further dock and further fin elses in trenche five'm surere we'll see a lot here but thanks so much for coming on and sharing your your story yeah pat honeyy nice to meet you nice to meet you and yeah looking forward to seeing the docs like you thank
00:47:42
Speaker
Thanks for listening to Pursuit of the Paranormal with Ash Ellis, title music created by Steve Yarwood and Ambienfinity. If you like the show, please follow us on Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, X, and Instagram. And if you really like the show, please rate and review the show wherever you are listening. It really does help. See you next time, and until then, stay weird.