The Monster Book. Nick Redfern

      ALIEN BIG CATS

      For decades, the British Isles have played host to a decidedly mysterious and marauding beast. It has become known as the “Alien Big Cat,” or the ABC. Some cryptozoologists and monster hunters suggest the puzzle is an even older one, maybe even dating back centuries. Regardless of when, exactly, the controversy began, the fact is that pretty much every year, dozens upon dozens of reports surface of large cats roaming the wilder—and sometimes the not so wild—parts of Britain.

      Very often, the cats are described as being huge, muscular and black in color. This has given rise to the term “black panther,” which is actually incorrect, but frequently used by both the public and the press. It would be far more correct to suggest the creatures are probably leopards and jaguars displaying significant melanism—a condition in which there is an excess of a black pigment known as melanin.

      As for how such creatures have come to be seen across pretty much the entirety of the British Isles, the theories are as many as they are varied. Some researchers hold that the animals have escaped from private zoos and enclosures and are now living and thriving very nicely in the nation’s woods and forests. Others suggest that back in 1976, when the British Government significantly altered the rules and regulations governing the keeping of large, predatory animals, the owners of such cats—who couldn’t afford to pay the new fees—secretly released their pets into the wild. And today, so the theory goes, what people are seeing are the descendants of those large cats set free in the 1970s.

      Alien big cats are typically described as being black, very large, and very muscular.

      Other theories are far more controversial: one suggests the ABCs may have been with us since roughly 43 C.E., when invading Roman forces brought large cats to Britain in the form of mascots. Did some of those mascots escape and manage to survive and breed, largely undetected? Some say yes. Then there is the highly charged theory that Britain has in its midst an unidentified indigenous cat—one that science and zoology have yet to recognize or categorize.

      Whatever the answer to the question of the origins of Britain’s ABCs, the fact is that their presence is pretty much accepted by the general public and the media—although largely not by the government, which prefers to play down the matter whenever and wherever possible. But they are not literal monsters: they’re simply regular animals, albeit seen in distinctly out of place environments, correct? Well … maybe not. They just might be monsters, after all.

      Although many ABC researchers cringe and squirm when the matter is brought up, the fact is there are more than a few reports on record that place the ABCs in a category that is less flesh and blood-based and far more paranormally themed. There are cases of the ABCs vanishing—literally—before the eyes of astonished witnesses. People report large black cat encounters in old graveyards, within ancient stone circles, and even—on a few occasions—in association with UFO sightings. Whatever the truth of the matter, the ABCs of the U.K. aren’t going away any time soon.

      AUSTRALIAN MYSTERY BLACK CATS

      Reports of large black cats proliferate in both the United States and the U.K. They have become known as “Alien Big Cats”—or ABCs—due to the fact that such creatures are seen in areas where they have no business being seen. After all, the U.K. is certainly not home to any known large cats. And, ABCs in the United States are often spotted in areas where government officials maintain no such creatures roam. Far less well known is the equally curious saga of the ABCs of Australia.

      A subject that, for years, typically only attracted the attention of cryptozoologists and monster hunters, it was thrust into the limelight in late 2008 when the Australian government decided to make its thoughts and data on the subject known publicly. It was September of that year when Nathan Rees, the Premier of New South Wales, Australia, declared openly and to the media that the stories of the ABCs roaming the land were not the stuff of hoaxes, misidentification, or fantasy. The creatures really existed—even if no one knew, exactly, what they were.

      The report … concluded that no such creatures were prowling around, never mind slaughtering the nation’s farm animals.

      Notably, this statement was completely at odds with comments Rees made in August 2008, when he essentially stated that the subject had no merit whatsoever. What changed his opinion was a large dossier of ABC sightings in Australia—collected by elements of the Australian government—which was provided to him in early September and which made for impressive reading. It was because of Rees’s words that Australian officials decided that rather than just collect such reports and file them away, they would finally embark on an investigation of those same reports. The program, which focused on the State of Victoria (a particular hotspot for alien big cat encounters), began in earnest in 2010, at the order of the Victorian National Party’s Peter Ryan.

      Two years later, specifically on September 18, 2012, the long awaited report was finally published. It was not the kind of thing that many people—and particularly farmers who claimed to have lost substantial numbers of animals to the ABCs—were anticipating and/or hoping for. The report—titled Assessment of Evidence for the Presence in Victoria of a Wild Population of “Big Cats”—concluded that no such creatures were prowling around, never mind slaughtering the nation’s farm animals.

      The Minister for Agriculture and Food Security, Peter Walsh, tried to assure the skeptical populace, as well as the doubtful media, that no Alien Big Cat had ever been “detected in a formal wildlife survey, shot by a hunter or farmer or killed by a vehicle and no skeletal remains have ever been found. Nor have ‘big cats’ been identified in wildlife studies involving the analysis of thousands of mammalian fecal samples.”

      So, what then were people seeing? According to Australian authorities, nothing stranger than overfed, regular cats that had turned feral. Many people who followed the story suggested and suspected that the government was playing the matter down, to avoid panicking the population by admitting that large and dangerous cats were on the loose. Despite extensive criticisms of the report, the Australian government was utterly unmoved: “On the basis of the report’s conclusions, further work focusing on obtaining primary evidence to conclusively rule out the existence of ‘big cats’ is not warranted.”

      That is where matters still stand today—somewhat frustratingly. Ranchers and members of the Australian public continue to see Alien Big Cats, and on a disturbingly regular basis. And not just in Victoria, but all across Australia. Can so many people all be mistaken by nothing stranger than tubby feral cats? Australian authorities say, “Yes!” The eyewitnesses, however—and hardly surprisingly—hold very different views. Unless something unforeseen occurs out of the blue—such as the killing or capturing of an ABC in Australia—it’s unlikely that situation will change.

      BEAST OF BRAY ROAD

      Since 1991, the Wisconsin town of Elkhorn has been the lair and hunting ground of a terrifying creature that is the closest thing one can imagine to a real-life werewolf. And, just maybe, that’s exactly what it is. The monster has become known as the Beast of the Bray Road—on account of the fact that many of the initial sightings were made on that particular road. Without doubt, the expert on all things