Bolam Lake
Visited 8 September 2004
Bolam Lake in Northumberland is a sight to behold during the day, a vast lake surrounded by dense woodland. It has many visitors during the day, people swimming in the lake, families having picnics, fishermen and people looking for some of the many woodland animals living here. After dark however it’s an entirely different story, pitch black, quiet and very eerie. You begin to wonder exactly what creatures this place is home to. There have been big cat sightings and even bigger still – Yeti sightings! After our exploits earlier this evening at Winter’s Gibbet, Tom, Ryan, Harry and I made an unplanned trip to Bolam Lake in the dead of night.
Back in early 2002 a party of pike fisherman were at Bolam Lake at night when they came face to face with what they later described as an 8 foot tall creature covered from head to toe in thick dark hair, glowing red eyes and huge sharp teeth. Needless to say they were terrified and made a sharp exit as I’m sure you or I would in the same situation. It is said that the creature stomps so hard it makes the ground shake as it walks.
This yeti-like creature has been dubbed The Beast of Bolam Lake and has seen seen on several occasions, always at night but as of yet there has been no photographs of video footage captured of it.
A four man team from The Exeter-based Centre for Fortean Zoology carried out a five day and night long investigation last January into the happenings at Bolam Lake. The team was led by the hugely respected Jon Downes and he said “The expedition was a success beyond our wildest dreams. The most exciting thing was that five people I interviewed had seen the beast at the same time - I was one of those people."
Downes continued: "What I saw was a dark, man-shaped object approximately seven-and-a-half feet tall."
"It had a barrel chest and thick muscular arms and legs. I had a very clear sighting but I saw no glowing eyes and wasn't able to tell whether or not it was covered in hair."
The team also found a hair sample taken from the spot where the creature was seen, it was taken for analysis but as of yet there has been no information released about the findings.
So what could The Beast of Bolam Lake be?
This yeti-like creature has been dubbed The Beast of Bolam Lake and has seen seen on several occasions, always at night but as of yet there has been no photographs of video footage captured of it.
A four man team from The Exeter-based Centre for Fortean Zoology carried out a five day and night long investigation last January into the happenings at Bolam Lake. The team was led by the hugely respected Jon Downes and he said “The expedition was a success beyond our wildest dreams. The most exciting thing was that five people I interviewed had seen the beast at the same time - I was one of those people."
Downes continued: "What I saw was a dark, man-shaped object approximately seven-and-a-half feet tall."
"It had a barrel chest and thick muscular arms and legs. I had a very clear sighting but I saw no glowing eyes and wasn't able to tell whether or not it was covered in hair."
The team also found a hair sample taken from the spot where the creature was seen, it was taken for analysis but as of yet there has been no information released about the findings.
So what could The Beast of Bolam Lake be?
It’s virtually impossible that a prehistoric creature could have remained hidden in Northumberland for all these years and only just been spotted in 2002. It is unlikely to be a large ape or gorilla as this creature walks upright like a man and is said to be 8 foot tall, much bigger than any gorilla.
It’s a lot more likely that this is something paranormal as opposed to a flesh and blood animal. I’ve read a lot of Jon Downes’ work and he believes a lot of the monsters spotted in England are paranormal as there is a lack of places for them to live without being seen, he also says the glowing eyes are a giveaway.
There is an iron age fort not far away and legend has it that iron age forts are protected by guardians from another dimension, could the protector be The Beast of Bolam Lake?
Not far north of Bolam is a place called Rothbury, there is an old legend of a cave dwelling creature called the Deugar who would live on the roasted corpses of lost ramblers and campers, maybe the Deugar has simply moved south and relocated at Bolam Lake.
As you can see there are many possibilities but at the moment we just have no idea, we only have eye witness reports to go off.
It’s a lot more likely that this is something paranormal as opposed to a flesh and blood animal. I’ve read a lot of Jon Downes’ work and he believes a lot of the monsters spotted in England are paranormal as there is a lack of places for them to live without being seen, he also says the glowing eyes are a giveaway.
There is an iron age fort not far away and legend has it that iron age forts are protected by guardians from another dimension, could the protector be The Beast of Bolam Lake?
Not far north of Bolam is a place called Rothbury, there is an old legend of a cave dwelling creature called the Deugar who would live on the roasted corpses of lost ramblers and campers, maybe the Deugar has simply moved south and relocated at Bolam Lake.
As you can see there are many possibilities but at the moment we just have no idea, we only have eye witness reports to go off.
Back to our adventure…
As we approached Bolam Lake there was a fox at the side of the road, followed quickly by a dead badger in the middle of the road, two animals rarely seen back in the towns and cities. “Aarrrgghhh what the hell is that?” cried Harry pointing to the badger “It’s some kind of monkeybear teddybear!” We pulled up at the gates but the car park was closed for the night, everyone assumed we weren’t allowed in but I wasn’t turning back now. We abandoned the car at the barrier and headed into the car park with the torch, it seemed even darker than before and the other lads all admitted they were scared.
As we approached Bolam Lake there was a fox at the side of the road, followed quickly by a dead badger in the middle of the road, two animals rarely seen back in the towns and cities. “Aarrrgghhh what the hell is that?” cried Harry pointing to the badger “It’s some kind of monkeybear teddybear!” We pulled up at the gates but the car park was closed for the night, everyone assumed we weren’t allowed in but I wasn’t turning back now. We abandoned the car at the barrier and headed into the car park with the torch, it seemed even darker than before and the other lads all admitted they were scared.
Now I admit I may have felt a little more comfortable armed with a baseball bat or a shotgun, even a little swiss army knife would have done, but I was feeling alright. I’d been in a similar sort of location for my vigil at Talkin Tarn so knew what to expect, a dark, creepy forest which is easy to get lost in. The big difference however is that Talkin Tarn hasn’t had any Bigfoot or big cat sightings to worry about.
I had been to Bolam during the daytime a few weeks earlier and knew my way to one of the locations that the creature has been seen, or at least I thought I did. I led the team in the direction of the picnic area but we ended up going somewhere I’d never been before, it just shows you how large the wooded part of this country park was.
I had been to Bolam during the daytime a few weeks earlier and knew my way to one of the locations that the creature has been seen, or at least I thought I did. I led the team in the direction of the picnic area but we ended up going somewhere I’d never been before, it just shows you how large the wooded part of this country park was.
We were all half expecting something to happen as we wandered further into the darkness, we reached the lakeside but it was so dark it was hard to tell if it was water or a path.
We heard an owl hoot in the treetops, we had been at Bolam for maybe 30 minutes and people were getting very scared, I thought back to when we had left home for Winter’s Gibbet and how calm people had been, laughing and carrying on, Harry had even brought an luminous alien mask to wear, no one was laughing anymore. We decided to head back to the car, we could hear lots of rustling around us, probably foxes or rabbits, but maybe not.
As we returned to the car I decided that after leading them back to the car I would head back in on my own. We got back to the car and I took the torch, Ryan said he was tired and wanted to go home. I got in the car, I had every intention of going back alone, but I can’t pretend I wasn’t slightly glad when I got an excuse not to.
Our unplanned trip wasn’t particularly long, but long enough to show my friends that ghost hunting isn’t just a laugh, it can be genuinely terrifying. I will return to Bolam Lake, possibly alone, but if I do return alone at least I know what to expect and I know to bring something to defend myself just in case I come face to face with an 8 foot hairy monster with glowing red eyes and huge pointy fangs!
We heard an owl hoot in the treetops, we had been at Bolam for maybe 30 minutes and people were getting very scared, I thought back to when we had left home for Winter’s Gibbet and how calm people had been, laughing and carrying on, Harry had even brought an luminous alien mask to wear, no one was laughing anymore. We decided to head back to the car, we could hear lots of rustling around us, probably foxes or rabbits, but maybe not.
As we returned to the car I decided that after leading them back to the car I would head back in on my own. We got back to the car and I took the torch, Ryan said he was tired and wanted to go home. I got in the car, I had every intention of going back alone, but I can’t pretend I wasn’t slightly glad when I got an excuse not to.
Our unplanned trip wasn’t particularly long, but long enough to show my friends that ghost hunting isn’t just a laugh, it can be genuinely terrifying. I will return to Bolam Lake, possibly alone, but if I do return alone at least I know what to expect and I know to bring something to defend myself just in case I come face to face with an 8 foot hairy monster with glowing red eyes and huge pointy fangs!
Conclusion
Well it wasn’t really a ghost hunt, more of a monster hunt. We didn’t see anything to be honest, no footprints, no strange noises - nothing. My companions were all fairly scared, which I found strange considering we hadn’t heard or seen anything. Maybe they are just not used to being in dark forests at night.
I find it worrying that there has been no sightings of the Beast for a little while, hopefully thought when I return in the near future I’ll be able to put that right.
**No foxes, badgers or owls were harmed during this investigation…well except the badger, he (or she) was dead and that’s about as harmed as you can get, but that was nothing to do with us.**
I find it worrying that there has been no sightings of the Beast for a little while, hopefully thought when I return in the near future I’ll be able to put that right.
**No foxes, badgers or owls were harmed during this investigation…well except the badger, he (or she) was dead and that’s about as harmed as you can get, but that was nothing to do with us.**
