Unexplained Lincolnshire

Frank Speake has managed to take the latest footage of what could be an ABC near Horncastle. The Wolds have regularly had sightings of big cats.

A large black cat was seen recently in Edlington described by Muriel Brooks as about four feet long and around two feet tall - but this latest one appears to be white.

Frank was eating his breakfast when he saw the creature which he first assumed to be a calf until he noted the way it moved - unlike a calf and very like a cat.

Grabbing his camera Frank rushed outside and managed to get a few seconds video footage before the creature disappeared behind the trees.

Frank describes the cat as quite slender but far bigger than a domestic feline as the ground slopes down towards the trees and a domestic cat would have been impossible to see. He reckons it was easily the size of an Alsation dog.

Also near the trees he found an area where it looked like a large animal had been lying and several mauled birds.

Have a look at a larger picture of the big cat Frank Speake captured on film >>

Some people have claimed the footage may not be of a big cat but something like a small pony. Paul Sims from the BBC web team says, "Seeing the footage myself, I'm inclined to think that it is a big cat, it certainly moves like one".

Frank Speake replies to your comments about the footage here in an email to BBCi Lincolnshire

Hi

Frank Speake here.

I have been listening to this mornings breakfast programme and found peoples reactions very interesting. Sceptics, yes me too. I have always taken these sightings with a pinch of salt whilst also giving credence to the fact that it is possible that there could be escapees at large.

The animal I saw when looking through binoculars was clearly a cat like animal and very large.I personally have never called it a "Puma".

yes I agree it is somewhat unusual that it is white and of course that is what gained my attention in the first place.

Everyone that has seen the film on the mini-DV tape instantly say WOW!!! that's a big cat.

The field it was in also houses cattle, no sheep,horses/pony's pigs or dogs!, they don't get on well with the Bull.

It would have to have been a very small pony and I would be interested to here how such an animal could infiltrate an area completely surrounded by hedge,barbedwire and an electric fence.

It does clearly carry it's tail in a very cat like way and is at least two thirds the length of it's body. It also kept a very low profile and it's limbs moved very like a domestic cat on the prowl, trotting? sorry, must have seen a different film to the one I shot.

I have been told by a lady in the village that another sighting in the same field was reported about 18 months ago and experts were called including the police who confirmed large cat like prints in the snow.I am told that the person who made this sighting was very frightened,

Hoax? sorry ,well not on my part anyway, if it was I can see no point or gain as it would only be visible at that point from my lounge window.

I have asked for the film to be properly analysed but not had much of a reaction to this,needs expert attention and I would be happy to be proved right or wrong. Unfortunately the film has not been returned to me at this time from the TV units that used it.

Many Thanks

Frank Speake

Frank Speake adds more

Hi

Just a brief update on the Minting sighting.

Very mixed comments from local people some ridicule but I have to say that the "country people", people who have spent most if not all their lives,living and working in and around the area agree that it is very possible we have such animals living in the countryside.

Yesterday, Saturday, the sighting area was visited by three gentlemen, two from the British Big Cat Society and one from Exotic Beasts UK.

They set up models in the area of sighting and took comparisons to the film I shot and it became very obvious to me that what I saw was most definitely a very big animal anything smaller than the dummy, for instance a very, very large domestic cat would not have been visible in the location it was filmed.

When I first saw the model they brought, I thought this is very large and maybe the animal in the field was not as large as I thought it to be. However when it was placed in the positions where I first observed it, it was plain to see it was very close to what I had filmed, and when a comparison film was taken on my camera my own personal doubts were most definitely dispelled.

The gentleman from BBCS said that although he could not confirm the species of the animal in the film, in his opinion there was no doubt that it was a big cat and definitely not of the domestic variety. It's shape size and poise taken in relation to the size of it's head in comparison to body and tail size would suggest it could be a Leopard, but no one has heard of a white Leopard.

The original film shot, with film shot of the dummy animal on my camera and film taken with BBCS equipment has been taken away for further investigation.

There is a large domestic cat in the area which belongs to our local ale house, which some people have suggested it may be, however we see this animal everyday and although it is predominately white it has other colours on it's body which tend to break up it's body shape at distance.

By the way it has been sighted again since the 12-09-03, almost the same place and to within 10mins of the same time.

Sorry did I say brief?

Frank Speake