BCIB Uncover a Hoax

BCIB have recently been sent several hoax photohraphs, even the Bodmin Moor cut out, again, come on get original

The following two news articles are from the Ashbourne News & Telegraph

New Year Brings New Sighting of “Black Beast” by Gareth Butterfield

Ashbourne News & Telegraph: 7th January 2009

A GRAINY picture of a mysterious black creature, taken on a mobile phone, could be the latest piece of evidence a big cat is roaming the Ashbourne area.
The “cat-like” animal, spotted by two Ashbourne lads out walking dogs on new year’s day, hung around for more than five minutes before slinking off in to some trees and disappearing.
Stunned walkers Dave Oakes and Ralph Broadbent stood in amazement as they watched the creature, which was around 50m away, walk along a wall and explore a field they were standing in near Wyaston.
Dave, a 22-year-old salseman from Ilam Court, was house-sitting for a friend and taking his two dogs for a walk when he saw the creature.
He said: “We both at the same time saw in the very far distance a black animal. We obviously didn’t pay much attention to it and assumed it could be a cow or something and carried on our merry way.
“Eventually though we carried on walking down towards Wyaston and it became clear that the animal we had seen was no run of the mill animal, and certainly not a cow.
“Ralph was a bit worried about the situation, but I decided to carry on down the lane with the dogs and as I got nearer I reached into my pocket and pulled out my camera phone.”
Ralph, a student and founder of the popular Y-Not Festival, said: “I hadn’t actually heard there was a black panther in the Ashbourne area before, as I live in Manchester most of the time.
“I can’t say I was sceptical about it, but it does seem weird, and as Dave was telling me about it I must admit I felt a little apprehensive.”
The 22-year-old, from Biggin, added: “I’m 90 per cent sure it wasn’t a domestic cat. It didn’t really look like a cat or a dog.
“We carried on watching it for a bit – it was messing around on a wall and then went round the field and in to some trees.”
Sightings of big cat-like creatures are nothing new to the Ashbourne area. Large paw-prints were found last year in Bradley Wood and Osmaston Park.
The legend of the “Carsington Beast” we covered a few years ago also prompted numerous sightings, and the area has recently been the subject of more bizzare stories.
In November a half-eaten sheep carcass was found in a field in Hognaston, over-looking Carsington Reservoir, and shortly before that a farmer in Kniveton reported having to rescue his dogs from a creature he thought was a Lynx. http://www.ashbournenewstelegraph.co.uk/ashbournenewstelegraph/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=379056

 

 

Two admit to beast prank

412 words

14 January 2009

Ashbourne News Telegraph

English

(C) 2009 Staffordshire Newspapers Limited

BIG cat experts say a picture of a mysterious black creature, handed to us by two Ashbourne men, was a fake.

We were contacted by Big Cats in Britain, who noticed the background in the grainy image was similar to a clip on video website Youtube and raised the alarm.

At around 20 seconds into the short clip, allegedly filmed in America, footage of the creature matches up exactly with the picture we published last week.

Dave Oakes and Ralph Broadbent, both 22, concocted an elaborate story about their “experience”, while out walking dogs near Wyaston.

The pair faked a picture of a panther by cutting a scene from the Youtube video and insisting it had been taken on their own camera phone.

Ralph apologised for the prank, insisting he wasn’t aware it was such a big story in the town. He said: “It was just supposed to be a little joke.

“We didn’t mean to deceive anyone and didn’t realise it would be such a big thing. We apologise to anyone that this has affected.”

All evidence of alleged big cat sightings the News Telegraph receives is forwarded on to experts and this picture was sent to the British Big Cat Society for verification.

Unfortunately their spokesman, Danny Bamping, failed to get back to us before we went to press so we had no way of ensuring its authenticity before we published Dave and Ralph’s tall tale.

Mark Fraser, from Big Cats in Britain, said: “We always monitor the internet for sightings and news, so when we saw the News Telegraph story we recognised it straight away.

“This was one of the better hoaxes we’ve seen, but in general they are a waste of time. Luckily we don’t see too many and we usually catch them out straight away as we’ve got a pretty good idea of what’s out there.”

On the day our story appeared, an article went out in the national press claiming to prove that big cats are roaming areas of Britain.

The Sun printed results of a grilling it gave the Forestry Commission under the Freedom of Information Act that unearthed sightings made by its workers.

The British Big Cat Society used the article to declare that the Forestry Commission coming clean over its own sightings was “proof” that big cats exist in the wild, and accused Government-run organisations of “sitting on” information.

Document ASHBNT0020090114e51e00001