After a heads-up from Ray Williamson on Bluesky about two sources documenting ‘Bigfoot’ sightings on both Salisbury Plain and in Grovely Woods, I decided I really should do some digging.
Deborah Hatswell, creator of BBR Investigations, shares personal accounts from her case files on various weird creatures, including the ‘British Bigfoot.’ She collected three stories which occurred here in Wiltshire.
This was the starting point for this blog and Ray suggested I grab a copy of Enigmagazine; they had an article on Bigfoot or a Wildman up in Grovely Woods. Let’s start with the stories up in those very strange woods. I should add, before we get into Bigfoot, there’s a lot of other things going on at Grovely Woods. If you haven’t yet read my previous blog about this spooky place, you can read it here.
A Horseback Encounter in Grovely Woods (2013)
A witness named Keisha recounted a chilling experience while riding in Grovely Woods near Salisbury Plain with her mother. Around dusk, she spotted a tall, large figure roughly 50 meters ahead. She estimated its height to be approximately 2 to 2.5 meters, far taller than any human.
The creature moved in an unnatural way, with an incredibly fast, loping stride. When Keisha and her mother reached the spot where it had vanished, they found the terrain too dense for any human to have moved through so quickly. Her mother, visibly unsettled, urged them to leave. Earlier that week, she had found a deer carcass in the area, torn to shreds.
Keisha questioned whether she had seen a Bigfoot-like creature. Interestingly, her usually nervous horse did not react, adding to the mystery. She wondered whether a Bigfoot could remain undetected by a horse, as she was unaware of similar horseback encounters.
A Bigfoot Encounter
Anthony Cherrett contacted Enigmagazine to tell them about his experience up in Grovely Woods and it’s a really interesting one.
He is another reliable and pragmatic witness, just like many I come across. A serving soldier, a tank commander, Anthony feels his whole encounter was so significant it has changed his outlook of the world because, before this day, he was dismissive of stories of the weird.
Anthony and his wife had taken their dog up to Grovely for a walk in the woods. A friend of his told him stories of a Wildman that had been spotted in the area and Anthony said he had laughed it off. Little did he know what he was about to encounter.
They walked the Roman road and veered off the main route into the woods. Anthony’s wife had told him she already found the woods a bit creepy, so when she disappeared behind a tree for a toilet break, ‘for a laugh’ Anthony banged a tree with a stick, the sound echoing deeply through the woodland. As they stood in the middle of the woods, the atmosphere suddenly changed. The temperature dropped suddenly, and their normally energetic dog froze on the spot and refused to move. He could ‘see’ something in the woods. Then Anthony spotted it.
Approximately 30 meters away, moving swiftly through the trees, was a tall, orangutang-like figure. Covered in matted, orange hair, it slipped through the undergrowth and bracken so swiftly it was almost like it wasn’t there.
Being a fit, young soldier trained to react, Anthony took off after the creature. But, despite his own fitness and ability to cover terrain quickly, he could not keep up with the Bigfoot. After following for about 50 meters, the creature slipped away and Anthony stopped before returning to his wife.
After that experience, where Anthony was very convinced over what he saw, he did a deep dive into Bigfoot but there’s no way this small patch of woodland (in the grand scheme of woodland wildernesses across the world) can support a creature like that. And what was it anyway? A misidentified animal, a hoax, or something else entirely?
Anthony still, to this day, says, ‘all I know is, that day, deep in the Wiltshire woods I saw something that shouldn’t exist’.
Salisbury Plain – the Perfect Place for Bigfoot
So, it seems there’s something else hanging around in Grovely Woods. I’m heading up there next week for a Weird Walk with a group of Weird Wiltshire followers. We will, of course, keep our eyes peeled!
Just a few miles to the north of Grovely Woods, you’ll drift onto Salisbury Plain. It is on the southern edges of this large patch of military-owned land that Stonehenge is located.
I remember hearing of another soldier who had reported a sighting of a Bigfoot-type creature a few years back. While I try to log anything I come across relating to Wiltshire, I have been unable to find the account, which was probably on some forum somewhere or another. It was interesting to come across the story below. Another sighting! I’m wondering if there are more out there.
A Soldier’s Unforgettable Sighting (2002)
In September 2002, during military exercises on Salisbury Plain, George Price had an extraordinary encounter. As a tank commander, he was stationed in the turret, scanning the landscape. When he turned to his five o’clock position, he was stunned to see a large, hairy, ape-like figure. The creature appeared frightened by the noise of the moving tanks.
Unable to communicate over the roar of the engines, he punched his gunner to get his attention. They both watched as the creature darted into nearby prickly shrubs. George described its fur as silver with a black or dark base, flowing with movement. Due to his elevated position, he couldn’t make out its facial features, but he estimated its height to be around six feet. The creature moved with remarkable speed, taking long strides and keeping its back low.
As his tank moved away, George continued to observe the spot where the creature had disappeared. It never re-emerged, as if there was a hidden burrow beneath the bushes. He later reported the sighting to his superiors, but the account was dismissed with laughter. The event remained on his mind for years, leaving him wishing he had stopped to investigate further.
The Salisbury “Chime” and Paranormal Sightings (2005)
In 2005, multiple witnesses reported sightings of an unusual creature around Salisbury. Descriptions varied—some likened it to a cat, a raccoon or even a kangaroo. However, one detail stood out: several witnesses noted that it moved with a monkey-like gait.
One witness claimed the creature was around two feet tall with a sloping back earning itself the name Catgarookey.
The area has historical accounts of Wild Men living in the woods, including an 1877 incident where a creature reportedly attempted to kidnap a farmer’s wife before disappearing into the wilderness. Since the creature was reported to have a black and yellow tail with a white tip, it’s suggested the animal is little more than an escaped racoon family member.
What’s This on Salisbury Plain?
Ages ago, I came across another Bigfoot-style sighting on Salisbury Plain on the Phantoms and Monsters blog.
‘I am reporting a strange incident from 2018 that happened very near Stonehenge on the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire. I was later told that the area was east of Grovely Wood. My mother and I saw something moving across a clearing that we just cannot explain. It was moving quite far away, so I didn’t get a close look at the face or anything. But you could tell it wasn’t just two people moving at speed. I’m used to seeing cows and farm animals from far away because there are animals everywhere in Salisbury. As you drive you get used to seeing animals or wildlife in the fields, but these were not cows or sheep. These ‘figures’ stood out as odd. There were two really big, upright ‘figures’ in a far field that were striding along quite fast together. One was light brown in colour, the other one was darker. They were moving at a fast pace away from us. We both were so shocked that we kept asking each other if we both definitely saw that.
At the time, we were in the car driving back home on the A36 and I just wanted to stop and get out to have a cigarette. Mum decided to come out with me to stretch her legs and get some air, and we were just looking out into the countryside and talking when we saw these two huge ‘figures’ walk out in front of the bushes. If they hadn’t moved we would never have seen them. They walked from behind the bush and were heading towards the next clump of trees. It felt like they were in our line of sight for a good minute or so before they moved behind another bush in the field and we couldn’t see them again. We looked for a while but they didn’t come back out or move this way. I know what people will say but they were much bigger than any cow I have ever seen, let alone a human. Even from that distance you could see they were walking along at a fast pace, definitely standing upright on two legs. It was just crazy.
It was probably between 3 and 4 o’clock in the afternoon, so the light was good. It hadn’t gone dark yet, during the end of February 2018. I’ve never really been into anything like this, but since I saw that, I just can’t explain it, I really want to find out more to be honest. What are they?
We were able to see them for quite a while. I didn’t even think of my phone let alone feel compelled to take any pictures. It wasn’t until after that I thought about that. Why didn’t I take a video or picture? Which is strange because you would’ve thought if you saw something like that, you would immediately want to capture it? But I just didn’t feel like that at all. We just watched them as they walked, waited a few minutes and got in the car and drove home. We did keep asking each other, Did we really see that? and What were they? I’m still wondering about that now.’
The name was withheld.
The Birdman of Calne
I have of course come across a cryptid in Wiltshire before, The Birdman of Calne. Not at all like a Bigfoot but a cryptid nonetheless:
Cryptids are animals or other beings that cryptozoologists believe may exist somewhere in the wild, but whose present existence is disputed or unsubstantiated by science.
This was a story I uncovered a couple of years back about a strange, feathered bird-like man creature that has appeared to several people over the last few decades. If you haven’t read this blog yet, you can find it here: www.weird-wiltshire.co.uk/2022/01/28/the-birdman-of-calne/
Final Thoughts
I’ll be honest, I’m not fully on board with cryptid-type creatures. That being said, there have now been a fair few in Wiltshire alone. Salisbury Plain and Grovely Woods are as good a place as any to hide out in, if you are a Bigfoot stuck on our little over-inhabited island. I remember chatting with Rob at How Haunted about a Salisbury Plain Bigfoot and he suggested that perhaps they were in some other dimension and they flit in and out of our world occasionally, leaving behind the odd perplexed person wondering what they have just seen. We discussed the lack of evidence these creatures leave behind. If they are ‘real’ surely a dead body will have shown up at some point?
These accounts add to the growing mystery surrounding Salisbury Plain. While some remain skeptical, the consistency in descriptions and the credibility of witnesses, particularly military personnel, suggest that something unusual lurks in the area.
The search for answers continues, and with more witnesses coming forward, perhaps one day, we will uncover the truth behind these strange sightings. Ack, I just don’t know! As ever, I am open to the possibility of a Bigfoot in Wiltshire. I’ll keep collecting the stories. I suspect there are more out there.
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