They Hunted The Beast of Exmoor. Years Later They Encountered A "Black Beast"

 

As with most "fringe" subjects exaggeration and fantasy can merge to create a far "sexier" to entertain while pretending to be serious. I dealt with the Royal Marines and Beast of Exmoor in a previous post https://exoticanimalsregister.blogspot.com/2023/11/did-royal-marines-shoot-beast-of-exmoor.html

There is a fact that no one really knows about and that is two of thoses RMCs later in civilian life had encounters with large cats.  All their details are on file and it was independemntly confirmed by the police forces involved that the men were former military. In fact, in my conversations with each I dropped in a seemingly casual question but only the men involved  would know the answer. Both men lived in different parts of the country, both had security jobs and neither had spoken since leaving the service.

Account 1

"Jim" was a security guard and one of his duties was checking the various buildings and premises. Entry to the one involved was a large, locked gate. Early in the morning Jim was near the gateway when he heard an unusual noise and from talking to him I could confirm that it was the "sawing noise" people report in leopard sightings. It was misty as he tried to see what was making the noise and then he saw it: the description matched a black leopard perfectly and it was slowly walking toward him.

It seems that Jim was puzzled slightly as he had been told "the Beast" on Exmoor, etc, was a puma. But pretty soon he broke out into a cold sweat as the reality of the situation hit him. He was unarmed, alone and a l;eopard was moving toward him staring.  He contemplated turning and trying to climb over the tall gatebut his decision not to was a good one. In the wild you run from a predator you are prey.

As Jim contemplated the irony of having been involved in the cat hunt years before (it was then 1997) and being killed by one the cat simply turned to one side and moved off.  Jim got back into the building after making sure bhe was not turning his back on the cat and he was shocked by his close call and told me that "I went straight to the toilets. I thought I'd shat myself!" he was joking of course but it was to hide the fact that the encounter had scared him. "From that day on I carry a club hammer with me at night!" (a club hammer is basically a mini sledgehammer).

Around the same period "John" contacted me as police had suggested he let me know what he had seen. John was in security and specialised in canine use and on the night in question he was parked up in countryside to exercise the two German Shepherds who he told me were "fearless". John closed the van doors as the dogs started walking when they stopped as a sound like something falling from a nearby tree was heard.  

Using his torch, John saw that the dogs had fixed gaze on something near a tree and so he checked. Under the tree was a very large black cat that looked about the size of his dogs. Sensibly he recalled the dogs and he locked them back in the van. The cat had moved off but the size and appearance had shocked him. He decided that the area was not suitable for night time dog exercising but he did note that he had always thought these cats were silent when they moved "the one on Exmoor was". 

That last line is what I queried and he told me he had been one of the RMCs on Exmoor (confirmed later) and that this late night incident gave him the chills thinking something that big could have been walking around them in the dark while they had no live rounds.

Interesting that neither man had believed there were really any big cats around and were rather jokey at the time they were on Exmoor.  After their close up sightings both were firm believers. I should note that both men gave details of the aniomals they saw that do not usually get mentioned in standard reports which added some weight to the reports.