Mystery Animals of Suffolk
@mysteryanimals.bsky.social
Big cat sightings, wildmen, Black Shuck and other Suffolk mysteries. Book by Matt Salusbury (Leiston Press, 2023), also a place for reporting local big cat sightings. https://bigcatsofsuffolk.com/
Wearing my "martyr's arrows" T-shirt for St Edmund's Day.
November 20, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Wearing my "martyr's arrows" T-shirt for St Edmund's Day.
Report of a black big cat (melanistic leopard?) seen 8/11/25 at Haddon Approach, #Suffolk (on the Deben, opposite Woodbridge). "Slinking into cover ... jet black - strong muscular back end and cat tail... four times, possibly five times as big" as a domestic cat. Seen for 10 seconds +_10m away.
November 8, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Report of a black big cat (melanistic leopard?) seen 8/11/25 at Haddon Approach, #Suffolk (on the Deben, opposite Woodbridge). "Slinking into cover ... jet black - strong muscular back end and cat tail... four times, possibly five times as big" as a domestic cat. Seen for 10 seconds +_10m away.
The Ling lioness - encounters with pumas on the Norfolk-Suffolk border in the 1990s, with thanks to @edinburghforteansociety.org.uk and Gill Thornton
bigcatsofsuffolk.com/the-ling-lio...
bigcatsofsuffolk.com/the-ling-lio...
November 6, 2025 at 7:05 PM
The Ling lioness - encounters with pumas on the Norfolk-Suffolk border in the 1990s, with thanks to @edinburghforteansociety.org.uk and Gill Thornton
bigcatsofsuffolk.com/the-ling-lio...
bigcatsofsuffolk.com/the-ling-lio...
"Fairy loaves" - fossil sea urchins - and "Devil's toenails" fossil shells 🐚 (mussels?) at Framlingham Museum, #Suffolk. #FossilFriday.
October 16, 2025 at 9:33 PM
"Fairy loaves" - fossil sea urchins - and "Devil's toenails" fossil shells 🐚 (mussels?) at Framlingham Museum, #Suffolk. #FossilFriday.
38 years ago #otd, the night of the great hurricane of 15 October 1987, 3 police marksmen from Norwich were called to Thrigby Zoo in Norfolk. They stood by, ready to shoot Jomo the leopard 🐆 in case a tree fell and crushed his enclosure and he escaped. The tree stayed up and Jomo stayed in the zoo.
October 15, 2025 at 10:42 PM
38 years ago #otd, the night of the great hurricane of 15 October 1987, 3 police marksmen from Norwich were called to Thrigby Zoo in Norfolk. They stood by, ready to shoot Jomo the leopard 🐆 in case a tree fell and crushed his enclosure and he escaped. The tree stayed up and Jomo stayed in the zoo.
Witness today described encounter from original 1990s #Suffolk big cat wave. "Large../dog-sized... black animal... shape & movements of a cat... prowling across an open field" between Foxhall and Seven Hills Roundabout, #Ipswich, seen on the way to school, between 1994 & '97.
October 12, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Report just in of a sighting of a Labrador-sized black big cat with "rounded ears", seen "prowling/stalking" from a few metres away in car headlights in Martlesham Heath Retail Park, #Suffolk (on the edge of Ipswich) at 10pm on 04 10 25.
October 5, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Report just in of a sighting of a Labrador-sized black big cat with "rounded ears", seen "prowling/stalking" from a few metres away in car headlights in Martlesham Heath Retail Park, #Suffolk (on the edge of Ipswich) at 10pm on 04 10 25.
Locally sourced mammoth 🦣 tooth 🦷 on display in Framlingham Museum, #Suffolk, #FossilFriday.
October 3, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Locally sourced mammoth 🦣 tooth 🦷 on display in Framlingham Museum, #Suffolk, #FossilFriday.
The burnt out hulk of the warship The Royal James, which caught fire at the Battle of Sole Bay, forever immortalised as an obstacle on the Southwold Adventure Golf ⛳️ course
September 16, 2025 at 10:57 PM
The burnt out hulk of the warship The Royal James, which caught fire at the Battle of Sole Bay, forever immortalised as an obstacle on the Southwold Adventure Golf ⛳️ course
Report just in of a sighting of a black big cat walking across a field in the morning of 21 08 25, seen from a distance of 400m away, in Fornham St Martin cum St Genevieve Parish, #Suffolk.
August 24, 2025 at 11:19 PM
Report just in of a sighting of a black big cat walking across a field in the morning of 21 08 25, seen from a distance of 400m away, in Fornham St Martin cum St Genevieve Parish, #Suffolk.
The Woodwoses and Wildmen of #Suffolk - a Dunwich Museum
talk -
Sat 18th October 2025 6:30 online via Zoom. Register via https:/www.dunwichmuseum.org.uk/events (link will be live shortly). @discoverdunwich.bsky.social
talk -
Sat 18th October 2025 6:30 online via Zoom. Register via https:/www.dunwichmuseum.org.uk/events (link will be live shortly). @discoverdunwich.bsky.social
August 23, 2025 at 1:59 PM
The Woodwoses and Wildmen of #Suffolk - a Dunwich Museum
talk -
Sat 18th October 2025 6:30 online via Zoom. Register via https:/www.dunwichmuseum.org.uk/events (link will be live shortly). @discoverdunwich.bsky.social
talk -
Sat 18th October 2025 6:30 online via Zoom. Register via https:/www.dunwichmuseum.org.uk/events (link will be live shortly). @discoverdunwich.bsky.social
Just got a call from a witness who saw a "massive, massive cat," tan coloured and with a long tail, cross the road "10 foot ahead" of them at 1am this morning (12/8/24) at Gedding, #Suffolk (just south of Bury St Edmunds and near Bradfield Woods).
August 12, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Just got a call from a witness who saw a "massive, massive cat," tan coloured and with a long tail, cross the road "10 foot ahead" of them at 1am this morning (12/8/24) at Gedding, #Suffolk (just south of Bury St Edmunds and near Bradfield Woods).
The Orford Merman "captured by #Suffolk fishermen" features in "Quaint Facts" in the 1988 Topper Annual.
This illustration depicts him as having a fishy tail, but chronicler Ralph of Coggeshall described him as a feral human, "like a man in all his members."
This illustration depicts him as having a fishy tail, but chronicler Ralph of Coggeshall described him as a feral human, "like a man in all his members."
August 2, 2025 at 2:43 PM
The Orford Merman "captured by #Suffolk fishermen" features in "Quaint Facts" in the 1988 Topper Annual.
This illustration depicts him as having a fishy tail, but chronicler Ralph of Coggeshall described him as a feral human, "like a man in all his members."
This illustration depicts him as having a fishy tail, but chronicler Ralph of Coggeshall described him as a feral human, "like a man in all his members."
Black Shuck Festival 2025, Bungay, #Suffolk, August 1-3.
I regret I won't make it this year as I have an intensive full-time summer job in London.
I am, however, doing a talk on Shuck at Colchester Castle Museum on 11/10/25,details to follow. @colmuseums.bsky.social blackshuckfestival.com
I regret I won't make it this year as I have an intensive full-time summer job in London.
I am, however, doing a talk on Shuck at Colchester Castle Museum on 11/10/25,details to follow. @colmuseums.bsky.social blackshuckfestival.com
July 11, 2025 at 10:49 AM
Black Shuck Festival 2025, Bungay, #Suffolk, August 1-3.
I regret I won't make it this year as I have an intensive full-time summer job in London.
I am, however, doing a talk on Shuck at Colchester Castle Museum on 11/10/25,details to follow. @colmuseums.bsky.social blackshuckfestival.com
I regret I won't make it this year as I have an intensive full-time summer job in London.
I am, however, doing a talk on Shuck at Colchester Castle Museum on 11/10/25,details to follow. @colmuseums.bsky.social blackshuckfestival.com
There may still be a few tickets left for Saturday 5 July's "Stones of #Dunwich" geology tour www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-stones...
July 4, 2025 at 12:37 PM
There may still be a few tickets left for Saturday 5 July's "Stones of #Dunwich" geology tour www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-stones...
Tomb of John Woods, "Gent. of this parish", died 1703, St Peter's Church, Westleton, #Suffolk. It features a skull 💀 with an hour glass resting on it, crossed bones , 🦴 and possibly a rib cage 🩻. #momentomorimonday
June 30, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Tomb of John Woods, "Gent. of this parish", died 1703, St Peter's Church, Westleton, #Suffolk. It features a skull 💀 with an hour glass resting on it, crossed bones , 🦴 and possibly a rib cage 🩻. #momentomorimonday
All from @dissexpress.bsky.social 1996: Lioness of Ling? 16 August 1996; Paw rings clue to "Ling Lioness" ,23 August 1996;
Kay Hunter's View of Country Life - Afterthoughts - The Mystery of a Ling Lioness,
30 August 1996; Cartoon - Sept 27 1996. Thanks to @edinburghforteansociety.org.uk
Kay Hunter's View of Country Life - Afterthoughts - The Mystery of a Ling Lioness,
30 August 1996; Cartoon - Sept 27 1996. Thanks to @edinburghforteansociety.org.uk
June 18, 2025 at 12:26 AM
All from @dissexpress.bsky.social 1996: Lioness of Ling? 16 August 1996; Paw rings clue to "Ling Lioness" ,23 August 1996;
Kay Hunter's View of Country Life - Afterthoughts - The Mystery of a Ling Lioness,
30 August 1996; Cartoon - Sept 27 1996. Thanks to @edinburghforteansociety.org.uk
Kay Hunter's View of Country Life - Afterthoughts - The Mystery of a Ling Lioness,
30 August 1996; Cartoon - Sept 27 1996. Thanks to @edinburghforteansociety.org.uk
"Lioness of Ling", big cat (puma?) reported in Wortham Ling, #Suffolk in 1996. Footprints found, "golden" hair found on barbed wire (hair thought to be from local highland cattle). Also "persistent rumour" among local schoolchildren late 1980s. With thanks to
@edinburghforteansociety.org.uk
@edinburghforteansociety.org.uk
June 18, 2025 at 12:15 AM
"Lioness of Ling", big cat (puma?) reported in Wortham Ling, #Suffolk in 1996. Footprints found, "golden" hair found on barbed wire (hair thought to be from local highland cattle). Also "persistent rumour" among local schoolchildren late 1980s. With thanks to
@edinburghforteansociety.org.uk
@edinburghforteansociety.org.uk
With an absolutely huge feral domestic cat 🐈⬛, Curzon Cinema, Kingston Upon Thames.
June 12, 2025 at 10:35 PM
With an absolutely huge feral domestic cat 🐈⬛, Curzon Cinema, Kingston Upon Thames.