The Beast of Buildwas

History abounds with tales of mythical beasts. It is all part of the rich pageant of folklore. However, you never quite expect to be confronted by such a beast - in reality!

It all began on Sunday 5th February 1995. I may never see another day like it. That sound, those eyes immobilized me. It was as if I had stared into the face of Medusa and been turned to stone.

After the initial shock of this extraordinary encounter, my mind faced to find a solution that would extricate me from such a dangerous situation. Though I could see the animal with no clarity, I could see the outline of its dark, powerful body, which left me in doubt that I had come face to face with a large feline. An animal that was capable of inflicting death or serious injury.

I had only gone out for a quiet day's detecting, and this was the last thing I expected to encounter in the tranquillity of the Shropshire countryside.

Realizing the potential danger I was in, it was important to stay calm, think rationally and quickly if I was to come out of the situation unharmed. Holding my breath, I slowly backed away. Those green, glaring eyes following my every movement until lost from my view.

Cursing the fact that darkness had fallen so suddenly, I had no way of knowing which way the animal had gone. This unnerved me somewhat. Though the area was well known to me, if I made the wrong decision on which direction to take it could have been my last.

I was in a pasture field, sandwiched between a country road on my left and the River Severn on my right, the distance between the two being half a mile. Ahead of me was a wire fence set amongst a dense Hawthorne hedge that ran from road to river. Feeling that the animal would not head for the road or river and would have been unable to penetrate the dense Hawthorne barrier, I felt it would head towards me. Knowing that behind me was two miles of pasture fields flanked by road and river, I did not fancy trying to evade the predator by heading back in that direction.

Making for the road seemed the obvious choice, but it was all uphill and would not have been conducive to fleeing for my life had I have been forced to do so.

There were only two options open to me: a hasty retreat back along the valley, risking another possible confrontation in the dark, or make my way down to the river, where I knew there to be a style that would allow me a way past the Hawthorne barrier and access to fields nearer to the village of Buildwas. I chose the latter option. With a sharp intake of breath and crouching low, I moved off.

Looking and listening as I went, it seemed as though I had walked the length of the Great Wall of China before finally reaching the river. Once there, I looked on horrified to see that recent floodwater had cut off my escape route. With my pulse quickening by the second, I uttered a few Anglo Saxon expletives and realized that I would have to rethink my strategy.

It is amazing what thoughts go through the mind in times of adversity. I actually found myself wondering what Tarzan would have done given a similar situation; or if I could ram the search head of my metal detector down the animals throat if I was attacked.

I was soon brought back to earth when I heard that terrible sound again, making my blood run cold: "My god, it's still out there," I mouthed quietly.