Life is sometimes Fortean because...

[I, Cosh]

There was an article in last Saturday's Guardian about some lads who'd bought a lion cub in Harrod's in the late sixties! They mentioned knowing various other people who owned big cats in their neighbourhood: a panther that played in the local schoolyard and so forth. I was gobsmacked and it seems reasonable to assume that a few would've gotten lost if it was they were so easy to come by.

[Mardroid]

When I was on a Prince's Trust course years ago one of the guys on the course reckoned he saw a wolf in the early hours of the morning while camping in Wales.

I'm not sure I believed him*, but I did wonder.

Rather than being native I wonder if they were actually wolves or wolf-dogs that had been set free due to the restrictions in this countries on people keeping such animals.

*He was a nice bloke but he had a bit of a reputation for porkie pies.

[Mardroid]

There was an article in last Saturday's Guardian about some lads who'd bought a lion cub in Harrod's in the late sixties!

Yeah, there was a documentary a couple of years back about a couple (this time a man and woman) who bought a lion cub from Harrods. It got a bit much for them as it grew up so they decided to set it free in Africa. An interesting programme. As it hadn't hunted before, they had to teach it etc, so it would survive.

While the programme was about the lion, there was some interesting clips of other people with wild animals. I particularly remember a scene of a pretty young rich woman walking along the high street with an adult leopard on a leash...

[vzzbux]

Not wolf or cat related but on an orienteering exercise once I decided to cut through a field of cows that had recently calved. Half way across they started to slowly make a beeline for me, gradually picking up the pace. I have never moved so fast in my life. This was not long after reading James Herberts 'The Fog'.
That was a definite five pence fifty pence moment on the old sphincter.




V

[Buttonman]

There was an article in last Saturday's Guardian about some lads who'd bought a lion cub in Harrod's in the late sixties! They mentioned knowing various other people who owned big cats in their neighbourhood: a panther that played in the local schoolyard and so forth. I was gobsmacked and it seems reasonable to assume that a few would've gotten lost if it was they were so easy to come by.

It's a bit manipulative and sentimental but this clip gets me every time!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiGKWoJi5qM

[Mardroid]

Wow. The weird thing is even the lioness 'wife' approached them and let them pat her. I'd have thought she would be a completely wild animal.

[Peter Wolf]

This is sort of fortean related.

When i was aged about 14-15 or so i had this vivid dream that seemed to predict how a relative of mine died.

This was an elderly aunt who lived on her own in a house in a village in Surrey.I dreamt that i was in her house and that she had fallen down the stairs and was close to dying.This was at night and i dreamt i was holding her in my arms as she was dying with a thunderstorm and lightning outside that was lighting up where i was at the foot of the stairs in her house as there were no lights on.

That was the end of the dream but i talked about this to my mum and my grandmother one night as i hadnt said anything about it to anyone previous to that and i think this was when my aunt was still alive although i cant be 100 percent sure of that but it never went any further.

As it turned out that was how my aunt died by falling down the stairs alone in the house with no way of calling for help and it was a week before the alarm was raised.

I remember my grandmother saying to my mum "He has second sight that boy i am sure of it".

There was another instance of this but i cant recall exactly what it was.

Another freaky thing was when i lived in Hastings it was right next to the woods and we had Tawney owls nesting in the trees close by as you would hear them at night.One night in the early hours i was listening to them and had a look out through the window to see if i could spot the owl in the tree.There was no light on and i could just make out the owl in the tree as it was winter so i watched it for a few minutes and then it flew right up to the window with its wings stretched out which was quite incredible.

One more thing was my mum went out into the garden out of the sliding window in the lounge quite late at night past midnight.The lights that were on were low level so the garden wasnt lit up and was dark as there wasnt any light pollution.Anyway i was in the lounge watching tv and my mum screamed as she said something very big ran very quickly through the garden into the woods.She thinks it was someone rather than something but she wasnt quite sure as it was dark and it moved quickly.

[The Legendary Shark]

I was trawling through some photos of Antarctica (don't ask) when I came across this: http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/19595355.jpg WtF?

[Proudhuff]

I used to hike the Appalachians every year, starting at a different point each go so we could see as much of the mountains as possible.

I am so jealous!

[johnnystress]

Why it's clearly a large fossilized Elvis Duck

[The Legendary Shark]

Looks to me like an Australian Aborigine's head with a bandicoot sat on it. Or could it be the old figurehead off a sailing ship? It looks a little too "real" to be a simulacrum.

[M.I.K.]

No it doesn't.

[Mardroid]

It looks like a blokes head with a strange quiff (and super huge pock-marks) on top of a large shell type thing....

[Emp]

Looks like the petrified remains of a Sinclair C5(theres wheels) owner with a hedgehog on his head.

[JOE SOAP]

It's Mark Kermode.