| Gruagach | |
|---|---|
 | |
| [[{{{map}}}|250px]] | |
| Background | |
| Type | Hominin/Spirit/Bigfoot |
| First Sighting | Unknown |
| Last Sighting | 2018 |
| Country | Ireland |
| Habitat | Small thick forests in Ireland such as Ballyboley and Slieveanorra |
| Possible Population | Very small, possibly extinct |
Description
The Gruagach, also known as the Grogoch, or, on occasion, the Puka or sometimes even Tipperary/Ossary Wolfman is a large, bipedal ape that allegedly lives in Ireland. The creature appears in mythology around Ireland and is sighted only on rare occasions, but over the years has been seen all over Ireland. Despite this, it gets very little attention as Ireland is a small place and even though the majority is countryside, most people say there is not enough thick forest and food to support and hide a large ape, despite the fact it supports dear and once even supported large megafauna. The creature is very similiar to other Bigfoot, the most well known example being the North American Sasquatch, though unlike Sasquatch, most sightings of the Gruagach [aswell as most UK Bigfoot] describe it to be more human like. It is normally depicted with a small, wide, high up nose, a mostly flat face, a portruding brow, and, strangely, with no sagital crest [a sagital crest being a crest on the skull of certain apes such as gorilla which gives their head a cone shape, seen in most Bigfoot sightings], though occaisonally the crest it there. It is more similiar to the Minnesota iceman than the traditional Bigfoot depiction. Sightings of the creature are all around Ireland, though are mostly centred around Slieveanorra and Ballyboley.
The Slieveanorra photo
Alleged Bigfoot in Slievenorra, Northern Ireland
In January of 2016, a mother was walking her dogs in Slieveanorra forest, a place believed by some to be haunted, when she claims her pets used their 'sixth sense' to seek out a strange creature that she had not noticed at the time. It was not until she got home and posted her pictures from the forest online that people noticed the strange figure in it, which appears similiar to a man in a ghillie suit. Ghost stories about Slieveanorra have been told since October 1942, when a US air force B17 flying fortress bomber crashed into a mountain in the area, killing eight of the ten people in the plane. The photo appears to be of a Ghillie suit, though it's arm appears to be a branch [which could be explained by the 'creature' holding the branch while it's hand is covered by it's fur/the sleeve of the suit, or it walking past a branch when the photo was taken]. However, despite the photo likely being a hoax/misidentification, another 'sighting' in the area adds some credence too it. Around half past four in the evening on the fourteenth of July 2017, a wildlife photographer and her husband went out to Slievenorra forest, Northern Ireland. She says it was raining very heavily, and they were walking their usual routes when they heard a strange howling noise. They hadn't went far into the forest when her German Shepherd started barking at the noise. At that point the howl sounded quite close, but they couldn't find the source of the noise. A few seconds later, the noise stopped, then started again. This happened four times. She says she had heard the noise before in the same area of the forest, but she was alone with the dogs so she doubted herself a bit. She told researcher Deborah Hatswell she
A Ghillie suit, a possible explanation for the Slieveanorra Gruagach photo
intended on going back there without the dogs to see if she'd still hear it. She reported to the same researcher that on the seventeenth of July 2017 she returned to the area with her phone, but she didn't hear anything. She brought her partner's smaller dog Barney with her and he stopped randomly near where she says she found a double 'X' made from large tree trunks. It is worth noting that in other parts of the world, field researchers also report this in alleged Bigfoot habitats. The dog just stood there sniffing the wind with his ears up and one paw off the ground, as if he had smelt something. Later on her partner and her both got the feeling of being watched after the dog started doing the same thing again. She also says that, while it may be unrelated, she lost the dog's ball in the area and looked for a long time without finding it, before going back the next day and finding it laying in the middle of the trail. She says she will go back again until she finds something to prove her story, however, no more information is given and nothing else has been reported in that forest, though there are two nearby forests where things have been reported [Dunluce and Ballyboley]. In Tepperary, Ireland, there are historical stories of Wolfman warriors, and in Ossary, there are also historical accounts of Wolfmen, which may be the source of the howling, however, all modern sightings of hairy humanoids describe ape-like creatures, which can also make howling noises, except for a select few in the South of Ireland, in the Republic.
Ballyboley forest sightings
In 1997, two men claim they were in the allegedly haunted Ballyboley forest when they heard what they called 'a loud flapping sound'. They thought nothing of it and continued walking, until they heard stranger noises such as a woman moaning in pain. They were horrified the find a group of trees thickly smeared with blood. As they ran off, one of the men claims he saw four dark humanoid figures standing behind them, but not chasing them, where only a few seconds earlier nothing had been there. Other reports from the area describe druid rituals where animals are burned to death, and camp fires and tipi shaped tree structures can be found in the forest, though the tree structures are more common. A year later, a 63 year old woman who was working as a pet sitter and her husband were walking some local dogs in Ballyboley. They approached a small patch of dead trees one day and claim they saw what they thought was a human crouched down in the bushes. Agitating the dogs, the creature raised it's head, showing it was not human. The woman says her husband approached the creature, who growled at him when he came too close. She told him to step back, he thought it was an escaped chimpanzee at the time, until he got within 15 foot of it and the tall figure stood up on it's hind legs. They noticed the large creature was carrying an also large stick. The creature smashed it's stick against the tree, then ran off at a high speed. The whole thing last all of four minutes. She described the creature as having a chimpanzee like face, but with a broader nose. It was covered in 'dark brown black fur' and was 8 foot tall. Later that year, a man claimed to have seen an ape-like creature using improvised eating utensils. The report came one week after a man claimed to have seen a similiar creature in Suffolk.
Tipperary Wolfmen
Full article: Tipperary Wolfmen https://cryptidz.wikia.com/wiki/Tipperary_Wolfmen
In the Republic of Ireland, there are legends of warriors covered in hair with the heads of dogs. These legends come from Tipperary and Ossary, though there are only two modern sightings, one in Ballymacward, and one in Tipperary. In 2009, an anonymous person sent a strange report filled with spelling mistakes to Deborah Hatswell, a Bigfoot researcher who takes reports of obscure UK cryptids [though she also takes lesser known Owlman reports]. In the cold winter of 1999, in Tipperary, an anonymous person was driving home late at night with their aunt, uncle and cousin, when their garden's light illuminated what they thought was an old man walking in the streets late at night in the middle of winter when all the street lights were off. Within the space of a few seconds, the man dissapeared and was replaced by a large black dog with red eyes staring at them. The person who reported this said they never heard of a 'haunted dog' before, and they would have passed it off as their imagination had everyone else not seen it too. They say this happened in the road between Newport and Rearcross in South Tipperary, the Republic of Ireland. Another report from Ballymacward describes a man with a bear's head on a train station. The two witnesses attempted to talk to the creature, but it rudely told them not to talk to him.
Sources and links for research
http://www.theshadowlands.net/places/ireland.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPa39d6QqXw&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYR0Pj842LA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYR0Pj842LA
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wild_man
https://news.google.com/newspapers?
nid=336&dat=19071204&id=DkowAAAAIBAJ&sjid=R0gDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4270,5150466&hl=en
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERyL4xMi6RU
Irish Bigfoot map
https://cryptidz.wikia.com/wiki/Woodwose#WikiaArticleComments