Mystery Big Cats
Merrily Harpur Squeeze Press 2021 Pb, 246pp, £14.95, ISBN 9781906069186
This is a revised reprint of Harpur’s 2006 book, its last chapter being a 2021 update in the form of a five-page postscript. It is illustrated throughout with black and white photographs.
This book is quite rightly considered a seminal volume on the subject of UK mystery big cats or Anomalous/Alien Big Cats as they are also known. Harpur relates her own personal encounter with a mysterious feline in Gloucestershire and her subsequent fascination with the subject. She begins by exploring three questions: why have none of these mystery cats been caught or shot, why are they often described as “black pumas” despite the fact that pumas are never black, and finally if they are the result of escapes from zoos or illegal collections, where is the evidence?
Harpur examines a wealth of witness testimonies and pictures and weighs up traditional explanations for such beasts, such as hybrids and hide-outs, as well as psychological misinterpretations. However, she ultimately offers her belief that they might, in fact, be dæmons. The elusiveness of such creatures and their tendency to be found in liminal spaces such as beside roads or rivers fits well into an other-worldly explanation. She posits that they embody the “trickster” motif, in that they appear like known big cats and yet, somehow, have an ethereal quality about them. She does not dismiss, however, the many reports of people being physically attacked by such creatures and the dents in car bonnets attesting to the corporeal nature of these animals.
This is a thorough examination of the evidence and the many possible explanations for mystery cats. As science has so far failed to come up with a rational account for the many recorded sightings, a supernatural explanation seems plausible.
For anyone without the 2006 edition this is an indispensable addition to any fortean library.
★★★★