"Norfolk Primates"

Preliminary Report: 15th Sept 2003,

I arrived at the Norfolk Cemetery at approximately 04:30 hrs on 15th Sept 2003, leaving my vehicle in the car park of the village hall and straight away began taking a look around the area. The Cemetery was surprisingly small, about the size of a fairly decent sized back garden, containing Apple, Ash, Hawthorn, Hazel, Juniper, Rowan and Walnut, there was some benched seating in there. So, sitting down on one of them, with the illumination from half a moon I began watching the silhouetted trees for any unnatural movement against the early morning sky.

As soon as it was light enough to see the ground clearly, I began looking for any signs such as droppings at the base of trees in an attempt to discover which tree or trees may have been used most frequently for the bipeds activities, as well as any physical damage that may have been caused by them. Most of the trees though were surrounded by the cover of blackberry and ivy, making it almost impossible to read the ground.

At approx 06:00 hrs, with visibility being so much better by now, I decided to take a look around the surrounding area. At the rear of the Cemetery, is what appears to be a recreation area, surrounded by trees, with once again one or two apple trees, on returning to my car to look further affield I meet a very helpful gentleman "Jim Booty" who was only to willing to speak with me about the goings on at the old cemetery.

As luck would have it he was the gentleman who had first reported this to the press, Mr Booty who is Chairperson of the parish council there, he told me a little about the village and a nearby forest which sounded very interesting though he hadn't heard any more himself from them for about ten days now he said, so had they moved on? possibly into the forest?

He told me that the people to speak with further on this matter would be Mr & Mrs Myhill who lived right next to the old cemetery and had seen the bipedal visitors more than most. I thanked him for the information he gave me and taking his advice paid a visit to the Myhill's.

Sure enough Mr & Mrs Myhill lived practically next door to the old cemetery except for a small plot of land which was also owned by themselves and had a perfect view on the area of interest. They were most hospitable and offered me to park my vehicle in future on their property which will give me more of an advantage and sure enough they did have a lot more information to divulge about the Norfolk primates. Mrs Myhill told me that a gentleman who had worked with monkeys for a long time on hearing them in the forest said they were Capuchin Monkeys.

Apparently they gave permission also to the "Trading Standards, Animal Health Dept" to park their terrain vehicles on there land, as they said they would be staying at the cemetery that night for an all night visual. Later on that evening there was a tremendous noise coming from the forest about half a mile away, immediately they took off towards the forest, and as they must have arrived the primates was heard quite clearly running through the stubbled fields right back to the cemetery again, they must have been disturbed, this was a typical but also amusing pattern of behavior that was tolerated during their investigations. The forest is quite a vast area, that could quite possibly support a small community of these creatures and would therefore be a case of being in the right place at the right time if you were to see anything of them at all.

Humane traps (Cat Traps) were laid and set by Trading Standards "Animal Health Department" in the grounds of the Old Cemetery and were checked frequently not only by the department but also by Mr & Mrs Myhill as they have three cats of there own and were quite concerned about their feline companions, so their maintenance certainly wasn't a problem.

Mrs Myhill told me about the creatures she had seen, not only by herself but also by her 9 yr old daughter Carrianne, the description is as follows: size of a cat, brown in colour, with a pointed nose and a long bushy tail, Mrs Myhill rang me at 17:30 hrs on the 16th Sept as I was working on the report, to say that her daughter Carrianne had just seen one of them again, Carrianne spoke to me on the phone herself and said she saw it leap from one branch to a lower branch and then down to the ground landing on its hands as though doing a handstand. I spoke with Richard Freeman a zoology expert for the Centre of Fortean Zoology and he said with it having a pointed nose it sounds like a Lemur or even a Coati. although Lemur being the more likely candidate due to its vocals and the fact it eats fruit, this also ties in with my own suspicions.

 

Report Update: 22 Sept 2003.

Due to a rotten stinking flu virus I have not as yet been able to return to Norfolk, but have spoken since with nearby residence and apparently all has been quiet now for about a week, as a matter of fact nothing has been heard since 16th Sept, this gives me rise for concern, as if these primates are in fact Lemurs have they died with the colder weather which is now moving in? or have they moved from there present location? I certainly hope the latter as the Lemur is an endangered animal in Madagascar where it originates from and I hope with all my heart that they be found before it's to late.

Although the actual identity of these mystery creatures is still debatable, originally by sound alone they were identified as Capuchin Monkeys, this was apparently by a circus worker who had experience with primates and on visiting the village heard but not seen then himself, but with an eye witness description of them having a long snout they could be either Lemur or Coati. If anyone has seen these creatures themselves and know what they are, or better still have a photograph or sound recording of them then please get in contact with us, my mobile number is 07021 123 777 or email info@beastwatch.co.uk

 

Further Update: 27th Sept 2003.

I was speaking on the evening of 25th Sept over the phone to one of our active Beastwatch UK members Mark Fraser, who by the way is the founder of "The Scottish Big Cat Society" as well and collate reports of our UK's Big Cat Sightings, he was saying that he had to come down our way and over to Lincolnshire to meet one of the "British Big Cat Society Members" Simon Bainbridge, and view some video footage of a White Cat which had been seen and filmed there by a local farmer.

Thinking it's about time I made an attempt to meet some of my and colleges and members and this being an ideal opportunity to do so and visit the Norfolk location afterwards, I later said to him:........Do you want some company mate? Mark replied: Yer welcome to come if yer want to Chris, so I did.

I met up with them at the Lincolnshire location and found them both very pleasant to know, I would'nt hesitate to meet up with either of them again if the need or opportunity should arise.

After a the investigation work had been carried out there, I left them to to leave for Norfolk, I rang Mrs Myhill that evening to say that I had a refferece book in the car for her daughter to look at of primates, to see if she could identify what she had seen, but sadly her daughter was ill, down with that dreadful flu virus that I had, I suspect, I know how she must have felt.

So wishing her a speedy recovery, I carried on down to the forest to play some Lemur sounds in the hope of obtaining a response to the recording, it didn't take long to set up thanks to modern technology, all I had to do was press play on my cd player and low and behold there's lemurs calling out for all there worth, but all was in vain, as as the lemurs sang their hearts out on my cd player there was no response at all to the recording, although to be fair it was raining that evening as the autumn was closing in on us faster now, there had been some rather cold night as well, giving me even more concern seeing as the mystery primates haven't been seen or heard of since 16th Sept. If only I could get something to identify these creatures, we'd have more to go on and if need be capture them as I had contact with CFZ's very own Primate expert Richard Freeman who I'm sure wouldn't have left them out there to perish.

With it being so quiet, I keep asking myself, is it too late now for the Norfolk Primates have they died with the cold weather? or have they moved on? questions that I don't think are gonna get answered now, unless someone sees or hears something again to keep Norfolk's mystery fire burning.

N.B. If you have any information for us about these mystery primates, then please, please, please, contact us as we would love to hear from you.

Thank you

Chris Mullins
Beastwatch UK
info@beastwatch.co.uk

Last Revised:
22nd Sept 2003.

Please note: As usual the precise location is withheld not only for the benefit of the residents but also for the protection of the animals.