Report from Ronnie Patterson
One Wet Saturday Evening
From Scottish Mystery Cat Sightings
(Personal names etc. changed.)
28.6.97
I got a phone call from a Mr Hall who lives at Coats Farm near Currie, he got my number from a gamekeeper at Balerno, who's wife I had spoken to about big cat sightings in the local area. Anyway Mr Hall told me that his son had found two sheep dead in their field that morning. And he felt that there was something unusual about the way that they had died. He knew from experience that it hadn't been the work of a dog or dogs, and it certainly wasn't the work of a fox. The sheep were both large and healthy specimens, the Marino Ram had been found with its neck broken, and a large part of its back had been torn off, the other sheep had been almost completely devoured overnight Mr. Hall contacted the local police at Balerno and they arrived and took a couple of polaroid photographs of the remains. They then told Mr. Hall to bury what was left of his sheep then left. Mr Hall felt uneasy about the situation and wanted answers, so he got in touch with Blair Drummond Safari Park. After explaining what had occurred at his farm, Mr Hall was told that it sounded like the work of a big cat type animal. He was very surprised, and shocked to think that such an animal could be roaming about the countryside, he was even more shocked to think that what-ever it was could be roaming about his land. Mr Hall said that I would be welcome if I wanted to have a look around, I took him up on his offer and asked if it was allright for me to bring my partner in crime, Henry along. Mr Hall said that would be fine, I told him that I would be there as soon as possible. I phoned Henry right away, he told me that he had been trying to get me on the phone for a while as there was seemingly a farmer out Currie way that had came across two unusual sheep kills. I told Henry about my call and that we had been invited to go out to see Mr Hall. He said he would pick me up in an hour at the usual place.
I met Henry as planned and as we drove to the Hall's we spoke of how even though Henry lives in the borders he had found out about the situation at the Hall's at about the same time as I had. Henry told me that Mr Hall had phoned one of his friends about what had happened, Mr Hall's friend then phoned Henry because he knew that he was very interested in big cat sightings, or anything that may warrant a closer look at a situation. So all in all it did seem that our information net was working pretty well. By the time we arrived at the Hall's it was raining quite hard, and it was dull, so after a quick introduction to the Hall's we were taken to the field where the sheep had been killed.
Unfortunately we were unable to examine the remains as they had been buried earlier which was a pity. But we did look around the kill sites and also the surrounding area for some sign or tracks that would identify the killer. But we came up with nothing, as the ground was sodden wet, and any area that may have had a print had been well and truly churned up by the cattle in the adjoining fields.
After about an hour we decided to call it a night and went back down to the Hall's farm. We had a cup of tea with Mr and Mrs Hall and their sons. Henry took this opportunity to show them his video of eye witness accounts of Big Cat Sightings in the Pentlands and surrounding area. The Hall's showed great interest, and assured myself and Henry that if there were any more unusual incidents on their land or anyone else's they would get in touch right away. I have a funny feeling that I will hear from the Hall's again, I dont know when, it's just a feeling.
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