Category: Events

That’s “Reports and sightings of big cats in the county of Suffolk, 1974-2022” in English.French doesn’t really have a concept of “big cats” as they are understood in English, so it’s just felins (felines).

That’s the title of my talk at the Rencontres Europeennes de Cryptozooligie (European Meeting on Cryptozoology) in Dinant, Belgium on 5 November 2023. I had to send my PowerPoint slides to the organisers way back in September for the translation team to look at, as there will be simultaneous translation into French.

This year the talks are in a combination of French and English, at a previous meeting I went to it was nearly all in French. Back in 2017 I gave a talk at the event in French, on Les elephants nain (pygmy elephants) – I was pleased not to have to do it in French again!

Dinant is best known as the birthplace of Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone (there’s a statue of Sax sitting on a bench near where his house was). It’s also known by Belgians as the scene of a terrible massacre at the start of World War One.

My report on the conference is expected to appear in a future issue of Fortean Times.

There is a local event to launch the recently published book Mystery Animals of Suffolk – including an account of over 150 mystery big cat sightings by Dunwich resident Matt Salusbury

On Sunday 22 October, 2pm-4.30 pm (last admission) at The Reading Room, St James’s Street, Dunwich, Suffolk IP17 3DT (behind Dunwich Museum).

Drinks and nibbles served. Meet the author. His large map showing big cat sightings across Suffolk will be on display.

Signed copies of Mystery Animals of Suffolk will be available to buy at a discount on the day. (Dunwich Museum nextdoor is open until 4.30 on that day, one of the last chances to visit it before it closes down for the winter at the end of October.)

Big cat witnesses and sceptics welcome! (Testimony of Suffolk Shuck sightings in the 1970s also accepted.)

 This is a hyper-local “soft launch”. A bigger event in Ipswich – accessible by public transport – is expected in early 2024. For further details get on the mailing list mysteryanimalsofsuffolk@gn.apc.org.