Our roving reporter Phil Morgan has sent this photo for our edification. Click to enlarge.
Phil recounts that he was wandering in the Brynberian area (in 2012?), looking for traces of quarries and such like, as one does, when he noticed something strange, at the far end of the crags. He grabbed his camera and quickly took one photo. He could hardly believe his eyes -- for there was the mythical creature referred to by the locals as Roger of Rhosyfelin. The creature had not been seen for many years, and it is thought that this is the first time for it to be caught on film. It is quite unrelated to the local Afanc (which is a water creature) and looks more like Bigfoot than a fairy or a goblin.
According to legend, it is quite harmless, and shuns the limelight, but it has a tendency to remove lots of trees in a frenzy of activity, creating smallish quarries for reasons that are as yet unclear. As we can see from the photograph, it was in the middle of its task when Phil came along with his camera. It ran off up the valley, wailing balefully, and leaving a considerable mess behind. No doubt it has subsequently been hard at work elsewhere in the woods, making other quarries.
It is understood that Roger's work puts the National Park Authority in something of a quandry, since the quarry has been excavated without planning permission.
47 comments:
Thanks for the fabulous photo with the "creature" at Rhosyfelin, as well as the photos of the erratic last week. I really enjoy the Stonehenge posts and sometimes forward them to my listserve. Best regards, Krsanna Duran
Nice one!
Solves the transportation riddle I would think.
Yes, Roger looks like a strong fellow. Maybe he goes off to visit his relatives in Amesbury now and then, bearing gifts?
Clearly a misleading picture ... I've seen it all before.
Aliens have dressed BigHoof in some fake fur suit, teleported him from the Pacific Northwest and brought him to Rhosfellin for the purpose of spreading misinformation.
Searching for lost Elvis records, he's caught a Chupacabra in nearby shrubs instead, and the mess we see here is the result. Now on his way to Cardiff for pick-up.
It's all plain as day once we understand what we're seeing.
Neil
Looks Photoshopped because that creature looks like the Sasquatch Big Foot of North America and in fact looks like a very common picture you can find on the internet..
Looks Photoshopped because that creature looks like the Sasquatch Big Foot of North America and in fact looks like a very common picture you can find on the internet..http://pattersonfilm.com/files/Patterson%20Bigfoot%20Patty
Surely not? Shock! Horror! You mean I have been conned? You will be hearing from my solicitor very shortly, Mr Morgan..........
Has anyone noticed the descriptive similarity of the respective physiques of the impressive Michael Parker Pearson and equally impressive Professor Challenger, of Arthur (.....a Welsh name, of course) Conan Doyle and his "The Lost World"?? Prof Challenger, of course, famously returned from South America with a pterodactyl, which promptly flew out of the lecture room window.
Who is inside that Big Foot suit, if Big Foot suit is what it is?......
.......Never mind the possibility of tele - porting Big Foot so he may pad around Preseli, I think time travel, H.G.Wells - style, may also be afoot.
The vandals of Rhosfelin need rogering!
Bigfoot at Rhosyfelin needs more work.
*The body covering (skin or fur) has been resurfaced {textured} It is TOO fine.
*The top outline of the head has been altered slightly.
*The leg furthest back has been slightly extended downward.
*The angle of the head turn is EXACTLY the same.
Now draw a line thru each arm & leg right where the skeletal frame would be, and compare that with the original photo. They are the same. What are the mathematical odds that 2 such photos were taken in different places, under different circumstances, and the poses are the exact proportions? I find it suspect that the SAME leg is partially hidden. Maybe someone thought enough time had gone by, and no one would notice?
Also suspect is the fact that there is only ONE shot. There was plenty of clear space ahead of the figure to sequence more shots. Even if one was surprised, or had shaky hands, there should be more frames. If that was me, my trigger finger would have been going non stop. I would not have cared if the pics were blurry or angled funny, I would have kept shooting.
And lastly, did anyone notice how wonderfully this one photograph is framed? Everything is perfectly lined up. The shot is level and clear. The picture is nicely balanced. Nobody is excited, or dropping the camera here. I am an artist, retoucher, photographer & teacher. I teach people to look for these things. If this is for real, my hat is off to them for their happy experience. But if they were my student, they would get poor marks for not shooting enough images of such an exciting event. Sincerely Ruth Hughes
Well well, this is clearly a very serious matter........ worth a new research project.
Aah a conspiracy!!
Might the photo NOT be genuine?
I have always worked on he premise that all people, thoughts, opinions on this blog are genuine. Sadly only we Greeks hold the truth, if not a lot of cash.
Of course the photo is legit (unless, of course it is from a Welshman.
M
As history tells us, we Welshmen have the knack of seeing things that others do not see........
Brian, is that not more commonly referred to as hallucination?
Apologies for the threadjack, wasn't sure where to post this news item I've just seen on the interwebs...
"University of Reading archaeologists to excavate the biggest henge in the country"
http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/local-news/university-reading-archaeologists-excavate-biggest-9485150
Marden Henge: "Bigger than Avebury, ten times the size of Stonehenge and half way between the Stonehenge and Avebury World Heritage Sites, comparatively little is known about this fascinating and ancient landscape."
But I bet it didn't have a resident creature, though :)
More on Tim Daw's excellent site sarsen.org.
I think from Tim that Devizes museum is doing an exhibition to run concurrently.
M
I am pretty certain the ferret club must harbour the odd beast who could run around Marden. Amesbury Archer, Stonehenge Bowman, Marden Monster, I see a franchise looming.
Ah back to the real world, my turn to confiscate/check words from incoming galleys.
M
Returning to my last comment, on Arthur Conan Doyle's character, Professor George Challenger,
I recommend fellow Bloggers take a look at:-
www.internationalhero.co.uk/c/challeng.htm
where they will discover revealing stuff about the creator of Sherlock Holmes's next most famous creation.
There are a couple of useful, for comparison's sake, sketches of Prof Challenger, who is described as " a cave - man in a lounge suit" known for his fiery temper and outrageous (but generally correct) scientific theories.
One of the sketches reminds me of a certain former Durham University Professor of
Biological Sciences who made a name for himself on British TV, commenting on things
ecological and Green. He wrote a forward in one of Brian's Pembrokeshire books in the
1980's, but his name temporarily escapes me!
Ah, I enjoyed the Challenger stories. As for our Durham friend, ah, how the infamous are fallen....... Actually he was a really nice chap, but the media people mercilessly exploited his capacity for clowning and self-depracation, so in the end it all became totally ludicrous.....
Poor fellow had something of a lisp - strange how some can get away with this, e.g. the over - confident Presenter of the BBC Spring Watch Programmes; and the former Labour Mayor of London. But, as you say, the media did mercilessly exploit him, and there were various impressionists ready to take him off. Some have to be be prepared to be be represented as fools in order to be true to their message, e.g.? Prince Charles? - another Green Champion.
Do you see the facial similarity in the drawing on the "International Hero" website, Brian?
........whatever was "captured" on film - Bigfoot, Afanc, fairy or goblin - its senseless destructive force was such that it sure did "put its Big Foot in it".
Far from thereby randomly revealing o "a smoking gun", it has probably, metaphorically at least, shot itself in the foot, if not both feet.
We may never know the culprit. Wait a minute, though, what about DNA evidence? What does Roger eat? Any findings of a temporary latrine?
That's an interesting line of enquiry, Tony. I think I did once see a temporary latrine at Rhosyfelin, for the use of those involved in assorted activities -- and there was certainly a very prominent one up at Carn Goedog last September. It was visible from miles away. Indeed, I think I commented on it at the time as an interesting cultural addition to the landscape.
Having now returned from a camp site in the Lake District, where I was out of touch with the rest of the world, I find that some of my fellow bloggers doubt the veracity of the photo, and me whose father was a Vicar and mother was a Nun.
I shall try to answer each sceptic in turn:
a). Hello Eugene ---- as a very amateur photographer, perhaps you could explain the term ‘Photoshopped’, please; does it refer to a place where you go to have enlargements made?
b). Hello Ruth -------- Thank you for the compliment regarding the composition of the photo, perhaps my ragged technique is improving. To clarify, there was only one photo because my old Chinon camera uses film, and I was at the end of the roll.
If you draw a line through the things right arm it’s pointing to a stone, while a line through the left arm points to a bush, but I don’t know if that’s significant.
I believe there are references to this type of encounter in the Mabinogion.
c). Hello Chris -------- I have no explanation as to what the thing is/was, but it’s good to see that Myris thinks it genuine, even though I am a Welshman.
I wrote a poem to commemorate the meeting:
I went to Rhos-y-Felin,
On the last day of July,
I left my pants and vest down there,
I hope they’re bloody dry.
I met a hairy thing that day,
My legs were all a quiver.
I took a shot, my hat fell off,
And floated down the river.
What majestic poetry!!!
Do not go gentle on Mikes tome
Rage, rage against the quarrying of stone
Phil you have quite confounded all your critics, Welsh are you (rising cadence) but still the true renaissance man.
M
Do not the Sufi deverish also point one hand up and one hand down when dancing, in such a holy quarry there must be a ritual explanation (arch 101).
Any news of other holy stones?
In reply to Helens post, they've uncovered the Neolithic house/sweat lodge at Marden from the 2010 dig. Hopefully there'll be some interesting stuff to report over the coming days. Neolithic pottery found today, apparently.
Back to latrines and all things steaming, whether emanating from Roger of Rhosyfelin or others.
Brian mentions a very prominent latrine atop Carn Goedog, adding "it was visible from miles away. Indeed, I think I commented on it at the time as an interesting cultural addition to the landscape".
Did this "visibility" extend to vertical mirages caused by the steaming effect? One recalls the term "steam radio" from the 1950's, frequently attributed to Spike Milligan, script writer of the Goon Show. Perhaps we have in this the new phenomenon of Steaming Roger of Rhosyfelin. Clothes pegs at the ready.
Anyway, as I was saying:
A woman went into a bar with a big rabbit under her arm.
The barman said "That's got to be the ugliest bird I've ever seen."
The woman said "It's not a bird it's a rabbit."
The barman said "I was talking to the rabbit".
Ah, how many of us would be where we are today, had it not been for the Goon Show? Took me years of really hard training to stop speaking like Eccles....... Many great things have entered the English language courtesy of the Goons -- one of my favourites is Airwick Gatport.
Er, what has any of this got to do with Stonehenge or the Ice Age? Not a lot...
But have you stopped thinking like Eccles.
Very sadly as long after Stonehenge but close to Marden I have been thinking about all cannings cross.
And middens so neatly tying up recent rather loose threads.
Is there a Marden blog.
Ah great Stonehenge news last night colleagues of the pet rock boys have geologically dated one of the last groups of debitage yet to be described in detail. As is now expected much of the lit is wrong but the pet rock boys are vindicated.
M
I have stopped thinking like Eccles? I am gravely insulted. Since he was one of the great thinkers of our age, we probably all aspire to think like him -- or at least, like his sidekick Bluebottle, who had a tendency to fall in the water.....
Re one of the last groups of debitage at Stonehenge, a cryptic Myris comment, as ever. Come on, Myris -- tell us more. You know it makes sense.....
The Lower Palaeozoic sandstones aka incorrectly identified, in some literature, Altar Stone.
Shown not to be Devonian, good news as the Altar Stone is Devonian.
The Irn Bru is flowing freely.
M
Ah -- now I am with you. Interesting to have that confirmed. So if they are Lower Palaeozoic sandstones, where have they come from? There are lots of Ordovician sandstones in the sedimentary series, and of course all those spectacular Cambrian sandstones as well, in the St Davids district -- red, green, brown, purple and even bluish........ Now THAT would be an interesting piece of provenancing.....
From the maps I'm looking at it seems highly likely it'll be Ordovician, is that right?
Myris, you ask is there a Marden blog. I think there was one last year. I haven't tracked the 2015 one down as yet, but have a friend digging there so she may know. P.S. We have to remember English Heritage has been re - branded. Historical England or some such.
On the other hand, MPP used to talk about the possibility of a Marden BOG, wherin, hypothetically - at least within his Ruling Hypothesis - may have sunk one or two Marlborough Downs sarsens humanly en route for Stonehenge.
Myris, you are far too vital to start ruminating about All Cannings Cross and Tim Daws' 21st Century long barrow. May you stay forever young, to quote young Zimmerman.
Eric Sykes was also one of the great thinkers of our age - he helped Spike out when the script writing was becoming too frenetic.
Red and yellow and pink and green
Purple and orange and blue
I can check St Davids
Check St Davids
Check for sandstones too
(Listen to your heart, Mr Mugwump Geologist/ Geomorphologist)
Yes within the Ordovician.
Funny you should talk of the modern long barrow I have been thinking about that.
But I meant I have been distracted by the BA EIA pottery from All Cannings Cross.
Like you I wish Myris many more fruitful years.
M
Tim Daw's modern reconstruction of a long barrow at All Cannings is in colour on the cover on the latest WANHS magazine, volume 108.
An unfortunate typo has resulted in Tim's article "The Twisted Trilithon: Stone 56 and its skew. An investigation into its origin and possible significance" being attributed to Tim DRaw.
To err is human.
To 'arr' is pirate.
Any photos of these coloured sandstones?
I didn't say the Stonehenge fragments ARE coloured, Chris. I simply asked. The fact that Myris says they are Ordovician means they are probably rather nondescript -- brown or buff, like most sandstones. Plenty of photos on the web of the Cambrian sandstones of the St Davids area in situ -- they are very beautiful! The purple sandstone from Caerbwdi is used for the facade of the cathedral.
No nothing of note in terms of colour.
It has been good for the pet rock boys to allow themselves to remove the mental quotation marks about the designation Lower Palaeozoic sandstone.
Yes a Cambrian source would have made life easier but not to be.
M
Hello to all concerned.
Before this thread disappears, I would like to confess that the photo didn't show a real Bigfoot, it was borrowed from the original Patterson set, so congratulations to all the doubters.
But it looks a lot like my mother-in-law.
You mean we have all been conned? Shame on you, Phil! By the way, I hope your mother-in-law does not read this blog.......
Hello Brian,
Yes, conned I'm afraid but it raised just a hint of a smile on my mother-in-law's face. I'm relatively safe on the blog for she reads and writes in ogham, the writing is slow but she still finds time to go hunting and gathering.
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