h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

On April 26, a crop formation was found in oilseed rape at Littlebury Green in Essex, visible from the M11 motorway. Vigay says it was possibly created on April 22 or 23.

The formation consists of a single large, thin ring with a much smaller ring attached like a bauble on a necklace. In addition, there are two thin, slightly curved lines forming a large "V" shape, meeting at the center of the large circle and extending several yards outside its perimeter. The large ring is estimated at over 300 feet in diameter.

These crop sitings were the very first to take place in Essex in 1997

BBC Radio Essex NewsSunday, 26 October, 2003



Woman reports 'beast' sighting in Ongar Esex


The cat that was sited by the woman is thought to be a lynx with black colouring. An Essex woman has described what she claims is a sighting of what is known locally as the mysterious "Beast of Ongar".
Kay Hayden, the clerk of a local parish council, told a BBC Essex reporter that she was shocked when a large black cat appeared in a field in Stanford Rivers near Ongar off the A113.

Ms Hayden said: "All I can say that the cat was a great big leopard size. It was a muscular, completely black, strong-looking animal, much, much larger than a dog."

She also said that she was very convinced that this animal was the same "beast" spotted years ago by others earlier on in the same area.

Date unknown

Crop circles of two overlapping triangles, which form the six-pointed star. The equilateral triangle was found at Strethall in Essex.

1996 Crop circle sightings

Crop circle was sighted at Littlebury Green in Essex.

Raynham Hall, Raynham, Essex


The 'Brown Lady' apparation has been sighted at Raynham Hall. She was called the 'Brown Lady' because of the color of the flowing dress that she wears. She is thought to be the ghost of Dorothy Walpole, sister to Robert Walpole, the English Prime Minister of 1722. There are various legends surrounding the woman, one version of which is that after having an affair, her angry husband held her prisoner at Raynham, not allowing her to see her children. Witnesses to the hauntings of this woman, describe the ghost's illuminated, gaunt face, with dark hollows instead of eyes. She often appears to be calm and unthreatening, but occasionally her strange features bring fear to the onlooker.

Haunted Pubs and Inns


St Anne's Castle Pub in Great Leighs, dates back to the medieval period and is reputed to have a haunted room and poltergeist activity which has been experienced in the past.

This pub is also associated with the legend of a local witch, who was buried underneath a stone at a crossroads on Scrap Faggot's Green. When the stone was moved during the Second World War, the spirit of the witch is said to have haunted the village and the pub. The stone is now in the pub's car park.

The Bell Inn, Sible Hedingham,: One of the rooms is said to be haunted by a young girl with black hair. Her name is Catherine Canham who once lived there. The inn has a 300-year-old history.

The Red Lion Hotel, in Colchester is said to have two ghosts, a young girl who haunts the kitchen, and a monk who perished in a fire.

The Black Horse in White Roding is said to have a ghost who plays the piano. Many guests have reported hearing a piano being played.

THE BEAR INN (Restaurant)
The Square, Stock, IngastoneThe haunt of an ostler who was murdered here. It is believed by some that his body is entombed in the chimney.

THE BRANTHAM BULL
The Street, Brantham, Manningtree
The cellar is said to be haunted by a child.

THE GREEN DRAGON
21 Market Square, Waltham Abbey
A cavalier visits here. He is more often seen around lunch time.

THE GREEN MAN HOTEL
2 Mulberry Green, Old Harlow, Harlow
A woman is reputed to haunt here. Her child is said to have died under suspicious circumstances.

THE SWAN
123 High Street, Brentwood
The ghost here is thought to be that of a young man burnt at the stake in sentence for his beliefs, going against Mary I in her bid to restore the Catholic faith. Some of the activity is of a poltergeist nature. The young man was held prisoner here for two nights before the sentence was carried out.

ST. ANNE'S CASTLE
Main Road, Great Leighs, Nr. Chelmsford
Poltergeist activity has been reported here. It is also linked to a witch who is said to haunt the village as well as the pub.

THE THORN HOTEL
High Street, Mistley, Manningtree
Reputed to be haunted by a Grey Lady.

The White Hart Pub stands on the Market End, facing Coggeshall’s Market Hill. The most easterly bay is reputed to be all that remains of the 1420 Guild Hall. Today the White Hart Pub is made up of several earlier buildings, one of which was built in 1526 for Robert Paycocke, a member of the wealthy family of wool merchants. A small figure dressed in blue velvet is rumoured to the ghost, but when I got there two other supernatural incidents had just occurred.
‘It was late the other night,’ the receptionist tells me. ‘There was only a waitress and the assistant manager on the premises...

2004:

Essex, Great Leighs. One wild boar seen on grass verge on the roadside

Essex, Quendon. One wild boar seen in wooded area,

In one instance, an Essex man who snapped up what he thought was an exotic lizard for £20 found it was in fact a baby crocodile. These aggressive creatures with razor-sharp teeth and an appetite for live meat, caiman crocodiles can grow to more than seven feet in length. When it was rescued, the crocodile was missing several toes and the tip of the tail.

Two 12lb (5.4kg) geese belonging to Michael Thurgood of Wilbridge Lane, near North Weald in Essex, was found dead in early February of 1999. Ongar police sent one carcass to Ranald Munro of the government-funded Veterinary Laboratory Agency in Edinburgh. "The bird had been killed by a bite to the neck," he said, "but what was unusual was the imprint of five claw marks which had cut deeply into the muscle on the right side of the chest. The paw mark was at least two inches wide, substantially larger than any domestic cat. A dog would not leave this kind of sharp, penetrating wound. I can only conclude that a large cat, probably the size of a lynx, was responsible."

15 Jan 199 at Vicarage Woods, nr Brentwood, there where 2 sightings of lioness . ABC expert Quentin Rose found a heap of deer bones from an old badger sett.

In Angenhoe the so called 'Beast of Essex' striked at a farm
The first animal killings by the notorious Beast of Essex have been reported to police.

The survivor -Kelly Green and her uncle Tony Chapman count their chickens after the Beast of Essex attacked Mr Chapman's farm in Langenhoe.

A woman reported that the fiend devoured three chickens, three ducks and a cockerel in her uncle's garden in the middle of the night.

Kelly Green said she came face-to-face with the creature when she tried to catch a glimpse of it the next evening in Mersea Road, Langenhoe.

It was less than 20 yards away from her when she entered the garden after hearing a noise.

She said: "I startled something. I would say it was something like a panther. It was a huge black cat. It jumped over the fence and into the field."

Miss Green decided to stay up all night after a creature sunk its teeth into the family livestock the night before."

Miss Green, of Templemead, Witham, was staying with her uncle Tony Chapman, his wife Tina and their three children Damien, ten, Joe, seven, and two-year-old Charlie at their cottage.

After the sighting on Wednesday night, Miss Green said enquiries and internet searches have revealed there have been several in the area of Langenhoe and Abberton recently.

An Essex Mystery - Three pubs in Essex all called The Compasses are in a straight line 10 miles long. The 4th pub called The Compasses creates a circle and points to an ancient centre of Templar activity.

The Knights Templars were an order oof warrior monks which were wealthy and powerful as well as very well disciplined. Danbury and nearby Bicnacre has been associated with the Templars and supposedly have carvings and tombs of crusaders in the church. In the Peasants revolt of 1381 in which the organising hands of a secret society have been long suspected of organising the revolt there were battles in the vicinity.

Some people claim that there is a secret tunnel which would be 1 mile long and would be going under the river, from Faulkbourne to the church. There are othe reports of a tunnel under the graveyard to a local manor house which is more likely.

In the 19th century it was normal for clubs and societies to be associated with pubs.

There was a "Three compasses" at Bicnacre within a crows flight of the Priory of St John (itself about 3km South East of the 'missing church') until 1878. There is evidence for this going back to at least 1770.

An Essex man in 2003 was fined £10 for careless bicycle riding. He was arrested for reading a newspaper and riding without his hands on the handlebar. He said in court that was the only time he could read the newspaper.