Strange Continent

Unfazed by Brexit, ULRICH MAGIN and THEO PAIJMANS round up the weirdest news from across Europe...

OUT OF PLACE This April, a Frisian couple out for a stroll near the town of Putten, in the wooded Veluwe area of Gelderland, got the fright of their lives when they spotted an animal they could not identify crossing the path some distance in front of them.They described it as being the size of a large dog or boar, but with a long tail and moving stealthily, in a “catlike” manner.The woman, who was badly frightened, later said she thought that they had seen “a small black panther”.The couple managed to capture the animal on photo. In 2005. various people claimed to have spotted an animal resembling a large puma in the Veluwe. Omroep Gelderland, 15 Apr 2017.

In June, and continuing well into July, a panther was seen between Nasciano and San Pellegrino in Umbria, Italy.The first clipping in our possession says that on 16 June a night watchman saw the animal “in the same general area” as in previous encounters.

By the end of June, there were over 40 credible witnesses at Gualdo Tadino for what the press called a large cat, presumably a panther.Traps had been set but remained empty. On the night of 28 June, some boys took a video of the dark or black animal (the usual ‘blob’) moving in a field of wheat near the local cemetery. The following day, however, several locals investigated and found “traces of a wild boar… so the animal seen last night was not the panther!”