Man Who Witnessed Mysterious Creature Drag Geese Under Water 'Has Never Seen Anything Like It'
The Lake District is one of the most picturesque parts of the country, but under one of the serene bodies of water, locals fear an ominous creature is lurking.
Of course, there is a long history of people (seemingly lacking in hobbies) banging on about mysterious, unverifiable underwater beasts – but this time seems to be a little bit different.
Numerous people have reported witnessing geese getting dragged from the surface and into the depths.
Christian Grammar, who has been skippering boats in Ullswater for decades, said he's never seen anything like it.
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Speaking on BBC Breakfast, he recalled: "[The geese were] sort of flapping their way across the water together, and one of them just disappeared.
"We all three of us, my two crew and I, saw it. We all looked at each other as if to say, 'Did you see that?', looked back and the other one went, literally just 10 to 20 seconds later.
"There was no disturbance on the water. I've never seen anything like it in all my time on here."
Wayne Owens sounded the alarm on social media and warned people not to let their dogs in the water; indeed, he's going to be keeping out too.
The 61-year-old, who works on the lake and has been coming to it for 'over 40 years' for open water swimming and triathlon events, took to Facebook to warn of his shocking sighting.
On 23 June, he wrote: "BEWARE on ULLSWATER today I saw a full size goose taken off the top of water and dragged underneath I work on the lake this was witnessed by person working on boat with me this was at Howtown 2nd one I have seen this year NOT A JOKE [sic]."
In an update, Wayne said the sighting had taken place at 10:12am and the grey goose – which was 'maybe 10 to 12 pounds' – was 'dragged backwards not to be seen again after five minutes'.
In a post the following day, he went on to claim he had since seen 'two small grey lags maybe five lbs each' that 'could not fly properly', with the first 'taken down immediately' and the second 'within 15 seconds' of that.
"A minority of people thought this was a joke ...THIS IS NO JOKE," he wrote.
"We have now contacted Lake District Nation Park Authority and I have tried contacting Environments Agency today THIS is no joke.
"Do not let your dog swim here in my opinion."
Locals are speculating that the mystery goose killer could be a non-native species, such as a giant catfish... or maybe even a bloody crocodile.
But wildlife expert Kevin O'Hara reckons the culprit might not be so exotic.
"When I first read it, I immediately thought otter," he said. "Because I've seen them take anything up to a mute swan, so that was my first sort of initial thought.
"I would stand by that really because a big dog otter is a big animal, you know? You're looking at, old money, 25lbs in weight. And they feed on waterfowl quite a lot."
Callum Leeming