As a teen I was walking through the dense forested hills and valleys surrounding Niederreifenberg in rural Germany. Having (stupidly) strayed off the track in this very remote and unpopulated piece of forest, I ended up at the bottom of a steep grass-sided valley. The only exit was up the slippery wet grass, but at the top was an electric cattle fence. Unable to hold onto the grass to prevent slipping back down AND lift the single filament fence with a stick at the same time so I could crawl under it, I was somewhat buggered. Then a large German bear arrived out of nowhere and helped me. I should point out that the “bear” was a heavy set, hirsute man - I believe they are known as bears in certain communities - in his mid-50s and more than a match for my 135lb, 16 year-old self. The bear held the fence so I could escape the valley and get back onto the forest track - I was no longer buggered! Him speaking no English and me little German, communication was down to basic hand gestures. When he placed his fingertips to his lips, kissed them and then excitedly pointed them at me and then back at himself, I realized that buggery was very much back on the cards unless I beat a hasty retreat and somehow reached civilization again. Smiling politely I waved “goodbye” and nonchalantly walked the 50 or so meters to the closest bend in the pathway where, the bear now out of sight, I ran until I thought I was going to puke up my very soul. That’s my encounter with a bear while out walking. Lastly, the “nonchalant walk” I did was probably over 10mph, so next time any of you Cool Dudes are worried you’ll miss the train/bus/ferry connection home because you’re walking too slowly, imagine there’s a large, hairy, randy pervert who’s taken a shine to you just a few paces behind. Trust me, you’ll find an unexpected burst of speed. Stay Cool.

round here there is supposedly a supernatural big black dog called a Gytrash. Theres similar legends around the country. One time when I was a kid on holiday somewhere (I foget where but it was south/midlands type area) I snuck off and went for a walk alone in some woods and saw up ahead of me a huge fallen tree, two triangular shapes like ears pointe dup over the top of the log as if a giant dog was hiding behind it. I ran out of there. Still dont know what I saw.

Great video and amusing comments too. Seriously though, I once saw a Eurasian Lynx, sunning itself in a field early one morning near Dover, Kent. 👍

Can I just say how darn impressive it is that you actively went looking for something that you are allergic to. This level of dedication is just supreme. Loved every second of it. Nicely done cool dude :) Hope things aren't too bad with Eunice down on the Isle, stay safe.

Great video Marek, really enjoy this, sadly the only urban myths we have near me are "Chaddy" a man who stalks the woods and will bum you if he catch's you in the tunnel (that's genuinely something thats been told around my area for at least 30 years or more) and theres a new urban myth i accidently start a few years ago called The Shi**ing Jogger" after i accidently walked in on one going to the toilet in a bush in our local woods, lol. again 100% true, lol.

Beautiful big cats in the video. My cats are now stepping up their food intake in an attempt to gain Big Cat Status 🐅

Pure class!

"Have you ever seen a strange thing on a walk?" asks the bald man with round eyes, 2 open tins of cat food on leopard paper plates in his bag and a folded-up home-printed picture of an alsatian in his pocket.

A friend and I once saw a bat fly into a tree and a cat jump out. We came to the only sensible conclusion that the bat turned into the cat and the legend of the batcat of York was born. Thanks for the vid. “Big shat” really tickled me. Stay cool.

This video brought back SO many memories. Thank you! I grew up on the other side of those fields between Morton and Yaverland, and my brother and I spend most of our summer holidays playing in them. We never saw a big cat in the fields, however I definitely saw a big something in the Brading Roman Villa field when I was about 14... it could have been a large black dog but there were no humans around except me and it was sort of prowling...!!) One time when playing in the Yaverland fields my brother and I did find a very dead owl and decided to bury it. When we patted down the earth we heard it hoot! So we quickly dug it up and tried to bring it back to life by putting it on the electric fence! That made its eye open and we were so scared we threw it into a near by bramble patch and ran away! When we went back the next day it had vanished!

I laughed so hard all the way through this. Brilliant video!

Uncanny impressions of those ladies voices.

You were taking some risks there Marek, especially with your allergies!

"Past this bunch of dickheads" - 🤣🤣🤣 brilliant! That cracked me up! Im sold. On hearing that alone earned my subscription! Great video cool dude!

My cousin saw the beast of Bodmin while out riding his bike in very rural east Devon. When it looked at him, he cycled back home as quickly as he could in a panic.

This is the only you tube channel i come back to to read the comments !

Nice to see you driving the bus again.

I really like the extra touch of the kitty paper plates. 👍😺

Rewatching June ‘24

Vintage PAHR soundtrack!

We also had a big cat in Buckinghamshire or so they say 🐈

I saw a yellow panther about a mile and a half just outside Shepton Mallet, Somerset.

i just want to recount my experience as a small child in the 1970s. we used to go to the isle of wight every summer, in august. sometimes we went to parkhurst forest for picnics, and i liked to wander off into the woods by myself to look for reptiles and dragonflies. there was always a frisson of danger to parkhurst forest which i enjoyed. a chance that we might be assaulted by a violent escaped prisoner, like magwhich in great expectations. we must have visited it 20 times. and not one time did we ever see a big cat. or witness anything weird or unusual.

My cat eats grated cheddar cheese. Perhaps try that flavour next time. Stay Cool

i can see why shrouded hand loves this content its quality you know what im subscribing keep it up

Really enjoyed video

Always like a bit of Marek art 😊

Damn, this was gold! Funny stuff. I bet there is some sort of big cat out there. I read recently about a new trend of people buying hybrid breeds of a Serval mixed with domestic cat. Maybe one got away or was let go.

Things that go bump in the night .. Best put those lights on folks .. And don't kick the cat .. Really enjoy your videos Marek .. Such a Cool Dude Thank You for the Smile on me Dial .

🐾🐾 🐱 Big cats are so elusive. In the western US, pumas are everywhere but only saw one once. I was walking along near Sequoia NP in California, and a large black bear approached. We both stopped and looked at one another before the bear trundled off. I guess it was one my lucky moments or just smelled like old hiking boots.

Glad you weren't mauled You didn't seem to whistle to alert/attract any nearby cats after deploying the food/bait

A fish would be a good thing to attract cats. Cats always want to eat thing that are not for them, so if you leave a fish out say something like 'this is my fish and not it's for cats'.

Try Sheba cat treats next time they won't be so yukky or rank like cat food. Daphne sounded a bit hoarse! Great doodles especially the pirate 🐈. German Shepherd was a good emergency back up choice - very loyal, protective & can run very very fast. I liked your 'Morning has Broken' keyboard playing, it reminded me of Sunday School, we always sang this hymn. Looking forward to seeing more of these mysterious animal sighting videos. 🐿🐄🦋🌻

I like that you're mixing things up a little bit.

hmm, my son and I were driving home from a nearby mountain, we live in the pyrenees you see. We were descending and saw a, quite large cat-like animal, a greyish colour. At first I though, must be a fox, they're quite common around here, but I've never seen a grey fox, and the native foxes here are orange anyway, so it was either an Iberian Lynx that somehow made it's way here, or a grey coloured fox. Just thought that was interesting.

This dude is funny

Love the piano playing:-) definitely can hear an improvement👍👍

My catslove Dreamies. Every time I shake the bag, the cats suddenly appear. You should try this approach, although for a big cat, you'd need a giant bag of Dreamies. I'm thinking fish flavour, because all cats love fishes 🐟

Was fully expecting you to come face to face with a hungry leopard type deal....shocked the Sheba didn’t do the trick. Still, I know that if there’s things to be spotted, it’ll be you spotting em, so I can’t wait to see what you decide to track down in the next videos! Love the mysterious isle vibe 😁👍🏼

That was brilliant. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣👍 Proper laugh out loud moments. Keep it up Marek. Hilarious. 👍

Alright! great vid marek! my dad once caught an escaped polecat from neighbours garden in my brother's school bag. the cat scratched all the inside of his bag and then shat on my brother's school books. my dad returned the polecat to the owners who denied it had escaped and said it was someone else's. my dad insisted and gave it them anyway, my dad's pretty good like that. right now for big cat bait? have you heard that big cat poo keeps small cats away? then maybe small cat poo attracts big cats to stay.

Mum used to go on about Black Shuck being a thing in Norfolk and I used to take the 🐈 with me on dogs walks but no-one mistook him for anything fierce. If you think cat food stinks you should get a whiff of 🐈 (dogs love it, still very protein rich). Hope your neighbours' fence survived, stay cool

Hope you're OK with that pesky storm Eunice, no winds up here in Inverness but 6 inches of snow today....nice

I hope you got some Strawberry Flavour Laces while you were at Tesco Extra.

I think there may have been an issue with the bait. Perhaps Pork Chops or a Kebab may have been more appropriate. As for having a picture of another cat on the plate, that was a mistake. Cats are territorial and don't care for rivals. Perhaps if there had been a picture of Tippi Hedren on it then you may have had better results. Also, humming "Born Free" may have helped. Overall, a cutting edge natural history video to rival anything that David Attenborough has done.

From my limited experience at tracking cats, I find the pickled onion monster munch and Bakewell tarts mushed up together is a highly enjoyable meal for the feline beasts

Great job

One of the first things I pack, when going for a walk, is a large ball of wool in case I ever meet a big cat face to face. A number of years ago me and a few friends were in some woods, in winter, resting up mid way through a bike ride. As we were about to leave we heard this feline noise coming from the darkness. The nearest house was some distance away, but could have still been a domestic. That's not what the darkness was telling my mind as we all launched into full run away mode. We were all laughing about it riding as fast as we could away from the, probable but not definite, tabby.

A serval got through a window of an Hampstead House London awhile ago yes

Is just a big kitty. No big deal. Best thing you can do for real if you see a wild big cat is stay very still. Make yourself look as big as possible and back away slowly. Never let your eyes off it. And if you've got some sheba on you, leaving it as an offering of peace lol As for flavor, I'd have gone with one chicken and one fish. Usually cant go wrong with fish.

Fish. Any old fish. Cats will have your arm off for a bit of fish. Quite literally if it is a big 🐈. Once sat looking for Nessie for hours. Didn't see a thing except the peace of the Loch, so I won't complain. I drive across Bodmin regularly and in bad weather you can see why the Beast of Bodmin legend continues. Some great walking up there, Marek. Worth an amble....?

Brilliant voice acting!👍

You should find out when big cat mating season is and buy a tiger costume you might tempt one out of hiding.

I could totally sympathise with the whole smelling of cat food thing. A few days ago, I did some market research on dog food. All I had to do was open several of those little tins, pour it into a dish and rate the consistency and smell of it(🤢). They provided wipes and I scrubbed my hands afterwards but for the rest of the day, all I could smell was dog food. Still, I got money to do it. 🤷😂 Great vid and I hope that the storms your way calm down soon . 😁

A lot of cats are nocturnal, you should attempt the search again when it’s really dark

Did you write the handbook after moving to the Isle of Wight, if you did the inclusion of a Red Squirrel for 5 points does stack it a bit in your favour as the island only has Red Squirrels. Saying that in the nearly two years I've been over here I've only seen 4 squirrels, two trying hard to kill themselves in front of the buses I was on, one that had already succeed in getting itself killed by traffic and one running across my garden. Whereas when I was living in south London I pretty much saw a grey squirrel everyday. The favourite food of the cats I've had in life has been cheese, maybe try a nice piece of mild cheddar if you try to spot the mysterious Isle of Wight Black Cat

I did some similar hunting once albeit on the internet. In the late 00's The Grove of Titans location in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park was still a secret. A grove of giant Redwood trees. I studied blogs and google maps, read the book, for environmental reasons the location was kept a secret. But I found it using all kinds of clues. Today it is common knowledge and the area location is trampled and ridden with erosion. The book is The Wild Trees by Richard Preston, a thoroughly wonderful read for the lovers of big trees, nature and mystery. I did see Spring-heeled Jack once on the Ewell bypass near Epsom.

Perhaps try a simple saucer of milk to tempt out reclusive felines or maybe tie a ball of wool to a convenient branch. This they find irresistible. Derbyshire to my surprise does not seem to have many big cat sightings.

He lives in Brightstone Forest. I came across him one night and am now a scared dude. I definitely wouldn’t walk around that forest smelling of cat food

Surely a gazelle or zebra based food product would have had definite success.

The Isle of Wight isn't even real man. Biggest "ghost/big cat" story of all time. While I typed this my fork from my fork and knife pair of eating my current tea utensils has vanished. VANISHED. Not even joking. And believe it or not my room has just ben smashed up. Did the Cat man do?

Ha Dude, EVERYONE knows you can only attract big cats with a bowl of Frosties or a bag of Cheetos

Someone once threw some cat food at me and some went in my mouth and it tasted like crab paste

You'd think that people would have had enough of silly love songs. Well, I look around me and I see it isn't so

I live on Bodmin Moor. There are no big cats here, regardless of what you might hear. More strange though, there have been many sightings of wallabies. I don't think they eat cat food. Do you have any suggestions for bait?

I bet you foxes or magpies, will have that catfood. It wont last long!

Why was the first area called something Mead? Seems an odd name for a location. Anyway, fun walk; one of my cats is purring her approval right now.

Sponsored by Tesco and Premium Sheba Cat Food 🐈‍⬛

That pigeon was probably killed and eaten by a rabbit.

A funny, crazy lollop-lappa - More adorable than the best of Venice:

Great video. My dad's cousin, Mel Clarke (RIP) ran the Sportsman's Rest in Porchfield. Here is a link to the video interview he gave after seeing the beast in the early 80s kzfaq.info/get/bejne/mLiaZ8yB15zMdZ8.html

Came here for the cat food advertisement that popped up after the video.Clicked on it, then came back and clicked on it again, so you'll get the 0.00000001 pence of revenue.

A very impressive investigation, hopefully the Met Police are taking some notes!