Episode 120 - Matt Salusbury - Mystery Animals of Suffolk

My guest for this episode is journalist and author Matt Salusbury, who joined me to talk about his latest book, Mystery Animals of Suffolk.

This catalogues a wide range of yet-to-be identified animals reported in the English county, together with folkloric creatures from local tradition in the region.

It opens with an examination of the mythical entities of East Anglian storytelling, including hairy wildmen known as Woodwoses which survive as carved figures in some of Suffolk's churches. There are accounts too of dangerous freshwater mermaids, as well as encounters with baby-snatching fairies, in particular centered around the town of Stowmarket.

The book also includes reported sightings of Black Shuck – Suffolk’s phantom black dogs, which have been reported reported from ancient folklore tight up to the 1970’s.

The mystery animals surveyed then become progressively more plausible, with the final third of the book devoted to an account of over one-hundred and seventy mystery big cat sightings withing Suffolk.

I start off the interview talking with Matt about his background and the county of Suffolk. We then discuss Mystery Animals of Suffolk itself and some of the creatures that are included in its pages, following the structure of the book, beginning with the mythic Woodwoses and concluding with the multitude of big cat sightings in the county.

Further information about Matt's research can be found at https://bigcatsofsuffolk.com/. Mystery Animals of Suffolk is published by Bittern Books and can be purchased at their website - go to https://bitternbooks.co.uk/product/mystery-animals-of-suffolk/ for more details.

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