Mystery Animals of the British Isles: London

Neil Arnold gathers reports of anomalous animals linked with London, bringing together older traditions, newspaper stories and more recent eyewitness accounts. The cases range from alleged exotic big cats and covert menageries to giant rats and a capybara reported in Barnet. Alongside these claims are creatures with a stronger folkloric or Fortean flavour, including the Brentford Griffin, a phantom ape associated with Hampstead and a monstrous bird said to have appeared at Lincoln’s Inn.

The book presents hundreds of accounts, drawing substantially on press cuttings to show how London’s animal mysteries have been recorded and retold. Its scope includes both purported sightings and stories that sit uneasily between urban folklore, mistaken identification and unexplained testimony.