Gareth Rees ---- The Monsters of Hackney & Walthamstow Marshes: Prehistoric Ghosts that Haunt East London’s Lower Lea Valley

The Monsters of Hackney & Walthamstow Marshes: Prehistoric Ghosts That Haunt the Lower Lea Valley On the 27th of December 1981, four boys leave their homes to play on the snow. In this weather, Hackney Marshes’ playing fields become an irresistible plateau of bright white possibility. They build snowmen. They throw snowballs. They do what young boys do. And when they find a mysterious set of footprints they follow, wondering what could possibly make such huge impressions. Little Tommy Murray, 13, is walking a little ahead of his friends when he comes upon something. At first glance it looks like a dog. But this thing is gigantic. It turns and rears up at him, growling, all teeth and claws. Tommy screams. His friends’ mouths open in horror. A bear is roaming Hackney marshes. This is not the first time an incident like this has been reported, (and perhaps not the last). Whether the tale of the 1981 bear is a hoax, a true account of a wild bear or a paranormal vision, it’s not surprising that such stories take hold in this particular part of London. Bears, crocodiles and wild cats have all been spotted here. The scientific evidence stacked against the existence of these creatures does little to dispel these rumours, which gain their own narrative momentum and quickly become artifacts of local urban folklore.In this essay I want to explain why the lower Lea Valley is haunted by spectres of the past; how it challenges perceptions of linear time and space in a modern city; and why its peculiar topography makes a fertile ground for paranormal beast sightings. If you examine how the surrounding roads and water channels interlock, this zone is almost an island. Or, the way I look at it, the opposite of an island. This is not a place surrounded by nothing. It’s a nothing surrounded by place.