October half-term on the moors—what NOT to do

Thought I'd share this before the autumn school holidays start proper. Got three mates together, hired a cottage near Haworth on the Yorkshire moors for Halloween weekend. Brilliant idea, we thought. Go looking for evidence, spend the night out with thermal cameras and audio recorders.

What we didn't expect: actual locals telling us afterwards that people don't just "wander around the moors at night" for a reason. We had something follow us for the better part of two hours. Not aggressive, just... present. Sounds in the bracken, moving parallel to us about 50 metres off. Our thermal camera died (completely drained battery, which doesn't make sense because we'd only fitted new ones). The audio recorder filled with this low frequency rumbling that made your teeth ache.

Anyway, we got back to the cottage at about 11pm and didn't venture out again. Nobody slept. My mate Keith still won't talk about what he saw near the stone circle.

So if you're planning to do something similar this autumn - fair play, but maybe hire a guide who actually knows the moors? Locals know something we don't.

This is exactly what I've been saying for years. Moors attract activity because they're liminal spaces - old, wild, not really civilised. The locals know to respect them. They're not avoiding the moors because they're scared of nothing, they're avoiding them because something's there and they've got sense enough to leave it alone.

Did you get any photos of the footage from the thermal camera before it died? Even a screenshot on your phone? The battery drain is interesting - that's classic electromagnetic interference, which we see a lot with cryptid sightings. Could suggest something large with unusual energy properties.

Haworth moors are absolutely known for this. There's been reports of something large moving through there since the 1980s at least. The locals call it the 'Pennine Walker' but they won't say much more than that. Fair play for trying but yeah, respect the wilderness and it might respect you back.

The audio recorder thing is brilliant data. Did you back up the file? That rumbling frequency could be subsonic vocalisation. A lot of big primates produce sounds below human hearing range. If you've still got the recording I'd love to analyse it properly.

What did Keith see? Come on mate, don't leave us hanging. The stone circle bit especially - those places are hotspots for activity.