The Essex Lion, St Osyth

St Osyth is a village of about 4,000 people near Clacton-on-Sea, on the Essex coast. In late August 2012 it was the bank holiday weekend, and holidaymakers filled the caravans at Earls Hall Farm. Essex already knew mystery cats. The Beast of Essex was first reported around Braintree in the mid-1990s, and more than 80 sightings followed across the county.

Sunday 26 August 2012. About 6:50pm. Denise Martin, 52, was looking out of a caravan window at the fields off Earls Hall Drive. There was smoke, as if from a bonfire. "When the smoke cleared I could see this shape in the field," she said. Out came the binoculars. Her husband's answer was simple. "That's a lion." Her brother and sister-in-law agreed, and her husband phoned the police. Martin described it as tan coloured with a white chest.

Others saw it too. One couple watched for about half an hour. It had, they said, "the head, body, and tail of a lion." Gill and Steve Atkin were having dinner when a gentleman knocked on their window. "It's a lion, that was my first thought." Rich Baker, 39, from Romford, was there with two sons aged 9 and 11. A man ran towards them yelling about a lion, so panicked that "you knew it was not a joke." The family ran back to their caravan. Baker was "a million per cent" sure. Fully grown. Tan. A big mane.

At 10pm, Che Kevlin was out walking a dog. "I heard a loud roar at 10pm. It sounded like a lion."

Essex Police took it seriously. Reports put the response at 25, 30 or about 40 officers, with specialist firearms officers and a marksman. Two helicopters searched with thermal imaging. Experts from Colchester Zoo arrived with tranquilliser equipment. Residents were told to stay indoors. Caravan residents handed police a fuzzy photograph, and zoo experts believed the report was genuine after looking at it.

The thermal cameras found nothing. There were no pawprints. Colchester Zoo said all its animals were accounted for. On Monday 27 August, after almost 24 hours of searching, the hunt was called off. "We believe what was seen on Sunday evening was either a large domestic cat or a wildcat," the police said. One estimate put the two-day operation at about £25,000.

The next day, the suspects appeared. Ginny Murphie, 50, of St Osyth, pointed to Teddy Bear, a 3-year-old ginger Maine Coon that hunted in the same fields. "We thought it had to be Ted," she said, "as he's the only big gingery thing around." The Daily Mirror offered Tom, a 12-year-old ginger tomcat living near the site. David Lord, the campsite owner's son, called it "a big household cat" and asked: "Who has a lion in Essex?"

Neither cat was ever officially confirmed. Sceptics of the house cat theory point to the size gap. Teddy Bear was reported at about 28 inches, while witnesses described a fully grown lion. Police also warned that several doctored photographs were circulating on social networking sites. In Spiked, Tim Black argued the authorities had overreacted.

The @EssexLion parody account opened with "ROAR BRUV!" and gathered about 37,000 followers within 48 hours. Rishi Dastidar wrote a poem that begins "People of Essex, do not be afraid! / The lion is a cat called Teddy Bear." Neil Arnold covered the case in The CFZ Yearbook 2013 from the Centre for Fortean Zoology. Today it sits among the British big cats, beside the Surrey Puma. No lion was ever found.