Can you solve the mystery of the beast of Ilkley Moor? (From Ilkley Gazette)

Can you solve the mystery of the beast of Ilkley Moor?

10:06am Thursday 20th January 2011 in Local news By Amanda Greaves

High on the moor, the shape of a howling beast looms through the fog, poised on a prominent rocky outcrop.

This is the ghostly form which has been confronting unsus-pecting walkers venturing back on Addingham High Moor after the snow and ice of last month.

The wolf-like hound is thought to have materialised in the past fortnight, and is already attracting fans.

Mysterious Rombalds Moor already has giants, fairies, and extra-terrestrial visitors in its collection of folklore, but Yorkshire’s best-known moorland landscape trailed behind other parts of the country where terrifying spectral hounds were concerned – until now.

The sculpture, at Windgate Nick, is constructed from twisted branches in a style similar to the willow sheep which graced Ilkley’s Darwin Gardens last summer.

Almost as mysterious as the hound itself is the identity of the sculptor, who has yet to come forward.

Countryside lovers who have set eyes on the beast are impressed by the dramatic work of art, and say they are keen for it to stay in place as a new landmark on the moor.