A "six-foot goat man" sighting in the dead of night has got locals scratching their heads.
At 2am in the early hours of Sunday a resident of the village of Staverton in Northamptonshire was shocked to see a large figure in front of them.
For a brief moment their car lights illuminated the creature, highlighting its powerful back legs, Northants Live reported.
A second later and the mystery animal was gone.
The baffled spotter took to Mumsnet, and, posting under the name GallopingHighRoad, asked what they may have seen.
The initial message read: "We had been away for a few nights and travelled back quite late.
"Towards the end of our journey, this was about 2am, we were driving along an A Road in a rural area when something crossed the road in front of us in full headlights for about three seconds.
"It was about the height of a person, maybe 6ft or over, but had short powerful legs and hips which seemed to move in a circular fluid fashion.
"It was not a deer because it stood on two legs. This was in the midlands and the area is traditional rolling fields and woodland.
"In this particular spot there are no houses or buildings, nearest is over a mile away.
"We drove back today as its only seven miles from home to look at the road layout and whatever it was moved into a wide bowl-shaped field dropping down to a stream.
"Any ideas?"
The location of the sighting was later confirmed on Google Earth as a layby next to fields on the A425, just outside Staverton.
Mumsnet swung into action, suggesting many possible resolutions to the mystery including a wild wallaby or roaming bear.
It seems likely that the beast may have been a wallaby, given that there have been numerous apparent sightings of the marsupials in Northamptonshire.
Back in 2020 a young boy spotted what he thought was a wallaby in Salcey Forest.
While not native to the UK, there are several known populations of the animals in the country in areas where they've escaped from captivity.
Other more fanciful ideas for its identity include the mythical creature of Slenderman or a Sasquatch.
In response, Galloping High Road replied: "Not a goatman, slenderman, sasquatch. These things don't exist.
"Colour - dark brown, but always hard to tell in full beam.
"The 'thin bear' is best way to describe it. Droopy shoulders, but wide hips etc at base. But obviously not a bear in UK."
They were adamant it was definitely not human and more a mix of goat and deer.
