Four boys, ranging in ages from nine to thirteen were out walking their dogs on the Hackney marshes when they came across a set of three clawed footprints in the snow, which one of their number identified as bear prints. Soon they came upon an elderly couple that told the boys to leave the area since there was a "bear" around. Curios, the boys they pressed on until they came across "a giant great growling bear-like creature," which reared up on its hind legs, sending the boys running. The next day, the police searched the 5000 acre wasteland with dogs and helicopter, finding nothing but several convincing sets of tracks that oddly enough ended abruptly.

Google map of this location.