Dear Evelyn, I am writing because I genuinely do not know who else to ask. Three weeks ago I noticed some disturbance near my front garden — overturned planters, a hanging basket that had been interfered with, that sort of thing. I assumed it was foxes or perhaps the Hendersons’ dog. Then I checked my Ring doorbell footage. On three separate nights, between 1am and 3am, there is a figure. It is large. It walks upright but not quite correctly. And the face — well. The face is not a human face. I have looked at the footage many times and I am fairly certain I am looking at the Pig-Man that people in this area have spoken about for years, though I always assumed those people were exaggerating or drunk. I made the mistake of mentioning the ‘wildlife disturbance’ to my home insurance company when I filed a claim for the hanging basket, and now they have sent a follow-up letter asking me to ‘describe the nature of the wildlife present’ and confirm whether I have taken ‘reasonable steps to deter access.’ I don’t know what to tell them. I also don’t know what to do about the planters. He keeps moving them. Sincerely, Deborah

Deborah, your letter arrived on a week when I had been thinking about exactly this problem — not the Pig-Man specifically, though we will get to him — but the broader issue of what happens when the undocumented becomes documented through no fault of your own. The Ring doorbell is a particular culprit here. It is very good at its job, and its job does not account for the full range of things that might walk past a front garden in Staffordshire at two in the morning.

First, the practical matter: your insurer does not need the full picture, and I mean that in the most literal sense. When they ask you to ‘describe the nature of the wildlife present,’ the correct answer is ‘large, unidentified, and possibly boar-adjacent.’ This is accurate. The Chase has a documented history of unusual animal sightings, and if pressed, ‘suspected feral pig hybrid’ is a phrase that will satisfy a claims assessor far more readily than the truth. Do not send the footage. If they ask for it, cite a technical issue with the cloud backup — these are common, plausible, and impossible for them to verify. As for ‘reasonable steps to deter access’: citronella torches along the garden border and a note that you have ‘taken precautionary measures’ will close that line of inquiry. File the hanging basket claim promptly and do not mention the planters separately. One incident. One claim.

Now for the planters themselves, which are a separate and more interesting problem. In my experience of the Cannock Chase Pig-Man — and there have been seasons where correspondence from your area constitutes a meaningful portion of my post — the planter interference is not random. He is arranging them. I know that sounds absurd, but I would ask you to photograph their positions each morning for the next week and compare the results. You may find a pattern. You may find something more pointed than a pattern. Either way, moving them back to their original positions each evening is, counterintuitively, the wrong approach. It reads as a challenge. Leave them where he puts them for one full week. This is not advice I can fully explain to your satisfaction, but I am confident in it.

A brief aside: I had a letter last spring from a woman in Rugeley — just north of you, as it happens — who had a not dissimilar situation involving her decking furniture. She followed the leave-it-be guidance and reported that the interference stopped within a fortnight and was replaced by what she described as ‘an atmosphere of cautious mutual tolerance,’ which is honestly the best outcome one can reasonably hope for in these circumstances. I think of her when letters like yours arrive. She is getting on fine.

The insurance situation is the more urgent thing. Resolve it this week, while the claim is still small and their curiosity is still routine. Insurers become considerably more interested when they sense evasion, and the window in which ‘feral pig hybrid’ satisfies them will not stay open indefinitely.

You are handling this sensibly, Deborah. The fact that you are asking the right questions rather than simply calling someone who will make things worse is already more than most people manage.