The Catman of Greenock

For more than half a century, stories of a mysterious figure known as the Catman have circulated through Greenock. Some describe him as a solitary man living beyond the margins of society, others recall a frightening creature who moved like a cat, appeared without warning and vanished into the shadows. With each retelling, the dividing line between eyewitness testimony, childhood rumour and urban myth has become harder to identify.

Evelyn and Zara are on a mission to discover who the Catman really is. Is he a real person, or is he a character created and sustained by generations of storytellers? They soon discover that almost everyone seems to have a different answer.

The pair visit the locations most closely associated with the legend, and their investigation takes them into Greenock's industrial past as stories about Catman began to circulate as shipbuilding declined and the old industrial landscape started to disappear. Today, the debate is no longer confined to Greenock's streets, as social media has carried the Catman far beyond the place where his story began. As the pair compare social media claims with Greenock's documented history, they confront the ethical questions behind the mystery. If the Catman was a real and vulnerable man, does the public have a responsibility to remember him with compassion? Has an individual life been hidden beneath the exaggerated characteristics of a monster?

Evelyn and Zara begin to recognise that identifying him is not simply about attaching a name to a legend. It means trying to understand the social conditions in which he may have lived. Evelyn and Zara's mission takes them through local history, living memory, illustrated folklore and a passionate online argument that shows no sign of ending. Along the way, they reveal how communities create stories to explain unfamiliar people and changing places, and how the internet can give an old urban myth an entirely new life.