HOAX? What is that weird 'Gollum' monster photographed in the Chinese hills?

S.O.T.T: A Chinese tourist has taken what he says is a photo of a "monster" hiding in the valleys of Huairou, in the north of Beijing. The unnamed holidaymaker was camping with some friends in the hilly region, not far from the Great Wall of China, when he saw the "creature".

"I walked far away to have a pee, and suddenly saw a monster. I took a few pictures of it, but I am now terrified."

The image of the strange flesh-coloured creature nestled among the bamboo is certainly striking, and has a marked resemblance to the creature Gollum from the Lord of the Rings films. But one online commentator in China thought he had the solution to the "mystery".

"Over the weekend I and my friends went to the mountains to take a mini sci-fi film," he wrote. "And when I was having a pee, a person popped up and took pictures of me and shot away."