A person wearing a creepy-looking mask with a face drawn on it has been seen in woods watching people walking nearby.
James Alexander Thomas, from Neath, said his 13-year-old son told him and his girlfriend that the person was watching them from the forestry near Neath Canal at around 5.30pm on Saturday, July 11.
"It was really weird. My son told us there was someone hiding in the trees looking at us for about 15 minutes," he said.
"The person was small, about five foot tall. My girlfriend and I both work in social services and could see he was a child. We approached him because we were concerned about him being on his own and were confident enough that he wasn't a threat."
Mr Thomas said the person didn't move at first, so they got a bit closer to try and ask what he was doing there.
"I got to about 10 yards, then he moved and hid himself again. We eventually convinced him to come out from the trees onto the path," he said.
"When we were speaking to him, he was just responding with hand gestures. He seemed a little scared that he had been confronted."
He added: "We asked him if he felt threatened by us and he signalled "no", we also asked if he had brothers or sisters and he pointed in the direction of where he lives. We explained to him his behaviour might be seen as intimidating.
"He was there for about 20 minutes once we got him onto the path. He didn’t speak to us at all and kept his mask on the whole time.
"He didn’t want to leave, but he eventually walked off because we wouldn’t move. When we left we called the police."
A spokeswoman for South Wales Police said: "We received a report of a child acting suspiciously and wearing a mask near Neath canal at about 6pm on July 11.
"The child’s parent contacted us and gave appropriate advice to the child."
