The Beast of Bladenboro
In the winter of 1953-4 the town of Bladenboro, North Carolina was terrorized by a creature they dubbed the Bladenboro Beast. While stories of the beast differ in its description, it is usually described as dog or cat-like, but incredibly vicious and overly large. One consistent element? What the beast did with the blood of its victims.
Although no humans are believed to have been killed by the beast, it did claim several dogs, goats, and other smaller creatures. It began the night of December 29th, 1953 when a local woman heard neighbors’ dogs bark suddenly and then begin to whimper. When she went to investigate and check on the animals, she saw a large cat-like creature stalking off into the night. This is believed to be the first sighting, although no harm was done.
On New Year’s Eve, Police Chief Roy Fores was called out to Woody Storm’s farm. Chief Fores Storm was distraught as two of his dogs had been killed viciously by something powerful and large. What’s strange, though, and why he decided to call the police was the strange fact that both of his dead dogs had been completely drained of their blood.
Stumped, Chief Fores left the farm. It wouldn’t be long before the station was inundated with calls from all over Bladenboro claiming their dogs had gone missing or been viciously attacked. Soon enough Chief Fores had his own sighting. While at his service station, he watched a dog in front of his own eyes be attacked by a large creature and dragged into the woods.
Some people believed the creature was a panther, others believed it was a small, malformed bear, and other believed it was a creature that the world was not familiar with.
Two more dogs were discovered on January 1st and these had also been drained of blood. As the reports continued to mount, Chief Fores decided to call in a team of professional hunters to track the animal.
On January 5th, C.E. Kinslaw headed outside in the middle of the night because she heard the sound of dogs whimpering. Upon opening the door, a large cat-like creature began to rush towards her. She screamed, which roused her husband and he scrambled to get outside. The shouting and sudden movements were apparently enough to spook the creature and the Kinslaws went back to bed, shaken up but unharmed.
Newspapers quickly picked up the story of the Kinslaws and of Bladenboro’s beast problem. The stories sent the townspeople deeper into a flurry and Ev Butler, who was a young man in town at the time, said “Night time was the feared time around these parts. As the sun set, the entire community on the west side of town went indoors and didn’t come out unless necessary.”
On January 13th, several weeks since the first sighting of the beast, Chief Fores claimed the problem had been solved. The hunting party had tracked and found quite a large bobcat, one of the largest found, that had been trapped by a local farmer. The so-called Beast of Bladenboro was then paraded into town.
However, this doesn’t quite explain the lack of blood. Sure, a cougar or bobcat or panther may well hunt dogs...but they usually left some blood in them.
Attacks have continued to be reported on and off throughout the decades and even the occasional sighting. Today, most are satisfied with the Chief’s bobcat finding...but some are some still skeptical of what lurks in the wild.
Thanks to Chris T for the Blogstonishing suggestion!
The above image is of Bladen County. School building, Bladenboro, NC. December 1939 JWA-44 No. 4488 From the Luther J. Jordan Photograph Collection, http://www.archives.ncdcr.gov/Public/Collections/NonGovernment/AudiovisualMaterials.aspx, Raleigh, NC.