The Beast of Bladenboro refers to a creature responsible for a string of deaths amongst

The Beast of Bladenboro refers to a creature responsible for a string of deaths amongst Bladenboro, North Carolina animals in the winter of 1953 to 54. According to witnesses and trackers, it was likely a wildcat, but its identity was ultimately not definitively confirmed. According to reports, the animal commonly crushed or decapitated its victims, which were mostly dogs.

DEATHS
The first animal deaths possibly related to the Beast of Bladenboro were reported on December 29, 1953. Witnesses described a creature that was "sleek, black, about 5 feet (1.5 m) long", which killed a dog in Clarkton, North Carolina, approximately eight miles (13 km) from Bladenboro.

On December 31, 1953, two dogs belonging to a resident of Bladenboro were found dead with a significant amount of blood near their kennels. Their owner reported that the dogs were "torn into ribbons and crushed".

My dogs put up a good fight. There was blood all over the porch, big puddles of it. And there was a pool of saliva on the porch. It killed one dog at 10:30 and left it lying there. My dad wrapped the dog up in a blanket. That thing came back and got that dog and nobody's seen the dog since. At 1:30 in the morning, it came back and killed the other dog and took it off. We found it three days later in a hedgerow. The top of one of the dogs heads was torn off and its body was crushed and wet, like it had been in that thing's mouth. The other dog's lower jaw was torn off.

— Johnny Vause.
The following day, on January 1, 1954, two more dogs were found dead at a Bladenboro farm, and on the night of January 2, 1954, a farmer reported that a dog of his had been killed.

Two more dogs were found dead on January 3, 1954. An autopsy was performed on one of the dogs and it was reported that "there wasn't more than two or three drops of blood in him [...] The victim's bottom lip had been broken open and his jawbone smashed back."

Further deaths were reported in the subsequent days: on the night of January 5, 1954, a pet rabbit was found "cleanly decapitated and still warm", and on January 7, a dead dog was found in a pasture near the Bladenboro swamp. A goat was also reported to have died with its head flattened.

ENCOUNTERS AND DESCRIPTIONS
One local described the animal as "about four and a half feet [1.4 m] long, bushy, and resembling either a bear or a panther", while another person described it as "small" and noted that there was "a little one just like it [...] running beside it." Another local described hearing "a strange noise [...] like a baby crying". Though he did not see the animal, he estimated it was "close to 150 pounds [70 kg], the way it went through the bushes."

Another account detailed in a local newspaper contained the following physical description:

It was bout 20 inches [50 cm] high. It had a long tail, about 14 inches [35 cm]. The color of it was dark. It had a face exactly like a cat. Only I ain't ever seen a cat that big. It was walking around stealthy, sneaky...

A group of hunters from Wilmington spent that night tracking the creature for three miles (4.8 km) around swampland. According to them, the tracks showed claws at least an inch (2.5 cm) long and indicated an 80-to-90-pound (35 to 40 kg) animal. The beast's circling movement suggested it might have had offspring or a mate nearby, the hunters said.

On January 5, the beast was witnessed attacking a dog which ran away and was not found. Tracks were seen along a creek bank near one of the attack sites; there were two sets of prints and one was smaller. Later that day, in the early evening, another resident described "a big mountain lion" near some dogs three houses down. The creature ran toward her, but turned and fled when she screamed. Outside her home, the tracks left...

LINK TO ARTICLE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beast_of_Bladenboro

TAGS: Beast of Bladenboro, American legendary creatures, Bladen County North Carolina

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