[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] bladen county is one of north carolina's oldest counties only a few settlements dot the terrain and the county is primarily rural a substantial portion of the county is covered in wood and swampland on the evening of december 29 1953 a lady in clarkton a small town east of bladenboro contacted local law officials she was shocked about what she had seen in her neighbor's yard according to her all of the dogs in the area were barking wildly she noticed a big cat-like creature drifting away into the darkness as she approached to investigate this would be the first sighting of the so-called the beast of bladenboro this began a reign of terror that lasted 13 days residents of the small town of only 800 people were horrified when they discovered the beheaded carcasses of their family pets each morning in bladenboro on december 31 1953 just two days after the incident in clarkton two dogs belonging to farmer johnny vos were discovered dead the canines heads had been ripped off and their skulls had been crushed voss later said in an interview 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 it killed one dog at 10 30 and left it lying there my dad wrapped the dog up in a blanket the thing came back and got that dog and nobody has 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 dog's 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 this was only the beginning of the horrors to follow in the next year two additional dogs were discovered dead around bladenboro on january 1st 1954 one had been eaten up so horribly that it was unrecognizable more canines were discovered dead with mangled corpses over the next three days the local police were alarmed and demanded that one of the dogs be autopsied when law enforcement read the autopsy results a few days later they were totally shocked according to the report the dog's blood had been drained out of its body in a vampire-like fashion the creature was described as being around five feet long with bushy hair a long tail a big head with long fangs emerging from its mouth pointed ears and resembling a bear or panther by witnesses it was described as brownish tabby in color with short hair on its back mrs c e ken law a 21 year old mother stepped outdoors at 7 30 a.m on january 6 1954 and spotted the beast approaching towards her she shouted and ran towards the door her husband rushed outside with a shotgun after seeing the beast paw prints which resembled those of a cat according to a local farmer three of his pigs some of his cows and one of his goats were also murdered by the unknown beast all seemed to have had the blood sucked out of them and their skulls crushed people also reported hearing strange noises that sounded like a cat as well as a baby sobbing and a lady screaming as further reports of sightings came in a group of hunters set out to find the elusive beast all they discovered were bear-like tracks with claws nearly two inches long the creature's traces were buried deep in the mud indicating to the hunters that it was a massive animal women and children were instructed to stay home for the rest of 1954 while men carefully went about their business equipped with a firearm police chief roy fores and his canines looked for the creature on the night of january third but the dogs supposedly refused to follow the track the creature was subsequently hunted down by as a local paper put it a half dozen courageous youngsters and their hounds on january 4th while fours and eight to ten other policemen undertook their own search that night hunters from wilmington drove to bladenboro that evening to look for the beast allegedly trailing it for three miles around the marsh more than 500 people searched the forests and wetlands for the creature on the night of january 5th on january 6 almost 800 people gathered in the wetlands to search for the beast fors intended to use dogs as bait to entice the creature out but this plan was never carried out officials also called off the hunt due to safety concerns another eight hundred to one thousand individuals arrived on january seventh to chase the beast the only hunters on the evening of the eighth were four fraternity brothers from the university of north carolina in chapel hill unless the beast makes another evident murder or a verified sighting mayor fussell declared the hunt over the previous night's armed hunting teams had grown too large for safety and fors got a telegram from a humane charity in asheville north carolina objecting to his intention to stake out dogs as bait for the beast luther davis a local farmer shot a bombcat wrestling with a steel trap in big swamp four miles outside of town on january 13th the beast of bladenboro has been located and killed according to bladenboro mayor woodrow fussell however whether such a little cat could have killed and mutilated the dogs has been questioned mayor fussell was photographed with the animal the photo was circulated in the media experts on the other hand have questioned whether such a small creature could have killed and mutilated the dogs of that size but this was not the end of the beast in lexington north carolina 60 goats were discovered dead and drained of blood in september 2007. the goat's owners glenda and bruce floyd discovered them early one morning farmer billy yao's goats were also slaughtered in this manner the necks of the victims had been pulled out and their bodies had been mutilated bill robinson discovered his three-year-old pit bull terrier eviscerated in october 2007. robinson buried the dog but it was discovered the next morning in the same location as if it had been dug up and returned leon williams discovered his two-year-old pit bull dead four days later his chain was dangling across a ditch the carcass was covered with blood and portions were missing there was no evidence of a fight during a two-week period in brunswick county ten dogs died on brown midway and rutland roads the predator's traces match those of blatant burrows the beast robert smith a local man discovered footprints around the church and in the community gardens my fist could fit in them he said adding that he'd never seen anything like them before animal services investigated the tracks and droppings but were unable to locate the source the most recent incident was reported in 2010 by a rural household in lincolnton their car had been torn and mangled and bizarre claw-like prince had been discovered on it they informed authorities the tracks around the car were also strange they said they could only discover them in the vicinity of the car some people think the beast still exists today and the town of bladenboro has a beast of bladenboro festival every year to attract more visitors and draw attention to the region the last one drew almost 10 000 people we will put a link below to their site monster quest the tv program conducted a haunt for the beast in 2008. they came to the conclusion that what individuals were seeing was a cougar cougars on the other hand have been declared extinct along the east coast of the united states with the exception of the florida point but many experts have dismissed this claim so what do you think of the beast of bladenboro let us know in the comments below and as always please like and subscribe