Encounter Atlas
Over the winter of 1953 to 1954, something killed dogs and other animals around Bladenboro, a small mill town in North Carolina. Victims were found crushed, with jaws broken and, according to reports, hardly any blood left in them. Newspapers called it the Vampire Beast.
Witnesses described a sleek black animal about 5 feet long with a cat-like face. By early January hundreds of hunters with guns and dogs were roaming the swamps, and the town became a national story. A bobcat was shot and displayed as the culprit, though many locals doubted it.
Bladenboro now holds an annual Beast Fest each fall.
What witnesses report
- Dogs killed with crushed heads and broken jaws
- Carcasses said to be drained of blood
- A sleek black cat-like animal about 5 ft long
- A scream like a woman or a baby
Famous cases
- 1953First dog killed
Clarkton, North Carolina - 1954Mass hunt in Bladenboro
Bladenboro, North Carolina
Seen the Beast of Bladenboro?
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