YEAR: 1999

SEASON: Summer

MONTH: August

DATE: 08/13/1999

STATE: Georgia

COUNTY: Gwinnett County

LOCATION DETAILS: there is a stream that runs deep into the woods,i dont know how far back it goes

NEAREST TOWN: buford

NEAREST ROAD: plunketts road

OBSERVED: my wife,sister in law brother in law and myself were sitting in the breakfast nook overlooking the back yard.we were all talking and had just finished dinner. all of the sudden very very loud deep shrieks started coming from just about beyond the tree line. we all jumped up and as the ladies looked out the window,my brother in law and i ran down to the patio out back.on the way i grabbed my rifle that i kept near the back door.anyway,he and i stepped outside and these bloodcurdling shrieks kept happening.he grabbed a flashlight and when he pointed it at the treeline the shrieks stopped and we heard something tear through the woods grunting very deeply as it went.the next day i went into the woods to look for tracks.i found none but there was a huge trail torn through them.i followed it for a very long way by myself.after about 2 hours of following this trail,even though armed i got creeped out and headed back to the house.the tree damage was astonishing.i have been around bears and mountain lions before.whatever that thing was that night was not one of those and i'm not nuts! i never went back into those woods again without my rifle and have never in my life heard anything so scary or seen such damage done to trees by an animal in the deep south ever.i will never forget that night and i will never go hiking or camping unarmed.......or armed for that matter.

ALSO NOTICED: it almost felt like that thing was trying to get our attention

OTHER WITNESSES: wife,....brother,mother and sister in law

OTHER STORIES: no

TIME AND CONDITIONS: it was a clear,warm,still night

ENVIRONMENT: pine forest and a winding creek

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Leigh Culver:

I spoke with the witness who recounted his story as presented in the report. The vocalizations occurred near Knoll Crest Trail and Plunketts Road off of Buford Drive.

The witness described the vocalizations as being very loud. The witness is very familiar with the vocalizations that various wilderness animals make including those of bobcats and mountain lions. He stated that the vocalizations that he, and the other witnesses, heard that night were unlike anything he has ever heard before or since that time.

The next day the witness investigated the area where the vocalizations originated from. In this vicinity he found an area where something had “torn through the woods.” He said that there was a pathway of destruction, or "hole through the woods, about the size of a small car," where small trees and saplings had been freshly knocked down, as if something was trying to make a point as it depated. Trees that were not knocked down had their tops twisted and broken off and thrown to the side.

This area has seen considerable development in recent years. It was much less developed in 1999.