YEAR: 2014

SEASON: Spring

MONTH: April

DATE: 15

STATE: North Carolina

COUNTY: Montgomery County

LOCATION DETAILS: 200 yards off Thickety Creek Road

NEAREST TOWN: Troy

NEAREST ROAD: Thickety Creek Rd

OBSERVED: This happened around 2014 in the Thickety Creek community of Montgomery County, south of the county seat of Troy. A friend at church asked me if I could come down and check his creek for gold. He knew I liked to do some gold panning as a hobby. We never settled on a day or time, I just told him I would come by one day when I got a chance. I ended up getting off work early one day and decided to run down and wash some rocks. So, I parked at his gate and grabbed my backpack at gear and walked about 200 yards from the road. To my left is the creek with about 4ft banks and a steep mountain to my right. I walked down looking for a place to easily get down into the creek without lots of brush. This area is well known for huge Timber Rattlers.

So I find a spot next to a huge flat rock that I end up using as a work station. After a couple hours of panning I stopped to take a break. I always freeze a 2 liter bottle of water and drink it as it melts. I’m standing there drinking the water and I hear something fly through the trees above my head. My first thought was “I’ve never heard a bird fly through the trees and hit limbs and leaves like that! Why is it doing that?” So as I stand there puzzled and confused I hear more commotion coming through the tree tops! This time my eyes focus on the sound and I see a rock about the size of a Jr sized football flying over my head and on the bank on the other side of the creek! As I stand there stunned, racking my brain try to make sense of it, I unsnap my 9mm and shout in that direction “You stay over there and I’ll stay over here!” Needless to say I packed up and left, feeling like I’m being watched the whole time! I threw my stuff in the back of my truck and hauled buggy out of there! I don’t know of any animal in the woods that can throw a rock that big that far! I was so effected that I gave up gold panning and hunting for the most part! I never told the land owner or anybody else for that matter for a few years. I still don’t tell many folks. I feel like I have to keep inside or people will think I’m crazy.

ALSO NOTICED: None

OTHER WITNESSES: None

OTHER STORIES: None that I know of

TIME AND CONDITIONS: Warm Clear day around 1:00pm

ENVIRONMENT: Creek bottom along side a pine forest

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Tommy Poland:

I spoke with the eyewitness by phone to get some additional details and found his story quite credible. As described in his initial report, his intent that day was to do some gold panning on a friends property. This property is in a very remote area of the Uwharrie National Forest and this parcel he was in was about 400 acres. This is adjacent to the Uwharrie Game lands and its extremely plentiful with wildlife and dense forest. Of the two rocks thrown at him, the second larger one he saw flying through the tree cover and it landed with a hard thud. This is the point when "fight or flight" kicked in, to which of course he chose flight, but under cover of his 9mm pistol. He quickly departed for his vehicle extremely shaken and took him a moment to gather his wits and try to interpret what just happened.

This area has several similar reports, and warrants additional investigation.

About BFRO Investigator Tommy Poland:

U.S. Army Veteran with training in Combat Infantry. Stationed in Camp Casey, Korea, Ft. Lewis, Washington and Ft. Polk, Louisiana. Currently employed with a Fortune 500 Company as an IT Security Analyst. Attended the North and South Carolina Expeditions in 2007 and North Carolina Expedition in 2008, 2009 and 2010.