YEAR: 1968

SEASON: Fall

STATE: North Carolina

COUNTY: Greene County

NEAREST TOWN: Snow Hill

OBSERVED: It was about 4am and I was home laying in bed. I heard some dogs barking, which was not unusual since coon hunters were common. I heard something making a screaming noise, unlike anything I have ever heard. The dogs were evidently chasing whatever was making that noise. I was very terrified by the sound the animal made and did not look out the window. I heard heavy thudding footsteps pass my window and what must have been at least two or more dogs following and barking.I was terrified for several nights after.I did mention it to my mother. I was watching a television program ( many years later ) on the Discovery Channel about Bigfoot. Someone had made a recording of a bigfoot. When I heard that recording I was terrified and recognized it as the same creature I heard nearly 20 years before.I will not listen to the recording again, as it frightens me. Recently, 2003, my mother got up after midnight to get a drink of water and heard some type of animal making a screaming noise outside. She said she did not know what it was. When she told me about it, I told her that she did not want to know what it was. I am reluctant to give this report as I do not want ridicule. I have not heard the animal since, and I hope I never do. I have never seen any strange animal,however at the time people were reporting seeing what they called a very large bear.

ALSO NOTICED: I the spring of 2003 my mother woke up after midnight to get drink of water. She heard a screaming sound outside from an animal. She did not know what the animal could be and when she looked outside she saw nothing.

OTHER WITNESSES: None known.

OTHER STORIES: No

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 4am, dark outside. Calm weather with no rain.I did not look outside so I do not know if the moon was shining.

ENVIRONMENT: Pine forest. Carolina Bay swamp located in forest.Dense undergrowth in forest. Land is flat,but well drained except for small swamp pond.

Follow-up investigation report:

The woods adjacent to the house of the witness are remote, dense forest. The forest is mostly hardwoods mixed with pine. Huckleberry bushes and briars are plentiful. The land is mostly flat in elevation. A swamp pond can be found approximately a ½ mile into the woods. Many streams are also in the woods. Wildlife is abundant.

While lying in bed in the early morning hours, the witness heard a frightening scream that he could not identify. He could also hear dogs barking, presumably chasing the animal responsible for the scream. He heard thudding footsteps come from the woods south of his house. The animal then passed through the yard of the house. At its closest, the animal was approximately 25 feet away from the witness. It then headed north toward a corn field. Several barking dogs followed shortly thereafter. The entire incident lasted less than a minute.

The witness was a young boy when the incident occurred. He recalls being terrified, because he was familiar with the animals in the area and the sounds they make. The scream was not similar to any of them. Decades later, the witness was watching a Discovery Channel program on sasquatch. The recorded scream on the program matched the scream the witness had previously heard. Recognizing the scream disturbed the witness, and he does not wish to hear it again.

I asked the witness if this could be another animal. The witness is familiar with the vocalizations of bobcats, bears, and deer. It was not any of these animals. Bears have been rarely seen in Greene County in recent years. There was no resident black bear population at the time of the incident.

I asked if the scream could have been from a person. He said, “No person could make a noise like that, not even trying hard. I couldn’t even describe the sound.”

When asked about other stories, the witness mentioned that a “large bear” had been reported in the northern part of the county in the mid-1970s.

I found the witness to be credible.