On December 29, 1953 in the tiny town of Clarkton, North Carolina – eight miles east of Bladenboro NC a dog got killed. Witnesses described a sleek black animal around five feet long. Disappeared into the pine woods.
New Year’s Eve 1953 this thing moved into Bladenboro. Johnny Vause finds his two dogs torn apart – the first at 10:30 p.m. and the other one on New Year’s Day around 1:30 a.m.
Dogs’ heads were crushed and their jaws were ripped apart. Folks said the bodies were drained of blood. The Wilmington Morning Star newspaper heard that part and ran with the name: the Vampire Beast of Bladenboro.
January 1st through the 3rd 1954 even more dogs turn up dead and mangled. Bladenboro police chief Roy Fores takes bloodhounds out into the woods.
These dogs would not follow the trail left by the “thing.”
By January 4th after reading about the beast in the newspapers, hunters from the surrounding areas arrived in Bladenboro. Estimates run up to 800 hunters.
On January 5th a pet rabbit was found decapitated and prints at least the size of a silver dollar were left behind. Mrs. C.E. Kinlaw went onto her front porch. What looked like a mountain lion came at her. Horrified, she screamed so loudly the creature ran back into the woods.
January 6th – Dalton Norton saw a big cat on his porch wailing like a baby. Despite the 800 or so hunters after this beast nothing was found.
Two days later on January 8th 1954 Bladenboro Mayor Bob Fussell called the hunt off. Says there are too many guns in the woods and things have gotten dangerously out of hand.
Was it over? Did this beast vanish?
Apparently not – on January 11th two cars stop reportedly for a giant tabby cat with runty ears – at least four feet long.
Finally on January 13th, 1954 a farmer named Luther Davis trapped a bobcat in Big Swamp and shot it. Mayor Fussell reports to the papers that the beast is dead. He wants to tamp down the hysteria. Locals never really believed a bobcat was capable of the types of dog killings that went on.
But yet, the hysteria did end. The dog killings ended.
Still there have been other killings over the subsequent years, mostly in October 2007. This gave birth to the Beast Fest, an annual event in Bladenboro. In 2024 the N.C. Folklife Institute put up a marker at 103 Main Street commemorating the hysteria of 1953 and 1954.
