The Beast of Bladenboro: the "vampire" dog killings and mass hunts

In 1954 Bladenboro was a farming and lumber town of about 800 people in Bladen County, North Carolina. Bay swamp and creek bottoms pressed against it. Among them was Big Swamp.

The first sign came from Clarkton, about 8 miles away. December 29, 1953. A creature described as "sleek, black, about 5 ft long" killed a dog there. One woman saw a large cat-like animal in her neighbour's yard while the neighbourhood dogs barked frantically.

December 31. Johnny Vause's two dogs were "torn into ribbons and crushed." "My dogs put up a good fight," he said. "There was blood all over the porch, big puddles of it." The top of one dog's head had been torn off.

Two more dogs died on New Year's Day, one on January 2, and two on January 3. An autopsy on one found almost no blood and severe jaw damage. The Wilmington Morning Star ran the headline "Vampire Tendencies Found In Bladenboro's 'Monsters'." A pet rabbit was found cleanly decapitated. The victims had not been eaten.

Every sighting was a brief glimpse at night or dusk. One local described something "about 4½ ft long, bushy, and resembling either a bear or a panther," with "a little one just like it… running beside it." Another said: "It had a face exactly like a cat. Only I ain't ever seen a cat that big." Some heard a noise like a baby crying.

On the evening of January 5, Mrs C. E. Kinlaw heard dogs whimpering and stepped onto her porch. Near dogs three houses away stood "a big mountain lion." It charged toward her, then turned and ran when she screamed. The next day a young boy, Dalton Norton, saw "a big cat" on his porch. Days later two cars stopped on the road for a brownish, tabby animal about 4 ft long.

Police Chief Roy Fores measured prints in a dirt road "bigger than a silver dollar." Hunters from Wilmington followed the tracks 3 miles around the swamp and reported claws at least 1 inch long. Then more than 500 people with dogs turned out on January 5. More than 800 the next day, until officials ended the hunt over safety concerns. On January 7, another 800 to 1,000 gathered.

By January 8 only four UNC students were still out. Mayor Woodrow Fussell suspended organised hunts. Then came January 13. Farmer Luther Davis trapped and shot a bobcat in Big Swamp, about 4 miles from town. Fussell declared it the beast.

Many doubted that a small bobcat could have done the damage, and game warden Sam Culberth read the tracks as a "catamount." State Museum curator Harry Davis suggested a coyote, while Fores favoured a wolf. A. R. Stanton of Lumberton blamed "Big Boy," a dark German Shepherd and hound mix, and veterinarian Dr N. G. Baird noted that a dog could lap up blood. Fussell, who also owned the town theater, booked The Big Cat during the scare and said that "a little publicity never hurts a town." No one ever confessed to a hoax.

In December 1954, "Five mediumsized pigs and three chickens" were found dead near Lumberton in Robeson County. Their skulls were crushed and there was no visible blood. A stray dog was killed and blamed. Bladenboro, meanwhile, embraced its beast. Beast Fest has been held on the last weekend of October since 2008, and in 2024 a "VAMPIRE BEAST" folklore marker was unveiled on Main Street.