DATE:         November 1984

TIME:             Approximately 11:30 P.M.

LOCATION:      Western Chester County, South Carolina

TERRAIN:          Wooded

OBSERVED:      Myself and my best friend, along with another classmate from
high school were coon hunting in a very remote part of Chester County. We had
parked off the side of the road (a county road which never saw more than a
very infrequent vehicle at that time of night) and had turned the dogs
loose to hunt. After they "treed" about 3/4 of a mile in the woods to our
left, we left to hike to them.

The going was slow as the woods were very thick and then emptied into a
small swamp bottom as we neared the dogs. We had to traverse through the
water that was hip dip in places. After reaching the tree and
congratulating the dogs, we headed back (we didn't shoot the racoon, just
shined him with our lights). We were pretty wet from the water and had
gotten cold by the time we reached the truck and decided to build a fire to
dry ourselves and warm up before leaving.

After building the fire, we sat around it just talking and laughing for
about 15 or 20 mins. when we heard a very strange and unnerving scream that
sounded maybe a 1/2 mile off in the woods to our right. We all stopped
talking and just looked at each other wide-eyed. The "scream" was somewhat
high-pitched but also raspy and definitely agitated. All of us had hunted
and fished and spent our free time in the woods since we were young and we
all agreed that we had never heard anything like THAT before in our lives.
We were discussing it still when it sounded off again maybe a minute later
but this time much closer, maybe 500 yds away. My hair immediately stood up
on the back of my neck and I was scared. I looked at my friends and saw it
had the same effect on them as their faces had gone stark white. This
thing, whatever it was, was very loud and seemed very angry and our
intrusion into it's territory.

The dogs had all gone to the back of their boxes and were just laying their
whimpering and shaking. We decided to gather up our things and get out of
there. As we were doing this, it screamed again and was this time right at
the treeline about 50 yds. off the road. I remember the sound just seemed
to go right through me and at this point I was truly terrified. We heard
limbs snap and I was sure it would come charging out full speed at any
second. All three of us were moving like lightning at this point and jumped
into the truck and tore out of there as fast as we could.

We never saw the thing or smelled anything unusual. I do know that
screaming was unlike anything I've ever heard before or since. Whether or
not it intended to do us harm I don't know. What I do know is that it was
not happy about our presence and it was extremely fast considering the
amount of ground it covered in just a few minutes through dense woods.

There have been many reports through the years of black bears being sighted
or doing damage to property in more remote areas of Chester County. There
was even rumors for a couple years that the Wildlife Dept. had reintroduced
them into the area but this has always been flatly denied by the SC
Wildlife Dept. I guess it's interesting to note that folks have said they
saw what they thought was a black bear yet no one to my knowledge ever
found any tracks or was able to shoot or photograph one.

A few years later, I became a deputy sheriff working in neighboring
Fairfield County. There is an area of that county in the Northwest that is
roughly bordered by US Hwy 215 to the east and SC Hwy 72 to the north. This
area is know as "Dark Corner" as it's extremely rural and hasn't changed
much in deveopment or population in over a 150 years. During my time as a
deputy (6 years), I answered a few "disturbance calls" in that area where
the people reported what they said was a bear messing around their dog
pens. I never found any discernible tracks but it was obvious something
large had been around the pens. I also remember the dogs themselves being
very frightened and shaking in the corners of the pens upon inspection of
the area.

ACTIVITIES OF WITNESS(ES):    Sitting by a fire drying out/warming up. We were
talking normally amongst ourselves.

DESCRIPTION OF CREATURE:    Didn't stick around that long., I've heard stories
through the years when I lived in SC (just moved to Ala. in 2000) from other
hunters/land owners of strange sounds and "boogers" but just attributed them
to campfire stories.

OTHER NOTES:   No, other than everything becoming deathly still after the first
scream.

OTHER SIGHTINGS IN THIS AREA: