A group of young rangers in the Great Smoky Mountains were searching for a lost dog. During the search they encounter a large bipedal creature with a dog-like face.
I received the following report:
"Hi. Right after I graduated from college in Colorado I was hired by the National Park Service. I soon relocated to eastern Tennessee and started working as a ranger in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Since I was newly hired to the job I was assigned to patrolling and routine safety checks. This allowed me to roam around the huge and beautiful park.
A few weeks into my employment I received a call reporting unknown animal tracks and activity all around their site. When I got there and saw what was there I thought one of the other rangers was screwing around with me. There were tracks but they were not recognizable. The tracks were human-shaped but huge and with talons. I checked out the area and took a few photographs and then helped the family get to another campsite.
I later turned over the photos to my supervisor expecting him to laugh and come clean on the joke. But instead he was upset, thinking I was playing a prank. I asked him to accompany me to the site. But by the time we could get out there, the rain had washed away the prints.
A few weeks later I received another strange call. A campsite had been completely destroyed. The tents shredded and everything trashed. The campers weren't there at the time of the incident. There weren't any footprints observed, since it was in a dry area. But I found two tufts of brown hair and fur on the ground. On this occasion my supervisor saw the destruction for himself but recorded it as bear activity. The fur and hair didn't look anything like that of a bear.
Two months later, in early September, I received a call about a lost pet. The young couple had been walking their dog, but it slipped off its collar and ran into the woods. They were very upset about the lost dog. Myself and 5 other rangers were told to search the woods and recover the dog. We started our search in three pairs.
After we walked for hours, covering the area, we didn't see any sign of the dog. It was late in the day and we hadn't received any other calls. We agreed to stay out until dark before returning to the parking lot. As the sun set, we turned around and headed for the nearest trail. There was only another half hour of daylight remaining and we felt sorry about not finding the dog. But there was nothing else we could do.
As we walked on the trail, heading back to the parking lot, we heard growling sounds. We had bear spray with us if we needed it. It was almost dusk and harder to see. We couldn't identify the source of the sounds. We continued walking hoping to leave the bear behind. One of the other rangers pointed out a tree that looked mauled. There were huge scratch marks and missing branches, like a black bear would do. I used my flashlight to look at the tree base. There were the same huge human-like footprints I had seen several months before. These prints were definitely not from a bear.
I told the other rangers about the clawed footprints I had seen previously. The look on their faces was chilling and their apprehension was obvious. As we discussed the prints, we heard crashing and grunting sounds nearby. We kept moving, but faster. I twice saw a dark shape run past us to our right, but the trees made it impossible to see what it was in detail. The other rangers noticed it as well. It was very bulky and tall which concerned each of us.
Then, without warning, the creature lunged out of the woods onto the trail about 50 feet in front of us. I could see a dog-like face in the twilight as it loudly growled. All six of us scattered into the surrounding woods. I tripped on a tree branch and hit my head on a nearby tree. I was dazed for a few minutes, but I kept my eyes open in the hope this creature would not attack me.
Several minutes later, we called out to each other and eventually gathered back on the trail. The beast must have run off. We didn't hear any further growls or crash sounds. We quickly ran along the path and arrived at our trucks in the parking lot. We got in the trucks and drove back to the ranger station.
The next day, each of us was told to write a written report about our search for the dog. I recorded exactly what we encountered and, as far as I know, the other rangers did as well. But our supervisor never mentioned the incident again. By the way, the lost dog was found unharmed two days later." TM
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Welcome to Phantoms & Monsters 'Personal Reports' - cryptid & unexplained accounts directly from the archives of Phantoms & Monsters, and the Phantoms & Monster Fortean Research team. Narrated by Lon Strickler. Join us in the chat, discuss, and ask me questions about the accounts.
Featured in this edition:
The Hat Man is a phenomenon in which witnesses report seeing a shadow-like entity dressed in a trench coat and a hat of some kind, usually a fedora.
The Hat Man acts like a ghost, and is usually visible standing up. Many people report "bumping into" this entity, which does absolutely nothing for seconds or even minutes, then moves around a bit and vanishes.
Unlike a ghost, who might have visible facial features, the Hat Man is a shadow with no identifiable features. This entity has substance and many paranormal researchers believe it studies and observes.
So, I ask. HAVE YOU SEEN 'THE HAT MAN?'
In this episode, I will describe the reports and incidents in detail and answer all questions from the chat room.
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