Knobby: Legendary Bigfoot
Knobby. He has or had a Facebook page and a website. And is billed as North Carolina's most famous bigfoot. He is said to be 200 lbs., 6 ft. tall, and dark-haired with a small head and a flat face.
His first reported sighting was on December 21, 1978, in Toluca. Eighty-eight
year-old Minnie Cook caught sight of the creature near her home. The black hairy animal so terrified Mrs. Cook that after that sighting she never left her house without her rifle in hand. When her sighting was investigated, tracks were found and screams were reported in the area.
At least 16 sightings were reported during the next few months.
 |
| View of Carpenter's Knob by Yeti. |
In late December Casar resident, Sammy Price was working in his yard when he heard a high-pitched scream. Looking up, he saw a 6' to 7' tall "tree" start walking away.
Kay Price claimed that the next day she heard screams and saw Knobby eating soybeans in a nearby field.
Sammy and his wife reported seeing the creature for several nights and hearing its screams.
Forest Price, Sammy's brother, explained that a few days earlier something had frightened his animals, scaring his donkey so badly, it broke loose and ran away. He also found his goat dead with a broken neck. He blamed Knobby.
While investigating in the area, an animal den and tracks were found about two miles from the Price homes. Searchers said the tracks were as large as a man's hand and had a thumb-like protrusion. Found nearby was some hair on a log.
On January 15, 1979, Mrs. Kay Price, Gaye Smith (age 18), and Wanda Smith were driving down Highway 10 between Casar and Polkville. Wanda suddenly screamed but at first, could not tell the others what she had seen. Finally, when she got the words out, they turned around and drove back. This time all three of the women saw Knobby. He was near some woods by a farm pond.
Gaye got out of the car and started to run towards Knobby, who was squatting on a dam. When she got around 150 ft away, he stood up, faced her, and stretched out his arms. As it was a sunny day, she got a good look at him. He was over 6'2", over 200 lbs., and "strange looking". She also said that he was "pink-faced" and that his facial hair was shorter than the hair on the rest of his body. He was broad-chested and had wide shoulders. She noticed that he had wide nostrils and a shiny black chest, describing the rest of his hair as a black and brown mix. They all thought he looked more gorilla-like than human. On the ground next to him was something white or light-colored, perhaps an empty sack or paper bag.
 |
| Another view of Carpenter's Knob by Yeti |
Although some people in the area were saying the creature was a bear, others disagreed. Jim Hollingsworth, an investigator with the North American Research Association based in Eugene, Oregon, was convinced the cries heard did not belong to either a bear or a panther.
"Their descriptions surprised me. They describe it as a sound that varies in pitch from a low growl to a high scream, as being like a bull bellowing, but with its own sound. They also say that after it's screams for a few seconds it has a yodeling sound," said Hollingsworth.
He had been searching the Green Swamp south of Wilmington for bigfoot evidence when he decided to transfer his search area to Carpenter's Knob in Cleveland County. He said the description of Knobby's cries (cross between a woman's scream and the cry of a panther) matched descriptions of sasquatch sounds heard in the western states.
Hollingsworth also, while investigating, found a five-mile stretch of bigfoot tracks.
Lewis Barts, a wildlife protector from Shelby, North Carolina, held to his belief that the creature was only a bear. In his investigations, he only found bear tracks. He felt the residents were exaggerating reports just so they could hunt bear and deer at night and out of season.
D. H. Canipe's wife claimed to see Knobby, but said she thought it was really a mountain panther. Daniel Cooke of Fallston claimed he found some tracks outside the mouth of a cave in a deeply wooded area. He said the tracks were similar to those of an ape.
Sally White claimed to see Knobby three times. Her last sighting, she said,"I heard the dog barking and I looked out. He was barking and jumping up. When he did that I knew there was something outside that was more than another dog. I looked down the path and I saw it -- something long and black coming up through the woods. It's the same thing I've seen twice before, once before Christmas and once right after."
Others claimed to have seen Knobby wandering along roadsides and sometimes snatching food from the trash dump. Residents are divided among saying the creature is a bigfoot, a panther, a bear and some speculated that it was a carnival baboon who had escaped.
Occasionally, people still claim to see Knobby. Thomas Byers said he filmed Knobby in March of 2011. And Tyler Houck posted a Youtube video on February 10, 2015, that he alleged was a video of Knobby.
If Knobby is still out there, we have no clue. The videos are years later than the Knobby flap and unless he was very young in 1979 or Bigfoot has a much longer youthful lifespan than man, and if the videos indeed show a bigfoot, I much doubt it would be the same creature as seen all those years ago.
As for the Facebook page? The last post made by the owner of the page was in July 2010. Messages from his 259 fans who liked the page are dated August 18, 2015, and June 5, 2014. As for the webpage, there too are little few updates or activities. Poor Knobby. Or maybe Lucky Knobby. To again fade away into the forest, to be left alone, to be a bigfoot.
 |
| Map from Cryptomundo.com |
Watch the Video Version by Clicking Here.
Nancy
This Post By TCC Team Member Nancy Marietta. Nancy has had a lifelong interest in the paranormal and cryptids. Nancy is also a published author and her book, The Price of war, has been met with great reviews.
[Please Note: Sadly Nancy passed away at the first of January, 2022. We will continue to honor her and her research by sharing her work. RIP Nancy. -Thomas]
Posts
Oddly enough North Carolina's most famous bigfoot sounds an awful lot like the Wood Devils of Northern New Hampshire... "200 lbs., 6 ft. tall, and dark-haired with a small head and a flat face". My first ever encounter was with just such a creature, and plenty more reports hold these same features in their descriptions. We don't know what we don't know... until it stares you in the face. Sadly missing Nancy.
ReplyDelete