The Blue Ridge Mountains have long carried whispers of strange creatures lurking in their shadowed forests. From eerie wood knocks in McDowell County, to a massive handprint on a Jeep in Mountain City, to claims of an entire colony hidden in Curtis Creek. These encounters suggest that something more than folklore may stalk North Carolina’s wild places. Could these incidents point to an enduring presence of Sasquatch along the Appalachian spine?

The Night Knocks of Little Switzerland

In the fall of 2018, a Bigfoot enthusiast visiting a friend in Little Switzerland, McDowell County, experienced what he describes as one of the most unnerving nights of his life.

While stepping outside after dinner, he was startled by repeated knocks on wood echoing through the forest, calls that seemed to be answered from different directions. When he struck a tree himself, one of the knocks responded immediately, as though something was listening.

The following night, the phenomena escalated. He heard an eerie howling near the home, followed later by heavy thumps on the roof and pounding on the walls. His elderly hostess also reported being woken by the pounding, something she had never experienced in over 25 years living there.

The visitor later discovered that a tree growing through the deck could have provided a perfect access point to the roof. While no footprints were found, the sequence of sounds and physical impacts left both witnesses shaken and questioning what shared their mountain that night.

The Giant Handprint of Mountain City

Not far away in Mountain City, N.C., Joy discovered something even more tangible: a massive 10-inch handprint smeared on the back of her freshly washed Jeep.

At first, she assumed it might belong to a bear, but the mark showed no claws, just a palm, thumb, and fingers far too large for a human. Stranger still, the print was left in a dusting of creek sand, not dirt or mud.

Her Collie had barked furiously the night before, but she thought nothing of it until the print appeared. With a long driveway deep in the woods, and no signs of trespassers, Joy’s family suggested the word she least wanted to hear: “Sasquatch.”

Though her farm has been quiet since, she admits she now keeps her bedroom windows shut at night, just in case.

A Colony in Curtis Creek?

Then there is Tom, a man who claims nearly two decades of encounters near Old Fort, especially along Curtis Creek. Unlike many who report fleeting sightings, Tom insists the creatures know him and that he has exchanged gifts with them, finding mushrooms, meat, and other foraged items left where he travels.

According to Tom, Bigfoot is far more intelligent than commonly believed. He claims they use bears as hunting companions, work in groups, and deliberately avoid detection. In one chilling case, he thinks he stumbled upon a Bigfoot hunting party, only realizing later, through enlarged photographs, that a humanoid face was staring back at him from the undergrowth.

Most disturbingly, Tom once found what he believed to be an infant Bigfoot left on his property. When he attempted to return it to the forest, the young creature was later found dead. Its skull was photographed and sent for DNA analysis, but Tom claims the lab has stalled and may be withholding results.

Over the years, he has learned to keep his distance, observing from afar while writing about his encounters in Nature’s Secret Agents. To Tom, Bigfoot is not a monster but a guardian of the forest, aware of humanity’s violence and wary of our encroachment.

NOTE: From McDowell County to Mountain City to Curtis Creek, three separate encounters recount knocks in the night, unexplained footprints, and even alleged contact with a hidden colony of Sasquatch. While skeptics dismiss such claims as folklore, misidentification, or hoaxes, those who live in the shadow of the Blue Ridge know the feeling of being watched is not so easily explained away. Could North Carolina’s mountains still harbor one of the world’s greatest mysteries?

So, let's ask:

-What left a 10-inch handprint on a Jeep deep in the North Carolina woods?

-Could a hidden colony of Sasquatch thrive in Curtis Creek?

-Why did roof-pounding and eerie howls plague one mountain home in Little Switzerland?

-Do Bigfoot truly hunt with bears in the Blue Ridge Mountains?

-Is the scientific community ignoring critical evidence locked away in labs? Lon