FOXSYLVANIA

The Mountain Men are a group of paranormal and cryptid investigators from West Virginia who look more like surplus cast members from Duck Dynasty or perhaps a ZZ Top concert; they’re mostly older, bearded guys whose appearance might cause the neighborhood watch captain to sound an alert; no designer clothing here, but plenty of flannels and camo gear. They sport names like “Buck” (Rookie), “Huckleberry” (Security), “Trapper” (Team Leader), “Wild Bill” (Expert Trapper), Jeff (Researcher), and “Willy”(Trap Builder).  They have a show called Mountain Monsters on the Destination America channel.

Other series like Monsters and Mysteries in America have done episodes on hellhounds, and in a recent episode of Mountain Monsters (S2/Ep 01), the Mountain Men went in quest of one in Kentucky. The hellhound in question was a dark-colored, nocturnal canid about 4′ tall and about 7′ long thought to weigh in the ballpark of 400-500 pounds which was preying on cattle in Pike County, Kentucky.  First sightings of the creature occurred in 1939, with moonshiners reporting quite a few sightings in the 1940’s; after drinking some “shine,” I imagine you can see all kinds of things.  A $200 bounty has been standing for a hellhound since that time.

Well, a cattle farmer showed the Mountain Men a ripped-up calf supposedly victimized by the hellhound, and during the first evening of a night investigation, the team found a “kill area” apparently used by the beast with cattle bones strewn about.  The next day, the team built a drop cage trap for the beast made of bamboo so as to have no odor.  A second farmer showed the team a video supposedly of the beast, and a pawprint measuring 7-1/2 – 8″ was found in a field.  It was speculated that the creature was moving from farm to farm through cornfields, coming close to human habitations in the process, and feeding on cattle.

Using hog shoulders as bait, the team in a subsequent evening tried to flush the creature into their trap; growling was repeatedly heard, and a large shadow was seen moving through a greenhouse. There followed much confusion, waving of rifles about, and comments such as “sonna bitch moved right past me!”  It would seem that the wily beast ran past the armed men in the opposite direction of their trap. They resolved that they would return in the future and get the hellhound…

…but I rather suspect than they’re going to be outwitted then, too…and I’m rooting for the ‘hound!  He’s really quite awesome, in a feral kinda way…and he can totally take these guys!

“And whosoever shall be found/Without the soul for getting down/Must stand and face the hounds of hell/And rot inside a corpse’s shell…”  – – Vincent Price, from Michael Jackson’sThriller

This entry was posted on April 17, 2014 at 5:35 pm and is filed under animals, cryptozoology, furry, television, unexplained, unidentified. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.

Tags: Hellhounds, Mountain Men, Mountain Monsters