Mystery creature bites, claws family's SUV

Mystery creature bites, claws family's SUV

www.wcnc.com

LINCOLN COUNTY, N.C. -- A mysterious creature leaves its mark, ripping a vehicle to pieces.

Scratches, bite marks and holes -- that's the surprise the Gilliam family of Lincoln County found in their driveway on Sunday.

Whatever damaged the 2004 Saturn Vue ripped through fiberglass and caused thousands of dollars in damage.

(visit the link for the full news article)

What kind of animal could do this to a car (that lives in North Carolina)? The damage is pretty extensive, so I doubt it was a dog, bobcat, etc could have punched holes and left claw marks like that. Cujo, on the other hand, could.

So what do you think did this? Are there any bears loose in the area - any zoos missing something?

Another possibility is that someone in the family crashed it and made up some story, who knows. I'll post the video and pics below.

www.wcnc.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 6/4/09 by Evasius]

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I'd take pissed off bear for $1,000 but the prints on the car were, the reported said, the size of tennis balls.

nice find.

Reminds of a similar story that was doing its round just over a year ago. That "attack on the car" was initially credited to the so-called "Lizard man". In the end it turned out to be the work of a dog, as many people predicted.

reply to post by Evasius
Wow! That is some serious damage. Wouldn't it be as straightforward as just IDing the paw prints? 'No bigger than tennis balls' would still make the critter fairly large and firmly in the 'big dog' range. A dog can be dumb enough to spend a long time wrecking an inanimate object too.

The claw marks didn't look like either cat or dog to me Appeared too blunt to be a cats and too deep to be a dog. Some look like possibly a single instrument was used to gouge them? Maybe it's like you suggested, a car accident followed by a fantastic tale to claim the insurance? The paws could be accounted for by borrowing a large dog from a friend? Please post a follow up if it gets resolved in the future, it's very interesting

EDIT to add

I'd take pissed off bear for $1,000 but the prints on the car were, the reported said, the size of tennis balls.

This is what happens when a UK guy tries to understand that damage. Bear just didn't cross my mind

[edit on 6-4-2009 by Kandinsky]

I wonder if the vehicle had some sort of scent on it, or inside, that attracted whatever it was...a leaky pack of steaks from a prior grocery trip, or forgotten leftovers in the backseat after a Saturday night at Applebees?

Or maybe it really, really hated General Motors and considered the puny Saturn easy pickings.

this was obviously the work of Wolverine!

He's angry his movie leaked

Looks like somebody took a Crowbar to that suv! I don't think it was an animal, at least none we know of!

Originally posted by ModernAcademia
this was obviously the work of Wolverine!

He's angry his movie leaked

Hmm,

I will use this opportunity to exercise my right to LOL!

Sorry, i just had to get that out of my system. You know how it goes, dont you?

Anyway, i was amazed to see that. But I think a dog can bite through a fiberglass bumper if it really wanted to. A bear even more likely.

But i couldnt help but giggle when i saw the small paw prints on the hood, which looked like kitty paws.

Maybe it was this little fella.

i349.photobucket.com...

[edit on 6-4-2009 by Vyrtigo]

[edit on 6-4-2009 by Vyrtigo]

[edit on 6-4-2009 by Vyrtigo]

[edit on 6-4-2009 by Vyrtigo]

reply to post by Evasius


:O Thats awesome ! I would have thought that there are any number of animals which have enough strength to do this, but you wouldnt normaly see such creatures in that location.
I was thinking maybe a cougar when I first saw the damage, but I am not nearly as positive on that now having had a closer look. I dont know for sure, but if the damage was caused by biting as well as clawing , Im not convinced that a mountain cat could do quite that type of damage. And theres no way a bear did that, because a bear would have made such a mess that there would be no angle at which that car, still looked ok to drive lol. Either that or the body work would have been crushed and dented, but I cant see any reason for a bear to bite a car .
There are some dogs (as a previous poster mentioned) which are capable of the damage level seen here, and I would have thought that the claw marks being strange, in that they are too deep for a dog can be explained by the posibility of a ferral or stray dog , perhaps German shepard, or a Japanese Akita (spelling?). Japanese "bear" dogs, were used to catch bears, and were more than capable of killing or mortaly wounding a larger animal, due to thier powerful build, endurance, and thier tenacious bite.

In parts of NC there are black bears,wolves and possibly some panthers still around although rarely seen they were believed to be extinct from the area,but,there has been some sightings.I also believe a really bored dog could pull this off as my mini doxen chews metal with little problem and the bodies of cars are mostly made from fiberglass and plastic.As another poster stated it's likely that something that smelled yummy to the animal was left in the vehicle or had leaked.A hungry animal will go to the ends of the earth to get to the food it smells.
From the video thats posted it looks like they are in a pretty rural area full of woods.No telling what is lurking behind the trees.

[edit on 6-4-2009 by dee132423]

Originally posted by PammyK
Looks like somebody took a Crowbar to that suv! I don't think it was an animal, at least none we know of!

there are teeth marks in the metal of the car, this was no crowbar. It was an animal for sure. Probably some crazed mountain cat, or wolf,. I dont know the area, so i dont know if these animals are around there.

Could be swamp gas

[edit on 6-4-2009 by Le Colonel]

Originally posted by PammyK
Looks like somebody took a Crowbar to that suv! I don't think it was an animal, at least none we know of!

This dude comes to mind, don't think he lives in NC though.

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Yeah, as Gemwolf points out it's at least the 2nd time such a thing as occurred in recent history. I still think they switched car insurance away from Geico and the little guy took it personally. Just my opinion. :->

reply to post by Crakeur


I was thinking a bear too, but to do that kind of damage it would have to be full grown . That would make the paw marks much bigger.
Now a coyote bob cat etc. doesn't have the jaw strength,nor can the claws handle that form of damage. They would simply break away.
Do they have mountain lions? Some have been known to damage cars here in northern California closer into the mountains. But nothing as bad as the one in NC. Rabid?
Sooooooo

reply to post by Gemwolf


This will probably turn out to be a dog, as well.

Some of the damage looks awful similar to the previous case.

Maybe they made the same mistake these guys did?

Don't be messen with Sasquatch!

My first guess would be a young bear. The prints on the hood looked really smudged from the pic so its hard to tell for sure.

It it was a critter of some sort the spotlight should be laying around somewhere in the woods nearby. After it figured out it wasn't good to eat it likely just dropped it. If they looked around in the woods they might find the spotlight and some better tracks.

reply to post by Evasius


Hmmmm, I thought Saturns were supposed to be indestructable to dents and scratches?

Could this have been a competative auto manufacturer proving a point?

LOL.........wonder if they are going to get it fixed, or trade her in on some other sort of crapolla car?

Wouldn't you love to be the insurance adjuster on this one?