First Annual Celebration of The Beast of Bladenboro
By Hiram Hester (May 2007)
The legend goes back to 1954 when a series of vampire-like killings of pets and livestock set the town on edge. The dead animals were found with their jaws broken, their heads crushed, and their bodies drained of blood.
Grassroots initiative capitalizes on Local Legend
By: Carrie Banks
Nestled securely within the coastal plain of southeastern North Carolina, Bladenboro, a former mill town founded in 1903, is a quiet, unassuming community of approximately 1,700 residents—friendly folk accustomed to unhurried lifestyles. Like a thousand other little towns across the United States, there’s nothing particularly unusual about Bladenboro. Nothing, that is, unless you consider the sudden appearance of a vampire east that catapulted the tine hamlet into a terrified frenzy for nearly two weeks during the winter of 1953-54 as it killed dogs, goats and other small farm animals by crushing their skulls and draining their blood.
BeastFest ‘07
Bladenboro’s very first Beast of Bladenboro Festival
“Yes Virginia, there really is a Beast of Bladenboro and he lives even today in our hearts and minds.”
Following our Beast of Bladenboro Festival on October 27, Boost The ’Boro had a meeting to reflect and review all that had transpired and we reached one conclusion in unison.
Bladenboro celebrated the best festival event that had been thrown in many years!
2nd Annual Beastfest `08