A Strange Encounter

Last year something happened that changed my life.  I was in North Carolina visiting a friend and was on a morning run with my dog Starbuck, a golden retriever.  He’s a happy, well behaved, mindful companion.  We were running on a trail in a nearby woods when suddenly Starbuck stopped dead in his tracks. The hair on his head was standing straight up. He began growling, pulled the leash out of my hand and ran deeper into the woods.  I called out and ran after him, but he was too fast and I lost sight of him.  I kept calling him, trying to catch up, but the groundcover got thicker and thicker, entangling my feet and slowing me down.  I stopped for a moment to catch my breath when I heard Starbuck whimper.   The whimper turned to a growl. Then I heard something that made my hair stand straight up.  I heard this voice, a strange, low and gravely sounding voice.  It was grunting and gurgling and speaking in a language I did not recognize.  The sounds were coming from a clearing up ahead.  I approached with trepidation.  There in the middle of the clearing was a bog, like something out of the forrest primeval, but no sign of Starbuck. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something move. I turned to see this bizarre looking creature staring straight back at me.  I was frozen and couldn't move. The thing was about the size of a small dog but it only had two legs or arms.  It had a wide mouth that was was open revealing lots of square teeth.  It began to move and I was afraid that it would lunge and attack but instead it laughed at me.  Yes, it laughed!  Then it quickly plunged into the bog and disappeared.  I was so startled and freaked out I didn’t even get a shot of it on my phone.  By the time I got my phone out of my back pocket the thing had disappeared. I picked up a rock and tossed it into the bog hoping to startle the creature to the surface once more, but no luck.  Stabuck's bark brought me back to my senses.  He was standing on the other side of the bog but his face looked strange.  Happy to see him, I told him to "stay" and he did.    

THE BOG ON THE DAY OF THE SIGHTING  8/10/16

THIS IS WHAT SOMEONE HAD DONE TO MY DOG!

Starbuck did not seem to be bothered.   If anything, he seemed extraordinarily happy.  I was shaken.  I wanted to be angry but I also kind of wanted to laugh.  I had the odd feeling that the thing I had just laughed at me had something to do with the face-painting on Starbuck.  I had seen something decidedly weird and strange that left me doubting my own sanity.  What was that thing?  What had happened to my dog?   I reported the incident to the authorities in town but they treated me like a nut case.   The next day I met with a reporter at the local diner.  She wrote for a small local paper and seemed interested in our story.  She and asked me to do a sketch of what I had seen.  Now, I am no artist and all I had was a napkin and a crayon to make this sketch.

Could this be a Boglin?

Ever since the story was published I have been receiving emails and texts telling me that what I saw was a "Boglin".  The only reference I was able to find was a toy called "Boglins".  I must admit the toys do look a lot like what I saw.   But what I saw was real!  It was alive!  I have been back to the same spot many times since, camera in hand but haven't seen anything.  I have received several videos claiming to be Boglin sightings but nothing definitive .  I am on the quest now. To find out if there is such a thing as a real Boglin-like creature.   So please, if any of you out there can add videos or testimonials to our evidence, send them in ASAP!  I will post them.

Thanks and Stay Tuned