I always like reports of cryptid events dating from early to the mid-1900s, before strange creatures became standardized in movies and magazine articles–even if the tales must necessarily be told by surviving family members or friends. Here is one such encounter report that concerns a certain phenomenon; occasional glimpses of glowing, incandescent red eyes. It’s a cryptid feature to which I’ve been giving some heavy thought. Before I get into that, here is the encounter story reader Matt Knight sent me about red eyes and bullets, told in his own words with only a few minor edits:
This encounter happened to my father’s uncle, Burel Knight. Burel Knight told my father, Ron Knight, his story back in the late 1970’s and my father told me back in the 1980’s.
It was late December 1939 just outside the town of West Jefferson, North Carolina. Burel Knight got on his horse and started heading to his brother’s house that late afternoon to deliver some oranges for his nieces for Christmas. Back then when money was scarce, sometimes food was presented as gifts instead of toys.
Burel and his brother lived out in the countryside and the long dirt road that was between them, he had traveled many times. During his trip, just around a bend in the road, his horse bucked and Burel caught movement from the corner of his eye.About 50 feet away he saw a large black bear that was heading up a hill. Not unusual for North Carolina.
He pulled on the reins and stopped to calm his horse down. When he did this, the bear stopped and turned to look at Burel and his horse. When the bear turned his head, Burel said the eyes of the black bear looked like burning red hot coals. This scared him so bad that he unloaded his .38 caliber Smith & Wesson, all six shots.Burel said he could see the bullets go through the bear and out the other side, burning red. After he unloaded his gun on this creature, it just turned its head back where it was originally going, hopped a fence and went over the hill,
Burel was stunned, he took a minute to digest just what happened, put his gun back in his holster and proceeded to his brother’s house.
It was still day light so no shine from a light source.
Burel told my Father it looked like a bear and I believe if it didn’t turn it’s head to show its eyes, Burel wouldn’t have thought anything of it, just another bear. I believe the eyes scared him so bad that his first reaction was to shoot at it. That was kind of “the way” back at that time.
I wish I was older and around when Burel Knight was alive. I would have asked him if he felt the bear was evil or if he felt anything from it. Given what happened, it could have been an evil entity giving the shape as a bear or an omen. The area they both lived is Cherokee Indian country, maybe that has something to do with it. This is not the first time Burel has had a paranormal experience. Maybe these “things” are just drawn to certain people…
I know this story sounds crazy but Burel had the reputation as being a very honest man. He was a WW1 vet and not a lot bothered him but (the encounter) disturbed him enough to share this story. Burel passed away in the late 1970’s.
Concerning the glowing red bullets that apparently went right through the “bear” and then seemingly super-heated or otherwise gained the appearance of glowing metal. I’ve had reports, as have many other investigators, of people who shot at various cryptids and who were sure the bullets found their mark but had little effect on the animals. This is the first time I know of, however, that the shooter was able to actually see the bullets continue on after penetrating the cryptid’s body. And where the bullets themselves changed appearance. Was it because they had passed through some sort of high-energy field disguised as a bear? It’s intriguing, to say the least. And then there are those eyes.
Backyard Red Eyes
I’m always interested in the topic of eyeshine, as its color may be helpful in determining which species of critter is eyeing you up as its body remains cloaked in darkness. As most readers probably know, animals blessed with eye shine to help them see at night have a membrane called the Tapetum lucidum that reflects available light. Canine eyeshine is usually in the yellow-yellow green range. Deer eyes will display as bright white tinged with blue or yellow. Red is a bit more unusual but bears may show as a dark orange-red, as may owls and alligators. (All of these colors may vary in any creature).
Bigfoot is also reported by many witnesses as having red eyeshine, often described as laser-like or resembling the lit end of a cigarette–even though humans, chimps, gorilla and most other primates lack the Tapetum lucidum to create any eye shine, let alone glowing, incandescent red lights. And yet, there they are.
So about six weeks ago, in January 2018, I carried out my nightly ritual that I have performed every night since we moved into our present home about a year and a half ago. Our backyard backs up to a marshy, wooded green belt and in front of that I have some perennial stalks and tall grasses I leave in place over winter. As usual, I walked to the back door, turned off the indoor room lights and flicked on the yard lights to see if anything shined back at me.
Nothing ever has for a year and a half, but that night there was a small, bright, incandescent red light shining at me from a group of dry, five foot tall plant stems. The red light was at about three feet above the ground, with no possible source I could determine. I did not have a camera in hand and didn’t want to move for fear of startling it. I searched for any possible other red light that could have been creating a reflection and found nothing, nor was there anything at that spot that would have reflected anything.
The red lights were in the shorter line of shrubs about 2/3 to the right, & about 2/3 from the ground. 10-foot grasses are at left.
As I watched it and searched for reflections, it was as if its head turned and suddenly there were two red eyes staring at me. They were at the eye level of a large quadruped canine, too low to be a deer and too high to be a fox, raccoon or even a coyote. It stared back for at least ten seconds, then both eyes turned away and vanished. I could see a darker form pacing in those weeds between a few openings, and then some adjacent, ten-foot tall grasses shook by themselves. The next day I saw my neighbor’s large dog run in front of that garden and its eyes were right at that same level I had seen the red lights.
I have not seen them since. I went out a day or so later and discovered something had crushed the center, only, of the 10-foot marsh grasses to create a resting place or hunting cover. I’ve found deer beddings in other places around the yard, but they usually just mash everything down, and deer eyes don’t usually glow red like focused lasers. Every night I still look at those bushes, and try to remember to have my camera in my hand, set to video.
I do not call this incident a sighting, because I didn’t really see anything I can describe except for a pair of red lights that functioned in a way that looked like unknown animal eyes. One friend asked me if I thought the lights were from rifle scopes. I sure hope not!
Burel Knight, however, saw a bear that didn’t behave like a bear, that looked at him with red, incandescent eyes and then allowed bullets to flow through him like watermelon seeds through a butterfly net. We may not know what Burel saw, but that was a sighting! Thanks to Matt Knight for sharing here!
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