Bloodless Howler of Harrison County

The team hears the Bloodless Howler

**Bloodless Howler of Harrison County** is the thirteenth episode of Mountain Monsters Season 2 and the eighteenth episode overall.

A.I.M.S. goes after a half-canine, half-feline monster in Harrison County, West Virginia, called the Bloodless Howler, and attempt to capture the creature in a tiger dropbox trap.

## Summary

The team heads to Harrison County, West Virginia, after a monster known as the Bloodless Howler. Trapper describes the beast as a canine/feline hybrid with a feline head and a canine body, weighs 350 to 400 pounds 800years old, 7 feet long, with long, shaggy, snow white hair, and sucks blood. Jeff says Harrison county was established in 1874, and named after Benjamin Harrison, a former Virginian governor, and was known for it's coal mining.

    Actually, the first sightings of the Bloodless Howler were by the coal miners in 1929, who had found animals with their throats ripped out, and no blood anywhere to be seen. Now, the sightings are apparently getting more frequent. The worst thing about the Bloodless Howler, according to Jeff, is that it is apparently bulletproof; one the first men to see it fired his gun at it ten yards away and they didn't phase it at all. Jeff likens it to a ghost, but Trapper doubts bullets would not harm it. Buck suggests if it is bullet proof, they simply throw Wild Bill at it.
The meets with their first eye witness, a man named "Corn Bread" who apparently has encountered the Bloodless Howler. Corn bread, who gets his nickname from often eating corn bread, says he was hiking in the woods one day when he heard a strange howl. He picked up his pace, but began to feel something following him. When he turned around and shone his flashlight, he saw a bizarre looking creature with red beady eyes, which he says looked like half coyote and half mountain lion. The fact that it stalked him and kept approaching him when he stopped is disturbing to Huckleberry, because it means the Bloodless Howler has lost it's fear of man. Corn bread says when the creature was only 20 feet away from him it growled and he began to run, while he heard it running behind him. He caught his foot in a root and tumbled down a hill. When he looked up, the beast was at the top of the hill, looking at him. He took out his gun and fired four shots at it, and though he was sure he directly hit it, it didn't even flinch, as if the bullets went right through it. Trapper however, believes Corn Bread could have missed the creature, but thought he hit it due to fear, which can often make you see things differently.

    After that, Corn bread says he got up and ran as fast as he could, and lost the monster. Buck asks if he heard it following him again, but Corn bread says he doesn't know, he was too scared to look back. The next day, he came back but found no sign of the creature or any blood, meaning it's still out there. He says he had the sighting a quarter mile away from where they are now, so the team decides to investigate that area.

At night, the team prepares to search for signs of the Bloodless Howler in the area. Shortly into the investigation, the team finds little signs due to the snow on the ground, but then come across a tree with a signature;a scent post, common to canines. The team are certain the Bloodless Howler is in the area after seeing how high on the tree the pee is. They follow a trail, but do not find anything else until something moves in front of them behind some brush, and Trapper sees something white. Jeff is quick to pick up something moving on his camera, followed by the sound of a twig snapping. Several team members claim to see an eye briefly, but then the creature appears to have disappeared. They keep searching, when they hear an eerie howl, far away, several times. It sounds as if it's at least a half mile away, so Trapper predicts the Bloodless Howler must be stalking something other than them. As the team returns to the side by side to leave the mountain, Buck shouts to stop the vehicle. They find laying on the ground, a dead deer with it's throat ripped out, and no blood left, obviously a recent victim of the Bloodless Howler. Shocked and horrified at the discovery, the team leaves for the night.

Next day, Willy prepares to get to work on a trap for the Bloodless Howler. Having been told by Trapper about the creature, he waits for Wild Bill to arrive so they can get some wood. Sure enough, Wild Bill arrives on a metal saucer, and slides down a snowy hill to Willy.

   Afterwards, Willy informs Bill on the Bloodless Howler and tells him he plans to build a tiger box trap. Used to catch Tigers, a Tiger box trap is has a revolving lid which causes whatever walks over it to fall in, after which it locks into place. The pair begin cutting down enough trees to build the trap.
Meanwhile, the rest of the team meets with a mechanic named Tom, who has had an encounter with the Bloodless Howler at his junkyard. Tom says he was working one day, when he heard something. When he looked, he saw a huge creature which he says looked like it had a body of a dog but a head like a lion, like the reports said. After seeing it run in between a truck and a car, he ran away. Now, he says he can't get any work done, out of fear that the creature will return. Tom says he saw it only 3 days ago, which the team says is probably there freshest lead ever. Tom also tells them he took a video, so he takes them to where he shot it to show them. After showing them the video of a large white creature running through the junk yard, the team is astonished by it's speed, and it's size, which Trapper now believes is bigger than 350 pounds. Since the video is so recent, the team decides to have Willy and Bill construct the trap just over the hill of the junkyard, knowing that the creature is definetly still in the area.

Later, Willy and Bill come to the area where they are to construct the trap, and decide to build itt in between two "Hogbacks". A hog-back is the a high point in the center of a holler, Willy says. They bring there materials down (Wild Bill riding several boards down the hill) and begin building the trap.

On a farm, Trapper, Jeff, Huckleberry, and Buck get ready to meet with their next eye witness, Charlie, who has apparently encountered the Bloodless Howler. Charlie is a cattle and hog farmer, and a few weeks ago he butchered some hogs, and kept the blood in a bucket for later use. Next day, he found the bucket lying on the ground 15 feet away, with a huge hole in, with no blood left. Strangely, the meat hanging was completely untouched. Buck asks if any blood was left at all on the ground, but Charlie tells him there wasn't any left. Taking the group to the shed where it happened, he tells them he also kept the bucket, and takes it out of a garbage bag to show them. The bucket has a huge bit mark in it, and still has blood stains on the side.

     The team is shocked to see that something could have bitten through such a tough plastic bucket, surprised that anything in the area could have such biting force. Trapper asks where the nearest slaughterhouse is, and says he'll need 5 gallons of blood for bait. Thanking Charlie for his helpful information, the team decides the need to soon finish the trap and get after the Bloodless Howler.
Back at the trap, Willy and Bill have worked all of the previous day and into the night on the trap and are putting the finishing touches on it. However, the ground is very slick due to the sudden change in temperature causing all the snow to melt. Once the duo add the remaining boards and the lock, all they need is bait, and to wait for the rest of the team to arrive so they can camouflage it.

    While they're waiting, Wild Bill makes several wooden weapons, which he plans to use on the Bloodless Howler since it is supposedly bullet proof. Eventually, the rest of the team arrives, and are impressed by Willy's trap, which is right on a trail the Bloodless Howler may be using, and leads right in between two hog back giving it an easy path. After showing the team how the trap works, Trapper tells them he's brought the camouflage and the bait, a bucket of deer and hog blood.

    After poking a hole in the bucket to let it drip out, they cover the trap in pompous grass, and cover it in more blood, to draw in the Bloodless Howler. Now that the trap is ready, Trapper says they will return at night for the hunt.
At night, Trapper splits the team into two groups;Buck, Bill, and Willy will work the east of the ridgeline, and Trapper, Huckleberry, and Jeff to the west of it, and both will move towards the trap. Before they begin the hunt, Trapper asks Bill just what is it his weapon is. Bill explains his "weapon", a stick with three wooden spikes at one end and a deer antler at the other, is to use on the Bloodless Howler because it's supposed to be bulletproof. Huckleberry, however, discovers Bill's weapon is also a great back scratcher, to which everyone has a laugh. But Trapper is still positive the Bloodless Howler is able to be shot. With that, the hunt begins. Shortly into the search, Trapper mentions that due to the sudden shift in temperature and the snow gone, the Bloodless Howler will be easy to spot. Meanwhile, Buck team comes across a fresh scent post, meaning the Bloodless Howler is in the area. When Buck radios Trapper and tells him what they have found, they hear a snap in the darkness beyond. Buck tells Trapper it's nearby, and he tells him to close the distance between them, so Buck team proceeds to move in on it. As they move forward, they find what looks like a fallen tree, with signs of something going in in front of it, possibly a den of the Bloodless Howler. Willy crawls in and says there it goes far back and there is definetly something living inside when he is interrupted by a snap from above. He jumps out fast, and they realize it must be much closer then they thought. Suddenly, a howl like they one heard before comes from close by. This is startling to Buck who knows the beast howls before it attacks. Trapper's team hears the howls and radios Buck to see what's going on when they use radio contact. Knowing the others are in trouble when Buck told them it was close, Trapper's team gets in the side by side to help the rest of the group. Meanwhile, Buck's team is forced to retreat and take shelter in a tree stand they come across. Up in the tree stand, Buck attempts to call Trapper again but they fail to make contact, when Bill hears something walking in the woods. Suddnely, they hear something smash into wood, and growling, coming from right below their feet. Knowing the creature is right underneath of them, the three are desperate for help. In the side by side, Trapper's team drive to the help of their team members at top speed. Up in the tree stand, the trio hear more growling followed by a roar, and catch a glimpse of something running off. Believing the Bloodless Howler to be running the direction of the trap, they follow, slide down a hill, and are picked up by Trapper's team in the side by side. Telling the others the Bloodless Howler's heading to the trap, the drive in pursuit and arrive at the junkyard,

     where they spot it again, and spread out in attempt to locate it. Beleiving it to be behind a trailer the team circles it, and Jeff picks up a large creature on his thermal in the junkyard. They advance it the direction it's in, and hear more banging around, but have trouble determining where the creature is, when they hear it head over the hill, towards the trap. They slowly move towards the hill, although Buck trips and falls briefly, and then he Willy and Bill take off down the hill after it again after seeing it, followed by the rest of the team. Willy and Bill arrive first, and hear something roaring and hitting the walls inside the trap, but when they get to the trap, they find there's nothing inside, and the Bloodless Howler dug a big hole in the side, and ran off. Bill tells the team when he got on top of the trap, he heard the Bloodless Howler inside, then heard a bang, and heard it run off. The team relizes that when Willy put the boards in the ground when it was frozen, but when the ground unthawed, the Bloodless Howler was able to dig it's way out. Inside, Willy finds the bucket of blood, and determines the Bloodless Howler tested every part of the trap until it found the weakest spot where it dug it's way out.

     Though they are disappointed, Trapper is glad they at least proved the Bloodless Howler isn't a ghost. Since they've seen the Bloodless Howler, and heard it, Buck says they now for sure it exists in Harrison County. Though Bill didn't get to use his weapon on the Bloodless Howler, Huckleberry asks him if he can have it for a back scratcher, and everyone laughs. Trapper says that he doesn't think the Bloodless Howler is amused though, as they put the fear into him, and Jeff doesn't think it'll be back for a while. With the hunt over, the team heads for home.

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