West Virginia Woman Recalls Terrifying 1970s Bigfoot Encounter Near Beckley

There's something about a childhood encounter that sticks with you decades later, and the story shared on the Bigfoot Society channel recently is exactly that kind of account. A woman named Alora, now nearly 60 years old, called in to describe an experience she had as a kid in the woods near Beckley, West Virginia, back around 1976 to 1980. What makes her story stand out isn't just the encounter itself, but the way it has haunted her ever since, and the strange detail that seems to tie it all together. Alora was with seven other family members, walking through the dense forest just a mile or so from the houses. West Virginia woods are no joke, thick canopy, you can't see past five feet if the sun isn't out. While the rest of the group kept moving, she kept stopping. She could smell something. Something like rotting death and meat, a smell she says is unforgettable, especially for someone who has worked in hospitals and knows what death smells like. That wasn't it. This was different. Then she heard them. Three of them, communicating in a way that sounded like triangulation, like they were talking about the group. The sound was guttural, deep, layered, lasting 45 seconds without wavering, shaking trees. She felt it in her bones, in her teeth. When she finally looked up and behind, the tone changed. One of them had seen them. The smell, the sound, the feeling of being watched, it all came together in a way that left her terrified. And Alora is not someone who scares easily. She's been around a lot in her life, but this was different. Goosebumps covered her face, her hair was standing up. She says nothing supernatural usually gives her goosebumps, but this did. The second encounter is what really got her. Her cousins convinced her to go back into the woods, and this time she saw something nine feet tall. Not a werewolf like in the movies, but something she describes as a dog man. It cocked its head at her, like it knew she could see it. Then it just disappeared. Dissipated right in front of her. She was 10 or 11 years old, and she thought there was magic happening. What makes this story even more interesting is the location. Beckley, West Virginia, is right near the New River Gorge National Park, which was established in 2020. Alora finds it strange that a national park would be put right in an area where these beings are known to live. It makes you wonder what the long-term plan is, or if there's even a plan at all. The Appalachians have always been a hotspot for sightings, and the folklore there is rich. The old saying about sounds in the mountains is that the closer they sound, the farther away they are, and the farther away they sound, the closer they really are. Alora experienced exactly that. The communication she heard sounded distant, but the feeling was that they were right there. She still doesn't sleep with the light off for long periods after that, even as an adult. She has this feeling that if she went back, they'd know her by scent. She'd be the one who saw them, who knows them. Whether that's good or bad, she doesn't know. But the fact that she still thinks about it, still feels that pull of fear mixed with curiosity, says a lot about how real these experiences are to the people who live through them. The full interview is worth catching over on the Bigfoot Society channel. Jeremiah Byron does a great job letting the witness tell her story without interrupting too much, and Alora's account is one of those stories that stays with you. It's not just about what she saw, it's about how it changed the way she sees the woods forever.