Deputies Hunt 'Monster'
Knoxville Journal -- September 24, 1959
Knox County deputies were searching the northeast section of Knox County last night for somebody of [sic] something which two Clapps Road residents fired two shotgun blasts at and described as being eight to 10 feet tall and weighing more than 200 pounds.
Earl Taylor, 24-year-old father of two small children, first saw what he described as some kind of a "monster" when it came to the window on the front porch of his house.
"When I saw the 'thing' I ran to the door and 'it' ran," Taylor explained. "So I went across the road to a neighbor's, John Rosenbaum. We sat under a tree in the yard to see if it would return."
"We had been sitting in the yard for a few minutes when we heard two loud thumps on my car," Taylor continued.
The two men ran to the side of the house where the car was parked and saw something run toward the woods, deputies reported.
This is when Rosenbaum, a 24-year-old Tucker Steel Co. employe [sic], fired two shotgun blasts at the "creature," according to reports.
"I shot twice from about 30-45 feet," Rosenbaum said. "I don't believe it was human, it was too big and moved too fast and quiet."
Deputies said there were two long scratches on the hood of Taylor's car, which he and several of the neighbors said were not there when they polished the car earlier in the day.
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