© News Channel 36A mysterious creature leaves its mark, ripping a vehicle to pieces.
"Oh man," exclaimed 8-year-old RJ Gilliam. "I saw the car. I was like, 'What in the world happened?'"
Scratches, bite marks and holes -- that's the surprise the Gilliam family of Lincoln County, North Carolina found in their driveway on Sunday.
"I didn't hear anything," said SUV owner Holly Gilliam. "That scares me, too. Why didn't I hear something?"
© News Channel 36
"You know where you can get spotlights, there's big giant holes where it ripped them out," said RJ.
Whatever damaged the 2004 Saturn Vue ripped through fiberglass and caused thousands of dollars in damage.
"I can't see somebody's pet doing that," said RJ's mother.
"Maybe a bobcat or a coyote," the 8-year-old offered as possibilities.
Experts couldn't say for sure what caused the damage.
"They came out and said they'd never seen anything like it and took pictures," said Holly Gilliam.
Whatever it was, it has paws. It left its muddy prints on the hood, no bigger than tennis balls.
"I would have never thought anything could do that," said RJ. "And if it did that to the car, what could it do to me? I'm going to be in the lookout to see if anything is coming at me."
Source: News Channel 36
The only animal I know of that would do something like this would be an otter. They do tear up fiberglass boats if they smell fish.
But this isn't a boat and I don't suppose she left fish in her car so...how very bizarre.