White Screamer

Ghostly white or pale apparition, typically described as deer-like in form though details are difficult to confirm due to mist-like quality. Size varies in reports from normal deer size to much larger. Most notable feature is the spectral white coloration and seeming ability to blend with fog or mist. Some accounts describe glowing eyes. Movement appears unnatural, sometimes seeming to float.

Produces bloodcurdling, anguished screams that echo through mountain valleys. Rarely seen but frequently heard. Appears in or near thick fog or mist. Generally flees if approached. Screams often described as combining human and animal qualities. Most active during early morning hours. May be territorial, as screams often heard in same locations repeatedly.

High elevations in Appalachian mountains, particularly in Tennessee and North Carolina. Associated with misty valleys and fog-prone areas. Often sighted near mountain gaps and passes. Prefers remote, isolated areas away from human habitation.

Unknown. If the creature is indeed similar to deer, diet would be herbivorous, but this is speculation.

The core legend centers on a young family living in a hollow near Trace Creek in the early 1920s. After weeks of hearing nightly screams in the woods, described as an animal cry that also sounded like a young girl, the father finally stormed out with a gun to hunt the source. As the story goes, the woods went quiet… until the screaming started again, this time from the direction of his cabin. When he ran back, he found his wife and seven children torn apart by an unseen attacker. No official records of such a crime exist, but the tale has circulated in Dickson County for generations. Subsequent reports through the 1930s and 1940s describe locals hearing inhuman shrieks rolling across the valleys near White Bluff and later within what is now Montgomery Bell State Park. Witnesses talk about a sound that starts like an animal howl and then “turns into” something almost human. At least one family camping trip in the 1970s ended with people fleeing in the night after something screamed from just beyond the tree line, leaving gear behind and returning next day to find large, cat-like tracks in the mud.

The White Screamer is a localized legend from White Bluff, Tennessee. It is specifically associated with a hollow near the Harpeth River. Witnesses report seeing a pale, misty, or white-furred creature that stalks the woods and cliffs. The terrain of White Bluff, with its steep ridges and dense undergrowth, provides the perfect setting for such a creature. Locals often warn teenagers against parking or camping in the area known as 'The Screamer's Hollow.'

The White Screamer blurs the line between cryptid and ghost. Its description as a white, ape-like or dog-like creature suggests a biological animal, perhaps an albino specimen of a known predator. However, its wailing cry and the way it seems to vanish into thin air lean towards the paranormal. Some stories claim it is the spirit of a woman who lost her children, while others insist it is a flesh-and-blood beast. This ambiguity is typical of Southern haunts, where tragic history and monster lore intertwine.

“I was hunting before dawn when I heard the most terrible scream. It echoed through the valley - not like any animal I've ever heard. Then I saw it through the mist, this white shape moving between the trees. It looked like a deer but wrong somehow, too pale, moving too smoothly. When it screamed again, every hair on my body stood up. I've hunted these mountains for forty years and I've never heard anything like it.”

“My husband and I were camping when we woke to this screaming. It sounded almost human but more primal, anguished. We looked outside and saw this pale white figure in the fog. It was hard to make out details but it seemed to be floating above the ground. The screaming went on for maybe two minutes, then it was gone. We packed up and left at first light.”