Eric and Shelley Martin say they were surrounded by mysterious wolf-like creatures who left claw marks scored into the walls of their Palmyra home
The wolves surrounded the house(Image: Getty Images)
A distraught Maine family claims they endured hours of terror from five wolves who left claw marks gouged into their farmhouse walls.
Eric Martin had worked at a paper mill when a back injury forced him out of work. His wife, Shelley, hadn’t been employed for years but rose to the challenge when it appeared the family faced losing all income.
She secured employment in her small hometown of Palmyra, Maine, and they relocated with their 17-year-old daughter Chelsea in 2006, according to Mr Ballen on Youtube.
The farmhouse stood isolated, encircled by extremely thick forest. Their son, Sean, assisted with the move, helping Eric construct storage for his firearms in an external garage as Shelley refused to have weapons inside the house.
Shelley and Eric would enjoy coffee on their wrap-around porch each evening – and it developed into something of a nightly ritual for them, reports the Mirror US.
The winter night turned out to be the scariest of their life(Image: Shane Srogi/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock)
Twelve months after settling into the property in 2007, Shelley believed she spotted something shifting at the woodland’s edge. Given the layout of their land – this would have been approximately 200 metres distant.
Before their porch lay a gravel track, 20 metres to the left stood their barn, followed by an open field. Past this stretched the forest.
Eric and Shelley ventured beyond the tree-line’s edge into the woods to investigate but after 15 minutes detected sounds resembling an animal so left. One afternoon, Chelsea and her boyfriend Nathan decided to take their dogs for a stroll through the woodland.
Upon entering the thick forest, the dogs bolted roughly 100 metres ahead before suddenly stopping dead in their tracks.
The animals had frozen before an enormous mound featuring a large circular opening at its front. Nathan insisted he’d heard a growling sound after investigating what had captured the dogs’ attention – prompting them to leave hastily.
Several months passed before Eric and Shelley witnessed something peculiar during their evening coffee ritual. They reported the birds had fallen completely silent and the wildlife had gone eerily quiet – typically an indication of a predator nearby.
Shelley started sweeping the grounds with her torch while Eric said that the moment she paused, he felt an overpowering urge to retreat indoors.
Peering into the field, they spotted three creatures rapidly joined by two additional ones – describing them as resembling wolves – though they acknowledged they might have been bears.
Dashing upstairs, they gazed through the window to watch the wolves, which had now moved onto the gravel outside their property – with one rising up on its hind legs.
Shelley retreated upstairs to shelter with her dogs while Eric decided he needed to fetch his firearms. The creatures had retreated to the field, so he seized the opportunity to reach his truck in an attempt to evacuate his family.
Yet alarmingly, as he went to climb into his vehicle, he spotted the creatures had reappeared even nearer to the house. Eric dashed back indoors, and the family opted to barricade themselves inside their property for protection until daybreak.
They reported contacting the police, who apparently advised that the creatures would probably depart on their own.
Alarmingly, they could hear the beings prowling around the exterior of their house, and to their absolute dread, when daylight arrived the following morning, they discovered claw marks scratched into the walls of their dwelling.
The family swiftly relocated from the vicinity permanently.