The Varmint of Burkes Garden

The highest mountain valley in Virginia is Burke’s Garden, also referred to as “God’s Thumbprint” for its bowl-like shape.

It was here that something began killing sheep in the winter of 1952.  Night after night, farmers woke to fresh losses, and no one could agree on what was responsible. Was it a wolf, a panther, or something stranger and unexplainable? 

This week we tell the story of Burke’s Garden and the mysterious predator that became known as the “Varmint of Burke’s Garden” and gripped an Appalachian community with fear for nearly a year.

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