FIELD FILE · WOODBOOGERHOMINIDLOCAL LEGEND

Woodbooger

Also known as Woodbooger of Norton, Wood Booger, Southwest Virginia Bigfoot

Southwest Virginia’s hairy, Bigfoot-like ‘Woodbooger’ – the Appalachian bogeyman that Norton turned into a trademarked mascot with a sanctuary and statue.

In the coal-country mountains of far Southwest Virginia, a big, hairy, man-like creature has long gone by a homely Appalachian name: the Woodbooger. The word is related to “booger” or “boogerman,” the regional term for a bogeyman, and parents across the mountains have used it to keep children from wandering into the woods after dark. Norton’s city manager has pointed to an 1892 newspaper mention of a “Woodbooger” as evidence that the name is old, and local tellers say sightings have been reported in the hills around Powell Valley for generations.

The creature’s modern fame began with a piece of shaky video. In 2009 an ATV rider near Gum Hill in nearby Wise County filmed a large, dark figure crossing a rocky stream, a clip that circulated online as the “Beast of Gum Hill.” It caught the attention of Animal Planet’s Finding Bigfoot, whose team spent a week in Southwest Virginia in October 2011, filming around Norton, Washington County, Damascus and Saltville.

Norton, Virginia’s smallest independent city with fewer than 4,000 residents, was looking for new ways to bring in visitors as the coal industry declined. Employees at a local hardware store began selling Woodbooger T-shirts after the show aired, and the city soon embraced the idea: it obtained a federal service mark for the Woodbooger name, the city council declared the Flag Rock Recreation Area a Woodbooger Sanctuary in 2014, and a giant Sasquatch statue went up on the trail to the Flag Rock overlook in 2015.

Today the Woodbooger is Norton’s friendly mascot, celebrated with an annual fall Woodbooger Festival, a September geocaching trail, and a downtown grill named in its honor – a small Appalachian city’s cheerful bet on a big hairy legend.

Type

Hominid

Status

Local legend

First reported

1890s

Best-known location

Flag Rock and Powell Valley, Norton, Virginia

Also called

Woodbooger of Norton, Wood Booger, Southwest Virginia Bigfoot

Reported in

Virginia

What witnesses describe

A tall, upright, ape-like creature covered in dark hair, essentially the Appalachian version of Bigfoot. Witnesses describe a large, shadowy figure moving through woods and creeks.

Where and when it’s seen

The steep, forested ridges of Wise County and Powell Valley around Norton, Virginia, including the High Knob massif and the Flag Rock Recreation Area.

Notable sightings

1. 2009The “Beast of Gum Hill” video Gum Hill, Wise County, Virginia

   An ATV rider’s video showing a large, shadowy figure crossing a rocky stream spread online and drew national Bigfoot investigators to the area.

2. October 2011<em>Finding Bigfoot</em> comes to Norton Norton, Virginia

   Animal Planet’s team filmed for a week in Southwest Virginia. The episode turned the local Woodbooger name into a regional brand.

3. 2014A Woodbooger Sanctuary Flag Rock Recreation Area, Norton

   Norton City Council designated the Flag Rock Recreation Area a Woodbooger Sanctuary. A large statue of the creature was put up beside the overlook trail the following year.

What could explain it?

• Black bears, common in the Southwest Virginia mountains, often stand upright and are the most likely explanation for large, dark, hairy figures.
• The Woodbooger began as a regional bogeyman – a cautionary figure used to keep children out of the woods – rather than as an animal report.
• Video like the Gum Hill clip is too distant and unclear to identify the subject, and could show a person or a bear.
• The town’s tourism campaign is openly playful; the legend’s popularity owes more to marketing and television than to new evidence.

Legend, culture and tourism

Norton has built a small tourism industry around the Woodbooger: a trademarked name, the Flag Rock Woodbooger Sanctuary and statue, the annual fall Woodbooger Festival with music, vendors, guided hikes and Bigfoot speakers, the Woodbooger GeoTrail and plenty of merchandise. The word itself comes from Appalachian “booger” lore, the mountain South’s name for bogeymen and haunts.

Places to visit

Where it’s reported

Virginia

Woodbooger in the news

No recent headlines about the Woodbooger. Our news desk checks every day — see all cryptid news.

First published October 13, 2026 · Updated October 14, 2026