Man who narrowly survived bear attack reveals the horrifying sound he heard before passing out
Dan Bigley somehow survived the moment a bear crushed his skull
Liv Bridge
A man who miraculously survived being mauled by a bear has detailed the horrific sound he heard before losing consciousness.
Dan Bigley, an avid backpacker and adventurer of the great outdoors, was living in Alaska when he came across the mighty beast that left him permanently blind and almost claimed his life.
Speaking to Black Rifle Coffee Company, Dan said he had just gotten into a new relationship with a woman called Amber when the next day, his buddy called him up to go on a fishing trip.
"I said to Amber, I was like 'Well, hey, I'll call you when I get off the river,'" he recalled. "Little did we know I would have less than 12 hours left to see."
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After a day of fishing, Dan said the pair were headed back to the campground and were almost there when his dog, Maya, let out 'a little growl'.
"I look up and sure enough like, 30 feet in front of us on the trail, there's a large brown bear." he said.
While the then 25-year-old says it wasn't his first encounter, he noticed the bear was clearly 'agitated', so they backed away slowly.
The pair thought they were out of the woods and were even talking about how 'crazy' the moment was when, all of a sudden, 'in front of us we see the alders on the trail shaking.'
"Immediately, my heart just sinks to my toes because when you get followed by a bear, like stalking behavior or cut off by bears, that's generally pretty bad situation you don't want to be in."
While turning back, in 10 steps, the unimaginable happened with the predator now 'ripping around the corner wildly at super high speeds.'
The pair had accidentally made a grave mistake, coming in close proximity to the bear's cubs, which put them in 'the worst possible situation.'
Dan says the bear charged at him at 'missile speed' and while he tried to stand his ground, he soon realized it was no bluff.
"I'll never forget her eyes, kind of burning yellow with fury and her mouth agape," he recalled, adding that he took a few running steps and launched into the bushes.
"Before I'd even his the ground, she had a hold of my legs and was pulling me out of the bushes." Dan continued.
"I just remember hearing this pitiful screaming sound that sounded like the sound of a dying animal and I just remember having the realization, 'Holy s***, that's me making that sound.'"
The next horrific sound he can recall was the sound of his own skull 'crunching' before he lost consciousness.
Dan says he came around about three or four times during the mauling, and even when he thought it was over, he made a desperate call out to his buddy, the bear came back to resume her grisly attack.
Dan recalled how the animal even flipped him onto his back and proceeded to bite across his face from side to side and 'chewed'.
Eventually, his buddy and some fishermen came to his rescue once the bear had left him for dead.
While in the ER, Dan's injuries were so severe, with his head and face being completely unrecognisable and six of seven main arteries either severed or lacerated, that medics said his injuries were 'incompatible with life.'
Yet they found the bear had only come within just millimetres of Dan's brain, meaning he was somehow spared from death and being severely brain-damaged.
He went on to survive surgery, ward off the risk of lethal infection and came out of a coma just 12 days later.
After recovering, he and Amber met up and now share two children.