Growing up in the Appalachian Mountains, TikToker Eli (@elimaxwellmitchell) has experienced many scary encounters in the woods.
But the woods aren’t the only place you might run into creepy creatures. There’s something in the water, too, and Eli has seen it with his own eyes.
When he was a kid, he was fishing at Watts Bar Dam in Tennessee with his dad on a winter day. They had a propane lantern for light, and he was wearing a wetsuit that was too large for him.
They were fishing on the bank when they suddenly heard a bunch of commotion in the water. They looked down and saw a catfish swimming around. But it wasn’t just any regular ol’ catfish.
“To me, at that age, it looked bigger than a school bus,” Eli recalled. “In reality, it had to have been bigger than a car. I don’t think it was as big as a school bus, but it was bigger than a car.”
“That’s a catfish that probably weighs 2,000 to 3,000 pounds.”
Dams in Tennessee have huge turbines, which are like massive fans that spin around. They are located at the bottom of the dams, and many fish and other creatures get caught in them.
The giant catfish are bottom feeders, and they gobble up all the dead fish. They don’t have any natural predators, so they just keep growing.
Another time, he and his dad were fishing on a boat when they caught a catfish. It dragged the boat through the water, and right before the fishing line snapped, its tail came out of the water. It looked like the size of a whale.
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“So, if you have ever thought about getting in the water in the Appalachian Mountains and any of those deep rivers, just don’t do it,” Eli warned.
“Don’t do it. There are massive fish in there that can literally swallow you whole.”
According to the caption of his video, he added that he will never set foot in the water there again. Many divers have also seen these fish and have vowed not to go back down in that water.
Several TikTok users shared those experiences with freakishly large fish in the comments section.
“My dad was fishing in the river in Cherokee. I was swimming up from him, looking for salamanders. I ended up touching and getting absolutely startled by a massive hellbender. I am not joking when I say this thing was bigger around my leg, and it was definitely not a fish,” commented one user.
“I used to fish at Watts Bar all the time when I was younger. I only live like an hour from there. Those catfish are insanely huge, and you have to watch out for gar as well,” declared another.
“Central Kentucky here! My uncle caught one longer than my leg once, but I know there are way bigger ones! We always had the school bus legends, too!” exclaimed a third.
By Emily Chan
Emily Chan is a writer who covers lifestyle and news content. She graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in... More about Emily Chan
