Dan Bigley was on a fishing trip in Alaska when a meeting changed his life forever. He accidentally came between a bear and her cubs and was dragged into the forest. Bigley passed out several times as the bear attacked him, and now, he reveals the horrifying last sound he heard before it all went pitch black.

Dan Bigley loved the outdoors, fishing, hiking, and all that comes with it. One time, as he had just gotten into a relationship with a woman named Amber, his friend asked if he wanted to go fishing.

Speaking to the Black Rifle Coffee Company, Bigley recalled, “I said to Amber, I was like ‘Well, hey, I’ll call you when I get off the river. Little did we know I would have less than 12 hours left to see.”

On the second day of the trip, Bigley suddenly found himself about 30 feet from a large brown bear. He was used to handling bear encounters, but this meeting took a horrifying turn.

The bear, whom Bigley recalled as “agitated,” wouldn’t leave them alone. As they backed away and felt safe, the bear appeared. This time, right in front of them, the bear had cubs. She appeared out of nowhere at “missile speed,” and attacked.

“I’ll never forget her eyes, kind of burning yellow with fury and her mouth agape,” Dan recalled. “Before I’d even his the ground, she had a hold of my legs and was pulling me out of the bushes.”

Dan Bigley survived bear attack

Speaking with NPR, he further elaborated on what happened.

“She drug me off into the woods and stood over the top of me with front claws digging into either shoulder and her head directly over mine. That’s when she cocked her head sideways and bit down across my face,” he said.

Bigley explained how he remembers the “pitiful screaming sound that sounded like the sound of a dying animal,” before realizing it was he who screamed. However, the sound he heard next, right before passing out, was even worse: the sound of his own skull crunching before losing consciousness.

Luckily, Dan was helped by his friend and some fishermen, who took him to safety. He became permanently blind – but it could’ve been much worse.

“I’m blind and I’m happy,” Dan Bigley told NPR.