Woman Shares Video of Bear Crossing a Crowded Gatlinburg Street

What would you do if you were walking down the street, just minding your own business - maybe you're doing a little shopping, or maybe grabbing a bite of lunch - when all of the sudden a big ol' black bear comes walking by? I think most of us would probably freak out, I know I sure would, but apparently people in Gatlinburg, TN have a different reaction. Their first reaction is not to run away or hide, instead, they pull out their phone to get some footage of the incident. I guess I should be grateful for that, otherwise, I wouldn't be talking about this video.

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The woman behind the camera is Abby Sloan. Abby is actually from Henderson, KY - she now lives in Gatlinburg. She was on her lunch break when she spotted this beautiful bear sauntering down an alley between two buildings. She doesn't shy away from the bear, in fact, several people don't shy away. You can see some folks head in the other direction, but you can also see at least one other person recording on their phone too.

Does anybody else find it interesting that the bear walks right past a Ben & Jerry's and heads directly for the Asian restaurant across the street? Luckily it had a hankering for some General Tso's chicken that day and not tourist tartare.

This must be a fairly common occurrence in Gatlinburg because Abby has created a new TikTok account called BurgBearWatch to help document and share her bear encounters.

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