Black Bear Gets Stuck Inside Grafton, NH Home For 45 Minutes

GRAFTON, N.H. (CBS) - A homeowner in New Hampshire was shocked to find an uninvited visitor in her home. Melissa Kelley-Champney said a bear broke into her house and chewed on doorknobs and teared down drywall.

"I have COVID. I had a fever. I was so sick and so tired. I was dead asleep," Kelley-Champney said.

She was asleep until her husband began screaming that a black bear had somehow gotten into their enclosed porch, possibly tempted by the recently used smoker grill. With their visitor blocking the only house exit, and now banging against the door into the dining room, her husband offered a lethal suggestion.

"He grabbed the shotgun and he said, 'well I'll shoot it,'" Kelley-Champney said. "Everybody who knows me knows that's not an option."

So instead, they decided her husband would climb out an upstairs window onto the roof, jump to the ground and then open the porch door from the outside, so the bear could scamper away.

Melissa's job was to make sure the animal didn't push through the dining room door.

"Every time he came at the door, I would kick it or punch it and say, 'No. Bad bear. Wrong door.' And he was very good about backing off," she said.

After a 45-minute stay, the bear finally left through the door her husband opened. Melissa says she'll leave the smoker outside in the future.

"I laugh about it," Kelley-Champney said. "It was my fault."