Shark Attacks Teen At South Carolina Beach: 'I Thought My Brother Was Messing With Me'

An Ohio teen was attacked by a shark while boogie boarding at a local beach during the first day of her family vacation in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Reagan Readnour, 14, told local media that she at first believed her brother was messing with her before realizing what had happened.

The incident reportedly occurred June 18 while Readnour was dangling her legs in waste-deep in water at Burkes Beach at the Hilton Head Island, the Island Packet reported Friday. The teen told the paper she felt something tug on her leg before realizing she’d been bitten twice. She was swimming with her family at the time of the attack.

“I thought it was my brother messing with me when I felt something grab at my leg,” Readnour said. “I felt a terrible sting and didn’t know what it was.”

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Readnour said that her brother was laughing at her before noticing the blood on her leg and realizing the severity of what had occurred. She added, “His face turned white, then I started screaming, and they all started helping me and calming me down. I think I kind of blacked out at that point.”

The bite was initially treated as a stingray wound as lifeguards at the beach have rarely encountered actual shark bites, Beach Shore Services director Mike Wagner told the Island Packet. But Readnour said she knew the bite wasn’t a stingray. Local lifeguards reportedly treat more than 500 stingray bites annually but see virtually zero shark attacks.

According to the Island Packet, the incident was not reported by local authorities at the time. Readnour said that to her memory, “they didn’t clear the beach.”

Local NBC affiliate WSAV reported Friday that Readnour was in the water for approximately 30 minutes before the attack occurred. Though she never saw it, estimates claim it was a four to five-foot bull shark.

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She was treated for multiple lacerations to her thigh and calf at Hilton Head Hospital, at which time doctors alerted her that the bite was indeed shark-inflicted.

“I feel lucky that I only had a few lacerations, and I mean, not a lot of people get to say they got bit by a shark,” Readnour told the Island Packet. “You always hear of people getting their arms bit off and losing a limb from shark bites, and mine wasn’t that bad.”

Readnour’s newly minted nickname among members of her family is now “Shark Bait.”

Readnour told the Island Packet that while she’s “probably not getting in the ocean again,” she plans to visit Hilton Head again next year.

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