March 24, 2025 • 32 mins
May 1975, Southeast Kansas: A 17-year-old nursing student's encounter with a 9-foot dogman escalates into a supernatural stalking case that spans miles. After decades of silence, the survivor finally shares her terrifying story.
- Sign-up for GROUND NEWS for 40% off their 'Vantage' subscription!! https://check.ground.news/inbetween 😊💜
*Affiliate Disclaimer: With the above link, we earn a small commission on sales, at no additional cost to you.
Find our videos on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@TheInBetweenTales
Send your stories to: InBetweenTales@gmail.com
Work with us: theinbetween@ekhoinc.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:16):
Strange mysteries, unexplained phenomena.
And the shadows in between.
This is The InBetween Official Podcastwith your host,
Carol Ann!
The messageappeared in both their minds at once.
I'm going to kill you.
(00:38):
But that was just
the beginning of a nightmarethat would claim the life of a loyal dog,
destroy a marriage and drive one manto drink himself to death.
Welcome to The InBetween.
I'm Carol Ann, and tonight's story provesthat sometimes
the real horror isn'tin surviving a Dogman encounter.
It's in living with the memory.
(01:06):
Not every kid is born
with a silver iPhone in their hand,including Joyce Stone.
The third of three children,
she was born in the late 50sto a southeast Kansas farmer and his wife,
who barely have enough moneyto feed the two boys they already have.
Joyce's dad has no problem making it known
(01:26):
throughout Joyce's childhoodthat she was supposed to be a boy.
At least a boy can pull his weightwith chores around the farm to help out.
So Joyce,like any other little girl in her shoes
who just wants the approvalof her father, starts going by
the name Jo (Joyce is way too girly),and does everything she can
(01:48):
to grow into the toughest, bravest tomboythat a girl can be.
She works hard to be able to do anythingher brothers can do.
But her brothers are just like anybodyelse's older brothers (even mine),
who love nothing morethan to freak her out any chance they get.
If she flinches, she is treated to rounds
(02:11):
of, “You’re such a girl.”That's the worst.
You can be scared, but you can't show it.
So Jo makes it her missionto never show fear.
Well, as the years rollon, we get to the spring of 1975.
Jo has grown into one tough teenager,
(02:32):
but the farm is still not doing very well.
So at age 17, she drops out of school,
gets her GED to help on the farm.
But what she really wants to do,her lifelong ambition, is to be a nurse.
She applies to nursing school,and even though she's a year too young,
her tough as nails attitude, convinces
(02:54):
the school administratorsto let her give it a shot.
Nursing school is tougherthan she thought it was going to be.
There's so much to learn.
But Jo, being the tenacious young womanthat she is,
just put on her big girlpants and works as hard as she can.
Now Jo has herself a boyfriend, Dale,who's about 18 and starting out his life
(03:19):
well enough that he has his own houseon the other side of town already.
So they fall into a routine.
Jo goes to school during the day,spends evenings with Dale,
comes home around 10:30-11:00 at night,
sleeps for a couple of hours,and then gets up at 3 a.m.
to study for school later in the morning.
(03:40):
Sounds like a rough schedule to me,but she's
getting a 4.0 - so okay.
Jo's family farm is a full five milesfrom town in the middle of nowhere.
Woods all around.
So at night it'sespecially dark with only a little yellow
bug light bulb on the porchto show her the way.
(04:02):
On the night of May6th, she's making her way
through the dark onto the dim yellowlight of the porch.
She hears somethingrustling around in the brush and trees.
Whatever it is, it's a few feet upoff the ground and about 30ft away.
She stops, looks over there thinking,what is that?
(04:23):
Whatever it is. Sounds big.
She walks over to that side of the porchand looks out into the trees and shrubs
to see if she can figure out what it is,but it's quiet.
In fact, everything is quiet.
So she thinks, well, maybe it's a buck
with its hornscaught in the branches or something.
Weird,but not out of the realm of possibility.
(04:46):
But whatever it is, Jo claps her hands
and yells, “Get out of here,”to try to scare it away.
Maybe the loud yelling will startle it,and it can free itself.
But instead of something running away,she hears this “huff” sound and thinks,
that's not like any deerI know, or any animal for that matter.
(05:07):
But things sound strange in the dark,
so she just kind of says,whatever, and goes in the house.
Two nights later, Jo wakes up to rumbling
thunder and branchesscraping on the metal roof. Yes!
Jo loves storms.
So she just lies back in her bed,watching the flashing lightning
(05:27):
through her tall bedroom windows, knowing
she doesn't have school in the morningso she can watch all night.
Her room at the back of the househas two really big tall windows.
One on the leftby her bed and one on the right, right
across the roomfrom the door to the hallway.
She fluffs her pillow, puts her head backdown, and gets ready for the show.
(05:51):
Lightning flashesand she notices something
blocking the light of the windowby her bed.
She sits up, starts to get out of bedwhen there's another
light flash,and she sees that she's right.
The lightning only shows throughabout the top third of the window.
But that doesn't make any sense.
The house is up on cinder blocks,so if something's standing that
(06:13):
tall in front of the window,it would have to be 8 to 9ft tall.
But whatever. It's got to be her brother.
He must be standing on something.
And the funky light is just making himlook bigger.
She starts walkingtoward the window with a plan
to throw her sheer curtains backand ruin her brother's prank.
(06:35):
Lightning flashes again,and she thinks that can't be my brother.
Well, maybe it's the shed in the backyardthrowing a shadow.
That's got to be it.
She turns and heads down the hallwayto use the bathroom.
As she's coming back,lightning flashes again
and stops her in her tracks.
The shadow blocking the lighthas moved to the window on the right,
(07:00):
and she's standing theretrying to wrap your head around
how the shadow from the shedcould move to the other window.
So she goes over to the window by her bed,with the idea that she can kind of
look over to the right and see exactlywhat is blocking the light.
And as she gets close to the window,the shadow glides back over to the left.
(07:22):
Okay, that's not her brother.
He is incapable of gliding,
and as much as she hates the feeling,she's starting to get scared.
She creeps a little closer.
Her knees are shaking a bit,but she knows in her head she's safe.
The curtains are only sheers,but they're white shears.
So when the lightning flashes, it'sgoing to bounce off the white.
(07:46):
And whatever's outsidecan't see her inside her dark room.
Right?
When she gets to about a footand a half away, she steals herself
to push the curtains asideand find out what is going on out there.
Another flashand Jo watches the shadow shorten
until it's even with her height.
(08:07):
What?
Now she is full on scared.
Like it or not. But she can't move.
She is nailed to that spot,looking out the window,
waiting for the next flash, hopingshe can figure out what is out there.
She hears a little bang on the window,and the sound of
sniffing like an animaltrying to catch a scent.
(08:28):
And it dawns on herthat whatever this thing is,
maybe it's the same thing she triedto chase out of the yard the other night.
Maybe she made it mad.
The storm is getting closer,so the flashes are faster.
The next flash, Jo, sees this thing'sright arm
reach up toward the top of the windowand her heart stops.
(08:51):
She sees through the shears,not the paw of an animal, but a hand.
Five separate fingers,each one with 2 or 3 inch claw at the end.
Now her knees are really startingto shake.
She hears what sounds like scratchingat the trim of her window.
Is thing trying to get in?
(09:12):
She wants to run,but she is frozen in fear.
She doesn't know what to do.
She just can't think.
A full on lightningstrike hits a dead tree
not far from the house,taking off a big branch.
A series of lightning strikesturns night into day.
Long enoughfor Jo to see the profile of this creature
(09:33):
as it turns its head to check outwhat's going on with the tree.
What she sees changes her life forever.
It has a wide head like a wolf,but massive.
It has ears on it, like a German Shepherdor like a Doberman.
Maybe 4 or 5in long,with tufts of hair at the end.
(09:55):
This nose on this thing is way longer
than anything she'd ever seen on a dog,or in pictures of wolves.
She sees bright white teeththat are about three inches
long, with canines that are even longer.
Its fur is all blackand from what she can see,
this thing is jacked.
(10:16):
Jo's body finally catches up with her headand she takes off
running into the living room, jumpson the couch and covers her head.
Her whole body is shaking.
Her head goes into overdrivetrying to figure out what to do.
Should she tell her family what she saw?
If she does,they're never going to believe her
(10:38):
and they're going to mock herrelentlessly.
Okay, that options out.
Instead, she just says, well, okay,I have no idea what I just saw,
but I'm certainly not going out at nightanymore.
Finals are coming up.
I'll just stay homeand put all my energy into studying.
(10:59):
By the next morning, Jo'strying to convince herself
that she didn't really see what she knowsshe saw.
As she leaves for school,she casually goes around the house
to the back to check out the treethat was struck by lightning.
The tree branch is right thereon the ground.
Okay. That happened.
So she looks up at the trim around herbedroom window and sees
(11:23):
fresh gouges in the woodand flecks of black trim
paint on the ground, and thinks,it wasn't a dream.
That really happened.
So now Jo's afraid to be in her room.
She just has this feelingthat she's somehow made this thing mad.
So, new plan.
(11:44):
From that pointon, she takes naps in her room
in the afternoonwhile it's still light out.
Then she takes out her clothesfor the next day,
hangs them on her bedroomdoor knob, and sleeps for a few more hours
in the living room couch until her alarmgoes off at 3 a.m., when it's
time to wake up, turn on the lampand start studying for school.
Problem is, the lamp shinesright into her parents room.
(12:08):
So her dad says, nuh-uh.
I can't sleep.
You're going to have to takeyour studying back into your room.
Well, that's not going to happen.
So Jo has a new idea.
She'll study in the kitchen.
Seems like a solid option.
When you walk into the kitchen,it has windows on two side walls
that have white curtains on the bottomhalf,
(12:31):
and then a door to the outsideon the far wall.
So she sets up a little readinglamp on the table so she doesn't have
to use the big fluorescentoverhead lights that late at night.
And she figures outthat she actually really likes it there.
As she's studying,
she can look up at those whitewindow curtains and use them as kind of a
mental whiteboard to figure outwhatever problem she has in her head.
(12:54):
Just a couple nightsinto this new routine, so May 10th,
just four nights after the thunderstorm,she's in the kitchen at 3 a.m.
studying when she feels a sensationthat is totally new for her.
She feels the hair on the back of her neckstand up.
Jo has no idea how she knows this,but she knows in that instant that
(13:17):
this thing is back and it's watching herthrough the windows behind her.
Remember, with the house foundationbeing up a bit and with the curtains
covering the bottom half of the windows,this thing has to be
8 to 9 feet tall.
It starts to growl.
The deepest, biggest canine
(13:38):
sounding growl Jo has ever heard.
She can feel itjust as much as she can hear it.
And it freezes her solid, head down,
looking at her booksand pencil frozen on the page.
As the monster continues to growl,
she can hear it
move around the outside of the house,past the door to the backyard,
(14:02):
and back up the other sideuntil it is right in front of her.
She keeps her eyes on the pagein front of her, too
afraid to look up at the window.
When a thought pops into her head.
If you look it in the eyes,it will come into you.
Well, what does that mean?
Does it mean it's going to possess her?
(14:23):
Or it's just going to tear through theglass and physically come in and get her?
Jo doesn't know,but she doesn't plan on finding out.
She's had enough experiencewith animals to know that a lot of times
if you look it in the eyes,it's a challenge.
And she has no intentionof challenging this thing.
But her head starts drifting up like it'sfollowing orders from somebody else.
(14:47):
And she thinks, no, no, no.
I'm not going to look at it.
Don't look at it.
She tries closing her eyes,but her eyelids won't even move.
And then she sees it.
She sees these neon yellow green lights
hovering 6 or 7in apart,and she thinks, well, that's ridiculous.
Something waytoo tall would have to be out there
(15:10):
with a little lantern or somethingto make that kind of eye shine.
But again, her bodyfinally catches up with her brain,
and she stands up so fastthat her chair goes sliding
across the floor behind her,smacking into the fridge.
The bang is like a starting gun,and she takes off
running to her parents room, bargesright in on her sleeping parents,
(15:31):
and dives on to their bed,landing right between them.
She just aboutgives them a heart attack, but
she is terrifiedand she doesn't care who knows. It.
Mom reaches over to turn on herlight and says,
what is going on?
The only thing Jo can manage to eek out
is something about a monster outside.
(15:54):
Her mom, thinking this has to besome kind of stupid joke, says,
“Do you want me to go outsideand make that big bad monster go away?”
Jo starts crying hysterically.
Then finally hits her mom thatwhatever's going on is actually serious.
Jo's dad turns over, looks at Jo,who shaking uncontrollably
(16:17):
and says, “Are you afraid,” hopinghe would get her standard
response of, “I'm not afraid of anything.”
But that is not the response he gets.
Instead, Jo looks up at her dad,
the last person in the worldshe wants to show fear
to, and just nods her head yes.
(16:40):
Her dad puts his hand on her armsand says, “It's okay.
You just fell asleepwhile you were studying
and had a nightmare.”And Jo so wants him to be right.
She nods her head yes,and actually chooses to believe him,
because the having a nightmarescenario is a way better option
(17:01):
than the thought of this monstercoming back and finding her again.
So she goes back out onto the couch.
She's not going to be sleeping tonight,so she throws a blanket over her head
with a lamp underneath so she doesn'tbother her dad, and tries to study.
Her dad comes out and sees whatshe's doing and says, don't be ridiculous.
(17:22):
Just go back in the kitchen and study.
Not a single fiber of her
being wants to do that, but she does.
Nothing else happens that night,or for the next couple of nights.
She's finally starting to relaxa little bit and get back in
the groove of actuallygetting some real studying done.
(17:44):
It's kind of important because she hasfinals coming up in just a couple of days.
But the third night it happens again.
Hair standing up on the back of her neck,she thinks, no, no, no.
She braces herself for the growlto come from the window behind her.
Jo's head starts again, involuntarilymoving to
(18:05):
look at this thing at the window,
which is already standing in front of her.
This time Jo can see the whole head move,
and she realizes just its headtakes up most of the width of the window.
Looks like a werewolf.
She takes off out of the kitcheninto the living room,
(18:26):
diving onto the couch, and coversher head.
The next day,Jo tries to figure out what to do.
She can't keep doing this.
She can't get any studying doneand finals are tomorrow.
So she calls her boyfriend, Daleand says, “Can I come over to your place
and study tonight?” Dale, who hasn't seen
(18:48):
or heard from Jo in a few days,asks her, “Are you breaking up with me?”
Jo says, “No, but I'll explain later.”
So that evening,the two go out for dinner,
and Jo musters up the courageto tell Dale,
“I'm being stalked by a werewolf.”Dale starts to laugh.
(19:09):
Jo starts to cry.
This is the one personshe thought she could tell that
might actually believe her.
Dale sees the tears well up in Jo's eyes
and fall down her face and realizesshe's serious.
What is going on?
This is not the tough as nails girlI know.
(19:30):
So he says, “You know what? I'm sorry.
Let's go get your stuff.
Get your books, get your clothes.
You can spend the night.
I'll stay up and stand guardwhile you study.
And you know King.
King won't let anything get by him.” King
is Dale's huge pit bullwho still won't allow Jo into the house
(19:50):
without a full inspection,even though she and Dale
have been seeing each otherfor like six months already.
There is nothingthat dog would not do for Dale.
So they head over to his place andpark themselves on the living room floor.
Jo, with her bookspread out all over, and Dale
watching TV or whatever to pass the time.
(20:11):
Time rolls on.
It's almost 4 a.m..
Jo's feeling pretty good.
Nothing's happening,and she's getting some good work done.
Dale says you want something to drink?
Jo says sure.
Dale gets up and walks over to the fridge.
Now the living room and the kitchen areasare pretty much just one big room.
Dale doesn't even need to turn on a light,because the light from the living room
(20:33):
is more than enough.
After a few minutes,Jo realizes that he hasn't come back.
She looks up into the kitchen
and sees Dale still leaning over,looking into the fridge.
When she hears himspeak in this high pitched,
strangulated tonethat she has never heard from him before.
Come here now.
(20:54):
Jo walks into the kitchenand bends down to look into the fridge
to see what the problem is,and she sees that everything inside
the fridge is shakingbecause Dale is shaking.
Then they both hear thiscrying, whimpering, coming from outside.
Is that King?
Dale says, “It can't be king.
He doesn't cry like that.”That's when the hair on the back of Jo's
(21:18):
neck starts to stand up,
and she thinks this cannot be happening.
She's miles from her house.
How could this thing track her so far?
But then comes the growl.
Jo freaks out.
Oh my God.
It followed me.
(21:40):
Dale grabs Jo by the wrist and startsdragging her out of the kitchen.
And keep in mindthat Jo weighs 110 at best.
Dale is like 6’2” and weighs about 210.
So if he's taking her somewhere,she's going like it or not.
So he startsdragging her out of the kitchen, but
stops on a dime, staring out the window.
(22:02):
Jo looks out the windowand sees the two huge yellowish green eyes
staring right back at him, brighterthan she has ever seen them before.
She looks back at Daleand he looks like he's totally zoned out.
Almost like he's in a trance.
She looks back out the window,and she can see that this thing has
(22:22):
what looks like a thick lion's mane of jet
black hair surrounding his head.
She can see those massive white teethagain.
And a tonguethat's black and it's drooling.
She doesn't know if it's droolingbecause its mouth is open
or because it'santicipating its next meal.
(22:44):
But she knowsshe doesn't want to find out.
Jo watch watches the creature's eyesmove from Dale’s eyes down to the grip
that Dale has on Jo's arm as its lips
curl back in a snarl.
And Jo and Dale hear at the same time,a message delivered in their heads.
(23:04):
I'm going to kill you!
Dale takes off with Jo in tow,out of the kitchen,
through the living room, past his bedroom,and into the bathroom.
No windows.
Very smart.
However, just like Jo's house,the bathroom is on the same wall
as the kitchen.
So on the outside itthis thing only has to shuffle over
(23:27):
about eight feet to be right on the otherside of the wall from them.
So there they are in the bathroom, Dale
holding Jo so tight she can't breathe.
He says, “I am so sorry.
I thought it was just the stressgetting to you, but this thing is real!”
Jo says, “I think it's hurting me.”
(23:49):
And they both just stand therehaving no idea what to do next.
Jo feels the hair on her neckstand up again,
and from right on the otherside of the wall from where they are
standing, (Howdid you know that?) comes this roar,
ten times bigger and deeper
and more vicious than ever before.
(24:12):
Both of them can feel the soundreverberating in their chests.
And can even see the bottles and stuffon the shower shelf moving.
Jo shouts, “Go away!”
When they hear something else crying.
King!He's still out there with that thing.
Dale yells, “King!” They hearKing's whining
(24:32):
change to vicious growlsand the snarls of an attack.
The fight is on.
Sadly, it doesn't take long beforeneither of them can hear King anymore.
Dale is freaking.
Tears are streaming down his face.
But now that King is no longer a threat,
(24:53):
the creature is really mad.
It starts bangingand scratching at the outside
wall of the house, rightwhere Jo and Dale are still standing.
They hear the siding crackingand being ripped off as this thing
is tunneling through the wall,roaring in anger the whole time.
(25:14):
Unbeknownst to them, the neighborwhose house is less than 100ft
away, hears King's screamingand thinks it's Jo.
So he calls the cops and says,you guys better get over here right now,
because I think my neighboris killing his girlfriend.
Jo and Dale hear sirens coming,and Jo prays
that it is enough to scare this thing offbecause it is coming for them,
(25:37):
and they are frozen in fearand have nowhere to go.
Fish in a barrel.
But as the sirens get closer,everything else goes quiet.
Maybe it's gone, but neither of themmakes a move to go find out.
They hear a loud bang, bang, bang, bangon the door, followed by a voice yelling,
“Open the door or we're going to kick itin!” Oh thank God!
(26:01):
Dale leads Jo out of the bathroomto the front door and opens it
for the police, hurries them insideand quickly shuts the door behind them.
The cops take a look at Dale and Jo
and look all around the living room.
“You guys been partyingjust a little too hard tonight?”
Dale points to Jo's booksall over the floor and says, “No, sir.
(26:25):
She is studying for her finals.”Another officer who had gone around
the back of the house comes in and says,you gotta come and see this.
So everyone troops outsideand around to the back of the house,
and Dale falls to his knees.
Jo follows his eyes and sees what he sees.
(26:46):
King.
And lets just
say, it is obvious to anyone aroundthat this dog fought
for his master to the very end.
The policethen look at the back of the house.
There is a three foot by three foot
hole torn through the siding, insulationeverywhere,
(27:09):
all the way down to the sheetrockon the inside.
The cops just look at each other.
Anyone have any good ideaswhere to even start writing this one up?
Nope.
One cop looks at Dale and says, “Doyou want to report this?” Dale says,
“I wouldn't know what to report.”
The cop says, “Neither do I.
(27:31):
I’m willing to let this go,if you are.” Dale says.
“I'm good with that.”And with that, they left.
Dale and Jo go back in and quicklygrab some stuff,
jump in Dale's car and leave.
They really don't have anywhere else to
go, so Dale just drives the 18 milesto Jo's school,
(27:51):
where they wait in the car until it's timefor Jo to go take her finals.
Dale just sits in the parking lotwaiting for her to get done.
Jo doesn't even remember taking the tests.
Some other part of her braintotally takes over.
When she's done, she goes back to the carand Dale just sitting there in a daze.
(28:13):
They start going back and forth with Dale
being sorry he didn't believe her, and Jobeing sorry about King,
and that she should never have come over,and Dale saying it's not your fault, but
I don'tthink we can see each other anymore.
The two don't speak for 3 or 4 weeks,
(28:33):
but they'll eventually reaches outand says he wants to see Jo again.
But they make an honest to God pinky swear
to never tell another soul what happened,
and do their bestto just move forward with life.
They date for a while, get married,
move away from Kansas and have a daughter.
(28:56):
But the memories are just too much.
They are divorcedbefore their little girl's first birthday,
and Dales life startsa downward spiral of drugs and alcohol.
And as much as it breaks Jo's heart,they keep their promise
to never talk about it.
Fast forward30 years, and Dale is on his deathbed.
(29:17):
Cirrhosis of the liver from all thoseyears of using alcohol as a numbing agent.
Jo goes to see himand Dale tells her, “I was wrong.
We should have told people.
The only way I could get past the picture
in my head of those green eyesdrilling into my soul,
and get any sleep at night,was to get messed up and pass out first.
(29:42):
Don't end up like me.
You need to start talking to people.”
So Jo makes Dale a promiseto start telling their story.
And that's exactly what she's doing.
Some interesting tidbits of informationregarding this story.
Jo actually moves back to Kansasnot long after their daughter was born,
(30:02):
and though she's never actually seenthis monster again, she still feels her
neck hair detection system go offoccasionally to this day.
Not long after the attack at Dales House,
Dale had to go see an ophthalmologist
because his eyesight just tanked.
The ophthalmologist saysit looks like he experienced
(30:24):
some kind of burnon the retina of both eyes.
And Dale has to wearsuper thick glasses from that point on.
It isn't until about four years ago,Jo stumbles across information
about something called a dogman,and she thinks, “That’s it!
That’s what we saw!”
(30:44):
And for whatever reason, just being able
to put a name to the beast that haunts her
makes the whole ordealjust a little easier to cope with.
It's a real thing.
It's not just her going crazy.
Hearing about others with experiencessimilar to hers has helped.
(31:06):
But the one thing Johas always wanted to do,
but just couldn't bring herself to do it
out of guilt, is get a dog of her own.
After all, in her mind, she's the reasonthat King died that night.
Why should she have the pleasureof having one of her own?
(31:26):
But I'm happy to report that
in just the last few months,after 40 years
of being a nurse and helping otherswhen they are at their worst,
Jo has gotten a dog of hervery own named Victor,
who has no idea he's actually a dog.
And I think Jo likes it that way.
(31:51):
Little bit intense.
Holy buckets.
I don't even understandhow you slip back into normal life
after something like that.
If you'd like to hear Jotell her story in her own words,
you can head over to eitherMatt Emch's channel at Planey412
or Vic Cundiff’schannel at Dogman Encounters.
Links to both of those interviewswill be included in the description.
(32:15):
If you are a dog man fan and need another
heart-racing fix, click right here.
It'll stop the jonesing.
I promise.
Be careful out there
and I will see youhere again on The InBetween.
Thanks for tuning into The InBetween Podcast.
(32:37):
Enjoy the full visual experiencewith me over on YouTube.
Just search for @TheInBetweentales.
I'm Carol Ann,and until next time, be careful
out there.
Strange mysteries, unexplained phenomena.
And the shadows in between.
This is The InBetween Official Podcastwith your host,
Carol Ann!
The messageappeared in both their minds at once.
I'm going to kill you.
(00:38):
But that was just
the beginning of a nightmarethat would claim the life of a loyal dog,
destroy a marriage and drive one manto drink himself to death.
Welcome to The InBetween.
I'm Carol Ann, and tonight's story provesthat sometimes
the real horror isn'tin surviving a Dogman encounter.
It's in living with the memory.
(01:06):
Not every kid is born
with a silver iPhone in their hand,including Joyce Stone.
The third of three children,
she was born in the late 50sto a southeast Kansas farmer and his wife,
who barely have enough moneyto feed the two boys they already have.
Joyce's dad has no problem making it known
(01:26):
throughout Joyce's childhoodthat she was supposed to be a boy.
At least a boy can pull his weightwith chores around the farm to help out.
So Joyce,like any other little girl in her shoes
who just wants the approvalof her father, starts going by
the name Jo (Joyce is way too girly),and does everything she can
(01:48):
to grow into the toughest, bravest tomboythat a girl can be.
She works hard to be able to do anythingher brothers can do.
But her brothers are just like anybodyelse's older brothers (even mine),
who love nothing morethan to freak her out any chance they get.
If she flinches, she is treated to rounds
(02:11):
of, “You’re such a girl.”That's the worst.
You can be scared, but you can't show it.
So Jo makes it her missionto never show fear.
Well, as the years rollon, we get to the spring of 1975.
Jo has grown into one tough teenager,
(02:32):
but the farm is still not doing very well.
So at age 17, she drops out of school,
gets her GED to help on the farm.
But what she really wants to do,her lifelong ambition, is to be a nurse.
She applies to nursing school,and even though she's a year too young,
her tough as nails attitude, convinces
(02:54):
the school administratorsto let her give it a shot.
Nursing school is tougherthan she thought it was going to be.
There's so much to learn.
But Jo, being the tenacious young womanthat she is,
just put on her big girlpants and works as hard as she can.
Now Jo has herself a boyfriend, Dale,who's about 18 and starting out his life
(03:19):
well enough that he has his own houseon the other side of town already.
So they fall into a routine.
Jo goes to school during the day,spends evenings with Dale,
comes home around 10:30-11:00 at night,
sleeps for a couple of hours,and then gets up at 3 a.m.
to study for school later in the morning.
(03:40):
Sounds like a rough schedule to me,but she's
getting a 4.0 - so okay.
Jo's family farm is a full five milesfrom town in the middle of nowhere.
Woods all around.
So at night it'sespecially dark with only a little yellow
bug light bulb on the porchto show her the way.
(04:02):
On the night of May6th, she's making her way
through the dark onto the dim yellowlight of the porch.
She hears somethingrustling around in the brush and trees.
Whatever it is, it's a few feet upoff the ground and about 30ft away.
She stops, looks over there thinking,what is that?
(04:23):
Whatever it is. Sounds big.
She walks over to that side of the porchand looks out into the trees and shrubs
to see if she can figure out what it is,but it's quiet.
In fact, everything is quiet.
So she thinks, well, maybe it's a buck
with its hornscaught in the branches or something.
Weird,but not out of the realm of possibility.
(04:46):
But whatever it is, Jo claps her hands
and yells, “Get out of here,”to try to scare it away.
Maybe the loud yelling will startle it,and it can free itself.
But instead of something running away,she hears this “huff” sound and thinks,
that's not like any deerI know, or any animal for that matter.
(05:07):
But things sound strange in the dark,
so she just kind of says,whatever, and goes in the house.
Two nights later, Jo wakes up to rumbling
thunder and branchesscraping on the metal roof. Yes!
Jo loves storms.
So she just lies back in her bed,watching the flashing lightning
(05:27):
through her tall bedroom windows, knowing
she doesn't have school in the morningso she can watch all night.
Her room at the back of the househas two really big tall windows.
One on the leftby her bed and one on the right, right
across the roomfrom the door to the hallway.
She fluffs her pillow, puts her head backdown, and gets ready for the show.
(05:51):
Lightning flashesand she notices something
blocking the light of the windowby her bed.
She sits up, starts to get out of bedwhen there's another
light flash,and she sees that she's right.
The lightning only shows throughabout the top third of the window.
But that doesn't make any sense.
The house is up on cinder blocks,so if something's standing that
(06:13):
tall in front of the window,it would have to be 8 to 9ft tall.
But whatever. It's got to be her brother.
He must be standing on something.
And the funky light is just making himlook bigger.
She starts walkingtoward the window with a plan
to throw her sheer curtains backand ruin her brother's prank.
(06:35):
Lightning flashes again,and she thinks that can't be my brother.
Well, maybe it's the shed in the backyardthrowing a shadow.
That's got to be it.
She turns and heads down the hallwayto use the bathroom.
As she's coming back,lightning flashes again
and stops her in her tracks.
The shadow blocking the lighthas moved to the window on the right,
(07:00):
and she's standing theretrying to wrap your head around
how the shadow from the shedcould move to the other window.
So she goes over to the window by her bed,with the idea that she can kind of
look over to the right and see exactlywhat is blocking the light.
And as she gets close to the window,the shadow glides back over to the left.
(07:22):
Okay, that's not her brother.
He is incapable of gliding,
and as much as she hates the feeling,she's starting to get scared.
She creeps a little closer.
Her knees are shaking a bit,but she knows in her head she's safe.
The curtains are only sheers,but they're white shears.
So when the lightning flashes, it'sgoing to bounce off the white.
(07:46):
And whatever's outsidecan't see her inside her dark room.
Right?
When she gets to about a footand a half away, she steals herself
to push the curtains asideand find out what is going on out there.
Another flashand Jo watches the shadow shorten
until it's even with her height.
(08:07):
What?
Now she is full on scared.
Like it or not. But she can't move.
She is nailed to that spot,looking out the window,
waiting for the next flash, hopingshe can figure out what is out there.
She hears a little bang on the window,and the sound of
sniffing like an animaltrying to catch a scent.
(08:28):
And it dawns on herthat whatever this thing is,
maybe it's the same thing she triedto chase out of the yard the other night.
Maybe she made it mad.
The storm is getting closer,so the flashes are faster.
The next flash, Jo, sees this thing'sright arm
reach up toward the top of the windowand her heart stops.
(08:51):
She sees through the shears,not the paw of an animal, but a hand.
Five separate fingers,each one with 2 or 3 inch claw at the end.
Now her knees are really startingto shake.
She hears what sounds like scratchingat the trim of her window.
Is thing trying to get in?
(09:12):
She wants to run,but she is frozen in fear.
She doesn't know what to do.
She just can't think.
A full on lightningstrike hits a dead tree
not far from the house,taking off a big branch.
A series of lightning strikesturns night into day.
Long enoughfor Jo to see the profile of this creature
(09:33):
as it turns its head to check outwhat's going on with the tree.
What she sees changes her life forever.
It has a wide head like a wolf,but massive.
It has ears on it, like a German Shepherdor like a Doberman.
Maybe 4 or 5in long,with tufts of hair at the end.
(09:55):
This nose on this thing is way longer
than anything she'd ever seen on a dog,or in pictures of wolves.
She sees bright white teeththat are about three inches
long, with canines that are even longer.
Its fur is all blackand from what she can see,
this thing is jacked.
(10:16):
Jo's body finally catches up with her headand she takes off
running into the living room, jumpson the couch and covers her head.
Her whole body is shaking.
Her head goes into overdrivetrying to figure out what to do.
Should she tell her family what she saw?
If she does,they're never going to believe her
(10:38):
and they're going to mock herrelentlessly.
Okay, that options out.
Instead, she just says, well, okay,I have no idea what I just saw,
but I'm certainly not going out at nightanymore.
Finals are coming up.
I'll just stay homeand put all my energy into studying.
(10:59):
By the next morning, Jo'strying to convince herself
that she didn't really see what she knowsshe saw.
As she leaves for school,she casually goes around the house
to the back to check out the treethat was struck by lightning.
The tree branch is right thereon the ground.
Okay. That happened.
So she looks up at the trim around herbedroom window and sees
(11:23):
fresh gouges in the woodand flecks of black trim
paint on the ground, and thinks,it wasn't a dream.
That really happened.
So now Jo's afraid to be in her room.
She just has this feelingthat she's somehow made this thing mad.
So, new plan.
(11:44):
From that pointon, she takes naps in her room
in the afternoonwhile it's still light out.
Then she takes out her clothesfor the next day,
hangs them on her bedroomdoor knob, and sleeps for a few more hours
in the living room couch until her alarmgoes off at 3 a.m., when it's
time to wake up, turn on the lampand start studying for school.
Problem is, the lamp shinesright into her parents room.
(12:08):
So her dad says, nuh-uh.
I can't sleep.
You're going to have to takeyour studying back into your room.
Well, that's not going to happen.
So Jo has a new idea.
She'll study in the kitchen.
Seems like a solid option.
When you walk into the kitchen,it has windows on two side walls
that have white curtains on the bottomhalf,
(12:31):
and then a door to the outsideon the far wall.
So she sets up a little readinglamp on the table so she doesn't have
to use the big fluorescentoverhead lights that late at night.
And she figures outthat she actually really likes it there.
As she's studying,
she can look up at those whitewindow curtains and use them as kind of a
mental whiteboard to figure outwhatever problem she has in her head.
(12:54):
Just a couple nightsinto this new routine, so May 10th,
just four nights after the thunderstorm,she's in the kitchen at 3 a.m.
studying when she feels a sensationthat is totally new for her.
She feels the hair on the back of her neckstand up.
Jo has no idea how she knows this,but she knows in that instant that
(13:17):
this thing is back and it's watching herthrough the windows behind her.
Remember, with the house foundationbeing up a bit and with the curtains
covering the bottom half of the windows,this thing has to be
8 to 9 feet tall.
It starts to growl.
The deepest, biggest canine
(13:38):
sounding growl Jo has ever heard.
She can feel itjust as much as she can hear it.
And it freezes her solid, head down,
looking at her booksand pencil frozen on the page.
As the monster continues to growl,
she can hear it
move around the outside of the house,past the door to the backyard,
(14:02):
and back up the other sideuntil it is right in front of her.
She keeps her eyes on the pagein front of her, too
afraid to look up at the window.
When a thought pops into her head.
If you look it in the eyes,it will come into you.
Well, what does that mean?
Does it mean it's going to possess her?
(14:23):
Or it's just going to tear through theglass and physically come in and get her?
Jo doesn't know,but she doesn't plan on finding out.
She's had enough experiencewith animals to know that a lot of times
if you look it in the eyes,it's a challenge.
And she has no intentionof challenging this thing.
But her head starts drifting up like it'sfollowing orders from somebody else.
(14:47):
And she thinks, no, no, no.
I'm not going to look at it.
Don't look at it.
She tries closing her eyes,but her eyelids won't even move.
And then she sees it.
She sees these neon yellow green lights
hovering 6 or 7in apart,and she thinks, well, that's ridiculous.
Something waytoo tall would have to be out there
(15:10):
with a little lantern or somethingto make that kind of eye shine.
But again, her bodyfinally catches up with her brain,
and she stands up so fastthat her chair goes sliding
across the floor behind her,smacking into the fridge.
The bang is like a starting gun,and she takes off
running to her parents room, bargesright in on her sleeping parents,
(15:31):
and dives on to their bed,landing right between them.
She just aboutgives them a heart attack, but
she is terrifiedand she doesn't care who knows. It.
Mom reaches over to turn on herlight and says,
what is going on?
The only thing Jo can manage to eek out
is something about a monster outside.
(15:54):
Her mom, thinking this has to besome kind of stupid joke, says,
“Do you want me to go outsideand make that big bad monster go away?”
Jo starts crying hysterically.
Then finally hits her mom thatwhatever's going on is actually serious.
Jo's dad turns over, looks at Jo,who shaking uncontrollably
(16:17):
and says, “Are you afraid,” hopinghe would get her standard
response of, “I'm not afraid of anything.”
But that is not the response he gets.
Instead, Jo looks up at her dad,
the last person in the worldshe wants to show fear
to, and just nods her head yes.
(16:40):
Her dad puts his hand on her armsand says, “It's okay.
You just fell asleepwhile you were studying
and had a nightmare.”And Jo so wants him to be right.
She nods her head yes,and actually chooses to believe him,
because the having a nightmarescenario is a way better option
(17:01):
than the thought of this monstercoming back and finding her again.
So she goes back out onto the couch.
She's not going to be sleeping tonight,so she throws a blanket over her head
with a lamp underneath so she doesn'tbother her dad, and tries to study.
Her dad comes out and sees whatshe's doing and says, don't be ridiculous.
(17:22):
Just go back in the kitchen and study.
Not a single fiber of her
being wants to do that, but she does.
Nothing else happens that night,or for the next couple of nights.
She's finally starting to relaxa little bit and get back in
the groove of actuallygetting some real studying done.
(17:44):
It's kind of important because she hasfinals coming up in just a couple of days.
But the third night it happens again.
Hair standing up on the back of her neck,she thinks, no, no, no.
She braces herself for the growlto come from the window behind her.
Jo's head starts again, involuntarilymoving to
(18:05):
look at this thing at the window,
which is already standing in front of her.
This time Jo can see the whole head move,
and she realizes just its headtakes up most of the width of the window.
Looks like a werewolf.
She takes off out of the kitcheninto the living room,
(18:26):
diving onto the couch, and coversher head.
The next day,Jo tries to figure out what to do.
She can't keep doing this.
She can't get any studying doneand finals are tomorrow.
So she calls her boyfriend, Daleand says, “Can I come over to your place
and study tonight?” Dale, who hasn't seen
(18:48):
or heard from Jo in a few days,asks her, “Are you breaking up with me?”
Jo says, “No, but I'll explain later.”
So that evening,the two go out for dinner,
and Jo musters up the courageto tell Dale,
“I'm being stalked by a werewolf.”Dale starts to laugh.
(19:09):
Jo starts to cry.
This is the one personshe thought she could tell that
might actually believe her.
Dale sees the tears well up in Jo's eyes
and fall down her face and realizesshe's serious.
What is going on?
This is not the tough as nails girlI know.
(19:30):
So he says, “You know what? I'm sorry.
Let's go get your stuff.
Get your books, get your clothes.
You can spend the night.
I'll stay up and stand guardwhile you study.
And you know King.
King won't let anything get by him.” King
is Dale's huge pit bullwho still won't allow Jo into the house
(19:50):
without a full inspection,even though she and Dale
have been seeing each otherfor like six months already.
There is nothingthat dog would not do for Dale.
So they head over to his place andpark themselves on the living room floor.
Jo, with her bookspread out all over, and Dale
watching TV or whatever to pass the time.
(20:11):
Time rolls on.
It's almost 4 a.m..
Jo's feeling pretty good.
Nothing's happening,and she's getting some good work done.
Dale says you want something to drink?
Jo says sure.
Dale gets up and walks over to the fridge.
Now the living room and the kitchen areasare pretty much just one big room.
Dale doesn't even need to turn on a light,because the light from the living room
(20:33):
is more than enough.
After a few minutes,Jo realizes that he hasn't come back.
She looks up into the kitchen
and sees Dale still leaning over,looking into the fridge.
When she hears himspeak in this high pitched,
strangulated tonethat she has never heard from him before.
Come here now.
(20:54):
Jo walks into the kitchenand bends down to look into the fridge
to see what the problem is,and she sees that everything inside
the fridge is shakingbecause Dale is shaking.
Then they both hear thiscrying, whimpering, coming from outside.
Is that King?
Dale says, “It can't be king.
He doesn't cry like that.”That's when the hair on the back of Jo's
(21:18):
neck starts to stand up,
and she thinks this cannot be happening.
She's miles from her house.
How could this thing track her so far?
But then comes the growl.
Jo freaks out.
Oh my God.
It followed me.
(21:40):
Dale grabs Jo by the wrist and startsdragging her out of the kitchen.
And keep in mindthat Jo weighs 110 at best.
Dale is like 6’2” and weighs about 210.
So if he's taking her somewhere,she's going like it or not.
So he startsdragging her out of the kitchen, but
stops on a dime, staring out the window.
(22:02):
Jo looks out the windowand sees the two huge yellowish green eyes
staring right back at him, brighterthan she has ever seen them before.
She looks back at Daleand he looks like he's totally zoned out.
Almost like he's in a trance.
She looks back out the window,and she can see that this thing has
(22:22):
what looks like a thick lion's mane of jet
black hair surrounding his head.
She can see those massive white teethagain.
And a tonguethat's black and it's drooling.
She doesn't know if it's droolingbecause its mouth is open
or because it'santicipating its next meal.
(22:44):
But she knowsshe doesn't want to find out.
Jo watch watches the creature's eyesmove from Dale’s eyes down to the grip
that Dale has on Jo's arm as its lips
curl back in a snarl.
And Jo and Dale hear at the same time,a message delivered in their heads.
(23:04):
I'm going to kill you!
Dale takes off with Jo in tow,out of the kitchen,
through the living room, past his bedroom,and into the bathroom.
No windows.
Very smart.
However, just like Jo's house,the bathroom is on the same wall
as the kitchen.
So on the outside itthis thing only has to shuffle over
(23:27):
about eight feet to be right on the otherside of the wall from them.
So there they are in the bathroom, Dale
holding Jo so tight she can't breathe.
He says, “I am so sorry.
I thought it was just the stressgetting to you, but this thing is real!”
Jo says, “I think it's hurting me.”
(23:49):
And they both just stand therehaving no idea what to do next.
Jo feels the hair on her neckstand up again,
and from right on the otherside of the wall from where they are
standing, (Howdid you know that?) comes this roar,
ten times bigger and deeper
and more vicious than ever before.
(24:12):
Both of them can feel the soundreverberating in their chests.
And can even see the bottles and stuffon the shower shelf moving.
Jo shouts, “Go away!”
When they hear something else crying.
King!He's still out there with that thing.
Dale yells, “King!” They hearKing's whining
(24:32):
change to vicious growlsand the snarls of an attack.
The fight is on.
Sadly, it doesn't take long beforeneither of them can hear King anymore.
Dale is freaking.
Tears are streaming down his face.
But now that King is no longer a threat,
(24:53):
the creature is really mad.
It starts bangingand scratching at the outside
wall of the house, rightwhere Jo and Dale are still standing.
They hear the siding crackingand being ripped off as this thing
is tunneling through the wall,roaring in anger the whole time.
(25:14):
Unbeknownst to them, the neighborwhose house is less than 100ft
away, hears King's screamingand thinks it's Jo.
So he calls the cops and says,you guys better get over here right now,
because I think my neighboris killing his girlfriend.
Jo and Dale hear sirens coming,and Jo prays
that it is enough to scare this thing offbecause it is coming for them,
(25:37):
and they are frozen in fearand have nowhere to go.
Fish in a barrel.
But as the sirens get closer,everything else goes quiet.
Maybe it's gone, but neither of themmakes a move to go find out.
They hear a loud bang, bang, bang, bangon the door, followed by a voice yelling,
“Open the door or we're going to kick itin!” Oh thank God!
(26:01):
Dale leads Jo out of the bathroomto the front door and opens it
for the police, hurries them insideand quickly shuts the door behind them.
The cops take a look at Dale and Jo
and look all around the living room.
“You guys been partyingjust a little too hard tonight?”
Dale points to Jo's booksall over the floor and says, “No, sir.
(26:25):
She is studying for her finals.”Another officer who had gone around
the back of the house comes in and says,you gotta come and see this.
So everyone troops outsideand around to the back of the house,
and Dale falls to his knees.
Jo follows his eyes and sees what he sees.
(26:46):
King.
And lets just
say, it is obvious to anyone aroundthat this dog fought
for his master to the very end.
The policethen look at the back of the house.
There is a three foot by three foot
hole torn through the siding, insulationeverywhere,
(27:09):
all the way down to the sheetrockon the inside.
The cops just look at each other.
Anyone have any good ideaswhere to even start writing this one up?
Nope.
One cop looks at Dale and says, “Doyou want to report this?” Dale says,
“I wouldn't know what to report.”
The cop says, “Neither do I.
(27:31):
I’m willing to let this go,if you are.” Dale says.
“I'm good with that.”And with that, they left.
Dale and Jo go back in and quicklygrab some stuff,
jump in Dale's car and leave.
They really don't have anywhere else to
go, so Dale just drives the 18 milesto Jo's school,
(27:51):
where they wait in the car until it's timefor Jo to go take her finals.
Dale just sits in the parking lotwaiting for her to get done.
Jo doesn't even remember taking the tests.
Some other part of her braintotally takes over.
When she's done, she goes back to the carand Dale just sitting there in a daze.
(28:13):
They start going back and forth with Dale
being sorry he didn't believe her, and Jobeing sorry about King,
and that she should never have come over,and Dale saying it's not your fault, but
I don'tthink we can see each other anymore.
The two don't speak for 3 or 4 weeks,
(28:33):
but they'll eventually reaches outand says he wants to see Jo again.
But they make an honest to God pinky swear
to never tell another soul what happened,
and do their bestto just move forward with life.
They date for a while, get married,
move away from Kansas and have a daughter.
(28:56):
But the memories are just too much.
They are divorcedbefore their little girl's first birthday,
and Dales life startsa downward spiral of drugs and alcohol.
And as much as it breaks Jo's heart,they keep their promise
to never talk about it.
Fast forward30 years, and Dale is on his deathbed.
(29:17):
Cirrhosis of the liver from all thoseyears of using alcohol as a numbing agent.
Jo goes to see himand Dale tells her, “I was wrong.
We should have told people.
The only way I could get past the picture
in my head of those green eyesdrilling into my soul,
and get any sleep at night,was to get messed up and pass out first.
(29:42):
Don't end up like me.
You need to start talking to people.”
So Jo makes Dale a promiseto start telling their story.
And that's exactly what she's doing.
Some interesting tidbits of informationregarding this story.
Jo actually moves back to Kansasnot long after their daughter was born,
(30:02):
and though she's never actually seenthis monster again, she still feels her
neck hair detection system go offoccasionally to this day.
Not long after the attack at Dales House,
Dale had to go see an ophthalmologist
because his eyesight just tanked.
The ophthalmologist saysit looks like he experienced
(30:24):
some kind of burnon the retina of both eyes.
And Dale has to wearsuper thick glasses from that point on.
It isn't until about four years ago,Jo stumbles across information
about something called a dogman,and she thinks, “That’s it!
That’s what we saw!”
(30:44):
And for whatever reason, just being able
to put a name to the beast that haunts her
makes the whole ordealjust a little easier to cope with.
It's a real thing.
It's not just her going crazy.
Hearing about others with experiencessimilar to hers has helped.
(31:06):
But the one thing Johas always wanted to do,
but just couldn't bring herself to do it
out of guilt, is get a dog of her own.
After all, in her mind, she's the reasonthat King died that night.
Why should she have the pleasureof having one of her own?
(31:26):
But I'm happy to report that
in just the last few months,after 40 years
of being a nurse and helping otherswhen they are at their worst,
Jo has gotten a dog of hervery own named Victor,
who has no idea he's actually a dog.
And I think Jo likes it that way.
(31:51):
Little bit intense.
Holy buckets.
I don't even understandhow you slip back into normal life
after something like that.
If you'd like to hear Jotell her story in her own words,
you can head over to eitherMatt Emch's channel at Planey412
or Vic Cundiff’schannel at Dogman Encounters.
Links to both of those interviewswill be included in the description.
(32:15):
If you are a dog man fan and need another
heart-racing fix, click right here.
It'll stop the jonesing.
I promise.
Be careful out there
and I will see youhere again on The InBetween.
Thanks for tuning into The InBetween Podcast.
(32:37):
Enjoy the full visual experiencewith me over on YouTube.
Just search for @TheInBetweentales.
I'm Carol Ann,and until next time, be careful
out there.
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com