January 2, 2022 • 42 mins
Werewolves are the stuff of nightmares and of 1960’s horror films. Werewolves aren’t the subject of documented Ohio sightings, chronicled in newspaper articles, right?
Few Ohioans have heard the account of the half wolf/half human creature that once terrorized the small city of Defiance, Ohio in 1972. The tale itself, had almost faded into obscurity.
Until now.
Come hear the insights of one cryptid researcher, Lyle Blackburn, who has devoted his life to chronicling tales of unknown creatures spotted across the country. Turns out, he has a lot to say about this case’s yet unexplained events.
It’s a folktale in the making.
If you enjoy this episode, please rate, review and subscribe to Ohio Folklore on your chosen podcast platform. You can also find Ohio Folklore at:
Ohiofolklore.com
Facebook.com/ohiofolklore
And as always, keep wondering…
Special thanks to author and researcher Lyle Blackburn for his contributions to today’s episode. You can find his website here: http://www.lyleblackburn.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Unknown (00:03):
Hello, and welcome to Ohio folklore. I'm your host,
Melissa Davies. Before we getinto today's episode, I'd like
to take a moment to ask you aquick favor. Some of you may be
new listeners, and some may betried and true fans, whatever
the case may be. If you likedthe show, please consider taking
(00:23):
a moment to write a review onApple podcasts or wherever you
listen. It's just one way youcan give back and help spread a
little of the Wonder I've beensharing. You see, reviews help
make the show easier to find forfolks like yourself. And the
nearly three years that I'vebeen making this podcast, I've
(00:44):
been thrilled to see it grow.
Now garnering 1000s of downloadsfor each episode. I've heard
from listeners all around Ohioand beyond. appreciating how
they learn something new aboutan Ohio location they thought
was all too familiar. So let'sjust see how much we can spread
the lore unique to the BuckeyeState. Thanks a ton. And now on
(01:06):
with the show. Today, we'reexploring a legend not well
known to many Ohioans. Fornearly 50 years, this cryptid
tale had faded in obscurity. Myeffort and sharing this story
now is to bring it forth fromthe shadows, but shine a light
(01:28):
on a documented piece of OhioHistory that remains
unexplained. Like all greatfolktales this story includes
curious encounters frommultiple, unrelated Ohioans,
each reporting strikingsimilarities in the entity they
confronted during the steamysummer of 1972. Multiple
(01:49):
sightings of a human sizedfanged beast with wire refer
garnered multiple media reportsat the time. The frenzy this
broad eventually led the localpolice department to issue a
press release. Chief Donaldbrettler begrudgingly
(02:09):
acknowledged multiple reports ofa Blue Gene wearing bipedal wolf
like creature. Assuming thewhole thing a prank, his
department kept the initialsightings under wraps. But when
the calls kept coming in overthe span of a week, the chief
went public stating, we'reconcerned for the safety of our
people. Some had reported thecreature as armed wielding a two
(02:34):
by four. It was known to commentunsuspecting people just going
about their business. It neverspoke. If it were a human
disguised in a costume, thereseemed to be no motive. It never
demanded money, and never stuckaround to watch the victims
(02:56):
stunned reaction with noapparent robbery and progress
and no sticking around to soakin the joy of a prank. Just what
could account for theseinexplicable encounters? We're
going to try our best to answerthat question. In today's
episode I'm talking about theDefiance werewolf. Defiance is a
(03:18):
small city of about 17,000people in the northwest corner
of the state. Its unique namesstems from the fort built by
General Anthony Wayne at theconfluence of the mommy and
Auglaize rivers. Fort Defiance,as it was known then, was a
(03:41):
fortress and a line of Americandefenses against royal forces
and native tribes in the late18th century. In its
construction, General Wayne wasfamously quoted saying, I defy
the English Indians and all theDevils of hell to take it.
nearly 30 years later, in 1822,the city itself would be
(04:06):
officially founded at the sideof the fort. The name defiance
stuck and remains yet today.
It's this irreverent and nosethumbing attitude that lingered
just long enough for one groupof early white settlers to claim
it as their own. It's a legacythat's complicated, given our
(04:27):
current understanding of thosesocial and political forces
today.
Fast forward two centuries, andwe find the city of defiance the
working class seat of a countyby the same name. Some residents
those old enough to remember1970 to recall the events of
that unusual summer with a bitof humor, a dash of confusion,
(04:51):
and a whole heap of wonder atwhat the whole thing meant. So
let's dig into the details.
Recorded a newspaper articles ofA time. Let's immerse ourselves
in the frenzy that had beensweeping a city once built on an
attitude of defiance.
(05:14):
The following account is derivedfrom an August 2 1972 article
from the Toledo Blade. The firstsighting of the unknown creature
occurred July 25 of that year. Abreak man of the Norfolk and
Western Railway Company had beenworking late that night in the
small rail yard, only a fewblocks from the police station
(05:36):
downtown. Under a proverbialfull moon. This man, a Toledo
and by the name of Ted Davis wasbusy connecting an air hose
between two cars. He was bendingover at the waist, with his eyes
facing downward at the work infront of him when two hairy feet
came into view on the groundbeside him. Startled, Ted
(06:00):
dropped the host and steppedbackward. What stood before him
was a fanged two legged, bluejean clad beast more than six
feet tall, grasping a two byfour with hands covered and for
paralyzed with fear. Ted didn'teven flinch when the beast
struck him on the shoulder withthe piece of lumber. Just as Ted
(06:23):
was finally able to open hismouth to say something, the
creature turned off and ran outof sight. Only five days later,
both Ted Davis and fellowcrewmen and Toledo and Tom Jones
spotted the same creaturestanding in some weeds near the
main track. Tom had heard Ted'sclaim of the first sighting and
(06:45):
hadn't believed a word of it. Hewas sure Ted had made up the
whole story. And yet, thefollowing Sunday, he couldn't
deny what he was seeing with hisown eyes. The beast was still
wearing blue jeans. The rest ofits body was covered in a mess
of the KFOR. Once again, it ranoff on realizing it had been
(07:06):
spotted it sprinted toward a carthat was stopped on a nearby
road. And unknown person sittinginside the car screamed loud
enough for tat and Tom to hearas the beast fled on into the
night. The last day could recallwas the screeching tires of the
car. Its drivers speeding off ina rush of fear and confusion.
(07:30):
That thing's gonna hurtsomebody. Tom exclaimed.
Sometime later, a grocer drivinginto work in the early morning
hours slammed on his brakes whenthe beast leapt in front of his
car. For a brief moment, he heldeye contact with it, noting the
(07:52):
bright white fangs thatcontrasted with the dark fur on
its face.
Another article published thefollowing day and the blade
included reports that a passingtruck driver had also spotted
the hairy thank beast. Allsightings had occurred between
(08:13):
the hours of one and 4am onewoman whose home was adjacent to
the rail yard, called the policein a state of shock. She hadn't
seen the beast for herself, butgrowing rumors told by her
neighbors had set her on edge.
She'd been afraid to leave thehouse and ask that the police
send patrol units to comelooking for the thing. Chief
(08:35):
Broncolor tried to reassure herthat the whole thing was likely
some guy in a costume outpulling pranks on unsuspecting
people. She wouldn't bereassured a number of sightings
had occurred in the two blockarea where her home set
residents who had never done sobefore, began locking their
(08:56):
doors and forbade their childrenfrom playing outside. One
elderly resident named RupertFigg told a blade reporter that
if the beast came on hisproperty, he'd grab his shotgun
and fill it full of buckshot.
The claim that this was somelocal nut traipsing around in a
(09:19):
werewolf costume soundedplausible, but it didn't fit
with the growing firsthandaccounts. People who saw this
creature were wholly convincedthat it couldn't be a person in
a costume. The fangs in the furwhich covered exposed body parts
were just too realistic. Notonly that the creature didn't
(09:41):
hang around waiting for a bigreaction like a prankster would
do. It seemed as though thebeast was afraid of the people
that encountered and ran off assoon as it was spotted. A week
after the sightings began thelocal defiance paper printed a
bold headline horror movie nowplaying on Fifth Street. The
(10:03):
article opened with a poemquoted from a 1941 film called
The Wolf Man. Even a man who haspure of heart and says his
prayers by night, may become awolf When the wolf been bloons
and the moon is clear andbright.
(10:25):
And the werewolf mania would goon, with random sightings
popping up over the next coupleof months. And in the time since
most locals to the area claimedto have never heard this story.
Remarkably, the whole thingshifted from a kind of hysteria
in the summer of 1972 to aforgotten chapter of local
(10:48):
history, nearing 50 years oldtoday. During the course of my
research on today's episode, Ihad the fortune of connecting
with the perfect person whocould shed some light on this
enigmatic and nearly faded tale.
His name is Lyle Blackburn, aprolific author and cryptid
(11:10):
researcher, this native Texanhad made the trek all the way to
defiance back in 2016. To speakat a symposium on the legend of
the dog man. The term dog manrefers to unclassified creatures
of the canine variety. Thelittle known legend of the
(11:31):
Defiance werewolf fits nicely inthis category. And it's the
reason why defiance had beenchosen as the location for the
gathering. As it turns out, thisstory in particular is one of
the most well documented casesof a group of Werewolf sightings
anywhere in the US. Lyle hasstudied cryptid stories all
(11:53):
across the country for most ofhis life, and has written
several books on the subject. Hewas able to provide an overview
of how this legend compares toothers. You can find more
information about his works atLyle blackburn.com. But for now,
let's listen to what he has toteach us about this unique piece
(12:15):
of Ohio folklore. Come hear hisstory.
Can you start by telling me alittle bit about what got you
into, you know, studying andproducing content? Well, I was
always fascinated by moviemonsters and monsters in
(12:40):
general, as far back as I canremember. And you know, first
sort of gravitated towardsthings like Frankenstein, and
Dracula and things. And it'ssome point I got a book when I
was in elementary school, and ithas stories of Bigfoot and a
Yeti and Loch Ness Monster. Andthose really fired my
(13:00):
imagination because I thought,well, these are like monsters
you might encounter in reallife, you know, hunting, bow
hunting with my father, so isyou know, often in wooded
environments, so the Bigfootthing really quick. And then
ultimately, I saw a movie calledThe Legend of Boggy Creek, which
came out in around 1972. Andthat dramatize sightings of a
(13:28):
Sasquatch like creature insouthern Arkansas, which was
only about three hours fromwhere I live in Texas. And so
that really scared me andfascinated me. And so later on,
basically, as an adult, I spentmany years touring as a musician
and I was also good at writingand wrote from some rock
magazines and horror magazinesand wanted to write a book. So I
(13:51):
started with the accounts in thereal life situation of the
legend of Boggy Creek. And thenthings sort of went from there
to just branching out andcovering all these famous
cryptid cases that I could andjust delving into the phenomenon
of people seeing, quote,unquote, real life monsters in
(14:11):
today's world. Okay, so yourentry into the whole
cryptozoology fascination wasthe Boggy Creek story. Yes, that
was, you know, that kind of drewme in as far as well. You know,
maybe I could see something inthe woods or this is kind of
related to my area, so then itkind of resonated with me. Oh,
(14:35):
that's great. And so you arenear Arkansas, or is that in
Texas, where you live? I wasborn in Fort Worth, Texas, and
I've always lived in the DallasFort Worth area and so the
little town of Phalke, Arkansas,where Boggy Creek is, is three
and a half hours, just over intoArkansas, so it's very, very
(14:57):
close. I see So and you know, sothat was what sparked your
fascination. And since thenyou've become really well
acquainted with lots of famouscryptid stories across the
country. And not just, you know,the traditional Bigfoot, that
some of the other unusualmonster creatures, right? You
(15:20):
know, I mean, everybody kind ofgenerally knows Bigfoot and Loch
Ness Monster, or maybe some lakemonsters. But yeah, there's
certainly a wide variety of verystrange things, that creatures
that people have claimed to seeover the years. And it's fun to
explore the different kinds and,and to, you know, find out the
(15:43):
truth behind some of thesecases. You know, you must have a
reputation there in thecommunity. As I understand
you're invited, I think it wasin 2016. To define to take part
in a presentation to thecommunity. Am I correct? Yes.
Okay. Right. Yes, there was,there is a, I guess, a category
(16:07):
of cryptids, which are known asdog men, dog men, it's sort of
a, essentially, a werewolf orWolf Man type cryptid. And it's
become quite popular, but therewas a, and they do have these
sort of symposiums all aroundthe country, Bigfoot
conferences, this was specificto the dog man phenomenon. And
(16:33):
there was no better place tohave it than defiance. Ohio,
where there was sort of afamous, where was the case?
Yeah. So that was one of the bigquestions I had for you was,
what your take on that legendarystory from 1972. And how that
(16:53):
compares to so many the otheraccounts that you've come across
in your studies, how you woulddescribe how that compares.
Right, the the incidents thathappened in defiance back in the
summer of 1972, are very similarto other monster cases that have
(17:17):
happened, not just as a werewolfcase, but others were a town
experiences a series ofsightings or encounters and
reports and oftentime pulls inthe law enforcement because you
know, people are calling thepolice, and then it gets new
news coverage. So they're inaround July 25 1972, there was
(17:44):
some railroad workers working atthe railway yard there in
defiance, and they were therelate at night. And one of them
was connecting an air hosebetween two of the rail cars and
so he's kind of looking down andall sudden he sees big hairy
feet come up. And then when helooks up, he sees some kind of
(18:10):
thing or person who essentiallyhas hair and a hairy head like a
werewolf and he was holding thisto buy for. And then there's
kind of conflict and reports,but apparently hit the guy. And
then then the thing ran off intothe woods. And later, later,
(18:30):
five or six days later, a coupleof railroad guys saw the same
thing. Standing near the tracks,and in this description, they
said it was wearing blue jeans.
So here you have basicallyreports that kind of suggests
that it's sort of a werewolf,which would kind of lead you in
this direction of Islam, youknow, is it a big wolf or
(18:53):
something that stands up it, youknow, covered in here? Or is it
a person, you know, playing aprank, and so it straddles the
line between the two. Butnonetheless, other people saw
this thing person or whatever itwas running across the road,
and, you know, people thought itwas chasing them and became, you
know, a new story. And so, youknow, it does fall into that
(19:19):
dark man category, although, inthis case, it does suggest that
with the blue jeans and stuff,it could have been a person.
Yeah, I mean, it's a curiousthing, because of course, the
legend most of us think aboutwerewolves is that it's that
category of cryptid whereas parthuman that you know, transforms
into this dog like creature andthen you know, with the full
(19:46):
moon and you know, all of thelist that goes behind that whole
story. So, at least in the morepop culture references if you
think about Teen Wolf, you know,you think about the death of
pretty comment saying that theywould be closed in that sense.
But yeah, go ahead. Right. Imean, and that's the, you know,
(20:08):
the particular thing about thiscase, because I mean, you're
kind of separate this if you'relooking at cryptids, as okay,
we're, we're seriously analyzingthese things, you have to kind
of separate the supernaturalaspects from the phenomenon of
a, you know, cryptozoology,which would be something that
(20:30):
would be an animal that iseither out of place, or could be
a mutation or somethingcompletely unknown. And then in
that case, you know, you couldhave perhaps this huge hybrid,
exceptionally large wolf that onsome occasions, like which stand
up on its back legs, and thenobviously, you're basically
(20:52):
looking at a werewolf, or kindof into that supernatural zone,
where we think about the sort ofmovie version of werewolves
where it's a person who thentransforms, which would, you
know, conceivably still bewearing parts of its clothes or
something and, and so,obviously, the defiant werewolf
(21:15):
kind of fits almost into thattransformation type Wolf Man.
Mode. Yeah. I hadn't thoughtabout the the stations that
you're making there. So Iappreciate that. That, you know,
in a more pure way, if you'rethinking about it as a cryptic
creature that exists separatefrom humans, but one that we
(21:38):
haven't really fully understoodor identified yet, you know,
then that creature wouldn't bewearing blue jeans or, or any
kind of, you know, clothing. Andso you've, you've come across
cases like that as well, of moretraditional dog men, maybe, as
they're referred to.
(22:01):
Yes, certainly. And there'ssome, there's a famous case from
Wisconsin, known as the beast ofBray road, and that's near
Elkhorn, Wisconsin. And in thatcase, the witnesses reported
seeing something that definitelylooked like some sort of animal,
(22:21):
but but an animal that thewitnesses for lack of a better
description described it as awerewolf. And this, this kind of
bleeds over, and that that tookplace, the sort of famous rash
of sightings were in the 80s.
And so on end of the 90, so thiswas after the Defiance where
(22:44):
we'll but if you kind of startlooking back at reports of these
same kinds of creatures, you canfind some in those general
areas, Wisconsin, Ohio, that gofurther back in, they do kind of
talk about a creature that seemsmore definitely seems more like
a, you know, just some sort of avery bizarre animal. Whereas,
(23:07):
you know, and the other thing tothink about in defiance, this is
taking place at a, at a railroadtrack. I mean, there were some
woods and there are some areasthere, but there's buildings and
people around, you know, this,this is a place where people
would be this isn't out in themiddle of nowhere. In other
(23:29):
words, but it's alwaysinteresting to go is I've been
defined to bend to that railroadrail yard. So it's neat to go
there after you've kind ofstudied the case and go, Okay,
wow, it took place right here,you know? Yeah. Well, you know,
one of the things that I hadthought about or questions that
came to mind after I'd read someof the articles, the historical
(23:50):
articles at the time, was, therewere numerous reports from
different people coming into thepolice station. And you would
think it was a person wearing amask and a costume, that the
report would be, hey, there'ssome crazy dude out there, you
know, you would think it wouldbe pretty recognizable, that
(24:13):
this is a person wearingsomething. As opposed to, you
know, these genuine, genuinelyscared people. I don't know,
that just struck me that itwould be hard, especially in
1972, you know, to have a veryconvincing costume that would,
you know, give person pause tothink maybe this is a creature
(24:38):
of some sort. Right, and that isone of the things that's, you
know, sort of puzzling aboutthis case, because, you know, I
remember having a werewolf overforeign pullover werewolf mask
back in the 70s when I was akid, and, you know, if you look
up, we're close to it. If youcould see it was, you know, it
(25:00):
was fake. I mean, it was latex,but the first rail railway
worker that saw it, you know, helooked at it right there, I
mean, it was just standing rightover him. So he got a pretty
darn good look at it. And thenit took off running. So he had a
pretty good view of it. So likeyou say, you'd think he would
(25:22):
say, you know, some crazy dudewas wearing a costume. And these
guys saw it later. And thepolice didn't share this with
the media right away. So someother people started reporting,
seeing this without even havingknowledge of, you know,
influenced by the firstnewspaper report, because after
(25:47):
the first incident, it wasn't inthe newspaper. So for people
hearing a story, and then, youknow, your mind plays tricks on
what you see, or something thatwasn't even publicized at first.
Right. And then, I think it wason the same night, though, the
railway workers saw it again,standing by the tracks. And then
(26:09):
then a later that evening, aresident said it ran across the
road in front of his vehicle,and it was in the lights. And
again, Bri kind of reported itas some kind of hairy, animal
sort of thing. So it really ishard to say if it was, you know,
(26:29):
a person in a costume, or it wassomething more bizarre, you
know, okay. Do you happen toknow if the original police
records survive?
They have been searched for andthere, there are no reports that
survive. If they had writtenreports, and they probably did
(26:53):
make some notes, but, you know,back then everything was
handwritten. And they just don'tpreserve unless there was a, you
know, a crime that occurred,usually those kinds of things
are eventually purged. And Iknow this, because not only have
I looked into whether there waspolice reports for the Defiance
(27:14):
case, but many others that kindof dated back in those times,
and even more recent in usually,the, you know, the records
department just, they just don'thave those files anymore. I
think that's that's kind of whatI expected. But I was I was
hoping maybe with the publicitythat it got, especially in some
(27:36):
of the bigger newspapers, likeout of Toledo, it, maybe they
would have preserved something.
Maybe not. Yeah, it would havebeen, it would have been cool
if, if they had and I want, Iwant to say that I somebody told
me that I believe a researcherwent and tried to talk to the
(27:56):
sheriff's wife, now the sheriff,you know, the officer, he's
passed away. And I thinksomebody asked her and she
didn't know anything about thecase. So unfortunately, was no,
you know, there's no way tointerview any of these people
firsthand. So many years later,you know, right. When you did
(28:18):
come to defiance, did you get afeel for people knowing the
story? Well, or like the kind ofgeneral lore that springs up
around occurrences like this.
That was that was spoken muchabout at the gathering? You
know, you know, what we cameaway from was that, no, none of
(28:41):
the locals really knew muchabout it. No one really
remembered it. I mean, I thinkwe talked to a few older people
that, you know, remembered it insome way. But in general, it's
not something that that anybodyreally knows about. And that's
in contrast to some of the caseswhere, for example, the moss man
(29:03):
case from Point Pleasant, WestVirginia, it's a very little
town that, you know, same kindof thing was sightings back in
the 1960s and into 1967. And itmade a big deal. And there's
been movies made and all thisother stuff. So it was a lot
more famous, but in essencestarted with, you know, just a
(29:24):
few sightings. And there is aMothman festival that goes there
every year that draws 1000s ofpeople. The town is really made,
made it off that even in thelegend of Boggy Creek. They're
in Phalke, Arkansas, there's afestival there's a store with a
giant Bigfoot coming over thetop. The locals have really kind
(29:44):
of played up. You wouldn't beneat if defiance you had this
whole werewolf thing going, butunfortunately, I think it was
kind of obscure and there wasnothing that you know nothing to
propel it to the story tocontinue Nanos no movie was made
no book was written or anything.
So unfortunately, I think it'skind of lost a little bit as far
(30:05):
as the local folklore. Oh, it isfascinating. It is? Well, you
know, I will mention, just acouple of years ago, one of the
local TV stations out of Toledodid a story a segment on it. And
it did kind of stir up a lot ofstuff. I know, on social media
(30:27):
in particular, it did bring outsome of the folks that are, of
course, you know, much oldernow, that remembered it, and
they were commenting on it. So Ithink sometimes it just takes a
little effort, maybe sometiming. And before it didn't hit
the right years for it to plantroots in a community like it did
(30:49):
with the mosque man, which ofcourse, has been such a popular
topic in that area now, andcommercial interests, even now
that have invested in that.
But, you know, you never knowwhere this might had, and, you
know, sometimescovering stories, I think,
whether it's through podcasts orthrough, you know, like the
(31:11):
books you've written, you know,it's a way to really spread the
word. But, yeah, and wonder,yeah, very much so. And like you
say, you know, if the news doesa story, you know, it gets out
to a lot more people, and thenyou know, your podcast, you
know, brings it up again. And soif there's enough of that, then
people do start remembering andstart thinking about it. And so
(31:35):
you just never know, I just, youknow, it's cool. I think it
would be awesome if there was awerewolf festival, because, you
know, we did our we did oursmall thing. And it was sort of,
like I said, in terms of asymposium to analyze the
phenomenon of dog man that takesplace all over, but just a, if
there was a defiance werewolffestival that was in conjunction
(31:59):
with that, you know, parades inthe streets, man, it'd be
awesome. That that would be fun.
And I thought all piece ofculture from Yeah, an original
historical story, I always thinkthat's great to have that kind
of authenticity. And fun,attached with it to write in the
(32:20):
kind of things preserve thatsort of modern folklore, if you
will, because, you know, youngerpeople who may have not heard of
it, well, there's events and newstories and, you know, podcasts
and things and to be, you know,a new generation hears about it.
So, you know, that that is, theway that it's preserved. The
(32:43):
story is, whether it was a realwerewolf or what it was, it
still was something that isinteresting news. So, yeah, and
something that we can't quiteexplain. And there's something
enjoyable, I think aboutrealizing that sometimes you
just don't have all the answersto things and it's okay to
(33:05):
imagine or to do your best toguess, at what it could have
been. That pretty much coversmost of the basics. The
questions I had for you, werethere any stones that I left
unturned, from your point ofview? You know, I mean, I would
had that, when this took placein late summer of 1972. This is
(33:31):
this was around the time when alot of sort of famous cases,
were getting coverage back thena lot of famous cryptid case.
And so it is right in this sortof golden era, in which, you
know, the newspapers would,would cover it, the, you know,
the, you call the police or thepolice would look into the look
(33:53):
into it, you know, around1971 1972 That's when the
original Legend of Boggy Creeksightings were being publicized
very widely in the newspapers.
That was a case of the of Momo,which is the Missouri monster
made headlines in 1972. Right inthe same time, so it's a really
(34:15):
interesting time, and then theDefiance having a werewolf, you
know, seemed like every placehad, you know, their own sort of
classic cryptid that was gettingnews coverage at that time. And
it's sort of defined yearslater, you know, not to mention
Mothman 1966 67. It sort ofdefined a lot of the cryptids
(34:38):
that we're still looking attoday. And these were the
classic cases, and I considerthe Defiance werewolf, one of
those documented media cases ofa werewolf. So it's pretty
unique in that way, compared tosome of the other claims that
you come crossed that it was,you know, so well documented.
(35:01):
And that's the difference nowbecause, you know, of course,
there's dog man sightings, rightand left all over. And they're
sort of put on the internet, butthey're not covered by
journalists and a newspaperthat, you know, is typically
selective about what they'regoing to print back then. I
(35:22):
mean, that was, that was bigstuff newspaper. So the fact
that they dedicated any space toa werewolf case, is great. And
it preserves it historically,whereas all these sorts of
things that are posted onFacebook pages and stuff, but
they just sort of get lost inthe noise, you know, but this,
(35:42):
you can get those oldnewspapers, and it's right
there, documented for, you know,posterity. Yeah, I really
appreciate that. That was thecase here. And they, they even
have some follow up articles,you know, that I come across,
too. So it had some stayingpower, at least at the time that
it was happening.
(36:04):
Right? Because later, I don'tremember. Not long, but probably
like, five or six days later,there was some reports from
Toledo, Ohio, which somebodyclaimed as seen a werewolf and
then there was others. So youknow, all of a sudden, you know,
you print one story, and thenyou find that you get other
(36:24):
reports from nearby towns orcities. That were no good either
point to you know, noweverybody's got werewolf on the
brain, or it's hysteria orwhatever, but, but it does then
start. Other Other reports thatbe made out known about it.
They've, they had neverpublicized the Defiance case,
(36:47):
you know.
Back then, in 1972, initialsightings of the Defiance
werewolf led some locals topanic. But even beyond that,
when these reports passed thejournalistic scrutiny of the
veritable Toledo Blade, thefrenzy amplified even further.
(37:09):
These historical newspapers haveprovided the paper trail,
bringing this enigmatic historyto life. It's a part of our
collective folklore that I hopedoesn't fade away altogether.
When at Toledo, CBS affiliateWTO L. Ran a segment on the
story in a newscast and October2018. It gained some traction on
(37:34):
social media. This story, whichhad waned from the public's
memory was brought to life oncemore. A few locals now aged 50
years, came forward with theirown personal recollections of
events. One woman recalledhearing the rumor that the beast
drug huge chains around by hisankles, as though he had been
(37:57):
shackled at one time. Anotherwoman who lived near the tracks
as a child, recalled sleeping inher parents bed for weeks, she
was so afraid to be alone in herown room. She also remembered
being forbidden from playingoutside, and that her parents
seem to freaked out about thewhole thing. And another younger
(38:20):
woman, who of course wasn'taround at the time of the actual
events, recalled that herelementary school ran adjacent
to the rail line where the firstsighting occurred. The word on
the playground was that awerewolf lived in a wooded area
nearby. It seemed like just oneof those stories kids tell to
(38:41):
scare each other. Until one day,a neighborhood German shepherd
had gotten loose and decided tocome join the kids for recess.
Mayhem ensued. The rumor millabout the legendary defiance
werewolf surged once more.
(39:04):
So what are we to make of thisstrange bed of cryptid folklore?
It's a story nearly forgotten,despite the documented history,
and the events which remainunexplained today. There's one
thing about this tale, however,that makes it stand out from
other cryptids stories.
Werewolves as we've come to knowthem and the mystical sense, are
a kind of entity that bridgesthe human and animal worlds. Not
(39:28):
fully human, and yet not fullybeast. They represent what it
can mean for one creature toinhabit both worlds. mythical
stories about these beasts havepermeated our culture for
centuries, we've long ponderedwhat it might mean for a few
among us to transform into amore Primordial Being once per
(39:53):
month, when the moon shines fulland bright. They think the
ground And that magical way,turning the inky Knight into a
dimension just a little bitcloser to something spiritual.
Whether the Defiance werewolfwas indeed some unknown half
(40:14):
based half man entity, orwhether it was some crazed
person lumbering about in astrikingly realistic costume, we
will never know. And thatuncertainty is the kind which
lays fertile ground from whichfolktales can flourish. Let's
hope we've done our part to adda little fertilizer on this one
(40:37):
stying sprout of a tail. So thenext time you step out into the
night, and notice that eerieglow, bathing the ground beneath
your feet, look up, turn yourface toward the full moon
beaming consider its powers theway it casts the supernatural
(40:58):
pall on our ordinary world. Bestill and let it work, its
magic. If you're lucky, you'llfeel a surge from the beast
within you. And though you mightfeel inclined, try to resist the
urge to howl. You never know whomight be watching and how they
might not understand that primalconnection with the animal
(41:22):
kingdom. This concludes today'sepisode on the Defiance
werewolf. I hope you've enjoyedit. If so, please consider
writing a review on Applepodcasts or wherever you listen.
It helps new listeners find theshow. If you'd like to learn
more about Ohio folklore, youcan find us on Facebook and at
(41:44):
Ohio folklore.com. And, asalways, keep wondering
Hello, and welcome to Ohio folklore. I'm your host,
Melissa Davies. Before we getinto today's episode, I'd like
to take a moment to ask you aquick favor. Some of you may be
new listeners, and some may betried and true fans, whatever
the case may be. If you likedthe show, please consider taking
(00:23):
a moment to write a review onApple podcasts or wherever you
listen. It's just one way youcan give back and help spread a
little of the Wonder I've beensharing. You see, reviews help
make the show easier to find forfolks like yourself. And the
nearly three years that I'vebeen making this podcast, I've
(00:44):
been thrilled to see it grow.
Now garnering 1000s of downloadsfor each episode. I've heard
from listeners all around Ohioand beyond. appreciating how
they learn something new aboutan Ohio location they thought
was all too familiar. So let'sjust see how much we can spread
the lore unique to the BuckeyeState. Thanks a ton. And now on
(01:06):
with the show. Today, we'reexploring a legend not well
known to many Ohioans. Fornearly 50 years, this cryptid
tale had faded in obscurity. Myeffort and sharing this story
now is to bring it forth fromthe shadows, but shine a light
(01:28):
on a documented piece of OhioHistory that remains
unexplained. Like all greatfolktales this story includes
curious encounters frommultiple, unrelated Ohioans,
each reporting strikingsimilarities in the entity they
confronted during the steamysummer of 1972. Multiple
(01:49):
sightings of a human sizedfanged beast with wire refer
garnered multiple media reportsat the time. The frenzy this
broad eventually led the localpolice department to issue a
press release. Chief Donaldbrettler begrudgingly
(02:09):
acknowledged multiple reports ofa Blue Gene wearing bipedal wolf
like creature. Assuming thewhole thing a prank, his
department kept the initialsightings under wraps. But when
the calls kept coming in overthe span of a week, the chief
went public stating, we'reconcerned for the safety of our
people. Some had reported thecreature as armed wielding a two
(02:34):
by four. It was known to commentunsuspecting people just going
about their business. It neverspoke. If it were a human
disguised in a costume, thereseemed to be no motive. It never
demanded money, and never stuckaround to watch the victims
(02:56):
stunned reaction with noapparent robbery and progress
and no sticking around to soakin the joy of a prank. Just what
could account for theseinexplicable encounters? We're
going to try our best to answerthat question. In today's
episode I'm talking about theDefiance werewolf. Defiance is a
(03:18):
small city of about 17,000people in the northwest corner
of the state. Its unique namesstems from the fort built by
General Anthony Wayne at theconfluence of the mommy and
Auglaize rivers. Fort Defiance,as it was known then, was a
(03:41):
fortress and a line of Americandefenses against royal forces
and native tribes in the late18th century. In its
construction, General Wayne wasfamously quoted saying, I defy
the English Indians and all theDevils of hell to take it.
nearly 30 years later, in 1822,the city itself would be
(04:06):
officially founded at the sideof the fort. The name defiance
stuck and remains yet today.
It's this irreverent and nosethumbing attitude that lingered
just long enough for one groupof early white settlers to claim
it as their own. It's a legacythat's complicated, given our
(04:27):
current understanding of thosesocial and political forces
today.
Fast forward two centuries, andwe find the city of defiance the
working class seat of a countyby the same name. Some residents
those old enough to remember1970 to recall the events of
that unusual summer with a bitof humor, a dash of confusion,
(04:51):
and a whole heap of wonder atwhat the whole thing meant. So
let's dig into the details.
Recorded a newspaper articles ofA time. Let's immerse ourselves
in the frenzy that had beensweeping a city once built on an
attitude of defiance.
(05:14):
The following account is derivedfrom an August 2 1972 article
from the Toledo Blade. The firstsighting of the unknown creature
occurred July 25 of that year. Abreak man of the Norfolk and
Western Railway Company had beenworking late that night in the
small rail yard, only a fewblocks from the police station
(05:36):
downtown. Under a proverbialfull moon. This man, a Toledo
and by the name of Ted Davis wasbusy connecting an air hose
between two cars. He was bendingover at the waist, with his eyes
facing downward at the work infront of him when two hairy feet
came into view on the groundbeside him. Startled, Ted
(06:00):
dropped the host and steppedbackward. What stood before him
was a fanged two legged, bluejean clad beast more than six
feet tall, grasping a two byfour with hands covered and for
paralyzed with fear. Ted didn'teven flinch when the beast
struck him on the shoulder withthe piece of lumber. Just as Ted
(06:23):
was finally able to open hismouth to say something, the
creature turned off and ran outof sight. Only five days later,
both Ted Davis and fellowcrewmen and Toledo and Tom Jones
spotted the same creaturestanding in some weeds near the
main track. Tom had heard Ted'sclaim of the first sighting and
(06:45):
hadn't believed a word of it. Hewas sure Ted had made up the
whole story. And yet, thefollowing Sunday, he couldn't
deny what he was seeing with hisown eyes. The beast was still
wearing blue jeans. The rest ofits body was covered in a mess
of the KFOR. Once again, it ranoff on realizing it had been
(07:06):
spotted it sprinted toward a carthat was stopped on a nearby
road. And unknown person sittinginside the car screamed loud
enough for tat and Tom to hearas the beast fled on into the
night. The last day could recallwas the screeching tires of the
car. Its drivers speeding off ina rush of fear and confusion.
(07:30):
That thing's gonna hurtsomebody. Tom exclaimed.
Sometime later, a grocer drivinginto work in the early morning
hours slammed on his brakes whenthe beast leapt in front of his
car. For a brief moment, he heldeye contact with it, noting the
(07:52):
bright white fangs thatcontrasted with the dark fur on
its face.
Another article published thefollowing day and the blade
included reports that a passingtruck driver had also spotted
the hairy thank beast. Allsightings had occurred between
(08:13):
the hours of one and 4am onewoman whose home was adjacent to
the rail yard, called the policein a state of shock. She hadn't
seen the beast for herself, butgrowing rumors told by her
neighbors had set her on edge.
She'd been afraid to leave thehouse and ask that the police
send patrol units to comelooking for the thing. Chief
(08:35):
Broncolor tried to reassure herthat the whole thing was likely
some guy in a costume outpulling pranks on unsuspecting
people. She wouldn't bereassured a number of sightings
had occurred in the two blockarea where her home set
residents who had never done sobefore, began locking their
(08:56):
doors and forbade their childrenfrom playing outside. One
elderly resident named RupertFigg told a blade reporter that
if the beast came on hisproperty, he'd grab his shotgun
and fill it full of buckshot.
The claim that this was somelocal nut traipsing around in a
(09:19):
werewolf costume soundedplausible, but it didn't fit
with the growing firsthandaccounts. People who saw this
creature were wholly convincedthat it couldn't be a person in
a costume. The fangs in the furwhich covered exposed body parts
were just too realistic. Notonly that the creature didn't
(09:41):
hang around waiting for a bigreaction like a prankster would
do. It seemed as though thebeast was afraid of the people
that encountered and ran off assoon as it was spotted. A week
after the sightings began thelocal defiance paper printed a
bold headline horror movie nowplaying on Fifth Street. The
(10:03):
article opened with a poemquoted from a 1941 film called
The Wolf Man. Even a man who haspure of heart and says his
prayers by night, may become awolf When the wolf been bloons
and the moon is clear andbright.
(10:25):
And the werewolf mania would goon, with random sightings
popping up over the next coupleof months. And in the time since
most locals to the area claimedto have never heard this story.
Remarkably, the whole thingshifted from a kind of hysteria
in the summer of 1972 to aforgotten chapter of local
(10:48):
history, nearing 50 years oldtoday. During the course of my
research on today's episode, Ihad the fortune of connecting
with the perfect person whocould shed some light on this
enigmatic and nearly faded tale.
His name is Lyle Blackburn, aprolific author and cryptid
(11:10):
researcher, this native Texanhad made the trek all the way to
defiance back in 2016. To speakat a symposium on the legend of
the dog man. The term dog manrefers to unclassified creatures
of the canine variety. Thelittle known legend of the
(11:31):
Defiance werewolf fits nicely inthis category. And it's the
reason why defiance had beenchosen as the location for the
gathering. As it turns out, thisstory in particular is one of
the most well documented casesof a group of Werewolf sightings
anywhere in the US. Lyle hasstudied cryptid stories all
(11:53):
across the country for most ofhis life, and has written
several books on the subject. Hewas able to provide an overview
of how this legend compares toothers. You can find more
information about his works atLyle blackburn.com. But for now,
let's listen to what he has toteach us about this unique piece
(12:15):
of Ohio folklore. Come hear hisstory.
Can you start by telling me alittle bit about what got you
into, you know, studying andproducing content? Well, I was
always fascinated by moviemonsters and monsters in
(12:40):
general, as far back as I canremember. And you know, first
sort of gravitated towardsthings like Frankenstein, and
Dracula and things. And it'ssome point I got a book when I
was in elementary school, and ithas stories of Bigfoot and a
Yeti and Loch Ness Monster. Andthose really fired my
(13:00):
imagination because I thought,well, these are like monsters
you might encounter in reallife, you know, hunting, bow
hunting with my father, so isyou know, often in wooded
environments, so the Bigfootthing really quick. And then
ultimately, I saw a movie calledThe Legend of Boggy Creek, which
came out in around 1972. Andthat dramatize sightings of a
(13:28):
Sasquatch like creature insouthern Arkansas, which was
only about three hours fromwhere I live in Texas. And so
that really scared me andfascinated me. And so later on,
basically, as an adult, I spentmany years touring as a musician
and I was also good at writingand wrote from some rock
magazines and horror magazinesand wanted to write a book. So I
(13:51):
started with the accounts in thereal life situation of the
legend of Boggy Creek. And thenthings sort of went from there
to just branching out andcovering all these famous
cryptid cases that I could andjust delving into the phenomenon
of people seeing, quote,unquote, real life monsters in
(14:11):
today's world. Okay, so yourentry into the whole
cryptozoology fascination wasthe Boggy Creek story. Yes, that
was, you know, that kind of drewme in as far as well. You know,
maybe I could see something inthe woods or this is kind of
related to my area, so then itkind of resonated with me. Oh,
(14:35):
that's great. And so you arenear Arkansas, or is that in
Texas, where you live? I wasborn in Fort Worth, Texas, and
I've always lived in the DallasFort Worth area and so the
little town of Phalke, Arkansas,where Boggy Creek is, is three
and a half hours, just over intoArkansas, so it's very, very
(14:57):
close. I see So and you know, sothat was what sparked your
fascination. And since thenyou've become really well
acquainted with lots of famouscryptid stories across the
country. And not just, you know,the traditional Bigfoot, that
some of the other unusualmonster creatures, right? You
(15:20):
know, I mean, everybody kind ofgenerally knows Bigfoot and Loch
Ness Monster, or maybe some lakemonsters. But yeah, there's
certainly a wide variety of verystrange things, that creatures
that people have claimed to seeover the years. And it's fun to
explore the different kinds and,and to, you know, find out the
(15:43):
truth behind some of thesecases. You know, you must have a
reputation there in thecommunity. As I understand
you're invited, I think it wasin 2016. To define to take part
in a presentation to thecommunity. Am I correct? Yes.
Okay. Right. Yes, there was,there is a, I guess, a category
(16:07):
of cryptids, which are known asdog men, dog men, it's sort of
a, essentially, a werewolf orWolf Man type cryptid. And it's
become quite popular, but therewas a, and they do have these
sort of symposiums all aroundthe country, Bigfoot
conferences, this was specificto the dog man phenomenon. And
(16:33):
there was no better place tohave it than defiance. Ohio,
where there was sort of afamous, where was the case?
Yeah. So that was one of the bigquestions I had for you was,
what your take on that legendarystory from 1972. And how that
(16:53):
compares to so many the otheraccounts that you've come across
in your studies, how you woulddescribe how that compares.
Right, the the incidents thathappened in defiance back in the
summer of 1972, are very similarto other monster cases that have
(17:17):
happened, not just as a werewolfcase, but others were a town
experiences a series ofsightings or encounters and
reports and oftentime pulls inthe law enforcement because you
know, people are calling thepolice, and then it gets new
news coverage. So they're inaround July 25 1972, there was
(17:44):
some railroad workers working atthe railway yard there in
defiance, and they were therelate at night. And one of them
was connecting an air hosebetween two of the rail cars and
so he's kind of looking down andall sudden he sees big hairy
feet come up. And then when helooks up, he sees some kind of
(18:10):
thing or person who essentiallyhas hair and a hairy head like a
werewolf and he was holding thisto buy for. And then there's
kind of conflict and reports,but apparently hit the guy. And
then then the thing ran off intothe woods. And later, later,
(18:30):
five or six days later, a coupleof railroad guys saw the same
thing. Standing near the tracks,and in this description, they
said it was wearing blue jeans.
So here you have basicallyreports that kind of suggests
that it's sort of a werewolf,which would kind of lead you in
this direction of Islam, youknow, is it a big wolf or
(18:53):
something that stands up it, youknow, covered in here? Or is it
a person, you know, playing aprank, and so it straddles the
line between the two. Butnonetheless, other people saw
this thing person or whatever itwas running across the road,
and, you know, people thought itwas chasing them and became, you
know, a new story. And so, youknow, it does fall into that
(19:19):
dark man category, although, inthis case, it does suggest that
with the blue jeans and stuff,it could have been a person.
Yeah, I mean, it's a curiousthing, because of course, the
legend most of us think aboutwerewolves is that it's that
category of cryptid whereas parthuman that you know, transforms
into this dog like creature andthen you know, with the full
(19:46):
moon and you know, all of thelist that goes behind that whole
story. So, at least in the morepop culture references if you
think about Teen Wolf, you know,you think about the death of
pretty comment saying that theywould be closed in that sense.
But yeah, go ahead. Right. Imean, and that's the, you know,
(20:08):
the particular thing about thiscase, because I mean, you're
kind of separate this if you'relooking at cryptids, as okay,
we're, we're seriously analyzingthese things, you have to kind
of separate the supernaturalaspects from the phenomenon of
a, you know, cryptozoology,which would be something that
(20:30):
would be an animal that iseither out of place, or could be
a mutation or somethingcompletely unknown. And then in
that case, you know, you couldhave perhaps this huge hybrid,
exceptionally large wolf that onsome occasions, like which stand
up on its back legs, and thenobviously, you're basically
(20:52):
looking at a werewolf, or kindof into that supernatural zone,
where we think about the sort ofmovie version of werewolves
where it's a person who thentransforms, which would, you
know, conceivably still bewearing parts of its clothes or
something and, and so,obviously, the defiant werewolf
(21:15):
kind of fits almost into thattransformation type Wolf Man.
Mode. Yeah. I hadn't thoughtabout the the stations that
you're making there. So Iappreciate that. That, you know,
in a more pure way, if you'rethinking about it as a cryptic
creature that exists separatefrom humans, but one that we
(21:38):
haven't really fully understoodor identified yet, you know,
then that creature wouldn't bewearing blue jeans or, or any
kind of, you know, clothing. Andso you've, you've come across
cases like that as well, of moretraditional dog men, maybe, as
they're referred to.
(22:01):
Yes, certainly. And there'ssome, there's a famous case from
Wisconsin, known as the beast ofBray road, and that's near
Elkhorn, Wisconsin. And in thatcase, the witnesses reported
seeing something that definitelylooked like some sort of animal,
(22:21):
but but an animal that thewitnesses for lack of a better
description described it as awerewolf. And this, this kind of
bleeds over, and that that tookplace, the sort of famous rash
of sightings were in the 80s.
And so on end of the 90, so thiswas after the Defiance where
(22:44):
we'll but if you kind of startlooking back at reports of these
same kinds of creatures, you canfind some in those general
areas, Wisconsin, Ohio, that gofurther back in, they do kind of
talk about a creature that seemsmore definitely seems more like
a, you know, just some sort of avery bizarre animal. Whereas,
(23:07):
you know, and the other thing tothink about in defiance, this is
taking place at a, at a railroadtrack. I mean, there were some
woods and there are some areasthere, but there's buildings and
people around, you know, this,this is a place where people
would be this isn't out in themiddle of nowhere. In other
(23:29):
words, but it's alwaysinteresting to go is I've been
defined to bend to that railroadrail yard. So it's neat to go
there after you've kind ofstudied the case and go, Okay,
wow, it took place right here,you know? Yeah. Well, you know,
one of the things that I hadthought about or questions that
came to mind after I'd read someof the articles, the historical
(23:50):
articles at the time, was, therewere numerous reports from
different people coming into thepolice station. And you would
think it was a person wearing amask and a costume, that the
report would be, hey, there'ssome crazy dude out there, you
know, you would think it wouldbe pretty recognizable, that
(24:13):
this is a person wearingsomething. As opposed to, you
know, these genuine, genuinelyscared people. I don't know,
that just struck me that itwould be hard, especially in
1972, you know, to have a veryconvincing costume that would,
you know, give person pause tothink maybe this is a creature
(24:38):
of some sort. Right, and that isone of the things that's, you
know, sort of puzzling aboutthis case, because, you know, I
remember having a werewolf overforeign pullover werewolf mask
back in the 70s when I was akid, and, you know, if you look
up, we're close to it. If youcould see it was, you know, it
(25:00):
was fake. I mean, it was latex,but the first rail railway
worker that saw it, you know, helooked at it right there, I
mean, it was just standing rightover him. So he got a pretty
darn good look at it. And thenit took off running. So he had a
pretty good view of it. So likeyou say, you'd think he would
(25:22):
say, you know, some crazy dudewas wearing a costume. And these
guys saw it later. And thepolice didn't share this with
the media right away. So someother people started reporting,
seeing this without even havingknowledge of, you know,
influenced by the firstnewspaper report, because after
(25:47):
the first incident, it wasn't inthe newspaper. So for people
hearing a story, and then, youknow, your mind plays tricks on
what you see, or something thatwasn't even publicized at first.
Right. And then, I think it wason the same night, though, the
railway workers saw it again,standing by the tracks. And then
(26:09):
then a later that evening, aresident said it ran across the
road in front of his vehicle,and it was in the lights. And
again, Bri kind of reported itas some kind of hairy, animal
sort of thing. So it really ishard to say if it was, you know,
(26:29):
a person in a costume, or it wassomething more bizarre, you
know, okay. Do you happen toknow if the original police
records survive?
They have been searched for andthere, there are no reports that
survive. If they had writtenreports, and they probably did
(26:53):
make some notes, but, you know,back then everything was
handwritten. And they just don'tpreserve unless there was a, you
know, a crime that occurred,usually those kinds of things
are eventually purged. And Iknow this, because not only have
I looked into whether there waspolice reports for the Defiance
(27:14):
case, but many others that kindof dated back in those times,
and even more recent in usually,the, you know, the records
department just, they just don'thave those files anymore. I
think that's that's kind of whatI expected. But I was I was
hoping maybe with the publicitythat it got, especially in some
(27:36):
of the bigger newspapers, likeout of Toledo, it, maybe they
would have preserved something.
Maybe not. Yeah, it would havebeen, it would have been cool
if, if they had and I want, Iwant to say that I somebody told
me that I believe a researcherwent and tried to talk to the
(27:56):
sheriff's wife, now the sheriff,you know, the officer, he's
passed away. And I thinksomebody asked her and she
didn't know anything about thecase. So unfortunately, was no,
you know, there's no way tointerview any of these people
firsthand. So many years later,you know, right. When you did
(28:18):
come to defiance, did you get afeel for people knowing the
story? Well, or like the kind ofgeneral lore that springs up
around occurrences like this.
That was that was spoken muchabout at the gathering? You
know, you know, what we cameaway from was that, no, none of
(28:41):
the locals really knew muchabout it. No one really
remembered it. I mean, I thinkwe talked to a few older people
that, you know, remembered it insome way. But in general, it's
not something that that anybodyreally knows about. And that's
in contrast to some of the caseswhere, for example, the moss man
(29:03):
case from Point Pleasant, WestVirginia, it's a very little
town that, you know, same kindof thing was sightings back in
the 1960s and into 1967. And itmade a big deal. And there's
been movies made and all thisother stuff. So it was a lot
more famous, but in essencestarted with, you know, just a
(29:24):
few sightings. And there is aMothman festival that goes there
every year that draws 1000s ofpeople. The town is really made,
made it off that even in thelegend of Boggy Creek. They're
in Phalke, Arkansas, there's afestival there's a store with a
giant Bigfoot coming over thetop. The locals have really kind
(29:44):
of played up. You wouldn't beneat if defiance you had this
whole werewolf thing going, butunfortunately, I think it was
kind of obscure and there wasnothing that you know nothing to
propel it to the story tocontinue Nanos no movie was made
no book was written or anything.
So unfortunately, I think it'skind of lost a little bit as far
(30:05):
as the local folklore. Oh, it isfascinating. It is? Well, you
know, I will mention, just acouple of years ago, one of the
local TV stations out of Toledodid a story a segment on it. And
it did kind of stir up a lot ofstuff. I know, on social media
(30:27):
in particular, it did bring outsome of the folks that are, of
course, you know, much oldernow, that remembered it, and
they were commenting on it. So Ithink sometimes it just takes a
little effort, maybe sometiming. And before it didn't hit
the right years for it to plantroots in a community like it did
(30:49):
with the mosque man, which ofcourse, has been such a popular
topic in that area now, andcommercial interests, even now
that have invested in that.
But, you know, you never knowwhere this might had, and, you
know, sometimescovering stories, I think,
whether it's through podcasts orthrough, you know, like the
(31:11):
books you've written, you know,it's a way to really spread the
word. But, yeah, and wonder,yeah, very much so. And like you
say, you know, if the news doesa story, you know, it gets out
to a lot more people, and thenyou know, your podcast, you
know, brings it up again. And soif there's enough of that, then
people do start remembering andstart thinking about it. And so
(31:35):
you just never know, I just, youknow, it's cool. I think it
would be awesome if there was awerewolf festival, because, you
know, we did our we did oursmall thing. And it was sort of,
like I said, in terms of asymposium to analyze the
phenomenon of dog man that takesplace all over, but just a, if
there was a defiance werewolffestival that was in conjunction
(31:59):
with that, you know, parades inthe streets, man, it'd be
awesome. That that would be fun.
And I thought all piece ofculture from Yeah, an original
historical story, I always thinkthat's great to have that kind
of authenticity. And fun,attached with it to write in the
(32:20):
kind of things preserve thatsort of modern folklore, if you
will, because, you know, youngerpeople who may have not heard of
it, well, there's events and newstories and, you know, podcasts
and things and to be, you know,a new generation hears about it.
So, you know, that that is, theway that it's preserved. The
(32:43):
story is, whether it was a realwerewolf or what it was, it
still was something that isinteresting news. So, yeah, and
something that we can't quiteexplain. And there's something
enjoyable, I think aboutrealizing that sometimes you
just don't have all the answersto things and it's okay to
(33:05):
imagine or to do your best toguess, at what it could have
been. That pretty much coversmost of the basics. The
questions I had for you, werethere any stones that I left
unturned, from your point ofview? You know, I mean, I would
had that, when this took placein late summer of 1972. This is
(33:31):
this was around the time when alot of sort of famous cases,
were getting coverage back thena lot of famous cryptid case.
And so it is right in this sortof golden era, in which, you
know, the newspapers would,would cover it, the, you know,
the, you call the police or thepolice would look into the look
(33:53):
into it, you know, around1971 1972 That's when the
original Legend of Boggy Creeksightings were being publicized
very widely in the newspapers.
That was a case of the of Momo,which is the Missouri monster
made headlines in 1972. Right inthe same time, so it's a really
(34:15):
interesting time, and then theDefiance having a werewolf, you
know, seemed like every placehad, you know, their own sort of
classic cryptid that was gettingnews coverage at that time. And
it's sort of defined yearslater, you know, not to mention
Mothman 1966 67. It sort ofdefined a lot of the cryptids
(34:38):
that we're still looking attoday. And these were the
classic cases, and I considerthe Defiance werewolf, one of
those documented media cases ofa werewolf. So it's pretty
unique in that way, compared tosome of the other claims that
you come crossed that it was,you know, so well documented.
(35:01):
And that's the difference nowbecause, you know, of course,
there's dog man sightings, rightand left all over. And they're
sort of put on the internet, butthey're not covered by
journalists and a newspaperthat, you know, is typically
selective about what they'regoing to print back then. I
(35:22):
mean, that was, that was bigstuff newspaper. So the fact
that they dedicated any space toa werewolf case, is great. And
it preserves it historically,whereas all these sorts of
things that are posted onFacebook pages and stuff, but
they just sort of get lost inthe noise, you know, but this,
(35:42):
you can get those oldnewspapers, and it's right
there, documented for, you know,posterity. Yeah, I really
appreciate that. That was thecase here. And they, they even
have some follow up articles,you know, that I come across,
too. So it had some stayingpower, at least at the time that
it was happening.
(36:04):
Right? Because later, I don'tremember. Not long, but probably
like, five or six days later,there was some reports from
Toledo, Ohio, which somebodyclaimed as seen a werewolf and
then there was others. So youknow, all of a sudden, you know,
you print one story, and thenyou find that you get other
(36:24):
reports from nearby towns orcities. That were no good either
point to you know, noweverybody's got werewolf on the
brain, or it's hysteria orwhatever, but, but it does then
start. Other Other reports thatbe made out known about it.
They've, they had neverpublicized the Defiance case,
(36:47):
you know.
Back then, in 1972, initialsightings of the Defiance
werewolf led some locals topanic. But even beyond that,
when these reports passed thejournalistic scrutiny of the
veritable Toledo Blade, thefrenzy amplified even further.
(37:09):
These historical newspapers haveprovided the paper trail,
bringing this enigmatic historyto life. It's a part of our
collective folklore that I hopedoesn't fade away altogether.
When at Toledo, CBS affiliateWTO L. Ran a segment on the
story in a newscast and October2018. It gained some traction on
(37:34):
social media. This story, whichhad waned from the public's
memory was brought to life oncemore. A few locals now aged 50
years, came forward with theirown personal recollections of
events. One woman recalledhearing the rumor that the beast
drug huge chains around by hisankles, as though he had been
(37:57):
shackled at one time. Anotherwoman who lived near the tracks
as a child, recalled sleeping inher parents bed for weeks, she
was so afraid to be alone in herown room. She also remembered
being forbidden from playingoutside, and that her parents
seem to freaked out about thewhole thing. And another younger
(38:20):
woman, who of course wasn'taround at the time of the actual
events, recalled that herelementary school ran adjacent
to the rail line where the firstsighting occurred. The word on
the playground was that awerewolf lived in a wooded area
nearby. It seemed like just oneof those stories kids tell to
(38:41):
scare each other. Until one day,a neighborhood German shepherd
had gotten loose and decided tocome join the kids for recess.
Mayhem ensued. The rumor millabout the legendary defiance
werewolf surged once more.
(39:04):
So what are we to make of thisstrange bed of cryptid folklore?
It's a story nearly forgotten,despite the documented history,
and the events which remainunexplained today. There's one
thing about this tale, however,that makes it stand out from
other cryptids stories.
Werewolves as we've come to knowthem and the mystical sense, are
a kind of entity that bridgesthe human and animal worlds. Not
(39:28):
fully human, and yet not fullybeast. They represent what it
can mean for one creature toinhabit both worlds. mythical
stories about these beasts havepermeated our culture for
centuries, we've long ponderedwhat it might mean for a few
among us to transform into amore Primordial Being once per
(39:53):
month, when the moon shines fulland bright. They think the
ground And that magical way,turning the inky Knight into a
dimension just a little bitcloser to something spiritual.
Whether the Defiance werewolfwas indeed some unknown half
(40:14):
based half man entity, orwhether it was some crazed
person lumbering about in astrikingly realistic costume, we
will never know. And thatuncertainty is the kind which
lays fertile ground from whichfolktales can flourish. Let's
hope we've done our part to adda little fertilizer on this one
(40:37):
stying sprout of a tail. So thenext time you step out into the
night, and notice that eerieglow, bathing the ground beneath
your feet, look up, turn yourface toward the full moon
beaming consider its powers theway it casts the supernatural
(40:58):
pall on our ordinary world. Bestill and let it work, its
magic. If you're lucky, you'llfeel a surge from the beast
within you. And though you mightfeel inclined, try to resist the
urge to howl. You never know whomight be watching and how they
might not understand that primalconnection with the animal
(41:22):
kingdom. This concludes today'sepisode on the Defiance
werewolf. I hope you've enjoyedit. If so, please consider
writing a review on Applepodcasts or wherever you listen.
It helps new listeners find theshow. If you'd like to learn
more about Ohio folklore, youcan find us on Facebook and at
(41:44):
Ohio folklore.com. And, asalways, keep wondering
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