“DOGMAN: CRYPTID or CURSE? True Encounters, History, and Theories Behind Dogman #WeirdDarkness

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Has heard during the podcasts that are not in my
voice or placed by third party agencies outside of my
control that should not imply an endorsement by Weird Darkness
or myself. Stories and content and Weird Darkness can be
disturbing for some listeners and is intended for mature audiences only.
Parental discretion is strongly advised. It stands up on two

(00:28):
legs and has the muscular frame of a wolf, with
fur that is dark brown or black. It has glowing
eyes that cut through the darkness of the night. The
beast is described as having a wolf like head, complete
with a snout full of razor sharp teeth, and has alert,
upright ears. Some say it emits a bone chilling howl

(00:51):
that sends chills up the spine of anyone who hears it.
It is said to be like nothing in the natural world.
Witnesses frequently describe a powerful feeling of foreboding and discomfort
in the creature's presence, as if they are in proximity
of something old and primal, something beyond human understanding. The

(01:14):
teal of the dog Man begins in local Michigan folklore,
where stories of strange creatures roaming in the wilderness have
been passed down through generations. When European settlers migrated to
the wilds of Michigan, they brought their stories and legends
with them. Stories of werewolves and other mythical monsters thrived

(01:35):
in the region's dense woods and remote villages. The first
documented sightings of the so called dog man traced back
to one seminal encounter in eighteen eighty seven, in a
boom in US lumber production referred to as the Great
Logging Era roughly between eighteen seventy and eighteen ninety. At
the time, Michigan was the largest producer of white pine lumber,

(01:59):
so perhaps its snow great surprise that the first wave
of stories came at that time, which so many workers
lived and worked among the area's woodlands. The first of
these alleged incidents occurred in Wexford County in eighteen eighty seven,
when a group of lumberjacks encountered a creature they described
as having the body of a man and the head

(02:20):
of a dog, its eyes blood, red, blue, or yellow,
a howl that was akin to a terrifying scream. In
the nineteen fifties, there were similar sightings throughout Allegan County.
In the nineteen sixties, sightings of the beast were reported
from Cross Village, Big Rapids, and Manistee County in Michigan,

(02:43):
but the dog man sightings of the early nineteen nineties
are most popularly associated with reports from near Elkhorn, Wisconsin.
Wisconsin and neighbouring Michigan are the places most active in
dog man claims. There have been many reported encounters of
the creature. Four horses were found dead in nineteen seventeen,

(03:05):
all with their eyes wide open. It said the examining
that believed they appeared scared to death. Locals attributed it
to the dog man. In nineteen fifty seven, a newspaper
report stated that claw marks found on a church door
could only have been made by a creature reaching a
height of seven foot four. A werewolf type creature was

(03:28):
the popular theory. A farmer was found deceased at his
plow from a heart attack in nineteen ninety seven, surrounded
by dog tracks, large dog tracks too big for a
normal canine. A man in Shelby Township, Michigan, in two
thousand and six claimed to have a frightening encounter with

(03:48):
a creature in his backyard at night. The creature stood
on two legs at a dog's head, with pointed ears
and yellow glowing eyes. The man watched in shock as
the creatures stared at him for a few moments before
vanishing into the surrounding woods. The sighting drew attention from
cryptid investigators, who noted that this dog man sighting was

(04:09):
consistent with other reported encounters of a bipedal wolf like
creature across Michigan, further fueling the mystery of the dog
Man cryptid. Another report from an unknown year, an Army
veteran claimed he saw the dog Man of Michigan in
Manistee National Forest, describing a wolfhead the size of my
window as the animal kept up with his truck traveling

(04:32):
at twenty five miles per hour. He also recalled it
having sharp white teeth, three inch long fangs, human like
hands some fourteen inches across, black pointed ears, and yellow eyes.
Native American myths and legends of the area seemed to
suggest creatures that look like the dog man. Hundreds of

(04:55):
years prior to European settlement, the Odawa tribes tell avi
wolf like beast that walks on two legs and stalks
the areas near Lake, Michigan. These tales allude to the
possibility that the dog Man had been in the area
long before that terrifying Lumberjack sighting back in eighteen eighty seven.

(05:16):
The dog Man has been a fascination of the general
public in the last few decades, in part due to
its association with a certain class of sightings. The Michigan
dog Man, so the story goes, has a ten year cycle,
with reports of encounters rising in years that end in seven.
Sightings appear to go through the roof in these years.

(05:39):
Unlike some other cryptids, such as the Luckness Monster or Bigfoot,
the dog Man, by contrast, still mostly exists out of
the public's knowledge outside of its Midwestern haunts, unless one
is a true cryptid officionado or a cryptozoologist. Dog Man
simply doesn't have the name recognition of its rivals, but

(06:01):
for those who have looked into its savage eyes, the
dog Man often leaves the most visceral and life changing impression. Tonight,
we'll examine a few true dog Man sightings from various sources,
some maddening, some horrific, some seemingly paranormal, but all reportedly true.

(06:26):
I'm Darren Marler, and this is weird Darkness. Welcome weirdos.
I'm Dearren Marler, and this is weird Darkness. Here you'll
find stories of the paranormal, supernatural, legends, lore, the strange

(06:50):
and bizarre, crime, conspiracy, mysterious, macabre, unsolved and unexplained coming
up in this episode. In the darkened recesses of the
woodland and the neglected reaches of rural America, a legend
prowls the night. Witnesses describe a massive, muscular creature trapped

(07:12):
between the form of a man and a beast, with
glowing eyes piercing through the darkness, and a bone chilling
howl that sends shivers down the spines of the unfortunate
to hear it. The dog Man has been cited since
at least the late eighteen hundreds, from the wilds of
Michigan to the back roads of Wisconsin. But what is it?

(07:33):
A cryptid still to be classified a supernatural entity or
something worse hiding just outside the borders of our reality.
Reports of the dog Man have been etched into the
minds of those who laid eyes on its fearsome visage
over time. From lumberjacks in the eighteen hundreds to present
day hunters and motorists, thousands, even millions of people have

(07:56):
experienced spine chilling encounters with a being that defies logical explanation.
Some have been hunted, others watched, and a few have
sensed an unsettling evil within its presence, as if the
creature were playing with them. Tonight, we'll dive into first
person accounts of these horrifying encounters, from the notorious Beast

(08:19):
of Bray Road to horrifying tales of shadowy figures running
alongside speeding vehicles, cryptid fights in the forest, and monsters
that could be more intelligent than we're willing to believe.
We'll also dive into the question what is the dog Man?
Is it a werewolf, a demon, an undiscovered animal we've

(08:40):
yet to confirm. Be warned, once you know these stories
of the dog Man, once you learn a bit about
what it might be, you may never see the woods
the same way again. Now, bult your doors, lock your windows,
turn off your lights, and come with me into the

(09:01):
weird darkness. The late Linda Godfrey, the trailblazer for all

(09:38):
Things dog Man, learned about the phenomenon from a freelance
journalist who in turn had heard dog man accounts from
a bus driver named Pat Lester. As Linda describes in
her two thousand and three book The Beast of Bray Road,
Lester's daughter Laurie Andresy had spotted a wolf or a
large dog with human characteristics in the fall of nineteen

(10:00):
ten eighty nine. Only it turned out that a teenage neighbor,
Doris Gibson, had seen it as well. Possibly the most
known of the dog man encounters. It even earned one
of its nicknames to the event I refer to, of course,
the Bray Road. Beast Bray Road is a small stretch
of road that runs east out of the modest Wisconsin

(10:22):
town of Elcorn. It's also the specific stretch of road
after which the Beast of Bray Road is named. A
sighting in nineteen eighty nine would be the first in
this beastly cryptids storied career. It is a cold autumn
night sometime around one thirty in the morning, A man
pulls over on the back country Bray Road, which joins

(10:43):
Highway eleven and County Road and N. Lourie and Dreasy
is driving home from her job as a manager of
an Elcorn lodge and that's when she spots it. A
dark brownish gray figure can barely be seen kneeling with
its back turn to her at the roadside, the only
really defining features being the short pointed ears. As Andreasy

(11:07):
drove closer, it turned, revealing its oddly canine face. Its
elbows were up and its claws were facing out, so
I knew it had claws, says Andresy. I remember the
long clause. Its claws appeared to be clutching roadkill, and
its eyes caught the glint of her headlights. It seemed

(11:27):
to be approximately five foot seven, maybe one hundred and
fifty pounds from what she could see in the moment,
this canine being looked straight into her eyes instead of
scampering off as most wild animals would do, Andreasy drove off.
It had been so human like that not a trace
of a wild beast could be felt in those eyes.
She thought, to this day, I think it's satanic, she says,

(11:51):
it was just my feeling. I don't so much believe
in werewolves per se, but I believe some stuff could
be conjured out. My grandmother was religious, and she believed
it too. At some point thereafter, Lori and Drezy reported
her account to Walworth County Animal Control, and hers would
be one of the first to be filed, and Animal

(12:12):
Control officer John Frederickson's Manila envelope marked Werewolf where the
first of many sightings of the beast Bray Road would
ultimately be compiled, and Dresey's siding described the animal kneeling
at the roadside at one point thirty in the morning,
apparently holding roadkill. Doris Gibson's account, dating to Halloween nineteen

(12:33):
ninety one, Yes Halloween, involved her heating an animal with
her car, stopping to check out the damage, and then
having to escape at high speed from the pursuing creature.
Here is that story. It is two years after Andreasey's siding,
but it would take place on the very same stretch

(12:54):
of road where Lauri Andrezy spotted her third friend, Louri
Andresey's mother, who was a part time school bus driver,
and in nineteen ninety one she would have a student
on her bus with a report of a walking dog man.
But this one only served to hype the myth of
the Bray Road beast even more as it occurred on
Halloween night. How eerily appropriate, right, Doris Gibson was on

(13:19):
her way to a friend's house to pick up another
friend from a party when she struck something that left
her front tires off the road on the foggy stretch
of Bray Road. She stepped out of her car to check,
assuming she had struck a small animal, but found no
animal and no damage, so returned to her car. That
was when it launched at her through the fog, all brown,

(13:41):
straight fur, a canine face, a muscular frame, and striding
on two legs. Gibson bolted to her car door. I
just stepped on the gas pedal and I started going. However,
when she attempted to back away from the situation, the
upright canid attempted to hang on to the rear bumper
of the car to keep it from escaping. Deep claw

(14:03):
marks were found scratched into the rear of the car
the next day, but this is not where the story ends.
On the return ride that night, Gibson's passenger and freend yelled,
look at that thing. The two of them had seen
the same muscular werewolfish creature, and Gibson wasted zero seconds
before opting to make a speedy exit. A December nineteen

(14:26):
ninety report provided by a witness who at the time
of the sighting was ten or eleven years old, was
considered part of the same spat of sightings, as were
further sightings by another group of children. Clawed footprints believed
to be those of the creature had been reported to
the director of the Lakeland Animal Shelter, and at least
some locals reportedly began referring to the creature by the

(14:48):
nickname Potsey, presumably after Potter's Road where the tracks were found.
Also in nineteen ninety, Mike Etton was driving late at
night along Bray Road when he saw anni more larger
than a wolf, sitting like a raccoon, sets and munching
on something in its fore paws. A high school student
named Tom Brichta is responsible for two other sightings of

(15:10):
the shaggy coated humanoid beast, the first involving the creature
partially colliding with his car, the second, this one drawing
attention to the dog like head, detailing how the animal
was observed standing amongst six foot high coin stalks. One
of the earliest dog man encounters to occur around the
Great Lakes region happened in the Wisconsin city of racine

(15:33):
right on the western shore of Lake Michigan and quite
close to the border with Illinois. In nineteen thirty six,
a man named Mark Shackleman worked as the night watchman
for the Saint Coletta Convent. One night, on his rounds,
Shackleman spotted a long clawed canine like, black furred, carrion
smelling creature. The dog man was kneeling and scratching at

(15:56):
a burial ground belonging to indigenous people near the convent,
though he fled after Shackleman approached to find out what
was going on. He came back the next day and
discovered footprints and claw marks, albeit, according to the night
watchman's account of the markings, two of the fingers appeared
to be shriveled. Shackleman was due to work two nights

(16:18):
running returned the next night, and once again he saw
the creature scratching at the mound. But this time the
animal didn't run away. Instead, it stood up at six
feet tall and made eye contact with Shackleman, and then
it spoke. It was just one word, less an actual
word than a name. Goodara, the night watchman had summoned

(16:43):
to the courage not to run away. He just kept
looking before praying to God, turning around and walking away slowly.
The dog man grinned at Mark, still glaring menacingly, but
stood still. He never saw the creature again, though he
frequently smell the scent of dead meat in the area.

(17:04):
I looked up the word the dog man spoke Gadara,
and I found a very interesting connection to a demonic
incident in the Bible. Gadhara was one of the Decapitalist cities,
a group of ten Hellenistic Roman cities in the Levant,
located in what is now modern day Jordan. Gadara is
where Jesus encountered a man possessed by demons, which you

(17:27):
can read about in Matthew chapter eight, Mark chapter five,
and Luke chapter eight. He cast out the demons into
a herd of swine, which then all ran off a
cliff to fall into the sea and drown. Could it
be that this dog man is possessed by one of
those demons that were cast out by Jesus. Up next,

(18:00):
a peaceful morning in Royal Chenango, New York, takes a
sinister turn when livestock panic, a family dog refuses to
go outside, and an eerie bone shilling howl pierces the air.
What starts as a search for a nuisance predator turns
into a nightmarish encounter with a towering inhuman beast, one

(18:22):
that seems to defy all logic. As Brandon Close and
his friend Jean come face to face with something out
of a horror film, they soon realize that some things
lurking in the woods are not meant to be found.

(18:50):
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contact social page at weird Darkness dot com Weird Darkness

(19:13):
dot com slash contact. The first sign of trouble came

(19:38):
on a normal February morning in twenty twelve. Brandon Close
had woken early, as he did on most days, kissing
his family goodbye, and leaving for work around five am.
His compound in the rural town of Shenango, New York,
stretched over one hundred and ninety two acres, about fifty
of which were thick woods. The house was only four

(20:00):
twenty feet from the road, buffered by a dense expanse
of forest that continued across the street. It was the
kind of place where silence dominated. The knights and assistants,
if ever needed, was far from nearby. That morning, while
Brandon was at work, Amy, his wife, called with an
unusual observation. The cows were acting peculiar, Squeezed tightly into

(20:24):
one corner of the cage nearest the house, as far
from the woodline as they could manage. They wouldn't eat,
they wouldn't move, continuing their nervously watchful vigil all day.
Busy with work, Brandon assumed it was probably coyotes, a
common nuisance in the area, But just as he was
about to head home, Amy called Brandon again. This time

(20:48):
their dog, Maya, wouldn't go outside. She had to literally
haul the dog out by its collar just to get
it to go outside to do its business. Brandon was perplexed.
Something about the mix of the cow's strange behavior and
Maya's sudden fear didn't add up. Yet somehow he knew
they were connected. He knew animals invariably sensed things we

(21:12):
humans cannot. Brandon arrived at dusk and found what Amy
had described twelve adult cows packed in a corner of
the fence enclosure, squeezed into a space that was maybe
twenty by twenty feet. They were literally scrambling over one
another in their efforts to get away from the wooded
area of the property. They tripped the breaker so many

(21:33):
times on the electric fence from running into it many
times attempting to move outside the yard. They were enduring
the painful shocks just to try and escape their fear
of something was that strong. Brandon was thinking what size
pack of coyotes could strike this kind of fear, and
then he heard it, a deep, raspy, gurgling scream howl

(21:58):
that brought chills down his body and hair standing up
on the back of his neck. He had never heard
anything like it in all the years of hunting and
fishing those woods since he was a boy. His first thought,
which he almost immediately dismissed, was that it could be
a mountain lion, although the Department of Environmental Conservation said
there were none in the area. Brandon had heard mountain

(22:20):
lion screams on videos before, and this was something altogether different.
Amy had more to share. Inside the house. That morning,
she'd heard deep scratching sounds on the side of the house,
not the careless scraping of a branch blowing in the wind,
but purposeful marking. When Brandon looked, he discovered four deep

(22:42):
parallel cuts in the sighting of the house. It was
practically impossible such damage could have been caused by branches
or trees close by. As they stood there staring at
the house with the scrapes and puncture marks, that blood
curdling howl screamed through the air once more. Amy's eyes
widened in fear, and she demanded to know what could

(23:04):
have caused such a noise. Brandon had no answer. In
all his years in these woods, he had never heard
anything like it. They could see their cows still huddled
desperately in the corner, heaving and climbing atop each other,
as if trying to shield themselves from whatever made the
horrifying noise. Back inside, Brandon loaded his shotgun and phoned

(23:28):
his neighbor Jean, come on down, he said, you want
to go for a ride out back in the buggy.
We have a problem with coyotes out here that I
need some assistance with. When Gene arrived, Brandon attempted to
explain the other worldly scream or roar he had heard,
comparing it to a chain smoking woman's scream, but Jean

(23:49):
just stared at him skeptically. They packed up their equipment,
including a wireless game call speaker that reproduced dozens of
animal sounds to attract predators. Brandon told Amy they were
going out back to deal with the coyotes, though he
had begun to strongly suspect that what they were dealing
with was something much much worse than coyotes, pack or not.

(24:14):
As they headed down the road toward the back woods,
Brandon explained the behavior of the cows and the dog
to Jean. It was completely dark now as they turned
on to the dirt road that ran deeper into the woods.
Within hours, they had caught sight of multiple groups of
deer bursting from the woods, running straight at them in
clear distress. White tails bobbed like flags as groups of

(24:38):
three or four deer raced within ten feet of the buggy,
fleeing toward the road and the safety of the woods
on the other side. It was a dirt road, narrow,
no more than six or seven feet across, with a
foot or two of brush on either side, and then
the thick forest. As they drove, Brandon instructed Jane to

(24:58):
shoot anything he saw. They were going roughly forty five
miles per hour, and after about two miles into the woods,
something very big came crashing through the undergrowth next to them.
The sound was not unlike that of a rhinoceros bulldozing
everything in its path. Brandon didn't have time to think.
Nothing so big as bears or moose around here, What

(25:20):
could be producing such a racket. He started to slow
the buggy, finally halting it, leaving the engine rumbling. Goose
bumps prickled against his skin as an acute feeling of
being watched came over him. Jeanne's voice trembled as he
noticed that an unnatural silence had descended over the woods.

(25:41):
Brandon was sure in every fiber of his being that
something was terribly wrong, but he tried to keep himself steady,
reminding himself that there was nothing in these woods that
he hadn't seen in his three decades of living on
the property. They waited perhaps another twenty seconds, and so
Brandon turned off the engine of the buggy. Then the

(26:02):
silence was broken by heavy rhythmic breathing. The woodline on
either side was always six to eight feet away, a
solid black beyond the reach of the buggy headlights. As
he reached for the spotlight and peeled off its red
lens cover, Brandon instructed Gene to aim his gun toward
the sound, and as the powerful beams sliced through the

(26:23):
tree tops toward where they had heard the breathing, Brandon
saw something that would change his life and forever destroy
his reputation as an honest man. In the glare of
the spotlight, he could see what looked like some kind
of hairy animal, an enormous arm wrapped around a tree trunk,
and as Brandon looked at it in disbelief, he caught

(26:44):
a glimpse of part of its head, had a long,
pointed ears about eight to ten inches long. The creature
was now a bit further away from the tree, and
its face, if Brandon could compare it to one, would
have been of a werewolf, the modern kind, like, as
he put it, the ones in the movie Van Helsing.
The resemblance was uncanny, he said, ninety eight percent the

(27:07):
same Brandon continued staring at the beast as time appeared
to grind to a halt and his brain tried to
make sense of what he was seeing. This wasn't real,
It couldn't be. These things were just Hollywood monsters. But
there it was, ghastly amber eyes staring right up at them,
that massive canine head festooned with those dagger like ears.

(27:30):
Brandon noted that the short hair covering its body was
thin enough that he could almost see beneath it to
the skin. With a sudden snap, the creature stepped closer
to the tree. It stood up right now on two
hind paw like joints, like a dog, reaching eight to
nine feet high. At their distance of fifteen to eighteen feet,

(27:50):
Brandon could see it plainly in the beam of the spotlight.
Its chest was that of a professional bodybuilder, giant shredded muscles.
The arms were proportioned strangely normal from the shoulder to
the elbow, but with four arms almost twice the length
of the upper arms. Its hands had five fingers, each
one topped with a foot long black claw. Brandon was frozen,

(28:14):
his mind not yet processing what he was seeing. The
thing in front of him was so powerfully built. It
seemed impossible, massive arms, washboard abs, a narrow waist, long, thin,
muscular legs. It was breathing heavily, no doubt from chasing
them through the woods at forty miles an hour. Jean's

(28:35):
terrified scream broke the tension any semblance of calm. Brandon
had just ran away as he wanted to do himself.
He'd never been so terrified in his life. Jean fired
three rounds with his Remington eight seventy pump action shotgun,
using high brass slugs. So close Brandon could see the
first shot pass through the creature's right pectoral muscle, almost

(28:58):
removing it. Blood pumped from the wound, proving to both
of them that this was not some optical illusion. It
was a flesh and blood abomination. Jean fired again and again,
but the thing moved with extraordinary speed, leaping fifteen feet
straight up into a tree and then springing nearly thirty
feet across the dirt road into the woods on the

(29:20):
far side. The shock in terror that paralyzed Brandon finally dissipated.
He revved the buggy and cranked the wheel, kicking dirt
in a cartoonish three point turn, then floored it back
the way they had come. What was that, Brandon screamed.
Jean could only say that his gun was jammed, desperately

(29:40):
attempting to clear the weapon while Brandon flicked his gaze
back and forth between the road and the shotgun. Brandon
opened the door to grab his pistol, but the potholed
road caused the weapon to rattle around on the buggy's floorboard.
They were two miles deep and pitch black woods far
away from anyone. Jean's gun jam Brandon's weapon out of reach,

(30:03):
they had no choice but to keep barreling towards safety.
At breakdeck pace, they were doing about fifty miles per
hour when Jeane looked past Brandon and through the driver's
side window and then locked eyes with Brandon. Brandon, seeing
Jean was terrified, looked to the left and his blood
ran cold. The thing was right there next to them,

(30:24):
running only a couple feet away, somehow keeping up even
at that speed. It moved with its arms outstretched as
if looking to grab one of the men, taking massive
steps that Brandon heard hitting the ground, each paw making
a loud thud on the ground. The buggy was maybe
five and a half feet tall, but even with the
creature hunched forward, it was still looming over them. The

(30:48):
creature was so close that Brandon could see everything, the
blackish gray, thin hair or fur, the ripples of muscle
as it moved, the flexing and releasing of its chest
with its heavy breadths. The legs pumping inches from Brandon's
face were laced with steel like sinew. Brandon couldn't even scream,
scarcely able to comprehend that this impossible thing was keeping

(31:11):
pace with them, Brandon floored it while keeping one hand
groping the floor for his gun. He cranked the wheel
to the right to put even more distance between them
and the creature, but it simply reached out with one
of its massive arms and straight up covered the driver's
side headlight with its hand. Brandon felt the buggy start
to slow, even with his foot slammed to the floor.

(31:33):
The motor was screaming now at the creature's immense power
as it began overpowering the vehicle with unbelievable ease. When
he looked across at his pursuer, Brandon saw its eyes
as it gazed in at the two men, Its fangs
unlike a dog's, rounded teeth were razor sharp, chomping over
and over again as it ran. The click of those

(31:53):
teeth locking shut was audible above the growl of the
engine and the thunder of Brandon's heartbeat. He kept shifting
his gaze from the road to the monster, painfully aware
that the buggy was steadily losing speed despite his best efforts.
Just when Brandon felt they were finished, the creature's lips
curled up, forming a smile, and in that moment, Brandon's

(32:15):
world fell apart. The foundations of whatever goodness and truth
he had ever known began to shake apart. The embodiment
of pure evil was radiating off the beast, the emanating
darkness and its spirit reaching out and dragging Brandon down
emotionally into intense sadness, emotional destruction, and fear. It was

(32:36):
not just fear. It was as if the thing was
actively sucking away his very soul, just as Brandon's will
to fight was dissolving. Jeanne found a way to clear
his shotgun and aimed to barrel out the driver's side
window in front of Brandon's head. The creature disappeared as
soon as it saw the weapon raised its earlier wounds,
clearly reminding it of the damage the weapon could do.

(33:00):
Jeane fired anyway, but missed. Brandon's ear drums nearly ruptured
from the perforated shell of the close range shot, but
the creature was gone. He admired its intelligence. It had
known that the gun was a danger and had retreated strategically.
It had let go of the buggy when the weapon

(33:20):
was raised, and they were able to surge forward once more.
Brandon had no sense of time. It seemed like hours
had passed during the encounter, when it was only minutes.
As they fled for their lives, he couldn't stop thinking
how the creature had actually smirked at him, as if
taunting them, like it was playing a game. Its hand

(33:41):
had been almost hideously human like despite the wicked clause,
and it had displayed not merely awesome strength, but obvious
intelligence and intent. Just then, they heard it crash through
the woods parallel to them again, but this time it
remained behind the cover of the trees. Continued to push
the pedal to the floor as he instructed Jean to

(34:03):
be on standby to shoot if it reappeared. Jean held
his gun out the window while Brandon focused on driving,
both of his arms braced on the steering wheel until
they finally got to the main road. Brandon swerved right
as their tires reached the pavement, the back end of
the buggy swerving out as it transitioned from gravel to asphalt.
As they fish tailed onto the road, they saw the

(34:25):
beast again in front of them, apparently making one last
ditch effort to get them off the road. Bursting from
the woods, Brandon saw the creature jump twenty to twenty
five feet from the forest into the shoulder behind them.
Jean brought the shotgun to bear, and the creature, seeing
the weapon, led out a huge roar, the same horrible
scream they had heard before. Then it dropped back down

(34:47):
to all fours and powered itself into the woods with
another unbelievable twenty to twenty five foot leap. When they
at last arrived at Brandon's house, both men sat in
silence for a few moments, parked in the driveway, trying
to get past the shock. Brandon eventually opened the garage door,

(35:07):
pulled the buggy in, and pressed the button to close
the door. He retrieved his three fifty seven Magnum revolver
from the ground, a five shot weapon, one that he
now understood would have been useless against the creature that
had taken direct shotgun slugs and shrugged them off. Each
man held his weapon on the ever shrinking aperture below
the garage door, waiting to see huge claws reach under

(35:31):
the door as it lowered. But the door closed without
a problem. Brandon's mind raced to his family inside. He
dashed in as nonchalantly as possible, hoping not to startle them.
How could he ever explain what had just occurred. Would
he really tell them he and Jean had been assaulted

(35:52):
by a a werewolf? Amy would assume he had been
drinking or worse, What if she believed him. He could
just never have that kind of fear in his family
that he loved so much. In the garage with Jane,
Brandon tried to process what they had just experienced. Now,

(36:13):
what was that thing? He asked. Jeane could only shake
his head and say he didn't know that. It was
even hard to believe it was real. They spoke for
about fifteen minutes, going over the details of what they
had seen together, trying to reassure themselves about what they'd witnessed.
It was a difficult conversation. What they were facing was

(36:36):
something otherworldly, yet it had literally been standing before them
and displayed both phenomenal powers and unsettling intellect. Jeane had
to get home, and Brandon made him promise that he
would call when he got home safely, which he did
a few minutes later. When Brandon went upstairs, Amy wanted

(36:56):
to know what had happened out there. He lied and
told her that it was only a coyote problem, some
sort of dog thing. She pushed for specifics, but he
stuck to the lie, not wanting her to go losing
her love for the woods as she was already on
the verge of doing thanks to the cows and the dog.

(37:17):
Brandon didn't sleep that night, and in the following days
his behavior was markedly different. He began to miss work,
and he stopped pitching in to prepare dinner, and he
stopped doing his usual projects around the house. Amy kept
asking what was wrong, observing his sleeplessness and distraction. Brandon

(37:37):
was usually the sort of guy who prided himself on
caring for his family, shopping and stacking firewood, fixing their house, hunting,
and fishing to put food on the table. Shoveling out
the wood stove in the morning had always been an
easy comfort, but now he did none of these familiar things.
That was Finally, when Amy asked him point blank what

(37:59):
he had seen in the woods that night, she suspected no.
She knew that Brandon hadn't told her the whole story.
Brandon finally opened up and told her the truth, albeit
leaving out some of the scarier details. The story still
terrified her, as he'd suspected it might. When she suggested

(38:22):
calling the police, he rejected the idea at first, convinced
they would consider him insane. If it weren't for Jane
seeing it too, he probably would have thought himself insane.
But ultimately he opted to call the police, intending to
report just a rabid dog, if only to get them
to investigate. The Cayuga County sheriff, who responded knew Brandon personally.

(38:45):
He was accompanied by some dec officers. Following pleasantries, Brandon
asked to speak with the sheriff alone. He asked the
lawman to step aside and made him promise to take
what he was going to say seriously. Brandon's reputation was
one of honesty and reliability. He wasn't a drinker, and
he knew that what he was about to share with

(39:07):
the sheriff would sound at minimum outlandish. The sheriff seemed
to follow Brandon's account as it was told to him
until Brandon began describing the look of the creature. Brandon
saw the man's face go white, the same way it
had with Jeanne during their meeting. The sheriff stopped taking notes,

(39:29):
and his mood went from comfortable to very much not comfortable.
He closed his notebook and asked whether Brandon was sure
about what he had seen. When Brandon made the second
affirmation that he was absolutely sure, the sheriff walked back
to his car to call someone. On his return, he
told Brandon that they could deal with this and that

(39:51):
he would be back the next day to follow up.
When Brandon asked him what they actually intended to do,
the sheriff said he didn't know, but Brandon got the
strong sense this wasn't the first time the law man
had faced such a situation. The expression of fear on
the sheriff's face looked as if he might be reliving

(40:11):
his own similar encounter. The next day, the sheriff came
back with another man who pulled up a big black van.
In place of words on the van's side were symbols
Brandon could not understand or recognize, and the symbols were
not on the driver's uniform. The man introduced himself, shook

(40:31):
hands with Brandon, and asked him what had happened. Brandon
told his story once again about the cows acting strange,
the screaming, the encounter in the woods. As he completed
his account, the man gestured toward the van and five
other men in identical uniforms came out. Brandon observed all
of them had pistols and some kind of smaller machine

(40:53):
gun on a strap around their necks. These were undoubtedly
government professionals of one sword or another. The sheriff talked
briefly with the group before going back to tell Brandon
they would handle it. When Brandon asked what was going
on and who these people were, the sheriff just repeated
that they would handle the situation. The men asked Brandon

(41:15):
where he and Jean had seen the creature. As they
ambled towards the woods. One of them was holding something
that resembled a satellite dish approximately eighteen inches in width,
with a smaller four or five inch satellite dish in
the center, featuring a hand grip and trigger. Brandon wondered
what this strange device was, but watched as the man

(41:36):
aimed the device into the woods and pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened. Brandon neither saw or heard anything, as if
the gun or whatever it was wasn't working yet. Brandon's dog, Maya,
a healthy, well trained ninety pound one year old pitbull
who was used to hearing gunshots from hunters, buckled instantly

(41:59):
to a a quaking, quivering pile, shaking as if in convulsions,
and whimpering and agony. She couldn't even stand. Brandon yelled
at the uniformed men in alarm, asking what they were
doing to his dog. The man pulled the device down,
and Maya was immediately back to her senses, but still
very scared and nervous, and just crawled to Brandon for comfort.

(42:22):
All Brandon could gather was that the device released some
sort of noise or energy wave, inaudible to humans yet
detectable by dogs. He hadn't heard or felt anything himself,
but the impact on Maya had obviously been dramatic and instant.
He started asking questions, what was that device and what

(42:43):
precisely were these men going to do. The leader said
only that they would be back soon to talk, and
the group drove away down the dirt road into the woods.
Brandon stared at the sheriff in a daze and waved
toward the van as it drove away, mumbling under his
breath and complaining about what the device had done to
his dog. The sheriff also left without addressing any of

(43:07):
Brandon's specific concerns about the men or their equipment, simply
assuring him he was in good hands. About two and
a half to three hours later, the mysterious team returned,
asking to speak again with Brandon. When he inquired about
what they had found, the lead man disregarded his question
and instead started his own line of questioning had Brandon

(43:30):
taken photos that day? When Brandon said no, because it
had been dark, the man pushed him to confirm. Then
he started asking about trail cameras. Brandon said he had
roughly thirty of them in the woods. They were obviously
trying to see if there was any sort of physical
trace left from the creature. Brandon wasn't stupid. He knew

(43:52):
they were going to gather any evidence that might be
out there, but he gave them no images or other evidence,
as he had none. The men started to leave, and
their leader told Brandon he should be all set for
the moment, but that they would contact him again after
they investigated further. When Brandon pressed for further details and

(44:12):
said he was worried about his family's safety, the man
just echoed that they had more investigating to do, but
that for now Brandon should be fine. Annoyed at their evasiveness,
Brandon attempted to catch a glimpse of the van's license
plate as they drove off, but it was coated in
some kind of tinting that made it illegible. All he

(44:33):
could discern was that it was a New York plate.
Two days later, Brandon hadn't seen a single cow act
suspiciously since the incident, and his dog was going outside
again and not standing in the corner, and his eating
habits had returned to normal. Finally summoning the courage to
go outside, armed to the hilt, he would later confess,

(44:56):
Brandon went to check his trail cameras he found that
all the SDS cards from the cameras on the edge
of the woods were gone. When he later looked at
his other cameras, those cards were missing too. He immediately
knew who was to blame. The man had asked him
specifically about his trail cameras and how many he had
been using, and now each of the memory cards was missing.

(45:20):
They had clearly gathered them to look for images of
the creature. Brandon wanted to see what, if anything, those
cameras had recorded. One thing was clear, though, Brandon was
never coming back to that forest. His encounter, he'd said,
had altered fundamentally his relationship with the forest he had
loved all his life. The existence of this creature meant

(45:43):
that the wilderness had dangers far beyond what he'd ever imagined.
Word of Brandon's experience soon spread, and others started to
come forward with similar, inexplicable and terrifying encounters with creatures
of a similar nature. Each tale added to a new
and terrifying mosaic of evidence that something amazing and awful

(46:08):
was sharing the forests with man. When Weird Darkness returns,
what was supposed to be one last adventure before marriage
turned into a nightmare one man could never have imagined.

(46:31):
Deep in the wilderness, he found himself face to face
with a dog man, only to realize he wasn't the
only one watching, and he wasn't the only one being watched.
Plus can a dog man smile? In the summer of
nineteen thirty eight, a teenaged Robert Fortney found out personally,

(46:52):
but first in the dead of night, a night watchman
hears an eerie disturbance near his home. But what he
finds is no ordinary intruder. He says he has the
photographic evidence to prove it. Aywaredows. My email newsletter is

(47:17):
now available through Substack. Whether you decide to read the
newsletter via email or in the Substack app, you can
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Get updates on upcoming events, find out when there are
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(47:39):
also get my regular Huber column Mind of Marler, where
at least once a week I put a comedic twist
on Strange and Macobs stories in a written form. You
get all of that and more in my free substack
email newsletter. Just click on newsletter at Weirddarkness dot com
to subscribe that's Weird Darkness dot com slash newsletter. The

(48:18):
year is nineteen sixty one, but the unnamed narrator doesn't
mention which month. It was three am in the Michigan
town of Big Rapids, where the unknown source was home
late at night. He lived directly across from the manufacturing
plant for which he was a night watchman. The plant
was built adjacent to the Haymarsh State Game Area, and

(48:39):
that's where the source claims he saw something or someone
making noise on the chain link fence that lines the property.
Assuming that someone was trying to break into his home,
the narrator runs from his place of work to his
house to fetch a gun, but when he comes back outside,
he instead finds a six foot tall grayish brown up

(49:00):
bright canid shuffling around in his driveway. Thinking quickly, the
man runs inside of his home to attempt to get
his camera. When he went outside again, the dog man
was out of his driveway and deeper into the dark street.
But at one stage, the creature walked close to a
street light, allowing the man to get a photo of
his dog man before it bolted into the darkness. It's

(49:23):
not a great photo, but I'll share it in the
show notes for you. It was the summer of nineteen

(49:49):
ninety two and Darren No not me, soon to be married,
was dead set on living it up during his last
months of freedom. Having grown up fishing, can and hiking,
he organized one last big adventure. On a snowy morning,
he exited his parents' house strapped with a pistol on
his hip and a rifle in his trunk, bound for

(50:11):
a park a few hours away that was said to
be a sight of strange happenings. The spot did not disappoint.
Darren surveyed the area around him and observed a patchwork
of vast fields and dense woods over rolling hills. To
his left, a dry river bed provided an inviting trail.

(50:31):
Except for the occasional appearance of a moss covered rock fence,
there would have been no indication that humans had ever
been in this wilderness. After several hours of hiking alongside
the river trail, Darren came to a place where the
creek ran between three foot banks, a patch of trees
dotted its left side, and an open field of wildflowers

(50:53):
on its right. The wind was at his back, and
he felt something pulse around him, a feeling of darkness
and just on the periphery of his senses. Then he
noticed it about one hundred yards to his right, something dark,
something that bulged, almost like the constrictive air had become corporeal.

(51:14):
Even though there was no movement and no sound, the
thing held his attention. Little by little, Darren reached for
his binoculars, struggling against an inner voice that told him
not to move and to leave well enough alone. Through
the binoculars he could see a large, black, hairy creature.

(51:35):
He at first rationalized it was a bear, but the
foreboding feeling told him otherwise. Its eyes were obscured by
a huge brow, but Darren could sense its evil stare.
The white fangs were large enough, even at this distance
to shine against the black of its face. Physically sick,
Darren's knees buckled, his head swam, and he clung to

(51:58):
the river bank. The creature receded, giving temporary peace, then
came back another seventy yards nearer, its head raising to
watch Darren through black, empty eye sockets. In Darren's mind
there were words, if only the thing reached up for
a better view, then disappeared again. Darren staggered backwards for

(52:20):
a moment, curbing the impulse to turn and run. His
mind rather than immediately thinking of loved ones or the
possibility of becoming another missing person statistic was racing with
terrifying possibilities of how the creature might attack him, how
much it would hurt, how long he would take to die,
whether it would eat him while he was still alive
and screaming. He could already hear it now, making noise,

(52:43):
deliberately trying to frighten him. It would halt, snapped branches,
and huff before disappearing from view and making its way
through the brush. When it lifted its head again, it
was just forty yards away. Now the details seemed much sharper,
and it would more grotesque than Darren had seen through
his binoculars. Its face shone in the sun, as did

(53:06):
a spot on its chest. Strings of glistening saliva stretched
from either corner of its mouth, splitting its face in
a wide, but modestly opened grin. It had no true neck,
its head seemingly joined to its muscled shoulders and torso
without the intermediate feature. It suddenly disappeared from Darren's view,

(53:27):
fleeing so fast it blurred away, then it would appear again,
then it would bolt away, only to return again. This
twisted peekaboo game was more than Darren's mind could bear.
A part of him accepted he was about to die,
but a more primitive part of his brain screamed at
him to run, and another part prepared for a fight.

(53:50):
These competing impulses, mingled with his terror, turned into a nauseating,
head spinning confusion. Darren cautiously began to back up, afraid
to look behind him or turn his head. As he
began praying, the noises grew louder and closer. The creature resurfaced,
now only twenty feet away, extending its neck, now visible

(54:12):
to glance at him. It was above even the six
foot high bushes. As it started to move out from
cover toward the clearing, tears started flowing down his cheeks
as Darren surrendered to his fate, only to be jolted
from his self pity by his survival instincts as the
thing faded back into the dense undergrowth again. It then

(54:33):
appeared at the other end, this time leaning forward at
the waist, arms dangling at its sides, tipped with nasty
claws that Darren couldn't stop looking at. Its massive chest
heaved with every rapid breath. Then it went quiet, and
Darren's blood ran cold as it in slow motion, bent

(54:53):
its knees, leaned forward, and threw its arms back, clearly
preparing to spring. Darren had been backing away desperately, but
now all at once, something erupted from his left, spraying
rock and dust across the creek bed. A sickening thud
sounded as a reddish brown blur flew past him, hitting
the dark creature. Darren heard nothing but air behind him

(55:17):
for a split second, then a guttural howl from beyond
the brush, a sound that reverberated with the ground. Even
though his instincts were screaming at him to run, Darren
was being pulled to the chaos, like a moth to
a flame. He limped to the edge of the creek
and looked over the edge. Inside the clearing thirty feet
two large creatures grappled locked together, fighting, clawing, biting. It

(55:42):
was pure primal violence. Darren threw his hands up to
cover his ears as their furious screeches echoed all around him,
and that was when it dawned on him that he
was watching a sasquatch fight what looked like some kind
of dog man. He'd watched enough shows and videos to
know when something was bigfoot, and now one had just

(56:02):
saved his life. As he observed the dog man put
its feet against the sasquatch's breast and kicked, flipping the
creature on its back with immense power, the reality of
what he was witnessing hit home. The dark beast sprang atop,
biting into the sasquatch's upper thigh. The cries of pain
that followed were even louder than before, dropping Darren to

(56:22):
the ground with his hands over his head. The sasquatch
was definitely in trouble, doing its best to shield itself
from a barrage of blows and slashes. Darren's instincts kicked in.
If the dog man was victorious in this tussle, there
was a good chance that he would be next on
the menu. He remembered his gun, and though he did
not think that he'd be able to kill the beast.

(56:43):
He could distract it long enough, possibly to help the sasquatch.
After a deep breath, Darren tried to take aim, but
the violent movement had him unable to get a clean
shot except for one part. Most of the dog man's
body was moving too fast. Finally, after what scene like
an eternity, Darren registered a stationary target and started to

(57:04):
squeeze the trigger. Before he could fire, a deafening roar
that dwarfed all the others exploded from the trees to
his right. Darren swung his gun in the direction of
the sound and gasped when an even larger beast came
crashing through the tree line, barreling into the melee. The
dog man immediately stopped pursuing its current target and attempted

(57:24):
to ready itself for this new threat, but it was
already too late. The larger sasquatch, for that is what
it appeared to be, was already crashing into the back
of the canine creature hard enough that its head snapped
backwards and bounced off its own back with a sickening crack.
The dog man went limp, crashing face first into the ground.

(57:45):
The two sasquatch loomed over its unmoving corpse, waiting and watching. Finally,
a stout kicked to its side appeared to satisfy them
that it was dead. The triumphant sasquatch threw back its
head and got out a deafening more before pulling its
fallen opponent's corpse into the forest blackness. Darren got to

(58:11):
his feet, drawing the attention of the younger sasquatch, which
dwarfed Darren by a good few feet. It looked him
over while tentatively moving toward him. Darren then noticed he
still had his rifle on his shoulder and his finger
on the trigger, aimed squarely at the creature. He lowered
the weapon and the sasquatch visibly relaxed, but it continued

(58:33):
moving toward him more quickly. Now, be it fear or
an adrenaline crash, Darren's vision began to shrink and tunnel,
and the earth began to spin. His last thought was
confusion about why the ground seemed to be rising up
to greet his face When he came to the pounding
head and roiling stomach made him feel as if he

(58:56):
was coming back from an epic hangover, bent over between
his knees and breathed the cool night air. Before he
glanced around, he was sitting on the ground, back against
his truck with his rifle at his side. Had it
all been a nightmare? Had he even left his parking spot,

(59:18):
or did his mind churn out the coolest monster battle
film ever? While he slept, he replayed the events in
his head over and over again and came to the
impossible conclusion that it must have been a dream. No
way was that real. He rose and walked to his
truck to abandon his camping and head home. That's when

(59:40):
he noticed a gigantic handprint placed right in the dust
on his hood, just where you put your hand down
on your hood if you leaned forward to set something
down on the ground. Then the reality of what had
happened hit Darren like a punch to the gut, almost
knocking the wind out of him. He never moved so
fast in his life, leaping into his truck and speeding

(01:00:02):
off no looking back. Dylan would keep the story to
himself four years, but the dog Man haunted him still
in his dreams, ghosting him and his nightmares. He wanted
to dismiss it as half a bottle of good tequila,
but the experience had rattled his grasp of what was
real and what wasn't, and was a painfully confirmed lesson

(01:00:26):
that some things walked the surface of this world that
just stood out of the reaches of ordinary superstitions. Coming
up alone in his tree stand on the first day

(01:00:47):
of hunting season, a deer hunter expected to be the
predator until something monstrous emerged from the woods and turned
him into the prey. In another story, a man's childhood
encounter with a towering, blue eyed dog man was only
the beginning. Decades later, it returned to stalk him again,
but that's not the most terrifying part of his story.

(01:01:11):
And while out for a peaceful night of fishing, Derek
comes face to face with something lurking in the darkness,
something intelligent, predatory, and not entirely human. Plus a late
night earthquake, a terrifying scream, and then, just for a
split second, a college student sees something impossible in his

(01:01:34):
car's headlights. Terror began in January by the light of
the full moon. The first scream came from the snowbound

(01:01:55):
railway man who felt the werewolf's fangs ripping in his throat.
The next month, there was a scream of ecstatic agony
from the woman attacked in her cozy bedroom. Now, scenes
of unbelievable horror unfold each time the full moon shines
on the isolated main town of Tarkar's Mills. No one

(01:02:15):
knows who will be attacked next, but one thing is sure.
When the full moon rises, a paralyzing fear sweeps through
Tarkar's Mills. For snarls that sound like human words can
be heard whining through the wind, and all around are
the footprints of a monster whose hunger cannot be sated.

(01:02:37):
Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King. Here the entire
novel absolutely free on the audiobook's page at Weird Darkness
dot com. In Pontiac, Illinois, Peter's whole family owned more

(01:03:07):
than three hundred acres of wooded land where he hunted
since before he could remember. He was familiar with every
inch of the land and had witnessed several strange things
throughout his life, but nothing beyond reason until one day
it changed everything. It was six thirty am October sixteenth,

(01:03:28):
twenty twelve, the first day of hunting season, for deer
in Illinois. Peter was in his tree stand waiting for
his first buck to wander into his sights. Two other
people were also hunting the area that day, and neither
of them used his stand, so he knew this spot
would be all to himself. Suddenly, the hairs on the
back of his neck stood on end. Something was wrong.

(01:03:52):
He looked to his left south, and both above and below.
He had a clear view of the field for about
four hundred yards, all except for the woods at the
bottom of a steep hill. Something moved in the distance,
and he watched transfixed, like he was watching an old
silent movie, waiting for whatever it was to move again.

(01:04:14):
And when it finally did start moving, it was coming
right at him. At first, Peter thought it could be
a dough in heat, but as it approached, he discovered
that it wasn't. Its head tilted to one side and
its ear down, which led him to wonder if it
was sick. Then it opened its mouth and led out
a low, guttural, howling growl, kind of a freakish mashup

(01:04:37):
of lion, cow, and wolf. Even from a distance, Peter
knew this was no dear. This was a gigantic canine
as big as an Irish wolfhound, if not bigger. He
stood frozen in his stand, paralyzed with fear. The creature
opened its mouth again and let forth a horrible scream,
then jumped twenty feet in the air began to bounce

(01:04:58):
through the cedar trees towards him. Peter, in shock for
a moment, eventually shook it off, climbing, or more precisely,
jumping down from his stand and running. He heard the
huge dog galloping behind him, gaining ground. Peter was running
for all he was worth, but it wasn't enough. He
felt a hot, ripping pain in his arm, looked down

(01:05:18):
and saw the creature had his arm and its teeth
easily shredding his sleeve and digging into his skin. Realizing
he would never outrun it and that he was still
not close to his truck, Peter stopped running. He closed
his eyes, bade goodbye to his family in silence, and
braced for the inevitable assault. But nothing happened. He slowly

(01:05:39):
opened his eyes after a few seconds and saw the
creature standing about twenty feet away. It started to walk
back and forth, making bizarre growling sounds and acting unsure
what to do. After doing this for some time, it
finally turned and sprinted into the woods. A sudden relief

(01:06:00):
rushed over Peter as he took stock of the situation.
For some reason, the thing had left him alive. He
was grateful to have escaped with his life, even if
it meant a gaping hole in his arm and a
hunk of missing flesh that would leave a huge, ugly,
lifelong scar. What would forever torment him was why why

(01:06:22):
had it let him live? He came up with a
theory regarding his secret weapon, deer pheromones. That morning, he
had soaked himself in store bought deer scent, which hunters
used to lure their prey in. Peter wondered whether that
smell first caught the creature's attention, but then confused it

(01:06:42):
when it realized he wasn't a deer at all. Or
there was the other possibility Peter had stopped running, and
perhaps it was the chase that excited the creature. Once
the chase was done, there was no more fun to
be had. This is a remarkable story in that it

(01:07:19):
describes a man who has known that a dog man
has followed him ever since he was young and has
had two distinct encounters spread twenty years apart. The first
is set in nineteen eighty eight in Alto, Michigan, just
southeast of Grand Rapids. The anonymous source was an elementary
school at the time and was playing during recess. Around

(01:07:39):
ten am. He ran out into the woods next to
the elementary school playground, where he hid and cheated to
play the game of war. He walked down to a
river next to the train tracks when he heard a
huge splash. A dark furred dog man fled into the woods,
switching back and forth between two legs and four to run,

(01:08:00):
and then it disappeared. At this point, the boy went
straight home to his bed and kept quiet about his
sighting until he was a grown up. He described it
as eightish feet tall, three hundred pounds, blue eyed, this time,
almost like a timber wolf, but standing up with long legs.
The second sighting occurred in the neighboring town of Lowell

(01:08:22):
in winter of two thousand and eight. It was in
the dark that the man, who now has an entire
family sleeping peacefully in his house, suddenly heard a thud
on the roof. His memories of growing up around dogs
instantly came back without prompting. He crept outside and atop
the roof, looking at him right in the face, was
what appeared to be the very same blue eyed dog

(01:08:45):
man he saw as a young boy. Then the dog
man jumped thirty feet off the roof and ran on
four legs to the edge of the trees and stood
and stared at the man for a minute or so.
The man charged the dog man with a machete that
he had on him. The dog man merely stared at him,
now almost grinning, before saying a singular audible word, don't yes.

(01:09:09):
This dog man spoke as well. The man stood frozen.
His machete fell to the ground, and he slowly backed away.
The dog man turned and walked slowly into the woods
and vanished. Dog Man encounters do not only occur in

(01:09:41):
far flung wilderness areas. It was in the Trumbull County,
Ohio area in twenty sixteen that Derek's experience would rock
him to the very core. Derek was an avid outdoor
enthusiast who enjoyed spending time in the woods looking for
mushrooms and fungi, and particularly loved mycology. One Monday evening

(01:10:01):
with a perfect weather forecast, he took his walleye fishing
equipment to an old train trestled bridge over the Mahoning
River in Niles, Ohio. He parked a mile and a
half away from the trestle so he could walk the
tracks and hit a few other spots along the river.
He arrived at the trestle in darkness, but his headlamp
illuminated the way. Here, in a wide spot in the river,

(01:10:24):
a small overhead dam linked the river and a lake
directly across from it. Suddenly, an overpowering depression came over him.
Turning on his headlamp, he turned to begin going back
up the river bank. Hiding behind a large sycamore tree,
he saw what looked like a very large animal crouched

(01:10:45):
or kneeling. He made eye contact with the creature and froze.
His brain could not register what he was looking at.
Animals just weren't meant to look like what he was seeing.
Apparently reading Derek's thoughts, the creature stood up and fully
revealed itself, as if to say, yes, you see me.
You know I'm real, I definitely exist. What will you

(01:11:07):
do about it? Then, had been down and retreated into
the brush. Derek immediately ran for his life in the
other direction, sprinting the entirety of the trip back to
his vehicle without a moment to stop and get his breath.
By the time he got to his vehicle, he couldn't
breathe both legs were locked up, he was vomiting, and
somewhere between the encounter and escaping, he lost control of

(01:11:29):
his bladder. In the five days that followed his encounter,
Derek got a total of six or seven hours asleep.
He was spending almost all his free time on the
Internet and YouTube looking for eyewitness testimonies, and he couldn't
believe how many people had actually seen these creatures. He
had heard of dog Man, but had never believed it,

(01:11:50):
imagining a little, spook eyed, cowardly coyote type creature. The
truth had been far scarier than that, according to Derek,
looking at the creature's appearance the way it was built,
it was obvious that it was perfectly suited for a
predatory lifestyle. Its individual joints and overall shape let it
walk effectively on both two and four legs. It was

(01:12:14):
so incredibly stealthy and fluid in its movements It was
not like movie monsters that came barreling out of the woods,
roaring and growling. These creatures, whatever they were, were masters
of subterfuge and using the darkness. Derec hadn't smelled the creature,
probably because it was upwind from him, but it most
definitely would have caught his scent. Its nose had been

(01:12:37):
held aloft during the span of time he had watched
it continually sampling the air. Derek's whole concept of reality
had been shaken up. Nausea followed every meal, sleep came
and went, and whenever he closed his eyes, he saw
the creature. It may not have reached him, but it
still left a gaping wound on Derek's psyche. He hadn't

(01:13:00):
actually been able to eat since the incident without becoming nauseated.
He'd had trouble sleeping for more than twenty minutes at
a time, and when his eyes did close, all he
could see was that thing. The woods up until that
time had always been his refuge, an escape from these
stresses of life. Work problems, bills, relationship problems. A good

(01:13:22):
long hiake or fishing trip or foraging expedition would usually
leave him feeling seventy five percent better. Now he was
terrified of his sanctuary, like a frightened child who had
caught a glimpse of the terrible monster in the closet,
the one everybody would dismiss as not being real, that
it was all in the imagination. Derek, however, feels people

(01:13:45):
need to know about these creatures and continues to tell
people about what happened to him. These beasts are real
in every way, and they are dangerous. Fitchburg is southwest

(01:14:12):
of the Wisconsin capital of Madison, and it is in
Fitchburg that this next purported dog man encounter from two
thousand and six takes place. It's cool and dark outside
fall September. Matt, a college student from Minnesota, was up
late doing his homework when he heard strange popping sounds

(01:14:32):
like bubble wrap being played with, coming from within the walls,
and suddenly thousands and thousands of birds were startled and
flew off noisily, which is a strange thing in the
middle of the night, And that was when he felt it,
the repeated tremors of a minor earthquake. After the shaking
calmed down and feeling everything was okay now, Matt returned

(01:14:54):
to his homework. That was when another sound ripped through
the air, seeming to carry across the entire block, a
blood curdling, nearly murder victim quality scream. Concerned that maybe
the earthquake had harmed someone, Matt bolted outside. He ran
out to the street, and the screaming continued, and just
as a car passed by, headlights shining, Matt saw something

(01:15:16):
strange in light of the car, a creature with a
humanoid body and a wolf like face. The screaming ceased,
and the doglike cryptid fled when the car neared, so
it was difficult for Matt to collect too many details.
The car subsequently pulled over behind Matt, revealing itself to
be a police cruiser. The officer asked the college student,

(01:15:37):
are you the one who called? Apparently the officer wasn't
checking up on any screaming, only on concerns emerging from
the small earthquake itself. Yet, even after the officer departed
to check the rest of the neighborhood, Matt continued to
hear the same sound intermittently for the rest of that night,
and for a few nights after that as well. When

(01:16:11):
weird darkness returns. A simple hunting trip in the Michigan
Woods took a wild turn when something big, yellow eyed,
and way too smart for comfort crashed onto the scene,
and a man thought moving to the Montana wilderness meant
peace and quiet until a lightning storm revealed something watching
him from the tree line. Plus, driving home on a

(01:16:33):
cold Michigan night, two young women expected icy roads and
quiet highways, so what they got was a monster on
the road attacking the truck right in front of them.
But first, one man always wondered why his grandfather suddenly
banned everyone from the family cabin until he inherited it

(01:16:54):
and discovered the terrifying truth. Quite often I come across
stories that I can't fit into Weird Darkness or just

(01:17:15):
don't feel quite right for the show, but I still
find them interesting. Or I write an article based on
a recent Weird Darkness story. When that happens, I put
it in the Weird Darkness blog. Sometimes it's a news story,
other times it's a video. I sometimes get inspired to
write a movie review. Just about everything I want to
share that doesn't end up in the podcast ends up

(01:17:37):
in my blog. I posted the blog several times a week, too,
so there's always something to come back for. Just click
on blog at Weirddarkness dot com. In another encounter, told anonymously,

(01:18:08):
it was years after the fact when a grandfather's inexplicable
behavior finally made sense. The writer, whom we'll call Mark,
had spent summers at his grandfather's cabin in Sierra County, Ohio.
It was a cherished meeting space for the whole family,
holding Sunday dinners and holidays. But then, one day, without
warning or reason given, his grandfather wouldn't let anyone but

(01:18:33):
himself visit the cabin anymore. Mark would ask why for years,
but would never be given an answer. When his grandfather died,
Mark inherited the cabin of his youth. While saddened by
the loss, he was eager to be able to start
making new memories there. But it didn't take long for
him to see why his grandfather had acted the way

(01:18:55):
he did, banishing everyone else from the cabin. Mark looked
along the many game trails in the woods that chriss
crossed the property. He knew the woods like his own
backyard and had never felt any fear in the forest.
One evening, he found an offset trail that only went
six or seven feet before terminating at what looked to

(01:19:15):
be a bedding area. It was a bald spot in
the grass, and he assumed an animal had bedded down
and used it as an ambush point or possibly for resting.
Mark walked into the circular area, thinking it would be
a good hunting spot. The hair of his arms prickled,
and the feeling of something terrible hit Mark. A chill
down his spine, an overwhelming feeling as if something was

(01:19:37):
watching him, but he didn't know from where. It was evening,
so Mark had a tracking flashlight and a gun, which
he pulled, keeping it ready as he fought against the
growing sense that something was terribly horribly wrung. Without so
much as a warning, an ungodly bellow sounded from his right,
maybe ten or fifteen yards away. The sound terrified him

(01:19:59):
so much that and his body went limp. Nothing he
had ever heard in his years of spending time in
the wilderness compared to what he was hearing right now.
He didn't run yet, not wanting whatever was outside to
see him as a threat or start running after him
for sport. After several painful minutes of silence, Mark turned

(01:20:19):
and began casually but carefully walking back toward the main trail,
trying not to disturb the quiet of the woods. Then,
as he neared home, a five minute walk from the
back door of his cabin, the creature gave another blood
curdling howl that seemingly penetrated his body. It was then
that Mark couldn't help but to start running, and as

(01:20:41):
soon as he bolted, the creature chased after him, exactly
as Mark had feared what happened before. When Mark took
five steps, the beast took only one at best. It
was fast, faster than it should be even for its size.
Mark heard branches being ripped off trees behind him, felt
the vibrations of the things, his feet slapping the ground
as it cheased him. Mark barely reached his cabin, slamming

(01:21:04):
the door, logging both dead bolts, then the chain. He
took a spotlight and shined it through the window toward
the tree line. There he saw not one, but three
pairs of eyes, glowing a bright yellow with large black pupils.
He didn't understand how or why, but Mark felt like
the creatures could read his mind, though he could never

(01:21:26):
be sure. All he knew was that he had survived
and he would not be hiking at night again anytime soon.

(01:21:49):
This story is from the North Michigan town of Reed City.
November two thousand and seven. A gentleman by the name
of Sam was out hunting with his two friends, and
each of his friends took their stay waiting for four
thirty pm to roll around and the sun began to set.
That was when the chirps of birds in the buzz
of insects fell silent for a minute. It was a

(01:22:10):
silence that was broken by three deer running under Sam's stand,
along with a foul odor like a mothball. That's when
it came a big, hunchbacked, yellow eyed, two legged krypted
bursting from the bushes to chase the deer. Disconcerted, Sam
waited until his friends showed up, but then they mocked
him after he shared his story. Even so, the trio

(01:22:34):
began to leave, deciding to return the following day. Upon
the second day of hunting, at approximately five pm, Sam
heard gunfire from about one hundred feet away and screaming
into his walkie talkie. His friend panicked and recalled the
very same dog man Sam had seen, and this time
luckily it ran off as well, either they were insane

(01:22:55):
or they were brave, because they agreed to hunt for
two more days. The third day of hunting had been
entirely uneventful, dog man wise, but then day four demonstrated
that this canine cryptid was still out, and around this
time they wannabe werewolf didn't even wait until noon to
bolt into a well lit clearing directly in line of
fire of two of the three hunters. He looked straight

(01:23:18):
at them and began to smile. Sam's friend had pulled
a gun on the caneid, and it had immediately fled,
making a growling, hissing sound as if it knew what
a gun was. About an hour later, the third friend
radioed in and said, you guys, are are you in
a werewolf suit at my blind because it's not funny.

(01:23:39):
Sam could not answer. He finally heard five distinct shots
in the distance. The third friend was unscathed, but Sam
said he had been attacked and bore deep distinctive claw
marks in the butt of his rifle. When they returned
to their cabin later, the group found the snowy ground
covered with huge canine pap prints, as well as the

(01:23:59):
same claw marks embedded on the front door of the cabin.
Gabe bought a small, one floor ranch home in rural Montana,

(01:24:20):
just outside a community of about two thousand people. His
closest neighbor was a farmer a mile away, and he
loved the solitude and quiet at first. As for the
woods surrounding the house, they always had an ominous feel
about them, and that was the only thing that disturbed him.
Shortly after they moved in, though he understood why the
former owners were so eager to leave. It began with

(01:24:44):
sounds in the woods, not the regular sounds of animals,
but blood curdling screams and growls. There was some research
pointing to things like a raccoon or a bobcat being
able to make unnatural sounds, but this was different, and
there was something unset to him about those woods, as
if he was perpetually under observation, which of course sounded ludicrous.

(01:25:07):
Gabe was lying on the couch one late night after
getting up to get a glass of water around two am,
about two weeks after the move, there was a thunderstorm.
Small window above the kitchen sink looked out over Gabe's
yard into the treeline. The next time, lightning flashed, he
glimpsed something lurking in his yard a few paces from
the tree line, initially thinking it was a bear, he

(01:25:29):
then realized that it couldn't be. The creature was upright,
with its face toward the house. It had dog like legs,
and Gabe could see the hawks protruding. No way to
tell the color of the fir in the dark of
the winter night, but it seemed to be dark. It
had a huge upper body, a broad torso in arms
that nearly touched the ground. The lower body seemed out

(01:25:52):
of proportion to the upper body. Gabe froze and shot.
After he shook out of it, he waited for the
next lightning strike, and with it, the creature was gone.
After that night, he purchased a gun, which he kept
within arm's reach while sleeping. Life was pretty much normal
until one night a few weeks later when his satellite

(01:26:12):
TV went haywire. He hated going outside after dark, but
adjusting the antenna should be a quick job. He picked
up his gun in flashlight and went outside, But what
struck him first was the unnatural quiet. The woods at
night were usually full of all manner of sounds, crickets, owls, frogs,

(01:26:33):
but not now and yet, As a voice in his
head cried out danger, Gabe braved the satellite dish and
began to make adjustments. He heard a small snap and
turned his head left, shining his light toward the sound.
What came into the light of his beam would haunt
him for the rest of his life. Blood red eyes

(01:26:54):
met him immediately. They had resembled that of a German shepherd,
only mutated, ing a long pointed snout and erect ears.
It was black and shaggy in places. The beast had
muscles that outgunned even the biggest humans. Half in and
half out of the woods. Crouched low, but it was
still six feet tall, the level of Gabe's head. He

(01:27:17):
guessed that fully erect, it would have stood around eight
feet tall. He was within about twenty feet of the
creature and had his gun behind him, Never breaking eye contact,
he slowly backed up and gently grabbed his weapon. His
fight or flight reflexes activated, though, and he selected flight,
not necessarily the best move, but if he remained there,

(01:27:38):
this thing would murder him. He knew it. He ran
like a madman, not knowing whether the beast was following,
because he didn't dare look back. He got to the house,
burst through the front door, locked every door and window,
drew the blinds, and sat with his back to the wall,
cradling his gun. Gabe didn't sleep a minute that night
or much in the nights that followed. Whereas sasquatch was

(01:28:01):
often described in terms of being in tune with nature
and existing within the ecosystem, this creature was something else entirely.
It seemed wrong, malevolent evil. It had been stalking him,
playing with him, and he thought it would have killed
him if it had the chance. He understandably moved away.

(01:28:22):
Shortly after this incident, on a cold night, thirty minutes

(01:28:52):
to midnight, retired law enforcement officer Laura Love was writing
Shotgun with a friend of hers, who, for the interests
of this story, wished to remain anonymous, being noted only
as SA, so we'll call her Carol. Laura and Carol
were heading north on US thirty one in the area
of the West Webber Road overpass when they encountered something

(01:29:12):
like chanthropick. On the cold, moderately snowy road. We saw
a big, tall, dark and strange shaped creature run out
from the left side of the overpass, said Laura, and
hit the rear quarter panel of the little truck in
front of us, making a truck fishtail. The other truck
didn't stop to see if there was any damage. It
just sped off. But at least Laura and her compatriot

(01:29:34):
could take a look at the lunar lit lupine. She
describes it as a nearly seven and a half feet tall,
dark furred, bipedal figure with backward looking knees and what
would be a lion's main worth of fur sitting on
its neck, like some fancy fur collar from the twenties.
She also said that the face of the dog man
looked like a border collie. The creature did not pause

(01:29:57):
to give any more performance for its audience to but
took off again, vanishing into a tangle of weeds and trees.
Laura and Carol drove home in silence, shell shocked, and
didn't speak about their experience until they were home and
safe in Laura's house. Only then were the two able
to confess to one another that, yes, they had both

(01:30:18):
actually seen the Michigan dog Man coming up. A woman
always thought she saw a deformed bear that night until
her son's own terrifying encounter made her realize the truth

(01:30:40):
was something far more disturbing, and a late night drive
takes a terrifying turn when a massive, haunched creature darts
into the darkness and the driver discovers later that the
beast has been stalking her family for years. If you

(01:31:08):
like what you're hearing in the podcast, use the share
option on the device you're listening from to let others
know about the show or this episode. Spreading the word
to others who like the paranormal or strange stories, true crime, monsters,
or unsolved mysteries like you do helps to keep the
show growing, and it's the best way that you can
support what I do. Thank you for sharing and helping

(01:31:30):
to spread the weird darkness. Janet has struggled to put

(01:31:55):
words to the terror of her experience. This woman didn't
even know what a dog man was until her son
told her of his sighting. All those years. She thought
it was just some very deformed bear she had seen,
but now she wasn't so sure. Most evenings, around an
hour before dark, Janet would go on what they referred

(01:32:17):
to as deer rides with some of her family members
or friends. They had learned that dusk, the hour or
so before full darkness, was when deer were most active.
They had a regular route that began on rustic road
southwest of their cabin on Long Lake, south of Danbury, Wisconsin.
The road led them through a wildlife preserve and continued

(01:32:39):
to a roadway between Hinckley, Minnesota and Danbury, Wisconsin. The
section through the preserve had always made Janet nervous. Swampy
bog stretched out on both sides of the narrow gravel road,
and in order to turn around you had to go
all the way to a hunter's parking lot. They saw
lots of deer on that road. They drove fast through

(01:33:01):
the area, and they would have skipped the gravel road
altogether if not for the reliable deer sightings right before
and after the preserve. One evening, Janet was out with
her sister in law Amy. They did not take cell
phones or cameras, and it was a hot night. Janet's
nineteen ninety eight Cadillac windows were rolled down because the

(01:33:21):
air conditioning in the car wasn't working. They had just
ventured down the creepy road and were driving fast when
they saw something black ahead of them On the road
half a mile away. As they approached, they could see
it was dark gray and had an elongated muzzle. Whatever
it was had its back to the two of them,
but turned just enough that they could see it was

(01:33:42):
eating something on the road. Janet pulled over and they
could see the creature had incredibly wide, muscular shoulders and
hair that was longer than that of a bear. Its
ears were tapered like a German shepherd's. Standing straight up
on its head, the creature had human like hands and
seemed to be clenching what Janet believed was a dead rabbit.

(01:34:03):
Janet freaked out and uttered something along the lines of
what is that, and the creature apparently heard her and
started to move its head. Janet switched on her headlights.
It wasn't completely dark yet, but she wanted a better
view of this thing. It spun to face their car entirely,
and the headlamps caught its eyes glowing reddish orange in

(01:34:23):
the night. This creature, to Janet, was nothing less than
a demon. It walked hunched over on its back legs.
Its limbs were awkward and jittery when it jogged, as
if it weren't used to being in its own body.
The movement was bizarrely alien. The creature started running directly
toward their car, a distance of at least six steps.

(01:34:43):
Janet ravved the engine and charged straight at it. The
creature veered right, still upright, and then dropped onto all
fours with back legs that had a strange backward bend
like reverse knees. Janet yelled again, what is that? As
it ran into the swamp. She kept on driving until
they got to the road toward their cabin, and by
then it was fully dark outside. When she eventually stopped,

(01:35:06):
she and Amy were crying and trembling uncontrollably. They talked
about what they had seen and agreed to tell everyone
it was a bear. They didn't believe that, of course,
but that was the story they agreed upon her. After that,
Janet had convinced herself that she had been looking at
a deformed bear that night. Today she knows better. She

(01:35:29):
no longer denies what she witnessed, but she still feels
no understanding and has no explanation. This was wrong in
every way, coming from pure evil. Her experience has contributed
to a growing catalog of encounters that make it seem
as if these creatures are much more than mistaken natural beasts.

(01:36:03):
Located just across the border of Wisconsin. The city of
Duluth is technically in Minnesota, at the westernmost tip of
Lake Superior. This report, dated November seventh, twenty sixteen, is
from a graphic designer who was asked to remain nameless.
Maple Grove Road is a stretch of road that sits
right at the borderline of residential Duluth and the more

(01:36:25):
rural areas northwest of town. The anonymous source described an
upright cryptid having run from the limits of the lamppost's
range of illumination in the residential area before bolting into
a field with a very old barn. She said the
creature could have been seven feet tall if it weren't
running on all fours with an extremely hunched back. It

(01:36:45):
possessed a wolfish face with a long muzzle and short
pointed ears, and to walk with its legs stiff and awkward,
as if walking on its haunches like a gorilla. The
graphic designer was frozen for an instant watching the dog
man move, until the glow of passing headlights behind it
lit up the creature's silhouette revealing it to her much

(01:37:05):
much more clearly. In a panic, she drove to a
well lit gas station where she waited for her husband
to return home, describing an overwhelming, almost supernatural fear that
bore down on her like a thick sludge. But the
story doesn't end there. Right after the anonymous reporter's family
heard about the short encounter, her sister revealed she had

(01:37:28):
encountered the same hunchback wolf like monstrosity years before, while
it stood outside her property and stared back into her
house with its glaring red eyes. She just didn't tell
anyone for fear she wouldn't be believed. When Weird Darkness returns,

(01:37:53):
we'll look at a couple of other cryptid keyneads that
lurk outside the borders of Michigan in Wisconsin. Plus, what
is the difference between a werewolf and a dog man?
We'll find out. One way you can support what I

(01:38:19):
do is by shopping in the Weird Darkness Store. You
can find Weird Darkness t shirts, trucker caps, and dad hats,
school supplies, kids clothes, coffee mugs, and more, with dozens
of designs to choose from and a variety of colors
to match your style. Grab some weird Oh merchandise for
yourself or maybe as a gift for the weirdo in
your life by clicking on store at Weird Darkness dot

(01:38:42):
com That's Weird Darkness dot com slash store. Unknown wolf

(01:39:05):
like creatures aren't relegated to the states of Michigan and Wisconsin.
The Beast of Seven Shoots is a cryptid alleged to
exist in the forests of Quebec, Canada, and said to
be a human faced, wolf like beast with glowing eyes.
Reports of the Beast of Seven Shoots go back decades
and hail from the wilds surrounding the Seven Shoots Waterfall

(01:39:27):
in the Mastagucci Wildlife Reserve. Eyewitness accounts of the creature
come from people who are hiking or camping or fishing
in the area. Descriptions of the creature are varied, but
what remains constant is that the beast is said to
be wolf like in body covered with dark fur, walks
upright on two legs, as a human like face, large

(01:39:48):
sharp teeth, and soulless, penetrating eyes. Others report hearing disturbing
howls or growls from the beast, which only adds to
the mysterious terror. Some consider the creature a guardian spirit
or forest deity, while others see it as a dangerous
predator to be avoided at all costs. And then there's

(01:40:10):
the Ozark Cowler acryptid that is said to reside in
the Ozark Mountains region from Arkansas and Missouri in the
US and is described as a huge, black wolflike demon creature.
It has glowing red eyes along with horns or horn
shaped ears. The Ozark Cowler is a creature that has
been cited for decades, sided by witnesses and secluded wilderness

(01:40:32):
in the Ozark Mountains. Many of the reports refer to
the creature as being fore legged and cat or wolf like,
with dark fur and horns protruding from its head. Descriptions
of the Ozark Cowler differ, but a few characteristics stand out.
Its size, reportedly larger than an average wolf or mountain lion,
and its eerie look with glowing red eyes penetrating the night,

(01:40:56):
and of course, the belief it has horns, making it
un among other similar creature sightings. Some consider it a
guardian spirit, while others see it as a natural predator
that lives in the wilds of the Ozarks, much like
the Beast of Seven Shoots. If you're new to the

(01:41:22):
dog Man at this point, you're probably assuming we're just
using a different name for a were wolf. Is this
just a difference in the name, or is there a
difference in the creature. While the dog man and the
werewolf have similar appearances, their folklore, origins and behaviors are
actually quite different. While werewolves are deep seated in European

(01:41:45):
mythology and often involves supernatural curses, the dog man is
a much newer cryptid that sprang forth in North American legend.
The two creatures differ in how they come into existence,
what they do, and what they represent to their respective cultures.
The dog Man has been described as a bipedal dog,
walking upright like a human, but with the head, fur,

(01:42:08):
and claws of a wolf. Unlike werewolves, which are humans
that transform, dog Man is generally considered a permanent creature,
forever inhabiting its wolf like form. Reports of dog Man's
sightings have fanned the flames of cryptid enthusiasts, debating whether
it could be an undiscovered species or possibly even a

(01:42:28):
supernatural entity. Often, it is said to have glowing eyes,
supernatural speed, and a terrible, frightening howl. Many reports indicate
that it is territorial, but not a mindless killer, or
likely to avoid non suspecting human than to actually come
into contact, despite the stories we've shared tonight, unless provoked.

(01:42:49):
While the traditional were wolf is often hunted in folklore
due to its more violent nature, the dog man is
generally only seen at a distance, providing only strange encounter
and speculation. In contrast, the classic werewolf has a long
history that stems from folklore as far back as Ancient Greece,
Norse mythology, and medieval Europe. Werewolves are typically described as

(01:43:13):
humans that turn into wolves through a curse, a magical illness,
or even as godly punishment. In most retellings of the legend,
the change comes on the full moon and against the
will of the affected human, who is transformed into a
beast that is a danger to others. Unlike dog man,
which is believed to be a natural, albeit still unexplained phenomenon,

(01:43:36):
werewolves are commonly linked to witchcraft, like canthropy or dealings
with dark powers. Upon metamorphosis, they are frequently savage in bloodthirsty,
disposing of enemies at will. Some legends depict werewolves as
having human intelligence, being able to control what they do,
but those versions are rarer In traditional folklore. The werewolf's

(01:43:59):
greatest enemy is silver, as well as holy relics, fire
or decapitation, and these really are key when it comes
to the legends surrounding, hunting, and slaying them. The two
beasts are also at odds in their cultural impact. Were
Wolves have been a staple of popular culture for centuries,
with appearances throughout literature, movies, and folklore around the globe.

(01:44:22):
Teals like that of the Loop Guru in French mythology
and lycanthropy myths across cultures have helped solidify the werewolf
as a classic supernatural horror archetype. Movies such as The
Wolfman in nineteen forty one and The American Werewolf in
London from nineteen eighty one keep the legend alive in
contemporary media, unlike mythological figures, though the dog Man is

(01:44:44):
encrypted perhaps the most well known of these legends, the
Michigan dog Man is renowned in contemporary culture for reported
sightings and urban legends more than ancient folklore rest assured.
Unlike werewolves, which are generally terrifying and considered to be
people afflicted by some type of curse. Dog Man is
more akin to Bigfoot or a mothman, and more skittish

(01:45:07):
than a were wolf. Although the dog man and the
werewolf are similar in both appearance, they are not the
same creature. Dog Man is believed to be an actual, living,
undiscovered creature, while where wolves are mostly considered a supernatural
being related to the transformation of humans in folklore, dog
Man is believed to be permanently living in its hybrid

(01:45:29):
doglike creature form, whereas a were wolf is a human
cursed to transform into a beast under certain circumstances. Plus
were wolves are well entrenched in global mythology and pop culture,
while dog Man is a recent mystery in the cryptid sphere,
although his popularity encryptid and horror circles is growing. Each

(01:45:51):
new report of dog Man like creatures adds another layer
of intrigue, but none get us any closer to understanding
what exactly dog Man is. They appear to be widespread, intelligent,
and endowed with capabilities that cannot be explained. Many of
the stories share commonalities six to eight feet tall, with

(01:46:12):
some reports up to ten feet, a body so muscular
it dwarfs human bodybuilders. A narrow waist in small pointed
ears atop its head, abnormally large razor sharp k nine teeth,
long arms that reach down to its knees, huge hands
like raccoon's paws tipped with sharp claws, bipedal legs bent

(01:46:35):
backwards like a dog's hawk, massive dog like feet, a
small tail or no tail at all. But dog man's
sightings are not a one size fits all phenomenon. Witnesses
consistently describe different forms of the beast, leading to theories
about distinct types or variants. These descriptions, though varied, often

(01:46:58):
share strikingly simils. The most common depiction is of a
creature resembling the black werewolf from the two thousand and
four film Van Helsing, as described earlier in Branded Closes Encounter.
Yet these aren't the only forms of dog man being reported.
Some experiences describe hybrids creatures that seem to blur the

(01:47:18):
line between dog man and bigfoot, or even between dog
man and humans. Researchers and investigators categorize dogmen into two
main groups, Type three dogmen and kenine dogmen. Within these groups,
there are seven distinct types that witnesses have described. We
won't go in depth into these, but here are the

(01:47:39):
bullet points. Type three dogmen three variants, Variant one. This
variant is tall and lean, with traits of both bigfoot
and dogmen. Its legs are straight like a human's, lacking
the backward bend typical of other dogmen. Its facial features
resemble a babboon or eight, but with a pronounced snout.

(01:48:02):
Common fur colors include black, gray, brown, and occasionally orange
or reddish. Then there is Variant two, with a human
like body and a protruding dog like snout. This type
as a head resembling that of a chow, and Variant
three often described as a sasquatch with a snout. This
variant also has straight legs, unlike the bent hawk of

(01:48:25):
canine variants. And then there's the canine dog man, which
has four variants. Variant one. This type closely resembles a
standing dog or timberwolf. It has a thinner build compared
to others, and is commonly reported with fur colors ranging
from black to white, brown, or gray. Variant two has
a hyena like appearance. This variant features a spotted muzzle,

(01:48:49):
a humped back, and shorter front legs. Its coloration ranges
from black to brown. Variant three is often considered the
classic dog man. This variant matches where wolf like depictions
described in many of our stories tonight. Standing six to
eight feet tall, sometimes ten. It's massively muscular, with sharp
canine teeth, small pointed ears, long arms, and large dog

(01:49:13):
like feet. It may have a small tail or none
at all. And then there's Variant four, known to some
as fat heads or soldiers. This imposing variant has an
enormous head and no neck. It is the largest of
the dog men, standing seven to ten feet tall, with
human like hands tipped with claws. Lean tall, and powerful.

(01:49:35):
It has backward bent legs and fur colors ranging from
black to gray. The descriptions may be similar with variations,
but they all share these traits. The creature was large
in size, had a combination of canine and humanoid features,
was incredibly fast, had enormous strength, and disturbingly, were obviously intelligent,

(01:49:58):
more so than any typical forest creature, and more terrifying.
In many cases, the person encountering the creature had the
sensation that the beasts could read their minds. What are
these creatures? What is their relation to our world? Are
they just an unknown yet to be classified cryptid or
are they something more, possibly interdimensional, which would explain how

(01:50:22):
they can disappear and reappear so quickly as they have
been seen to do. If that's the case, I'd land
on the answer that they are truly demonic and mean
nothing but evil. Some cryptozoologists have noted parallels between the
dog Man and mythical figures like the ancient Egyptian god
and Nubis, who bore the head of a jackal, and

(01:50:43):
the European legends of were wolves that date back to
ancient Greece and Rome. Could we possibly be referring to
the same creature over thousands of years. The fundamental question,
of course, is whether the dog Man has any basis
in reality or exists solely as product of folklore. Maybe
after hearing these stories, you're leaning just a bit more

(01:51:06):
towards them being absolutely and frightfully real. Thanks for listening.
If you like the show, please share it with someone
you know who loves the paranormal or strange stories, true crime, monsters,

(01:51:30):
or unsolved mysteries like you do. All stories used in
Weird Darkness are purported to be true and less stated otherwise,
and you can find links to the authors, stories and
sources I used in the episode description. Weird Darkness is
a registered trademark copyright Weird Darkness. And now that we're
coming out of the dark, I'll leave you with a
little light Proverbs twenty four, verse fourteen. Know also that

(01:51:55):
wisdom is sweet to your soul. If you find it,
there is a future hope for you, and your hope
will not be cut off. And a final thought, wherever
there is a human being, there is an opportunity for kindness. Seneca,
I'm Daryn Marler. Thanks for joining me in the Weird Darkness.

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