The Beast of Bray Road: Trailing Wisconsin’s Werewolf, Linda S. Godfrey
Book
The Beast of Bray Road: Tailing Wisconsin’s Werewolf, 2014 e-book edition
Author
Linda S Godfrey, American, 1951-2022
https://wnanews.com/2022/12/08/beast-of-bray-road-writer-linda-s-godfrey-dies-at-71/
About Linda Godfrey; Pics, Books, Podcast links, Bio, Calendar | Lindagodfrey's Blog
Sections
Dedication
Dedicated to her dog, which is very sweet.
Acknowledgements
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Loren Colman, cryptozoologist
Jay Rath, cryptozoologist
Mark Hall, cryptozoologist
Scott Corrales, paranormal writer
Richard Hendriks, Wisconsin folklorist
Julie von Bergen, reader
Cindy Jackson, artis
Robh Ruppel, artists
Jeff Easley, artist
Books/articles/other media in this chapter:
N/A
The gist:
Literally, acknowledgements.
Interest:
The collection of names. Which I’m sure we’ll meet again.
Read it?
Meh. If you want.
Werewolves: Man, Beast, or Monster? by Loren Coleman
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Triple-toed Honey Island Swamp Monster
Three-fingered AND three-toed Thetis Lake Monster
Scape Ore Swamp Lizard Man
John Keel, paranormal investigator
Books/articles/other media in this chapter:
The gist:
Loren starts by listing off some creatures. I’m already in my happy place. Behold:
Cast of the footprint left by the Triple-toed Honey Island Swamp Monster. https://abitamysteryhouse.com/honeyislandswampmonster.htm
This has too many fingers to be him, but ok. https://unknownvictoria.blogspot.com/2006/04/gill-man-of-thetis-lake.html
Scape Ore Swamp Lizard Man, https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/has-south-carolina39s-39lizard-man39-returned-new-video-surfaces-in-case
Loren asks what kind of creature the Beast might be. Could it be a werewolf or a Bigfoot?
Loren already puts in place a demarcation line between a creature of the paranormal and an undiscovered naturally occurring creature.
Interest:
I’ve shown you the pictures. Which is a signifier of my interest.
Read it?
It’s very quick. It was quicker to read it than find these pictures.
Foreword: A Marvellous Night for a Moondance by Richard D Hendriks
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Robert Bloch, horror writer and Wisconsin native
Peter Straub, horror writer and Wisconsin native
August Derleth, horror writer and Wisconsin native
Lon Chaney Jr., wolfman
Charles and Dorothy Moulding Brown, Wisconsin folklorists
Here’s some of Dorothy’s work: https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Brown%2C%20Dorothy%20Moulding%2C%201896%2D
Beth Scott, author of Haunted Wisconsin, pb available on Amazon.
Michael Norman, author of Haunted America, with Beth Scott, also available on Amazon.
Dennis Boyer, Wisconsin folklorist and historian of the random, books also on Amazon.
Books/articles/other media in this chapter:
Wisconsin Lore, Robert Gard and LG Sorden
The gist:
• Richard says, outright, this creature is real. He also says this is the weirdest story out of Wisconsin.
• There are several descriptions of it, which I’m certain we are going to explore at length later.
• It’s all going down around Elkhorn, home to Bray Road, home to the monster that haunts it.
• Richard tells us that Linda lived in the affected community, which is great to know. It means it matters to her. As a journalist, Linda followed up on everything, no matter how weird.
• Richard then lists off a series of weird goings ons: flying saucers, mysterious kangaroos, vampires, satanic panic, kidnappings.
• He also says something that John Keel said in different words: when you pursue the weird, the weird pursues you.
Interest:
There is some. I like the way he doesn’t mince words. It’s all ‘they’re real, monsters happen’.
Read it?
You would do yourself a disserves, I feel, by not.
Introduction: A Sight in the Night
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Ovid, quoted at the start
Lori Endrizzi, witness
Books/articles/other media in this chapter:
N/A
The gist:
• Linda opens with how unusual it is to be confronted with the supernatural. As a small-town wife, mum, reporter and cartoonist, she in no way understood what she was letting herself in for.
• She hadn’t thought in terms of demonic or supernatural. I already have the feeling she was approaching this as just another story but ultimately, it would we a weird looking dog or something.
• In this introduction, she actively takes the piss in a down to earth way about the subject and how she feels about it. This is refreshing. She’s a journo and has a journo’s sense of humour which she duly warns us about. I love her already.
Interest:
Plenty, because you get a real insight into Linda’s approach.
Read it?
Do.
Part I: Out of the Woods: The Emergence of the Beast
Chapter 1: Rumors
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Herb Moering, newspaper editor of The Week
Unnamed freelancer, provided the heads up about a possible werewolf
John Halverson, newspaper editor of The Week
Pat Lester, bus driver
Lori Endrizzi, witness
Doris Gipson, witness
Jon Fredrickson, animal control officer for Walworth County
Heather Bowey, witness
Karen, Heather’s mum
Russell Gest, another young witness with Heather
Marty Boerner, director of Lakeland Animal shelter
Man who works in Burger King, witness
Books/articles/other media in this chapter:
The Golden Book of the Mysterious, Western Publishing, 1976
Interview with Gipson, The Week, 29 December 1991
Strange Magazine, has some of Endrizzi’s sketches.
The gist:
• We open with a slow news week in the no-man’s-land between Christmas and New Year with a new reporter.
• As this is part autobiography as well, it’s all coming from Linda’s POV, so we learn quite a bit about her as we move through the chapter.
• We get a description of Walworth County and the area of Elkhorn. It all sounds gorgeous.
• Lori and Doris had both seen the same thing around the same time. They had been both scared to talk about it to many people. Doris told Lester; Lori told Fredrickson.
• From the beginning, feelings of eeriness were associated with seeing the creature. More suggestions of some unspecified cult shenanigans.
• Fredrickson kept a file on the so-called “werewolf” sightings that were reported to him. He had humour about the whole thing, so I imagine he found it quite funny labelling the file “werewolf”. He thought people were seeing a large coyote. But his talk with Endrizzi may have been a bit more paranormal than with a reporter.
• But! Werewolf sells papers, so werewolf it would be.
Looking buff and handsome in one of Linda’s drawings. https://www.booksthatbite.com/p/art-in-memoriam-honoring-the-fantastic
• There are details now from Linda’s interview with Endrizzi. She saw it on the side of the roads, hunched over some dinner. Long claws are mentioned. Man-like features. Knees.
• Linda interviewed Doris Gipson. Who saw it twice, and the second time was with another witness. She showed Linda some scratches on her car. Linda quite rightly points out she can’t say what caused them.
• Karen, the next witness, who had been 10/11 at the time. Linda spoke to her with her mother’s permission when she was 13. Her mother remembers the fright her daughter had. She described much what the other witnesses had: appeared like dog/coyote, until the legs came into view. Until it stood up. She was with other children at the time, and they saw it. It also chased them for a bit.
• All three so far have also said the same thing in particular: it stared at them. That’s freaking me out.
• Russell went to school with Linda’s son, who told her that Russell would sometimes talk about it.
• A creature seen around Potter’s Road so often, it had the nickname Pottsy.
This is the creature as Linda drew it based on Endrizzi’s description. https://othersidepodcast.com/blog/2021/12/25/296-the-beast-of-bray-road-returns-the-30th-anniversary-with-linda-godfrey/
• There are sketches from Endrizzi as well, but I can’t locate them.
Interest:
Plenty. Especially because Linda met all the people she talked to. She had no idea how big this was going to get, so she investigated it like any other story. She was able to sit in the room with most of them. This is what makes this story already quite different. She was from here, and these people, even if she didn’t know them until she met them, she knew them.
Read it?
Of course.
Chapter 2: The Media Take a Bite
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Reverend Schumacher, Linda’s childhood rev. Couldn’t explain no cats in the bible.
Mark Belling, radio talk show host, thought The Week were on a racket, even though that was not possible
Jon Frederickson, him again
Jennifer, rang into a radio show with her own story.
Tim Roberts, Linda’s brother
Rick Romell, reporter for the then Sentinel
Scott Bray, Bray Road resident
Bernice and Howard Bray, related residents
Lt. Geral Watson, Walworth County Sheriff deputy
Don Turnbull, The Week’s food writer, created a dish called Werewolf ala Don
Books/articles/other media in this chapter:
The Week, Wisconsin newspaper
Janesville Gazette, newspaper owned by the same people as own The Week
Interview with Jon Frederickson, The Week, 12 January, 1992
Milwaukee Journal
“Fur-right: Backroad Sightings have several drivers crying wolf”, 8 January, 1992, Milwaukee Sentinel
“Werewolf Stories Draw Out the Wary”, Milwaukee Journal, January 12, 1992
The Enlarged Devil’s Dictionary, Ambrose Bierce
“Wisconsin Werewolf”, The Sun (Florida), Feb. 1992
“Werewolves of Walworth”, Tom Davis, Wisconsin Trails magazine, June 1992
The gist:
• We open this chapter with Linda’s dad and his maybe UFO story.
• She talks about some of her interest in the strange and unexplained.
• January that year was slow, and suddenly, a small town werewolf was big news.
• UWA: Unidentified Walking Animals.
• While the TV folks descended on Elkhorn, Linda was questioned about whether this was responsible journalism. She gave a good reply to that, you can read it for yourself. However, she said they were responsible. They had presented a local rumour, nothing factual. The witnesses were entitled to their experiences, not to anyone’s belief in them. Fredrickson did have that werewolf folder, though. That made it a bit more real. But again, even with that it’s still hearsay. Even when there was a creature called Pottsy wandering around.
• Like all places everywhere, when there is something of local colour that gains attention, people being capitalising. Roswell and Point Pleasant being examples. Lakeland Bakery did a werewolf cookie. It’s closed and I couldn’t find a picture of one. So, I got this one instead:
I got this from the book. Which is a shit picture. I prefer the one I found.
• Werewolf hunters started showing up. Which was mad. Especially as some of them were drunk with guns. And of course, the pranksters were out in force, and I love those people.
• The Week got a letter saying the Beast was a result of genetic experimentation.
• A mouse with a chicken head was mentioned.
Not as uncommon as you may think. https://www.macroevolution.net/mouse-chicken-hybrids.html
• Tabloids got a hold of it. Great hilarity ensued.
• Linda reflects how her personal theories on the Beast evolved over time.
Interest:
Plenty. The fervour of the time is described without being overly dramatic, but with a wry sense of humour. I’d say that Linda is just touching on the amount of media coverage. If someone was of a mind to, they could try and do a deep dive on the media of that time and see what they turn up. Maybe someone has, I don’t know. I’d like to see everything that was reported at that time before the passage of years made it slicker.
Read it?
Yes indeed.
Chapter 3: More Sightings
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Joe Schackelman, editor of The Labour Paper, in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Mark Schackelman, witness
Loro Endrizzi, briefly mentioned.
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Bushman, wrote a letter to Linda about their sighting.
Glenn North, witness.
“Mary and Bill”, saw the LaGrange Beast
Patty Robertson, from LaGrange.
DNR Agent David Gjetson, received a strange call.
Tom Brichta, teenager at the time, witness
Chris Maxwell, witness and friend of Brichta
Lt. Lenz, patrol lieutenant
Heather Bowey is briefly mentioned.
Doris Gipson
Scott Freimund, friend of Tom Brichta
Books/articles/other media in this chapter:
Racine Labor, 19 February, 1992 – Joe published here.
“Bray Road Beast Update”, Linda Godfrey, Strange Magazine, Spring/Summer 1993
“Black Dogs and Guardians of the Corpse Ways”, Bob Trubshaw, At The Edge website
https://www.indigogroup.co.uk/edge/bdogs.htm
This is a fun article, lots of information and some pictures. And a bibliography!
Mothman and Other Curious Encounters, Loren Coleman, 2002
The Bible, New Testament, Mark 5;3-5
Capital Times, Jay Rath, October 1984
Milwaukee Journal, Jay Rath, 5 September, 1985
I-Files: True Reports of Unexplained Phenomena in Illinois, Jay Rath
The gist:
• This is about several sightings of a beast. May not be the Bray Road beast, but interesting none the less.
• Joe Schackelman’s father, a night watchman in a Catholic convent saw a beast. This story is creepy as shit. Involves a Native American burial mound, which you know is never good for non-Native Americans.
• There is some talk of hellhounds. Which I always find rather exciting.
• Discussed here is also whether the beast/beasts are interdimensional. As Schackelman’s beast was hanging around a burial mound, perhaps it was going to and from a netherworld?
• Biblical references to the guttural utterance of Gadara.
• Talking Chihuahua of the Roberts family. Could say hamburger.
Here is a fire breathing hellhound. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellhound
• A woman and her husband saw the creature on a bright sunny day, and it was moving at some clip across a field. It wasn’t Bray Road, but it was around Elkhorn.
• Glen North saw a four-legged ‘something’, again, super-fast crossing the road in front of his truck.
• Delavan man saw what he thought might be a Bigfoot. Linda could go either way. Linda interviewed this man herself several times, and he remained consistent in his story.
• Mary and Bill saw something with glowing eyes too big to be a cow. It was near their home. Their large dog was scared to stay outside. Mary had heard tales of creatures while growing up in that area. The Bluff Man of Bluff Road. A sort of Bigfoot/Wildman type of story.
• Patty, from roughly the same area, ha The Eddy story, another bigfooty/wildmany type deal.
• Linda interviewed Gjetson, who had no idea what the woman had seen, but she was frightened. It had slashed her horse, ffs.
• Tom Brichta and Chris Maxwell hit something with their car one night. Tom’s mother insists that Tome would know many animals, but he didn’t know this. Interestingly, they lived in a haunted house. He talked to some patrol officers on the way home. He pointed out some scratches on his car, but Linda couldn’t see them. Tom saw it twice. Second time with a different friend.
• There is also talk of the documentary being made .
Interest:
Yes, with lots of names and places.
Read it?
Yes.
Chapter 4: The Werewolf Gets Star Treatment
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Lori Engrizzi
Doris Gipson
Sergeant Roger Farnsworth, Walworth County Sheriff’s Department
Jack Scanlan, producer
Mick Fleetwood, possible actor for the beast. Yes, that Mick Fleetwood.
Stephen Verona, director for the beast. He did Lords of Flatbush
Sylvester Stallone, in LOF
Henry Winkler, in LOF
Perry King, in LOF
Susan Blakeley, in LOF
Arnold Schwarzenegger, mentioned in context of Mick Fleetwood
Cindy Jackson, make up artist friend of Linda.
Robh Ruppel, artist
Colonel Daniel Beam, profiteer, and fund raiser
Harry Face, treasurer of the werewolf capture permits.
Chuck Coleman, Republican local politician
Robert Burnette, played the beast in a few of Chuck’s campaign photos
Books/articles/other media in this chapter:
Spirit, in-flight magazine of Southwest Airlines, Dan Morrison, October 1992
Milwaukee Journal
Milwaukee Sentinel
Running Man, Mick had been in this.
Zero Tolerance, Mick had also been in this.
The gist:
• We open with a reporter, Dan Morrison, who comes to Bray Road, does some actual investigation with real people. Also! Walks Bray Road alone at midnight.
• Delavan was the circus capital of US at one point. Interesting to know.
• Walworth County Sheriff’s Department said they said nuthin’. Which is funny because they are recorded saying a whole lot of sumtin’.
• Jack Scanlan comes into the picture, and Linda found herself saying yes to writing a screenplay.
• Possibly staring Mick Fleetwood.
Back in the day. He’s also 6 feet 5 inches. https://www.discogs.com/artist/273841-Mick-Fleetwood
• What Linda finally manages to produce is in the Ed Wood style of screenplays. But! Even though Scanlan left 21stC, he kept trying to get the film made. Linda got lessons from a writing professor, and the screenplay wasn’t as naff anymore. He got a director, Stephen Verona, who could rewrite the screenplay if he wanted.
• Official werewolf capture permits. Linda got one. I want one.
• Chuck Coleman felt that a werewolf endorsing his campaign would somehow help. On questioning from the opposition, Chuck doubled down and had some pictures taken of the ‘beast’ supporting him.
Interest:
Plenty, including how popular the myth was becoming. We had an idea in the previous chapter, but then lots of names began to be linked to it. For Linda, this must have been exciting.
Read it?
Yes, because it’s mad.
Chapter 5: More Comes to Light…and Dark
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Sharilyn Smage, witness, resident/farmer of Bray Road
Scott Bray, resident/farmer of Bray road
Doris Gipson
Mike Etten, Elkhorn farmer and witness
Lori Endrizzi
Joe Contreras, was up to something strange and he had a gun
Phillip Koss, DA
Books/articles/other media in this chapter:
Strange Magazine, interview with Scott Bray, fall/winter 1992
The gist:
• The sightings were still happening, even if the initial excitement was dying down.
• Sharilyn, a Bray Road resident, saw a beast, and thought it was cool. Good for her.
• Scott Bray saw a beast, which looked like Doris Gipson’s beast. Scott is not into the whole beast thing.
• Mike saw something like what Lori saw, eating something on the side of the road. He thought it was a small bear for a long time.
• Joe Contreras wanted to use a werewolf phobia as a defence in his trial. He’d been sitting in his former employer’s driveway with a gun in his car. After close examination by Phillip Koss, DA, he had to admit it was all bullshit.
Phillip Koss, now a judge, had to close the werewolf loophole rather quickly. https://www.bishop-accountability.org/news2011/07_08/2011_07_07_Hoffman_WalworthCounty.htm
Interest:
Some. Feels like filler. Interesting for the court case.
Read it?
If you want. You’ll miss nothing.
Chapter 6: National TV and a Tabloid: It All Starts Up again
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Andrea Anderson, producer on Sightings
Scott Bray, increasingly pissed of resident of Bray Road
Andy Rothstein, head producer of Sightings
Larry Long, Wisconsin Public Television
Lori Endrizzi.
Jon Frederickson, remember him? Quiet now.
Theodore Roosevelt, bigfoot fan?
Same Doris Gipson.
Same Heather Bowey
Martha Kerkman, witness from New Munster
Peggy, neighbour of Martha
John Halverson, managing editor of The Week
Robert Bushmans, witness
Tom Brichta, witness
Scott Freimund, witness
Terry Mayer, photojournalist
Books/articles/other media in this chapter:
The Week, where Linda worked
The Sun, Floridian tabloid
Monsters, episode of Sightings, June 19, 1992, Fox Network
Inside Edition, tv programme
National Examiner
The gist:
• Andy Rothstein told Linda he discovered the beast via a huge mushroom discovered in Michigan.
• But! By the time the Los Angelinos got to Elkhorn, people were over it.
• The show never mentioned the beast, but it did a bigfoot, a Lizard Man of South Carolina, Nessie, and Lori Endrizzi teaser spots. Disappointing.
• But onwards! Martha saw a beast from her window, and it was sized between dog and cow. Her neighbour, Peggy, saw it as well. While neither of them would say werewolf, it was an unusual looking creature.
• Inside edition shot a reasonably credible piece.
• National examiner paid Linda and Terry to go and sit on Bray Road at night after trying to tempt the beast with raw chicken.
Interest:
There’s a new sighting and some silly NE stuff. That’s it, really.
Read it?
If you want. Seeing as you’re here. It’s short.
Chapter 7: “The Dogman of Michigan”
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Steve Cooke, Michigan radio DJ
Dogman
Sheila Wissner, journo in the Traverse City, Michigan Record-Eagle
Robert Fortney, encounter in 1938 with a Dogman
Mark Schackelman, he of Saint Colett’s.
Clarence Gillispie, local history buff
Assorted lumberjacks and recreational fishermen
Heather Bowey makes a very brief mention
Jim Mencarelli, reporter
Ann Cavendar, local bartender
Paul Harvey, local radio commentator
Ruth Butler, reporter
Ron Bailey, WCUZ DJ
Joe Knaapen, reporter
Mark Hall, saw hairy man like beings as per Loren Coleman
Books/articles/other media in this chapter:
Article about Robert Fortney, Sheila Wissner, Traverse City, Michigan Record-Eagle, 25 April, 1987.
DOGMAN? ‘Attack’ Brings a 90-Year-Old Legend to Life Again Up North, Jim Mencarelli, Grand Rapids Press. April 1987
Simulated Werewolf Hunt Amazes, Angers Listeners, Ruth Butler, Grand Rapids Press, 16 February, 1992
Sightings, TV show
Door County Advocate, newspaper
WTCM CD The Haunting of Northwest Michigan, 2002. I can’t find the 2002 one, but here is an example from2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1n37ZqLsgE
Strange Magazine, Spring, 1996, David A Kulcyk
The Werewolf Book: Encyclopaedia of Shape-Shifting Beings, Brad Steiger
Crypto, Hominology Special Number 1, Loren Coleman, April 2001
The gist:
• This is fellow beastie from the next state: The Michigan Dogman.
• Cook wrote a song about the legend of the dogman and released as an April Fool’s joke.
• But holy fuck did people relate to it. Dogman is something else we will need to get into at some point.
• Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yd5W0iMLL6k
A wee screenshot of Dogman from the YouTube video. There something a bit more vicious about dogman. The Beast, while you may not want to encounter him of an evening, doesn’t seem as bad.
• I’ll just leave that playing on repeat while I review the rest of this book.
• The lyrics are reprinted in the book. They’re not bad. Though the song was done on Cook’s casio.
• Robert Fortney was shook by this song, as it gave his the PTSD shivers of his encounter in 1938, where he was attacked by several feral dogs in the woods. He managed to scare them off with his rifle. But then one stood up and grinned at him. What the actual fuck. Now, Robert will qualify that he has no idea what he was looking at.
• Local history buff was trying to collect some dogman stories. He got some, including a water based adventure.
• A few more stories about reported so called dogman attacks in the aftermath of the song.
• People were interested in dogman, and having a look for him, but they were quite scared. Mass hysteria? Genuine fear?
• The money that was made on Cook’s song was all used as a donation to the Cherryland Humane Society. Which is still a going concern. https://cherrylandhumane.org/
• A werewolf hunt was organised to chase the Beast, which was a radio play pretending to be in Elkhorn…in the vein of Orson Wells and Blair Witch.
• Apparently, in the next county over, packs of large black dogs were perambulating about on their hind legs. Which sounds like opportunism on the county’s behalf to me. But on clarification, it was dogs going missing, not mincing. The reporter on the job at the time, Joe Knaapen, said it may or may not have been linked to cultic activity. They never found any proof of this, however.
• We talk of Witchie Wolves, which sounds like a band. They are, in actual fact, as opposed to literal fact, invisible wolves that guard sacred burial sites. That live in Michigan. What is going on with Michigan?
• Black dogs have a whole section of the paranormal, and they have their own books, so Linda stops there.
Interest:
There is. With the release of the song, there came an upsurge of reports. Now, how many of these were historical. I don’t know, but it would be easy to go DOGMAN DID IT! There is lots to read and research here. Just looking for the Loren Coleman Special (which I couldn’t find, just refs in other websites) led me to some interesting places. Like, here https://www.bigfoottimes.net/bigfoot-books/. And here, https://www.thebigfootportal.com/craig-heinselman/, and here for new podcasts, http://www.paraxradionetwork.com/
Read it?
Yes, do.
Part II: The Why, When, and Where of Werewolves
Chapter 8: The Ubiquitous Big Black Dog
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Gytrash, mystery large dog.
Robert Fortney comes back for a sec.
Charles Walker, British investigator.
Friend of Hecate, dog murdering cult in England
Cerberus
Stoller, a prisoner from the 1600s who was eaten by other inmates…
Jennon Grand Didier, accused of witchcraft in 1630, and villagers named a lot of local wildlife.
Jannon Pierat, 1601 trial, saved herself from something strange. Went on fucking trial for it.
Mike Etten, Beast witness
Scott Bray, Beast witness
Books/articles/other media in this chapter:
Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte. Bet you never though you would see this mentioned anywhere. On Amazon
The Werewolf Book: Encyclopaedia of Shape-Shifting Beings, Brad Steiger, on Amazon
Harry Potter books, JK Rowling
The Orders of the Dreamed: George Nelson on Cree and Norther Ojibwa Religion and Myth, George Nelson, 1823, available on Amazon
Werewolves, Witches and Wandering Spirits: Traditional Belief and Folklore in Early Modern Europe, Kathryn A Edwards, ed. 2003, is available on Amazon, but only in hardcopy and it’s expensive
Masks of God: Primitive Mythology, Joseph Campbell, first of a four-part collection, easily available on Amazon.
The gist:
• She stopped in the previous chapter because she was going to pick up here with the Black Dogs.
• While reading Jane she discovered an honest to god mystery dog, which was massive. Called a Gytrash.
• I fully recommend looking at the website this image came from. It’s got delightful historical articles about animals among other things. I found this one rather charming, https://www.mimimatthews.com/2016/05/20/sporting-cats-in-the-19th-century/
• England is full of weirdie dogs.
• Friends of Hecate, from Sussex. They be murdering dogs, apparently.
• Newgate prison has a legend of a black dog, which is associated with an episode of cannibalism.
• There’s a list of names that the black dog is known as. Moddey Dhoo is my favourite. And their favourite places are roads. DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN. Some of these dogs were rather clever. Especially in medieval times. They would strangle and burn people.
• Story told by a white fella about a Cree fella who was saved during a storm by a black dog.
• The Germans thought Black Dogs from nowhere were the devil, and animals were implicated during trials. Ffs. There’s also mention of an upright dog with no head. Lots of witchcraft trials involving people and probably innocent animals.
• Yakut People of Siberia had spirit dogs who could help them accomplish some primitive things.
Interest:
Yes, Linda does a fine job of touching on the history of the Black Dogs and has lots of sources for the reader to go an explore for themselves.
Read it?
Yes.
Chapter 9: The Wild Man of LaGrange and Friends
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Bill Thayer, constable of LaGrange, wanted to hunt down this harmless bum.
The Wildman himself
Mark Schackelman, saw a Wildman?
Charles VI, dressed himself as a Wildman, set himself on fire.
Green children.
Native Americans, several nations.
Wendigos
Hairy Heart Beings
John Arnow, found a wolf stone on his horse ranch in Wisconsin
Books/articles/other media in this chapter:
Whitewater (Wisconsin) Register, 14 February 1929, article about the Wildman of LaGrange
Elkhorn Independent, article about tramps, 10 January, 1929
Wisconsin State Journal, article about Wildmen, August, 1899
Esoteric Prague, A Guide to the Secret History of the City, Jiri Kuchar,
Esoteric Prague: Amazon.co.uk: 9788072810710: Books
Wild men in the Middle Ages, Richard Bernheimer
Orders of the Dreamed, George Nelson
W – Files, Jay Rath
The Manitous: The Supernatural World of the Ojibway, Basil H Johnson
Palmyra Enterprise, newspaper
Western Horseman, magazine, author wrote an article in it
The gist:
• We start with the hunt for a Wildman led by Bill Thayer, who found his presence distasteful.
• It was an exciting tale. Bill caught the Wildman, lost him trying to get him from car to prison. Bill was fat and not able to run that far, but the Wildman had short legs and couldn’t run in the snow. So, Bill managed to Keystone Cop his way to an arrest. He was done for vagrancy, possibly spoke Russian or had a sever speech impediment. No one is sure.
• There appeared to be a tramp problem in Elkhorn. They liked the jail there.
Struggled to find a depiction of the Wildman of LaGrange. Someone drew him on a beer can, though. https://untappd.com/b/second-salem-brewing-company-wildman-of-lagrange/4272316
• Jay Rath in his book mentions Wildmen n the area who stopped looking like people after a while. This is an interesting thing to wonder about. What makes us human in a common sense? Jay mentions another one, who was using tools and doesn’t seem as harmless as the others. Linda quite rightly points out, some of these men could have been suffering from mental health problems, and we think they are wolves and wildmen.
• Wild child of Fish Lake. Screamed a lot in 1839.
• Wild men in Prague, wodewose. New word for the day.
Here’s one. According to the website, his predator was Alexander the Great. A Field Guide to Wodewoses - Medieval manuscripts blog
• One story goes, that children with green skin were found in 12th century England and they were from the depths of the earth. A developed interpretation of this would suggest the hollow earth hypothesis has some merit.
• From wildmen and green men we move on to Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, who may or may not have survived in some form or another.
• Hairy Breasts and/or Hairy Heart Beings. A fistful of salt to be taken when it comes to these early translations of Native American legends. The oral tradition is surviving among those who carry the torch of the Nations and should be treated with respect. However, they saw something. Some beings that were hairy and stole their women.
• Or, they could have been Wendigos, who appear to have been an older cannibal race.
Related to Bigfoot? I mean, I don’t know. Wendigo by m00r on DeviantArt
• They come in many forms, and not sure what I prefer. Human flesh eating is common in both.
• We come to something called the Ugly Horse Ranch, where a wolfen stone was found. These carvings look like werewolves. There’s a picture in the book. They really do look like werewolves.
Interest:
Plenty. Providing context for what the rest of the book is about. If there is a BOBR, it has some lineage.
Read it?
I did, and I would say yes.
Chapter 10: “Werewolf?” “There, Wolf!”: European Wolfmen and their Fore-Wolves
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Lion-headed German thing.
Anubis
Apollo
Bigfoot
Danaeus
Enkido, Sumerian Wildman
Bau, Dog headed goddess
Pazuzu, dog faced demon
Dogon tribe of Mali
Marcel Griaule, French scientist who recorded Dogon observations
Sigmund and Sinfiotli, legendary Vikings
Loki, we all know who this is. Did you know he had a son called Vali? I didn’t.
Fenrir. Dog with attitude.
Assorted Berserkers
King John of England, accused of being a werewolf.
St. Patrick, mad Welshman who made Ireland just…weird.
Beast of Gevaudan
Jean Chastel, silver bulletarian
Mengette Cachette, lady wolf and cat! I think I want her to ruin me.
Peter Stubbe, a rather famous werewolf.
Jack Scanlan, film producer
Unknown French artist who drew a loup garou
Books/articles/other media in this chapter:
Young Frankenstein, Mel Brooks film, 1974, hilarious
National Geographic, magazine, 1988, has article on German anthropomorphic figure.
The Sirius Mystery, Robert Temple, 1976
Myths and Legends of the Vikings, Quantum Books
MacMillan Illustrated Encyclopedia of Myths and legends
The Werewolf Book, Brad Steiger.
Werewolves. Witches, and Wandering Spirits, Kathryn Edwards
The Wolfman, 1941, the one with Lon Chaney
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, that despite its problematic behind the scenes, still a favourite of mine.
The gist:
• As the title suggests, the author is spending some more time talking about the BOBR’s ancestors. Looking more specifically at historical record and belief systems.
• We have a German carving of a lion-headed man, Anubis, Apollo as a wolf; Sumerian Bau, Enkidu. Pazuzu: dog heads and Wildman.
• Dogon tribe, related to the Egyptians, sharing several deities. They were also guided by Sirius, or the Dog Star.
• Unsurprisingly, the Dogon tribe knew, hundreds of years before the enlightened and superior Europeans, several scientific facts about Sirius.
I see it now. Article Details (astronomynv.org)
• We move on to Vikings and dad/uncle, son/nephew pairing who put on wolfskins belonging to sleeping men they stumbled across. They survive which is the best that can be said about that adventure. It’s a saga, and I can never do it justice here.
• Ancient Germans, who had Loki and his son who was turned into a wolf.
• Fenrir, the wolf who swallowed the sun.
I thought this picture was more relatable. “Odin and Fenrir” by Dorothy Hardy, 1909, Fenrir - Norse Mythology for Smart People (norse-mythology.org)
It’s yer man on the right. The Truth About Norse Berserkers - NorseMythologist
• There were the Berserkers, wearing animal skins and tripping balls.
• Off we hop to Medieval times, with a fair number of wolf hybrids because the devil.
• St. Patrick in Ireland transformed a tribe into werewolves. Pat was not known for his tolerance.
• France is just riddled with werewolves. Of particular note is the Beast of Gevaudan. It was smelly and ate people.
• Germany shows up again with werewolves, with Peter Stubbe, a chap who used the power of Satan to make him a magic girdle to be come a wolf.
• There’s some boring talk of lycanthropy and stories to explain the natural predation of local wildlife to explain the werewolf myths, but of course, we are not interested in that.
• A brief list of how to spot a werewolf in human form.
• Suggested ways to catch werewolfism. Black magic seems to be a popular method.
• Some connections to a modern werewolf sighting in Paris.
Interest:
There is, including our only reference to a lady wolf/cat. I enjoyed the chapter and would have been as happy if it had been longer.
Read it?
Do, but it’s brief.
Chapter 11: Very Hairy People and Those with a Bite
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Peter Gonzales, hairy Canary Islands man
Professor Marcus Pembrey, no truck with a throwback theory, says it’s a genetic anomaly.
King Henry II, fascinated with Peter Gonzales
Southeastern Research Genetics Group
“Shock the World”, hairy Chinese baby
Gomez family of Mexico
Aetius, early Renaissance medical theorist
Bill Ramsey, may have been a Lycanthrope
Ed and Lorraine Warren, demonologists
Dr. Stephen Kaplan, werewolf researcher
Mary Burdick
AO Barton
Charles E Brown, historian
Gross, a man who lived with a farmer in before 1848, suspected of being a werewolf. (pre 1848)
Mary Burdick and ZN Burdick (who had the unfortunate habit of many of his children dying) (pre 1848)
Books/articles/other media in this chapter:
K.I.S.S. Guide to the Unexplained, Joel Levy, can’t find this on Amazon
Monstrorum Historia, A, Aldrovandus - I found this book by Ulisse Aldrovandiand you can look at a fair bit on Google Books
Here’s a picture from this book. Nothing to do with the BOBR, but I thought it was hilarious. Ulisse calls it a Pfeudophyfeter.
The World’s Most Incredible Stories: The Best of Fortean Times, Adam Sisman, Hunt Emerson, Lyall Watson, 1992, Title: The Worlds Most Incredible StoriesThe Best of Fort: Amazon.co.uk: adam-sisman-adam-sisman-hunt-emerson-lyall-watson: 9780760708934: Books
www.hirsutism.com (this appears to be broken now)
Werewolves. Witches, and Wandering Spirits, Kathryn Edwards
Sightings book, tv spin off, can only find the UFO one. You may have better luck.
Werewolf, Ed and Loraine Warren, with William Ramsey and Robert David Chase, 2014 edition. Werewolf (Ed & Lorraine Warren Book 5) eBook : Warren, Lorraine, Warren, Ed, Chase, Robert David, Ramsey, William: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
Goofball.com, article on Bill Ramsey
Werewolf, TV show with consultant Dr. Stephen Kaplan
1987 Commercial - Werewolf the Series / Dr. Stephen Kaplan / WAXA 40 - YouTube
The Werewolf Book, Brad Steiger
Inside Edition, TV show, episode on Wisconsin Werewolves
The Breakdown Episode 5: Did a Werewolf Terrorize a Wisconsin Town for 2 Years? | Inside Edition
The gist:
• Congenital generalised hypertrichosis, which means you have unfortunate hair growth.
• A hairy baby was studied by SRGG, who while having some distortions also had very good eyesight.
• Gomez family of Mexico, hairy.
• Hairy Elbow Hypertrichosis. Exactly what it sounds like.
• Author speculates that in olden times such children with these anomalies may have been driven out of their communities which led to the Wildman sightings.
• Also talk of feral children but is dismissed as not an explanation for what’s happening on Bray Road.
• We move on to a discussion of Lycanthropy. Which Aetius also called “Wolf’s Fury”, which is a great name for a mental illness if you’re going to have one.
• So, an interesting question is posed: are lycanthropes delusion or are psychologists in denial?
• Bill Ramsey, from England with an inexplicable urge to attack and bite people, travelled to the states to see the Warrens. He was dubbed the Werewolf of South-on-Sea by the tabloids. Warrens felt he was possessed.
• Lycanthropes, who buy into their abilities, are given some space here. Author talks about a website which I can’t find anymore and by the time she wrote about it was gone as well, Werewolf and Shape Shifter Handbook: Everything You Wanted to Know About Werewolves but Were Afraid to Ask. The creators came from the standpoint that this could be a real phenomenon.
• Letter to author while she worked at the newspaper from someone who had advice and corrections for her on what a real werewolf was and for her to investigate missing persons in the area.
• Spiritual lycanthropy: a change of personality rather than a physical change.
• Porphyria as a possible explanation for some wolf like behaviour. Possibly vampires.
• Dr. Stephen Kaplan set up a hotline for people who may be lycanthrope or knew people who might be.
• We then move on to werewolves in Wisconsin, where a man called Gross may have killed his farmer ‘roommate’ in the mid-19th century.
• Though, to be honest, in Springfield Corners around the same time, there had been some unusual occurrences: odd animal shapes and noises.
Interest:
There’s quite a bit in this chapter, and a more ready discussion of possible other causes for Lycanthropy.
Read it?
Yeah, it’s interesting for the exploration of other causes, but mingles well with the more established mythology.
Chapter 12: It’s a Small, Small World
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Professor Mary L Alexander, University of the Virgin Islands
J Antonio Jarvis, St. Thomas Scholar and Historian
Patricio Salda-0, custodian of a garage dump Rosario de la Frontera, in 2003 saw a lobizon
Jesus Alcides Gomez, one of the family members in northern Argentina who helped battle a lobizon, 2000?
Nick Redfern, prolific writer and researcher of the paranormal
Gas Station Attendant, saw a lobizon in the same neighbourhood as Jesus, 2003. It looked battered.
The Alma of Mongolia, a wee Bigfoot
Alma – Yeti from Mongolia | DinoAnimals.com, I thought these were supposed to be small? Unless that’s a very small deer.
Books/articles/other media in this chapter:
A Natural History of the West Indian Werewolf, February 1992 Humanities Bulletin, Mary L Alexander. I couldn’t find this, but if anyone can, I’d love to read it.
Aswang: The Unearthing, film produced by Barry Poltermann, 1994 (not 1992 as per chapter)
(7) Aswang (aka The Unearthing, 1994) - Trailers - YouTube
The Werewolf Book, Brad Steiger.
Inexplicata: The Journal of the Institute of Hispanic Ufology, Scott Corrales
I found the blogspot Inexplicata-The Journal of Hispanic Ufology
UFO Roundup, Joseph Trainor
UFO ROUNDUP Volume 5 Number 39 September 28, 2000 Editor: Joseph Trainor - Rpginc
There was an article about Chupacabra, didn’t see anything about a Wolfman. The website is weird as well.
“In Rosario de la Frontera, Police orders ‘Phase Two’ of Search”, Juan Antonio Abarzua, El Tribuno, March 7, 2003
El Tribuno, noticias de Salta, Argentina y el Mundo is the link, so have a look if you can find the article.
Paranormal Manimals in Latin America, Scott Corrales, Strange Magazine, hard to find a link for this one.
The gist:
• This chapter is a discussion of the worldwide phenomena of assorted were creatures.
• Professor, originally from Wisconsin, growing up with the legends, researching werewolf legends when she moved to the US Virgin Islands. I can’t find the article quoted in the chapter, but there is mention of the African slaves bringing legends of Werelions, Werehyenas, and Wereleopards. Weredogs are the most prevalent, as dogs were the biggest predator on the islands.
• Werewolves were also quite common, and the treatment for getting them to leave was to throw stones at them.
• The Philippines and the West Indies have in common creatures with a fondness for sucking the blood of pregnant women.
Aswang - Wikiwand, Christ almighty, imagine this thing coming in your window.
• It’s interesting to discover in West Indian culture that a werecreature is thought to be the alter ego of powerful people.
• We go to Argentina, to dally with the lobizon (which is more in the canine family), and the ukumar (Werebear. Which is just not fair. That thing must be huge). The Chupacabra is mentioned here but doesn’t fall within the remit. But there is a huge family who went to war with a lobizon. There seems to be a lot of collaboration around this creature.
• Several small hairy manimal creatures seen by various witnesses, but not sure what country this is. Are we still in Argentina?
• UFO sightings around these cryptids, both in North and Central America.
• Some suggestions made by Corrales about black mass type activities associated with appearance of cryptids.
Interest:
Because this is not the main focus of the book, and there are many books detailing the cryptid activities of other countries, this is brief with just a few examples.
Read it?
You could skip this one.
Chapter 13: Native American Traditions: Shape-Shifting and More
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Wendigo
Yenaldlooshi, witches that can make themselves a skinwalker
Skinwalkers
Cree nation
Navajo nation
Montagnais nation
Ojibwa, Ottawa, Sauk, Fox, Ho-Chunk, Potawatomi, tribes local to Wisconsin
Northeast Algonquin Tribes
Pawnee nation
Lakota nation
Miracle, the white buffalo calf, a real animal, born in 1994 in Wisconsin:
Qisaruatsiaq, an Inuit woman who becomes a wolf
Don Juan, teacher of Carlos Castaneda. Taught him shapeshifting, perhaps?
John A Keel, Mothman dude
Books/articles/other media in this chapter:
Wolf Lake, TV series, 2001 (not 2002 as per chapter)
(7) Wolf Lake Trailer - YouTube, I’d watch this.
The Werewolf Book, Brad Steiger.
Dictionary of Native American Mythology, Sam D Gill, Irene F Sullivan, 1992
The National Directory of Haunted Places, Dennis William Hauck, Bruce Schaffenberger, 1994 (there are more recent editions of this)
The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, Carlos Castaneda, 1974
Tales of Power, Carlos Castaneda
Tales of Power eBook : Castaneda, Carlos: Amazon.co.uk: Books
In Praise of Wolves, RD Lawrence
In Praise of Wolves eBook : Lawrence, R.D.: Amazon.co.uk: Books
“Shapeshifters and other Metamorphs”, Scott Corrales, The Excluded Middle, 1996
The gist:
• Starts with the author quite rightly explaining there is not going to be a huge amount in this chapter because the lore for Native Americans is expansive to say the least. If you’re looking for something more in depth, you can go find it.
• So, we have skinwalkers, Wendigos, Cree tales of punishing transformation. Linda admits that these are easy legends to shoehorn any local legends into
• A wendigo, which could have been a werewolf or a bigfoot, haunted Roseau, Minnesota from 1800s to 1920s, which is a very long time.
• An interesting point is made that NA stories begin with the assumption that humans and animals were more connected than they are now. There is a Beaver story and a Buffalo Woman story, both are awesome, which are examples of the interchangeability of humans and animals.
• Link made between Nephilim and the NA legends of the Sun mating with human women.
• There is a suggestion that the Dogman/Werewolf sightings might be NA spirits manifesting. The area is rich with NA burial and animal effigy mounds. Lake Lawn Resort in Delavan, for instance, is built on dozens of mounds, and the staff report ‘things’.
• We talk Carlos Castaneda and the mesmerising gaze of the BOBR.
• The Evil Eye is mentioned, but not that the Beast and associated beasties are giving the evil eye, but the idea of intelligence behind the stare, which was reported by witnesses.
• Perhaps, as per Corrales and Keel, they are mimics from another plane, adapting to fit into the human world.
Interest:
Sort of. If you’re into this stuff, you’ll know a lot of this already. If not, this would be a good starting point to explore more esoteric and exotic ideas about cryptids. There are some fascinating ideas presented quickly and concisely.
Read it?
If you want to. You could scan it.
Part III: Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Go Back: The Saga Continues
Chapter 14: Over the River and Through the Woods: More Sightings
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Sandy Doe, Beast Witness
Jessica Anderson, Beast Witness
Potawatomi Nation
Two men leaving a bar in Hebron, dog creature, 2002
Brad from Waukesha, who saw the Beast
Lori Endrizzi, just a brief mention in relation to Brad’s sighting
Two women who saw something hairy with deer legs at a golf course, 1995
Man saw something, bought two massive dogs as a consequence
Woman in the 80s, Beast Witness
Ronald Nixon, saw a hairy creature, possibly a Bigfoot, while fishing in 1980
Tom Brichta, mentioned briefly in relation to Nixon sighting
Patti Gill, Beast Witness
Loren Coleman
Patrick Huyghe
Mark Hall, researcher
Richard Moe, Panther Witness?
Bruce Wright, panther tracking a decade before Richard Moe
Marv Kirschnic, carver of marionettes and Beast Witness, further north.
Books/articles/other media in this chapter:
In Search of… SCIFI channel tv show.
Darkness is Light Enough: Mystery and Enlightenment at Lake Geneva, Gerald Lishka, 1996
The Sirius Mystery, Robert Temple, 1976
Weird Wisconsin Website, authored by Richard Henrick. Can’t find the website, but here is a link to the book written with Linda Godfrey
Appleton Post Crescent, a local newspaper. You can search here, but it’s behind a paywall.
Field Guide to Bigfoot, Loren Coleman and Patrick Huyghe,
The National Directory of Haunted Places, Dennis William Hauck, Bruce Schaffenberger, 1994 (there are more recent editions of this)
Mammals of Wisconsin, Hartley HT Jackson. 1961
Mammals of Wisconsin: Amazon.co.uk: Jackson, Hartley H. T: Books
The Complete Guide to Mysterious Beings, John A Keel.
The Complete Guide to Mysterious Beings eBook : Keel, John: Amazon.co.uk: Books
Mysterious America, Loren Coleman
I-Files: True Reports of Unexplained Phenomena in Illinois, Jay Rath, 1999
The gist:
• This is all recounting of anecdotes about the Beast and Beast adjacent sightings/encounters.
• We open strong with an interaction at a place of NA burial mounds, so nice link there. A family met with an odd dog. They moved after.
• Then we meet Jessica, who is featured in an In Search Of…episode, the link is above, who had a terrifying encounter at her home. She said it was real. A real creature as opposed to a paranormal entity.
• Author Gerald Lishka saw the shining figure of an ancient medicine man near where Jessica lived.
• Some discussion about synchronistic place names, and quite a bit of it happens around where Jessica was, which is also has an abundance of NA folklore and history.
• With the Nixon and Brichta sightings being compared, there is a discourse about baboons and mammal heads being easily confused. To be fair, baboons have very doglike snouts. There could be a primate on the loose?
I like Linda’s drawings. Screenshot from the book
• Patti Gill tells the story of what happened aways up the road over the period of 10 years. There was an actual attack on the house. Not just her house, but the houses of neighbours as well. This is a compelling. Police were called. I love when the authorities are involved. There was some reportage in a local paper as well a few years on from this.
• Devil Monkey, and it comes from Coleman and Huyghe’s book on Bigfoot. It inspired Linda to make the above sketch, and suggest it was the unhinged creature Patti might have been talking about.
• Wolverines? Which I recently found out is a type of badger. But no.
• Richard Moe, the giant house built to replicate the Pyramid at Giza, and a lot of weirdness in that area. In 1964, had an experience in his car in the middle of nowhere with his girlfriend, involving an awful smell, his tank of car being shook, and a massive thing that might have looked like a panther.
• Talk of mystery panthers ensues. And that there is a zoo nearby Valley of the Kings Sactuary and Retreat, with big cats. They have a Liger. They were not there in 1964, and are not owning up to any escapees anyway.
• Bigfoot sightings, hundreds of them, in Illinois.
• Marv the Marionette Maker had a stalled snowmobile and a massive creature encounter.
Interest:
Loads! This is what we’re here for. The rest of the historical and folkloric context are interesting, but distant. I want living witnesses, and people too scared to go on record. This chapter delivers, and with lots of fun things to track down if you’re bored some winter evening. In the dark. Trying not to think about what that noise is.
Read it?
This is the chapter to read.
Chapter 15: The Werewolf in Your Living Room
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Mitch Pileggi, host of the new In Search of…
Lt. Ronald Pearson, who is a character, but sincere.
Jessica Anderson, of the last chapter, she was in that episode of In Search Of…
Loren Coleman, appeared on that ep. as well.
Todd Roll, paranormal investigator, featured on Animal Legends.
John Gonzales, had interviewed Linda for his own doco.
Richard Hendriks, folklorist
Tom Brichta, appeared on Mystery Hunters
Patrol Captain Scott McClory
Jon Fredrickson, original owner of the Werewolf file
Books/articles/other media in this chapter:
Animal Legends, Animal Planet show, can’t find anything on this. It’s mentioned only a couple of places.
Mystery Hunters, Discovery Kids show
Can’t be arsed looking for it, here’s the Wikipedia page, List of Mystery Hunters episodes - Wikipedia
In Search of…TV show on SCIFI
The gist:
• Author muses on her screenplay, and if there are any such things as a truly nonfiction documentary. She understands that to sell, things must be a certain way, to get bums on seats, as it were. But she also is in the classic trap of discrediting her own subject to get the story out there.
• She talks about the In Search of Crew coming out to film for their segment, with their minor inaccuracies.
• Loren Coleman posits remnant Neanderthals as possible bigfoots. The Ancient Greeks spoke of a strange race of hairy aggressive people.
• Mystery Hunters, also got things wrong, and didn’t really care, but they were very nice.
• Linda concludes they are not for providing insight, but for providing a stimulus. Which is the eternal compromise.
Interest:
Honestly, not really. You’re reading nothing new.
Read it?
You can skip it.
Chapter 16: The Beast Online Brings Tales Galore
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Richard Hendricks, folklorist
Todd Roll, paranormal researcher
Nate Sterken, farmer, heard roars while farming one evening
Jessica, Louisiana, emailer
Mitch, emailer
Lt. McClory
Susan Darsch, dog trainer, reminds us that real wolves are huge creatures.
Brandon, emailer
Kim Del Rio, Antiques Dealer
Richard Bondira, emailer of NJ story
S. Garity, told Bondira of NJ story
Books/articles/other media in this chapter:
There is a website for Henricks, but it’s a no show.
Book of the Damned, Charles Fort
The Book Of The Damned eBook : Charles Fort: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
The gist:
• When the Beastie started getting famous, the online world exploded as well.
• Richard Hendricks’ website, Weird Wisconsin had been huge at some point, covering serial killers and paranormal.
• Nate Sterken, experiencer, as was his father a decade before…
• Jessica, hearer of awful howl, neighbour’s dog ripped apart. Jesus fuck, I hate when they do that.
• Mitch, ran over a huge wolf. Like, a massive wolf.
• Brandon’s sisters saw a huge wolf/dog thing
• Kim Del Rio, her mother and their neighbours saw a strange dog-monkeyish creature when she was 7 in the early 70s.
• The S. Garity story is very like the Beast of Bray Road. She didn’t like talking about it, but any time questioned by her friend, she never changed the story.
Interest:
Yes, for the stories Linda included pass the credibility test for her. And they’re good’uns.
Read it?
Yep.
Part IV: All Things Considered: What Could…Or Couldn’t…It Be?
Chapter 17: The Usual Suspects
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Bus driver, saw a bear one morning where a bear ought not be.
Loren Coleman, he of the Ice Age Hyena
Richard Henricks
Todd Roll
Mark A Hall
Thylacine!
Richard Moe
Robert Bushman
The Choccolocco Monster (AKA Neal Williamson)
Books/articles/other media in this chapter:
Fate Magazine, article by Loren Coleman on the Ice Age Hyena (I’m getting a lot of happiness just saying that), January 2000
Trails to Nature’s Mysteries; The Life of a Working Naturalist, Ross Hutchins, 1977
Cryptozoology A to Z: The Encyclopedia of Loch monsters, Sasquach, Chupacabras, and Other Authentic Mysteries of Nature, 1999, Loren Coleman
Mammals of Wisconsin, Hartley HT Jackson. 1961
Mammals of Wisconsin: Amazon.co.uk: Jackson, Hartley H. T: Books
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, September 24, 2002, lions (yes, those lions, Simba etc, and yes, plural) shot in Arkansas forests.
Browse | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Archives it’s behind a paywall.
Anniston (Ala.) Star, 31 October 2001, Matthew Creamer
Delevan Enterprise, May 1911
L. Hanson, owner of a horse mistaken for a sea serpent
The gist:
• In this elusive subject, many people feel they know what the Beast is. Or what any of the Beasts are: sick animals; mutant German Shepherds; bears; wolverines (seriously?); Ice Age Hyenas (shunka warak’in); rindocus; bearwolf (you wouldn’t stand a chance); Swamp Monster (could we be more specific?); Thylacine (one of my new favourite things); Pumas; cougars; panthers; homeless people (uh huh); psychiatric patients; pranksters; mistaken identity.
https://sl.bing.net/ba4FnZIVABg, while I’m not sure if it’s trying to be intimidating, or I’m just intimidated (one is a him problem, one is a me problem), I’m guessing this rambunctious badger is not the Beast of Bray Road.
The Last Known Photographs of the Now Extinct Thylacine, Known as the Tasmanian Tiger, 1933 ~ Vintage Everyday, this was a real thing. A really real thing, that did not die out that long ago. That’s its real mouth. The bloody size of this thing. This picture is from 1933. 1933!
Interest:
Kind of.
Read it?
You could skip this if you wished, and your life would not be poorer for it.
Chapter 18: Beyond the Pale of the Hairy Tale
Creatures/people in this chapter:
Ray Wallace, perhaps the biggest Bigfoot hoaxer of all time
Loren Coleman
Rural Delevan Man: saw a Bigfoot
Marv Kirschnick, possibly saw a Bigfoot.
Tom Brichta, possibly saw a Bigfoot
Mark Schackelman, possibly saw and drew a Bigfoot
Mark Hall, researcher
Scott Corrales, researcher
Bill Ramsey, English Werewolf
Jon Fredrickson, animal control guy, found lots of mutilated animals
Woman, emailer to Richard Hendricks
Marco Polo, reported Dogmen
Wolfman Jack, DJ
Books/articles/other media in this chapter:
Field Guide to Bigfoot, Loren Coleman and Patrick Huyghe,
“The Dog-Headed Men and other Primate Survivors”, Mark Hall, Wonders, December 2001
Abominable Snowman: Legend come to Life; Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Oh-Mah, Grassman And Skunk Ape: The Story Of Sub-Humans On Five Continents From The Early Ice Age Until Today, Ivan T Sanderson
Story in the Snow, Lunetta Woods (this woman in a professor)
Story in the Snow: Encounters with the Sasquatch: Amazon.co.uk: Woods, Lunetta: 9781880090428: Books
The Complete Guide to Mysterious Beings, John A Keel.
The Complete Guide to Mysterious Beings eBook : Keel, John: Amazon.co.uk: Books
Milwaukee Sentinel, June 15, 1991, possible cult connections
Strange magazine, article by Scarlett Sankey on the BOBR,
Mystic Places: Mysteries of the Unknown, Time Life Books, 1987
Mystic Places (Mysteries of the Unknown): Amazon.co.uk: Time-Life Books: 9780809463121: Books
Why People Believe Weird Things: Pseudoscience, Superstition, and Other Confusions of Our Time, 2002, Michael Shermer
Fate Magazine, November 2000, article on the Wulver, Dr. Karl PH Shuker
Werewolves, Elliot O’Donnell, 1912
Werwolves: Amazon.co.uk: O'Donnell, Elliott: 9781023149792: Books
Werewolves Throughout the British Isles, Rev. Montague Summers, 1933
The Wolfen, Whitley Streiber
The Wolfen eBook : Strieber, Whitley: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store
Wolfen, Film, 1981
Wolfen (1981) - Trailer HD 1080p - YouTube
The gist:
• This is the summary chapter
• Now! On to the less mundane guesses at what the Beast may be: Bigfoot (but the Beast appears to be doglike, even at a quick glance); remnant Neanderthals (an idea I find weirdly exciting); Dog headed men; various hominids; alien pets…; psychic Sasquach; interdimensional beings; lycanthropes; shapeshifters; demons summoned by local cults.
• Then Linda talks about her favourite hypothesis, an indigenous dogman.
This lad here, one of Linda Godfrey’s drawings from the book. BOBR’s legs are described as “funny-looking”. Harsh.
• Some time is spent arguing the possibility of a real race of Dogmen.
• Linda, rightly points out that there is no hard evidence wither way for the existence/non-existence for Dogman, BOBR. It comes down to belief.
Interest:
Yes, quite interesting. Throughout this book, Linda does a great job or presenting many ideas in a concise manner.
Read it?
Yep.
Map of Major Sightings
This is exactly what is says. Worth a look. Looking at maps when it comes to any kind of sightings, whatever the creature, is always an interesting exercise.
Chronology of Events
Again, what it says, and is also very interesting.
Bibliography
Very rare to get a book these days with one of these. I wish this was the standard. Not just quoting the source in the text, but an honest to god bibliography so you can go look things up. Much of the bibliography I would have put up the links I can find, chapter by chapter. But there is still plenty in here to peruse. Just to note, a lot of the references I went looking for are quite old, so it was hard to find a huge amount of them. A lot of magazines are gone or are behind paywalls for the archives. The books were easier than the articles. Some of the blogs and websites I found are rich in sources for many subjects, and all worth a look, though, even if you can’t find the exact article. A note, though, some of the links and years quoted are wrong. Sometimes, just by a year or so, but it can be enough to throw the search if you’re being specific.
Conclusion:
There were lots to love about this book. I found it a fast-moving trip through the vagaries of cryptozoology and the paranormal. Filled with anecdotes and a healthy dose of scepticism. I like Linda’s style of writing. She’s humorous without dipping into superficiality, acknowledging she doesn’t have the space to hash out every idea she presents, but wanting to paint as full a picture as she can. She is honest with her own conclusions, critical of her own methods and those of others (in a good way), yet she believes that something is going on that can’t be easily dismissed. I haven’t read any of her other work, and sadly, she’s no longer with us.
On the con side, is the same fast-moving pace. This book, while reasonably well researched, was produced in a hurry to capitalise on the BOBR fame. I don’t blame her at all for this, and it’s based on years of conversations and reporting and finding herself as the got-to woman on the BOBR. That humour that’s appealing, is also a way of disassociating from the subject matter. The author is fence sitting, probably for professional reasons at the time, and I get it. It’s a controversial topic, divisive in the paranormal community, let alone the people who think anyone with an interest in this is mental and needs help.
Overall, I think this is an excellent starting point for diving into the world of cryptids, as it’s an easy read with lots of pictures and the anecdotes we all love to read.
Buy it?
Yes, you need to own this book.
