Werewolves aren't real, at least, we believe so. The idea of wolf-man monsters is seen as fiction and folklore. With that said, what if there was evidence to the contrary? What if, something is out there?
Werewolves have been a popular myth for centuries, with stories ranging from Russia to France, and Switzerland to Greece. Stories began to decline with the rise of modern science and nowadays are simply regarded as fairy tales. Something, however, has changed the paradigm.
It began around the late 1980's and early 1990's, when numerous sightings of a large, wolf-like creature was spotted in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. The local press ate up the story, and one reporter, Linda Godfrey, published a book detailing the sightings. The Beast of Bray Road: Tailing Wisconsin's Werewolf made a splash in the paranormal research community, and soon more people came forward, telling harrowing tales.
The term "werewolf", while initially applied, soon lost favor, as the reported monsters were never seen shape-shifting, and lacking other characteristics of werewolves, such as a connection with the moon. Investigators and writers soon christened the creatures as "Dogmen", and with this name, began a phenomenon. A podcast, Dogman Encounters Radio, gained popularity, and a paranormal researcher, Anna M. K. Larsson, created a Google Map pinpointing the location of every sighting.
Skeptical? I was too. But the details across stories are remarkably similar. Large, easily 6-8 feet in height. Uncanny speed and agility, able to keep up with cars and dart through a forest. A strange kind of intelligence, with eyes that express anger and emotion, and behaviors beyond a simple wolf. And the head, similar to a German shepherd, but seemingly darker, more frightening.
It would be remiss of me to not recount one such tale, a story that even I, a noted fan of horror, felt a chill reading. A woman living up in Minnesota had a husband who worked nights, and so was alone with her pets at night. The neighborhood was a dog community, where the various dogs all interacted and walked around.
The area was surrounded by woods and had coyotes on the occasion. One night, the dogs of the neighborhood were going crazy, barking wildly. Something had set them off, and the woman had trouble sleeping.
Eventually, they calmed down, and the woman went to bed. A few hours pass and her dog wakes her up. She tries to shush him, but he is inconsolable. She looks down the hallway that leads into her living room and sees her cats hiding, frozen still. She begins to slowly walk down the hall, hoping to calm them down, and that's when she sees it.
Staring into her living room from the window is what she believes to be a large, dark man. That is until she realizes that it's covered in thick, blackish fur. She then looks more and sees the head. Imagine a German Shepherd, but with disturbingly human features.
She panics and then has a thought. Almost the idea of a thought, coming from nowhere. Appearing in her head is a voice, "It's okay, let me in." She loses it and runs to her bed, hiding under the covers. Early morning comes, and her husband arrives. She tells him the story, and he walks with her outside the house. At the spot where she saw it, is nothing. No fur, no prints or tracks on the ground.
Of course, without evidence, we are prone to skepticism. But the number of reports, and the level of similarity between stories, is eye-opening. I'm not telling you they're real but I am asking you to think, just for moment, what if they are?
