Linda S. Godfrey - Real Wolfmen: True Encounters in Modern America

JEREMY P. TARCHER/PENGUIN

Published by the Penguin Group

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Copyright 2012 by Linda S. Godfrey

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Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Godfrey, Linda S.

Real wolfmen : true encounters in modern America / Linda S. Godfrey.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographic references and index.

ISBN 978-1-101-59764-4

1. WerewolvesUnited States. I. Title.

GR830.W4G637 2012 2012018118

398.24'54dc23

While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication.Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

This book is dedicated to Marshall and Callum, the next generation of werewolf hunters.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My first and very deep thanks go to my editors, Mitch Horowitz and the ber-incisive Gabrielle Moss, and my agent, Jim McCarthy, whose combined efforts allowed this book to exist. I am also grateful for the varied contributions of many people: not only those who report seeing the strange creatures but friends, fellow researchers, and colleagues who have supported my work in so many ways. Special thanks to Robert Schneck, Bill Kingsley, Nick Redfern, Rosemary Guiley, Brian Seech, Todd Roll, Bart Nunnelly, Adrien Wydeven, Rolf Peterson, Doug Fendry, Christopher Chung, Rich Heiden, Simon Thalmann, Derek Grebner, S. J. Saladino, the late John Keel, William Hancock, Sean Viala, the gang at the Unknown Creature Spot Yahoo Group, Weird N.J. guys Mark Moran and Mark Sceurman, Chad Lewis and Terry Fisk of Unexplained Research, exploration pards Kim Del Rio, Sandra Schwab, and Patricia Hodgell, artist Nate Godfrey, SCIPP, my very patient and supportive husband, Steve Godfrey, and the ever-stimulating Media Mavens Breakfast Association. I also thank past witnesses quoted in this volume whose encounters were previously described in my books The Beast of Bray Road:Tailing Wisconsins Werewolf; Hunting the American Werewolf; The Michigan Dogman: Werewolves and Other Unknown Canines Across the USA; and Monsters of Wisconsin: Mysterious Creatures in the Badger State.

CONTENTS

FOREWORD

W erewolves, manwolves, dogmenthe mysterious creatures that are half human, half ferocious canine have excited human awe and fear for centuries. Dogmen, as I prefer to call them in general, have stalked the woods and lonely places all over the planet, yet they are among the least understood of all mystery creatures. Our familiarity with them is primarily through the werewolf stories and legends, in which men and women transform into raging superwolves and wreak bloody havoc.

The werewolf barely claws the surface of dogmen, so to speak, whose presence among us is complicated and at once both creepy and alluring. Dogmen do not belong just in ancient lore, nor are they limited to the gory monsters of film and fictionthey are lurking around us everywhere today. People see them, encounter themand run from them.

No one explores this unsettling territory better than Linda S. Godfrey, an outstanding researcher and a superb writer. I became acquainted with her work nearly a decade ago, on the Beast of Bray Road werewolf case in Wisconsin. Since then, her articles have expanded into several books on dogmen, and she is now by far the leading expert on the subject.

With journalistic thoroughness, Godfrey probes every angle possible, and she always comes up with gold: fascinating true stories, little-known lore, and a web of mind-boggling connections stretching across the paranormal landscape.

Real Wolfmen is a riveting work of amazing scope and depth. Manwolves, black dogs, hellhounds, weird creatures, werecats, werebears, djinn, phantoms, extraterrestrials, interdimensional travelers, skin walkers, warlock werewolves, and even people who feel they are part beast are all part of the mix. You will be hooked from the first page all the way through to the last!

Rosemary Ellen Guiley, author of The Encyclopedia of Vampires and Werewolves and Monsters of West Virginia

INTRODUCTION

The Canid Invasion

D o true, shape-shifting werewolves exist in the modern worldor are the woods, fields, and highways of the United States infested with creatures that merely look like the legendary canine monsters? According to scores of sober, credible eyewitnesses, creatures resembling wolfmen do walk among us!

Scary old tales of werewolves and other man-animals have lurked amid the folklore of cultures worldwide ever since the campfire was invented. Ancient denizens of the British Isles believed competing clans transformed themselves into wolves in order to attack livestock. Europeans of the Middle Ages kept a sharp eye out for those who showed signslike hairy palms or unusual molesof having made pacts with the devil to become werewolves. Many Native American tribes believed certain medicine men could manifest animal forms to go forth and perform malign deeds. The wolflike Navajo skin walker is probably the best-known example of such lore.

But based on todays largely rationalistic view of the world, many tend to pooh-pooh the possibility that such frightening creatures could truly exist. We like our monsters safely pasted on the silver screen or caged in the confines of a game console. During the last few decades, werewolves have become increasingly commonplace in movies, TV shows, and hyperreal video games. Werewolves playing a starring role in the 1985 flick Silver Bullet, based on Stephen Kings