The Why Files: Operation Podcast - 82: Michigan Dogmen, The Beast of Bray Road and True Stories of Werewolves

Episode Date: October 12, 2022

The story always starts the same way. On the side of the road, in a backyard, or in a parking lot; a large dog hovers over a dead animal, quietly eating. As you approach, the dog looks up. Its eyes shining in the dark. As you move closer, the dog stands up on its hind legs. It's well over 7 feet tall. It has the body of a man but the head of a dog or a wolf. Some call them werewolves. Others call them dogmen. Whatever they are, they've been terrifying people for hundreds of years. In the past, it's been easy to dismiss these sightings as mistakes or superstitions. But these creatures are not so easy to dismiss anymore. Because now -- we have pictures. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thewhyfiles/support

If it's a flat or a squeal, a wobble or peel, your tread's worn down or you need a new wheel, wherever you go, you can get it from Tread Experts. Conquer rugged terrain with on-road comfort. Until June 15th, receive up to $60 on a prepaid MasterCard when you purchase Kumo RoadVenture AT52 tires. Find a Kumo Tread Experts dealer near you at treadexperts.ca slash locations. From tires to auto repair, we're always there at treadexperts.ca. Hey, it's your buddy AJ from the Y-Files. And Hecklefish. Right, and Hecklefish.

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What are you, my wife's lawyer now? Never mind. And I don't know if you noticed, but all Y-Files episodes are video, too. And there's a ton of other features, but you... But we can't be here all day. Will you settle down? I need you to hurry up with this stupid commercial. I got a packed calendar today.

I'm sorry about him. Anyway, check out Spotify for Podcasters. It's free, no catch, and a packed calendar today. I'm sorry about him. Anyway, check out Spotify for podcasters. It's free, no catch, and you could start today. Are we done? We're done, but you need to check your attitude. Excuse me, but I don't have all day to sit here and talk about Spotify. This would go a lot faster if you would just let me get through it. The story always starts the same way. On the side of the road, in a backyard, or in a parking lot, a large dog hovers over a dead animal quietly eating. As you approach, the dog looks up, its eyes shining in the dark.

As you move closer, the dog stands up on its hind legs. It's well over seven feet tall. It has the body of a man, but the head of a dog or a wolf. Some call them werewolves. Others call them dogmen. Whatever they are, they've been terrifying people for hundreds of years. In the past, it's been easy to dismiss these sightings as mistakes or superstitions. But these creatures are not so easy to dismiss anymore, because now we have pictures. Since the early 19th century, and perhaps even before, there have been stories of a terrifying creature lurking in the dark woods of northern Michigan. It looks like a large black dog, but then it rears up on its hind legs and stands over seven

feet tall. It has the head of a canine with icy blue eyes that shimmer in the dark. It has the body of a man covered in fur. It howls like a wolf, though the sound has been said to be closer to a scream than a howl. These stories existed as part of a myth that circulated around Michigan and Wisconsin for years, but the myth went mainstream in 1987. Jack O'Malley and Steve Cook worked at WTCM Radio in Michigan. As part of an April Fool's Day prank, they wrote a song called The Legend. The Legend tells the story of a race of half-human, half-dog hybrids that appear every 10 years and stalk through the dark woods of northern Michigan.

The song warned listeners that these dogmen were due to appear this year. And then the song ended ominously. And somewhere in the Northwoods darkness, a creature walks upright. And the best advice you may ever get is don't go out at night. The reaction Cook and O'Malley got was unexpected. They were hoping to have fun and spook the listeners a little bit. Then the phone lines lit up. The first call was from an elderly man who said he was chilled to the bone when he heard the song because he had seen a similar creature several years earlier. And that opened the floodgates.

Calls began pouring in with people telling their own stories about encounters with the Dog Man. The legend went back over 100 years. In 1887, lumberjacks in the area came across what they thought was a large dog until it stood up, screeched at them, and ran into the woods. In 1857, a letter described a frightening creature that stood up like a man, yet bore the face of a gray wolf. A French fur trader's diary was found dated 1804. In it, he describes seeing a loup-garou, the French word for werewolf. Even Native American legends talk about a shapeshifter, a man who could transform into a wolf. There's documentation of an actual sheriff's investigation responding to a local sighting of a dog man.

Still, these were all stories. But now that the legend of the dog man was front and center in the public's mind, more reliable witnesses would come forward, and they would bring proof. In 1961, a night watchman was working his shift at a factory near the Haymarsh in Michigan. One of the job perks was the watchman and his family could live on a house on the property. The front porch of the house made it easy for him to keep an eye on things. The watchman made his rounds and headed back to the porch to sit, relax, and have a cup of coffee. This was a remote area and the night was passing uneventfully.

The sound of crickets and night birds filled the air. Then, just after 3 a.m., the crickets and birds suddenly stopped. There was only silence. It was so abrupt that the watchman started to feel uneasy. Then, at the edge of the property, he heard the distinctive sound of a chain-link fence rattling. At this late hour and such a remote location, this wasn't an accident. This was an intruder. The watchman drew his gun and waited. Then he noticed that the intruder wasn't a man. It was something much bigger.

He said it appeared to be covered in brown-gray hair. It was tall and had broad shoulders. It alternated between walking on four legs and then standing up on two. It was looking for something in the driveway. The watchman quietly went into his house and grabbed a Kodak Signet 35mm camera. As the watchman stepped back onto his porch, the creature walked slowly along the driveway directly under the lights. The watchman adjusted the camera for long exposure and held it as still as he possibly could and took this picture. I ran the image through AI to enhance it.

After this photo was taken, the creature went back down on all fours and walked out into the woods. Though he wouldn't explain why until years later, the watchman didn't let his children play outside after dark. Another story happened in 1987, in Sparta. This is Sparta. I knew that was coming. Hey, I'm reliable.

Sparta, Michigan, 1987. Just a few miles north of Grand Rapids. Two young men were heading to a cabin for a weekend of hunting and fishing. They were on a secluded road with no lights, so it was very dark. And about 100 yards ahead, the car's headlights caught something that made both men jump. It looked like a human covered in gray fur. As they drove closer and then passed, they got a good look at it.

It was the size of a tall man. It stood on two legs, had a wolf-like face, and was covered in gray fur. It even raised its arms and snarled at them as they drove by. Reed City, Michigan, 1993. Courtney was sneaking a cigarette behind her parents' home

when she saw movement near a barn that was on the property. About 50 feet from the barn, she saw what looked like a large dog or wolf, but couldn't really tell what it was. Then it turned around, looked at her, and stood up on two legs. It was over six feet tall, covered in dark fur, and had a dog-like face with long nose and pointed ears.

And there would be more sightings over the years in the same area. 1994 in Watersmeet, 2001 in Alpena. And all witnesses reported the same creature, face of a canine that stood on two legs and was over six or seven feet tall, bigger than any dog or wolf. But nobody really knew how big the creature was until 2007, when an eyewitness took a picture of its footprint. Now, for a strange story out of rural Coffey County, residents there say they've heard unusual animal sounds at night, and several ATV riders say they've seen unusual looking creatures in the distance. I can just say've seen unusual-looking creatures in the distance.

I can just say this. Something's going on in the woods. Recently, the two men have received reports from ATV riders of distant sightings of an unusual animal, but it didn't sound like a coyote. Hey, there's something strange. There's some knocking going on. We hear some screeches. They're not dogs. They're not coyotes. And this is not the first time there have been reports of an unusual creature in the woods. The witness of this next sighting is a prominent Michigan politician and wants to remain anonymous. In 2007, he was driving from Benzonia to Traverse City.

He was taking the scenic route down Cinder Road, a few miles outside the town of Benden. In the distance, he saw a pair of eyes shining in the dark. And at first he thought it was a deer, but as he got closer, he realized it was too big to be a deer. As he approached, he slowed down to 30 miles an hour and was about 200 feet from the creature, which didn't move. He described it as a large wolf, up on two legs, standing near a dead deer. It was well over six feet tall and covered in dark fur.

At that point, still a good distance away, he stopped the car to take a look. It didn't move, so he thought it could be a giant stuffed animal, someone playing a joke. It wasn't a joke, was it? Nope. Before he could finish his next thought, the creature dropped down on all four legs, sprinted across the road, and disappeared into the woods. The man was frozen in his seat for a full minute before he summoned the courage to investigate. He grabbed

his flashlight and approached the dead deer. There was no way he was going to follow the thing into the woods, but he wanted to see if it left any tracks. It did. The man was familiar with animal tracks and said it looked like a wolf print, but was bigger than any wolf print he'd ever seen. Luckily, he had his digital camera with him. He dropped a shotgun shell in the print for size reference. A shotgun shell is between two and three inches long, depending on the gauge and the load. So this footprint could be 10 or 12 inches long, maybe bigger. When interviewed, the man said he was familiar with the song on the radio and the local legend, but always thought they were just entertaining stories. After this incident, he realized the story is real and he never drove on that road again. This is a strange-like, human-like, part creature seen in Texas.

That's at the Amarillo Zoo. And they came across this weird image while looking at some security footage recently. It was captured in the middle of the night. It was back in May, and the city of Amarillo wants your help in identifying it. If it's a flat or a squeal, a wobble or peel, your tread's worn down or you need a new wheel, wherever you go, you can get it from our tread experts. Conquer rugged terrain with on-road comfort. Until June 15th, receive up to $60 on a prepaid MasterCard

when you purchase Kumo RoadVenture AT52 tires. Find a Kumo Tread Experts dealer near you at treadexperts.ca slash locations. From tires to auto repair, we're always there. TreadExperts.ca You searched for your informant, who disappeared without a trace. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city, driving closer to the truth, while curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen.

Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible. You sailed beyond the horizon in search of an island scrubbed from every map. You battled krakens and navigated through storms. Your spade struck the lid of a long-lost treasure chest. While you cooked a lasagna. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover best-selling adventure stories on Audible.

You sailed beyond the horizon in search of an island scrubbed from every map. You battled krakens and navigated through storms. Your spade struck the lid of a long-lost treasure chest. While you cooked a lasagna. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover best-selling adventure stories on Audible. Most Michigan dogman sightings happen in Michigan.

Oh, do they? That's some quality investigative journalism right there. Shut up. But this particular cryptid has the ability to cross state lines. Just to the west of northern Michigan is Wisconsin. This area, also densely wooded, has its own local legend that's awfully similar to the Michigan Dogman, and it's called the Beast of Bray Road. In the 1990s, residents of Walworth County reported seeing a humanoid werewolf stalking a road outside of town. It's described as being between six and seven feet tall, covered in dark fur with a head resembling a wolf or a bear.

And it's been seen moving on two legs and on four. The creature was covered in newspapers, in books, documentaries, even TV shows. There were so many reports about the beast that local reporter Linda Godfrey was assigned to cover the story. Now, at first she was skeptical, but later she believed the witnesses were telling the truth. What makes this cryptid different than the Michigan Dog Man is its aggression.

Doris Gibson was driving along Bray late one night when she felt a thump, thinking she hit something she got out to investigate. Then the beast leapt out of the darkness and chased her back to her car. Then it scraped the trunk of her car, leaving deep scratch marks before she drove away. And many of these sightings would have been just part of a hazy legend, if not for Linda Godfrey's reporting. In 2018, this blurry photo was taken by Danny Morgan just outside Elkhorn, Wisconsin. He said he saw the creature not once, but twice in a month. Morgan said it was over seven feet tall, brown, and hairy.

It walked out toward the road, picked something up, and then went back into the woods. Now, I don't know if the creature in this picture is seven feet tall. It looks more like a corgi man. Yeah, it's blurry and hard to tell. But whatever it is, I'd be terrified if I saw that thing walking along the side of the road at night. In July of 2020, there were two other sightings of the creature about nine miles east of Elkhorn. Again, the same description, at least seven feet tall, walking on hind legs, covered in dark fur. And the sightings go on and on, some from very reliable sources. When I first heard about it, I probably laughed.

I think I did laugh because it just seemed crazy to me that anybody would think that. But then when you go and talk to people and you meet them, and they still seem genuinely frightened, they don't want to see it again, you just can't help but believe somebody like that. I've interviewed people with two PhDs, middle-aged women who work in a factory on third shift at night,

very elderly people, farmers, somebody from the Milwaukee airport with a very high clearance. It's just men, women, you name it. There's no one sort of person. Linda Godfrey started out as a skeptic, but ended up publishing a few books about dogmen, werewolves, and the Beast of Bray Road. One of them is ominously titled, I Know What I Saw. The most compelling and frightening piece of evidence comes from the Gable film. The Gable film was discovered in 2007 in a box of junk that was sold at a yard sale.

It looks like it's shot on 8mm film sometime in the 70s. It's the typical home movie, kids playing in the snow, dad chopping wood, fixing his car. Then the film takes an ominous turn. There are shots of the photographer scanning the woods for something, though it's difficult to see. There are shots of the dog, who seems excited by something and appears to have caught a scent. Then we're back in the woods. The photographer's scanning the trees again and then stops on... this. It seems to be an animal on all fours, but I can't tell what kind of animal. Then it starts walking.

Then it starts running. The photographer takes off and then seems to fall down. One of the last frames captured by the Gable film is a mouth full of teeth. And then darkness. I told my mom I thought I saw a werewolf. And my mom believed me. It was walking along a good probably seven to ten seconds before it had turned its head. That thing, that was no dog. That was too big to be a dog. That thing was bigger than me. That thing was stalking cornfields, jumping on cars, and feasting on roadkill. For two years, people in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, whispered about a king-sized creature

who roamed Bray Road. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, circuses often had sideshow performers called freaks. And one of the most popular attractions would be the bearded lady or the dog-faced boy or the human werewolf. These were otherwise normal people, but covered in hair from head to toe. And even though they were considered freaks, they were really just regular people with a condition called hypertrichosis. Hypertrichosis is a condition usually caused by a genetic mutation that causes hair to grow all over the body. I've got a cousin with a unibrow. Different affliction. Typically, hair grows everywhere, but not on the palms of the hands or soles of the feet. So a person really can look like an actual wolf man. Wolf person. Don't do that. We don't have

the virtue signal anymore. Nah, that's that's going away. Oh, thank God. It't do that. We don't have to virtue signal anymore. Nah, that's going away. Oh, thank God. That was getting old. The first recorded case of hypertrichosis is Petrus Gonsalves. He was actually a European nobleman who attended court in several countries during the mid-16th century, and he acted like a perfect nobleman. And by all accounts, his children, several of whom also had hypertrichosis, were well-educated, talented, and kind. Still, they were not considered fully human. Gonsalves' marriage to Lady Catherine is considered the inspiration for the fairy tale

Beauty and the Beast. Never let a Disney song go to waste. Now, I'll admit that a human who looks like a wolf is unsettling. But you know what's worse than a human who looks like a wolf? A human that acts like a wolf. The word lycanthropy comes from King Lycan of Arcadia. In one telling of the legend, Lycan wanted to test if Zeus was really an all-knowing god, so Lycan served Zeus the flesh of Lycan's own son. Zeus was all-knowing, and he wasn't pleased with the meal.

No, no. Did he fill out one of those comment cards? Nope. Zeus killed all of Lycan's children, all 49 of them. The boy that was sacrificed was brought back to life, and Lycan was transformed into a wolf. Whoa, that's worse than a one-star review on Grubhub. Way worse. Clinical lycanthropy is the condition where a human believes that they are part dog or part wolf. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. This happens? Oh, it happens. And it could be awful. In 2012, Rudy Eugene was cruising the back streets of Miami.

At some point, he gets out of his car and attacks a homeless man named Ronald Poppo. Eugene strips off all of his clothes and starts beating Poppo until he can't move. Eugene then jumps on Poppo and begins eating his face. And this goes on for 18 minutes before police respond. Now the entire event is covered

by a security camera, and I won't put that video here, but if you really want to see it, I'll put a link below. So when police finally arrive, they command Rudy Eugene to get off Poppo, but all he does is turn around and snarl. Police shoot him five times, and he dies at the scene. And the aftermath is gruesome. 75% of

Ronald Poppo's face was chewed off. He lost an eye, his nose, and most of his cheeks. It took months of surgery to restore Poppo's face, but he was still left disfigured and blind. It was assumed that Eugene had taken bath salts, which are said to make people act this way. But toxicology reports showed only trace amounts of THC. It's like he just snapped. And because Eugene died at the scene, we don't know his motive.

But another case happened a few years later that could give us some clues. When 19-year-old Austin Harouf came back from college in the summer of 2016, something was off about him. He was constantly ranting and screaming. He moved his bed into the garage because he thought the house was full of demons. He would pace around the house at night,

knocking on the bedroom doors of his family, letting them know that they were safe from the demons because he was on patrol. Oh, I don't like any of this at all. Oh, this is the fun, happy part of the story. Oh, boy. Austin's family assumed he was on drugs, but the only evidence they had was his strange behavior.

One day in August, Austin was having dinner with his family. He got angry and stormed out of the restaurant. Nobody expected what would happen next. Haruf's mother had a bad feeling and made a call to the police. I don't know how to do this. My son, he's taken off. It seems like he's a little delusional. After leaving the restaurant, Austin walked four miles and found his way to the home of John Stevens and his wife, Michelle Michonne. Michelle was relaxing in the garage, chatting with neighbors, as she often did. Michelle was relaxing in the garage, chatting

with neighbors as she often did. John was out walking the dog. Across the street, neighbor Jeffrey Fisher heard a loud scream. He ran out of his house and saw Austin Harouf aggressively confronting Michelle. Jeff immediately starts running to help. Austin then slams Michelle onto the ground and starts beating her savagely. Jeff grabs Austin, throws him to the ground, and thinks that the situation is over. It's not. As Jeff was catching his breath, he starts feeling pain and warmth and wet all over his body. Austin had a knife. When the two men were struggling, Jeff was cut all over his body badly. And what's worse,in is now getting up off the ground and coming at him with the knife so jeff runs back home locks his door and calls 9-1-1 as jeff is waiting for the police

to arrive he hears from across the street someone snarling and another person screaming when the police finally get there they see a man on his back who turned out to be michelle's husband john john's eyes were wide open and he looked like he was in shock. He just kept saying, help me, please help me. As the police drew their guns and tasers, they saw what was happening. Austin was jamming his fingers into John's mouth, tearing out pieces of flesh and eating them

while growling like an animal. And there were chunks of flesh all over the driveway. This was a mess. So the police tase Austin. They kick him over and over and over again. And it wasn't having any effect. Austin would stop for a second and then go back to eating John's face. A canine unit showed up with a dog.

And even with the dog attacking him, Austin would keep trying to go after John's face. But then Austin finally looked up at the police and snarled at them while yelling, please kill me, I'm eating people. It took five of them, but the police were finally able to subdue Austin. John and Michelle died in their driveway. And again, it was assumed that Austin was on a drug like bath salts or flacca. But once again, the only drug found in his system was a small amount of THC. Later, Austin would recount what happened, but his story made no

sense. It involved demons and witches and dark figures in the shadows. Philip Resnick, a psychiatrist, was brought in to assess Austin's mental state. In his 38-page report, Resnick believed Austin was suffering from clinical lycanthropy. In other words, he thought he was a werewolf. Stories about dogmen and werewolves exist in every culture and go back to the beginnings of those cultures. And it's easy to see why. There are actual physical and mental conditions that can make humans look and act like wolves. But what about the sightings? Unfortunately, the only photos we have are blurry, and most of them are hoaxes.

The Gable film is amazing, but that's also a hoax. When Mike Agrusa heard Steve Cook's song, The Legend, he thought it would be fun to create a mini horror film to go along with the story. Agrusa contacted Cook, they partnered up and distributed the film on the internet. And of course, it took off. And when I started working on this episode, I wasn't a believer. If you heard my live stream, you know I don't like to cover cryptids because there's so little physical and photographic evidence. We're stuck having to take the word of eyewitnesses who often seem questionable. Trust me, bro. Right. But when journalists like Linda Godfrey go from cryptid skeptic to cryptid believer, I reevaluate my position. And when sheriffs and deputies put their careers and reputations on the line by filling out official reports about werewolves, I reevaluate my position.

I still think most of these stories are mistakes or false memories or flat out hoaxes, but not all of them can be explained. And for me personally, that's my favorite way to end an episode of The Y-Files, is by reevaluating my position, being ready to believe something new. So if you're that night watchman or that farmer or small-town deputy who has a picture on his phone that you can't explain and you're afraid to send it anywhere, send it to me. I'm ready to believe. Thank you so much for hanging out with me today. My name is AJ. That's Hecklefish. This has been the Y Files. If you had fun or learned anything today, do me a favor, like, subscribe, comment, share. I know, but it really helps the channel. And like most topics we cover on the channel, today's topic was a recommendation

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