Dogmen, Hybrids, The Beast of Bray Road | True Stories of Werewolves

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 [music] you move. closer, the dog stands up on its hind. legs. It's well over 7 ft tall. It has. the body of a man, but the head of a dog. or a wolf. Some call them werewolves, others call them dog men. 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've 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 7 ft 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 Fools' 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 dog men. were due to appear this year. And then. the song ended ominously. And somewhere in the north woods. 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. dogman. 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 grey wolf. A French. fur trader's diary was found dated 1804. In it, he described seeing a Loup-Garou, the French word for werewolf. Even. Native American legends talk about a. shapeshifter, a man who could transform. [music]. into a wolf. There's documentation of an.

actual sheriff's investigation. responding to a local sighting of a. dogman. Still, these were all stories. But now that the legend of the dogman. 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 Hay. Marsh in Michigan. One of the job perks. was the watchman and his family could. live on a house on the property. 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 3:00 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. [music]. 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 35 mm camera. As the. watchman [music] stepped back onto his.

porch, the creature walked slowly along. the driveway directly under the lights. The watchman adjusted the camera for a. 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. Although 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 a hundred. 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 past, 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 ft 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 6 ft.

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 6 or 7 ft 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. Coffee 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 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've. 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 Bendon. 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 mph and was about 200. ft 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 6 ft 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. 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. the shotgun shell in the print for size. reference. A shotgun shell is between 2.

and 3 in long, depending on the gauge. and the load. So, this footprint could. be 10 or 12 in 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.

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 identify. 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 6. and 7 ft tall, covered in dark fur with. a head resembling a wolf or a bear. 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 Dogman 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 leaped 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 7 ft tall, brown, and hairy. It. walked out toward the road, picked. something up, then went back into the. woods. Now I don't know if the creature. in this picture is 7 ft 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 9 mi east of Elkhorn. Again, the same description. At least 7. ft 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 I. probably laughed. I think I did laugh. Because it just seemed crazy to me that. anybody would would think that. But then. when you go and talk to the people and. you meet them and.

um they still seem genuinely frightened. They don't want to see it again. You. know, you just can't help but believe. somebody like that. I've interviewed. people with with two PhDs, um, middle-aged women who work in a factory. on third shift at night, um, very. elderly people, farmers, um, somebody. from Milwaukee airport with a very high. clearance. Uh, it's just men, women, you. name it. There's there's no one sort of. person. Linda Godfrey started out as a. skeptic, but ended up publishing a few.

books about dog men, 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 8-mm. 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.

mouthful 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 7 to 10. 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 2 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. Now, I've got a cousin with a unibrow. Different affliction. Ah. 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. Oh, what? We don't have to virtue signal. anymore? Nah, that's that's going away. Oh, thank god. That was getting old. The. first recorded case of hypertrichosis is. Petrus Gonsalvus. 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. [music]. Still, they were not considered fully. human. Gonsalvus's marriage to Lady. Catherine is considered the inspiration. for the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast. The tale is old as time. A song is old as rhyme.

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. Lycaon of Arcadia. In one telling of the. legend, Lycaon wanted to test if Zeus.

was really an all-knowing god. So, Lycaon served Zeus the flesh of Lycaon'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 Lycaon's children, all. 49 of them. The boy that was sacrificed. was brought back to life, and Lycaon 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, You don't. 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 Harrouff 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. [music]. Nobody expected what would happen next. Harrouff'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 um taken. off. It seems like he's a little. delusional. After leaving the restaurant, Austin. walked 4 miles and found his way to the. home of John Stevens and his wife. Michelle Mishcon. Michelle was relaxing. in the garage chatting with neighbors as. she often did. John was out walking the. dog. Across the street, neighbor Jeffrey. Fischer heard a loud scream. He ran out.

of his house and saw Austin Harrouff. 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, Austin is.

now getting up off the ground and coming. at him with a knife. So, Jeff runs back. home, locks his door, and calls 911. As. Jeff is waiting for the police to. arrive, he hears from across the street. someone snarling and another person. screaming. When [music] 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 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 flakka, 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 [music]. 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 dog men 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. [music]. 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. re-evaluate my position. And when. sheriffs and deputies put their careers. and reputations on the line by filling. out official reports about werewolves, I. re-evaluate 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 Why Files. is by re-evaluating 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 Why Files. If you had fun or learned anything. today, do me a favor, like, subscribe, comment, share. I know, but it [music] really helps the. channel. And like most topics we cover. on the channel, today's topic was a. recommendation from the last live. stream. So, if there's a story you'd. like to see or learn more about, go to. the whyfiles.com/tips. I can't do all the stories, but I read. all the submissions. And special thanks. to our patrons who make this channel. possible. I'm amazed by your generosity,

and I am grateful for your support. And. if you'd like to support The Why Files, consider becoming a member on Patreon or. grabbing something from The Why Files. store. Hey you, we got that hecklefish. underwear up there yet? Not yet. Now that's too bad. You can be a spicy. meatball. That's one way to describe it. Anyway, that's going to do it. Until. next time, be safe, be kind, and know. that you are appreciated. [music].

[music]. [music]. [music].