The people of the Appalachian Mountains have long spoken of terrifying beasts that go bump in the night. These legends often go back centuries to Native American oral traditions, long before the white settlers came from across the seas to stake a claim in a land that they had no right to claim to begin with. Among the Cherokee people, one such legend was that of the Ewah, a catlike demon that could drive men mad with a single, menacing glare. Today, another catlike beast is spoken of in hushed whispers around the fire at night. It is known as the Wampus Cat, a half-woman, half-mountain lion monster that is cursed to wander the dark forests of America forever because of her sacrilegious deeds long ago.

The Wampus Cat has the distinction of being one of the most feared monsters in the folklore of the South. For over two hundred years, this creature has inspired terror and panic in the hearts of the people of Virginia, West Virginia, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, and even as far away as Florida and the Carolinas (suggesting that there may be more than one Wampus Cat, or that there are supernatural forces of an unknown nature at work in these parts of the United States). Even the lumberjacks encountered this ferocious cat-creature, attributing it to a family of strange monsters that they knew as "Fearsome Critters". And while the appearance of the creature seems to vary somewhat according to eyewitnesses, there are some similarities between each sighting. The Wampus Cat is most commonly described as being bipedal (that is, walking upright on two legs) and as having a body that seems to be half woman and half mountain lion in that it is covered in short fur (with a tawny brown fur on its back and a softer white fur on the belly and the chest), has pointed cat-ears, pawlike hands and feet with claws at the end of each finger and toe, a long tail, glowing eyes (sometimes described as being hypnotic), whiskers on its snout, a catlike mouth filled with sharp, ripping teeth, and is sometimes described as having the face of a beautiful, dark-skinned woman. It is said to stand between four and five feet in height, and emits an extremely foul odor that has been known to cause nausea in those who encounter the beast (it has been described as smelling like a cross between a wet dog and a skunk). The creature has an unnerving hiss, and the beast is known to have an unearthly howl and gives off ungodly screams. It is said to prey on both wild and domesticated animals. Not only that, but the creature occasionally hunts for human flesh, stalking children and grown adults alike who are foolish enough to go out hiking, hunting, or fishing at night. Such people are seldom seen ever again.

The name "Wampus Cat" is derived from the old terms "cattywampus" or "catawampus", which are used to refer to things that aren't quite right. According to Cherokee legend, the Wampus Cat was once a gorgeous woman from a local Cherokee tribe. However, she didn't completely trust her husband, whom she feared was being unfaithful to her when he went out on long hunting trips with the other warriors of the tribe. Although she was more than aware that women were absolutely forbidden from having anything to do with hunting, she just had to know the truth. In order to disguise herself, she covered her beautiful body with the skin of a mountain lion (otherwise known as a cougar). She hurried off into the forest, keeping her distance while she followed the men. Once the men had settled down, she began to listen to their conversations. The men told tales of great hunts and spoke of sacred rites and powerful magic. It wasn't long, however, before the woman was discovered and she was brought before the village shaman. As punishment, the shaman cast a spell over her that bound the hide she was wearing to her body forever. The skin began to spread over her own flesh, bonding with and transforming her body. Her teeth lengthened into sharp fangs, the nails on her fingers and toes grew into sharpened talons, a tail sprouted from her rear end, and her face became more catlike in form. Her nose and lips elongated into a snout, and whiskers grew out of her face. Most notably, her body became covered with tawny fur that was brown on her back, but was white and softer on her belly and her breasts. The poor woman had become a hideous, catlike monster, which is known today as the Wampus Cat.

In another version of this story, the woman spies on the hunters not because she has insecurities about her husband being true to their love, but because she wants to learn the ways of magic that are taught to the men, which of course is forbidden to women. But in the end, the results are the same: the woman is transformed into the hideous Wampus Cat for her sacrilege. But according to yet another version of the story, the Wampus Cat is seen as a protector, not a predator. This tale speaks of the Ewah (or Ew'ah in some instances), the Spirit of Madness, a catlike demon that terrorized the Cherokee long ago. A young warrior by the name of Standing Bear took it upon himself to seek out and kill the creature. However, despite all of his strength and skill as a warrior, he was helpless when he came face to face with the Ewah. Once he had made eye contact with the creature, the demon's gaze drove him into the dark depths of insanity. When the brave's wife (a gorgeous woman named Running Deer) laid eyes upon her insane husband weeks later, she became consumed with anger, and she vowed revenge.

Running Deer went to the tribe's shamans, and told them of her desire for vengeance. They understood her pain, and gave her two things: a mask representing the spirit of the mountain lion, and a special black paste. The medicine men told her that the spirit of this particular mountain cat would be able to stand against the power of the Ewah, but only if she surprised the demon from behind. The black paste, provided by the tribe's warchiefs, would disguise her scent and hide her body. Now she was prepared for an encounter with the Spirit of Madness, and with that, she headed into the woods to seek her revenge.

Running Deer knew the forests as well as she knew her own village, but couldn't find any signs of the Ewah. She ate sweet wild berries over the course of many days to keep up her strength, and she kept hunting. Late one night, however, the woman heard a large animal down by the creek. Exercising extreme caution, Running Deer silently crept towards the creek. Suddenly, she heard a twig snap, and she instinctively spun around. She suddenly realized that her reaction could've easily gotten her killed, or worse. If it had been the Ewah, she would have been consumed by insanity right at that very moment! Instead, it was only a fox running across the trail. Breathing a quiet sigh of relief, Running Deer continued on her way towards the creek.

When Running Deer reached the edge of the creek, she discovered large tracks that didn't belong to any animal species that she knew of. A little further on, she discovered the remnants of the armor that her husband had been wearing. She followed the footprints further and further upstream until she finally came upon the cat-demon itself, drinking from the creek. Fortunately, the beast hadn't seen her yet. Silently, she stalked closer and closer, constantly keeping her eyes on the monster. When Running Deer couldn't get any closer, she pounced! The Ewah wheeled around in surprise. Upon seeing the woman's mask, the Ewah began to tear at its flesh as the mountain lion's spirit unleashed its magic on the demon. It lurched backwards into the pool from which it had been drinking, and then ran off into the darkness of the forest, never to be seen again. Running Deer beat a hasty retreat back to her village, never once bothering to look back.

When Running Deer finally returned home, she sang a quiet song that spoke of her grief for the loss of her husband, but also told of her joy over vanquishing the Spirit of Madness. Her people were overjoyed to hear the good news, while the shamans and the warchiefs bestowed upon her the titles of "Home-Protector" and "Spirit-Talker". To this day, people say that Running Deer's ghost still wanders the forests as the Wampus Cat, viewing it as her sacred duty to protect her tribe's lands and the people who inhabit them from all manner of evil spirits, demons, and the monsters which roam the darkness of the night.

When the settlers from Europe came overseas, they were exposed to the legend of the Wampus Cat, and even the settlers themselves had their own encounters with the beast. Over time, the Europeans developed their own version of the legend, albeit with Christian overtones that allowed the settlers to make more sense of the Native American monster. Long ago, there was an old woman who lived by herself in the hills of West Virginia. The people in the nearby town swore that she was a witch. Locals would complain of someone hexing and stealing their livestock. Everyone’s suspicions fell on the elderly woman, whom they believed had the ability to shapeshift into a large cat with golden eyes. They blamed her because she chose to live like a hermit. Despite this, the witch was supposedly so skilled at making these thefts that she was never actually caught. At least, that was their explanation.

The townspeople believed that the old woman would take the form of a domestic housecat and would dart into a house when she had the opportunity, where she would wait for nightfall and for her victims to fall asleep. At this point, she would cast a sleeping spell on the unsuspecting family, ensuring that they wouldn’t awaken while she went about her business. She would then slip out a window and steal an animal. The locals were growing tired of finding their animals missing or dead. And so they developed a plan to put an end to the witch’s depredations. The old woman’s next night of thievery would indeed be her last…

One night, the old witch snuck into a house and, once the family was asleep, she cast her spell of deep sleep on the family. Taking the form of a mountain lion, she leaped from a window and headed straight for the barn where the animals rested. Once she was there, she started reciting the incantations necessary to resume her human form. Suddenly, several of the townspeople jumped out of hiding, taking the witch completely by surprise! The old woman was unable to complete the spell, leaving her half woman and half mountain lion. She was thus cursed to remain a hideous monster, and would never again be able to call herself human. The cat-creature screamed in fright and proceeded to break down the barn doors, and she fled into the night. She was never seen by the townspeople again.

This story was often related to people by a hunter and mountain man, who called himself Jinx Johnston (sometimes given as Johnson), who lived on the Virginia-West Virginia border during the early 1900s. Johnston was a big man who stood over six feet in height and weighed at least two hundred pounds. In other words, he was big, very strong, and wasn’t easily frightened. Despite his tough-guy exterior, the man claimed to have had an encounter with the dreaded Wampus Cat himself. Johnston, like most people at the time, was a good Christian who feared God, and therefore was unlikely to lie or to fabricate a story. Johnston said that he loved to go hunting for raccoons (or ‘coons, as he called them) at night with his dogs, especially on a full moon. On one such night, Jinx learned just how unwise (and dangerous) it is to wander the Appalachian forests at night…

On that particular night, when the sky was lit by the rays of a full moon, Johnston was out hunting when his dogs suddenly ran ahead of him. He called for them, but they failed to return to his side. Johnston suddenly tripped over something, and his rifle flew out of his hands and into the bushes. And then an awful smell hit him, which he described as “smelling like a skunk and a wet dog.” But as he looked up from the ground, he saw it: a horrifying monster with sharp fangs that dripped saliva, and eerie eyes that glowed yellow in the darkness. Picking himself up very slowly, Johnston quickly glanced around for his rifle, but couldn’t find it in the dark. The creature let out a terrifying, ear-splitting howl, and Johnston nearly jumped out of his skin! He slowly backed away from the creature…

Deciding that it was either now or never, Johnston quickly turned around and ran for his life! He recalled that, even though he was running as fast as his legs could carry him, he could feel the thing’s stinking breath on the back of his neck, so close was the beast to catching him. But against all odds, Johnston finally made it home! He flew through the front door and slammed it shut behind him. He then bolted the door shut. Jinx quickly grabbed his Bible and began to read through the Scriptures aloud. Upon hearing the holy words, the monster began howling and screaming terribly. This continued throughout the night. When dawn finally broke over the hills, the creature let loose one more horrible scream and fled into the woods. By this time, Johnston was convinced that the thing he had encountered was truly the Wampus Cat. When he had finally worked up enough courage, Jinx went outside and found his dogs huddled up in the barn, terrified but otherwise unharmed. Needless to say, Johnston never again went ‘coon-hunting at night after his horrifying encounter with the Wampus Cat.

Although Jinx Johnston’s encounter with the Wampus Cat is definitely among the better-known cases, there are others as well. Although such sightings are less frequent, they have continued right up to the present day. One such report was posted anonymously on the Internet a few years ago by a camper who had been camping in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia with a few friends. While out gathering up firewood, he nearly jumped out of his skin when one of the men screamed. The eyewitness reported that he saw “a thing, definitely not a primate, no Bigfoot or anything, and not a bear.” He claimed that the creature was holding his friend with a single hand, and he described the beast as being “a walking cat, about five feet tall and thick.” When he shined his flashlight on the thing, the cat-creature hissed and ran away on two legs. The monster’s former victim had a small set of five puncture marks (presumably bite wounds) on one of his arms, and there were deep scratches on the victim’s head. The eyewitness says that the wounded man “maintained that the thing was trying to bite his throat.” In the end, the eyewitness himself said “I swear we were almost killed by a walking cat!”

Although the above case is somewhat suspect because it was an anonymous report and there is no date or year given, it also stands out because of the brutality of the attack. Given that the Wampus Cat is known for its aggressive nature, a hoax seems somewhat unlikely. Witnesses to such things often choose to remain anonymous and omit their names, for fear of the ridicule that their stories may bring. But some witnesses are more willing to share their experiences, putting their reputations and their personal credibility on the line to tell their sometimes terrifying stories. This next encounter is one such story.

One night in northern Florida, during late winter or early spring in 2007, hunter Dean Morris was out with his dogs, apparently with intentions of doing some poaching. Suddenly, the dogs began to whine and ran off into the woods in a hurry, leaving their master all alone on the game trail. Morris then said that he had “smelled a nasty smell, like a wet dog that had come on a polecat.” Then, he heard a loud hiss behind him. Turning around, Morris found himself face to face with the Wampus Cat. The beast’s eyes glowed an eerie orange color in the darkness, while its fangs were exposed and dripped with saliva. Morris recalled that the monster looked “kinda like a really big Florida panther, but it walked on two legs like a man.” Needless to say, the would-be hunter had never seen anything like this before…

Morris was now frightened out of his mind, while his heart pounded in his chest. The monster sneered at him, causing him to feel nauseous and making his hair stand up. Without thinking, he dropped his gun. And then Morris bolted from the creature in a blind panic! It didn’t take the poacher long to realize that the cat-creature, whatever it may have been, was in hot pursuit of him. The hunter eventually came upon an abandoned pump house that didn’t have any windows. Morris burst through the door and barred it behind him.  As the man struggled to catch his breath, he realized that he could still hear the creature as it panted and paced outside of the door. At this point, Morris knew two things: that the beast outside was very hungry, and that he could very well die that night at the claws of a monster...

Throughout the night, the Wampus Cat would begin to “claw at the door and made it shake nearly off its hinges.” But the old door stood strong against the monster, and thus Morris spent a sleepless night, horrified that the old door would give way to the sheer strength of the monster. But eventually, after waiting for what seemed like forever, the first rays of dawn crept over the trees and through the cracks in the roof. With the advent of a new day, the Wampus Cat let out a final horrific scream of frustration and ran back into the woods. Morris could hear the creature as it retreated from the light of the day. His ordeal was finally over.

On a happier not, Morris was finally able to make it home, where he found his dogs on the front porch under a table. The animals were shaking, but were otherwise unhurt. But a couple of questions remain: why did the Wampus Cat attack this man? Was it because Morris was poaching? Or was it merely because the beast was hungry? One might believe that it was because Morris was poaching, as in some native traditions the Wampus Cat is seen as being a guardian. Was it only protecting the wilderness and the animals that live within it? Perhaps. But regardless, nobody knows the truth behind this creature’s motives.

A more recent encounter in Bristol, Virginia suggests that not every Wampus Cat encounter is violent, although these accounts are always frightening. A man by the name of Tim Smith and his wife were strolling down the street in downtown Abingdon one night when he spotted something strange. He distinctly saw two eyes glaring at him through some iron steps, but he could clearly see that they weren’t human. Instead, they were more like the piercing eyes of a big cat. Tim shouted at the beast, but he received the threatening “hiss of a cat” in reply. Then, whatever had been hiding under those steps got up and ran away, quickly fading into the darkness. Both Tim and his wife agreed that what they saw looked more or less like a big cat running on its back legs.

Was this a Wampus Cat? Quite possibly, as there is a shortage of big cats that are able to run or even walk bipedally for a sustained amount of time. The hiss of the creature also hints at the aggressive intentions of the beast. This was obviously intended as a warning. If the eyewitnesses had come any closer, there is no doubt that this encounter would have been much more violent.

During the 1950s, there was a sighting of what may or may not have been a Wampus Cat in Johnson City, Tennessee. It was originally recorded by author Charles Edwin Price in his book Demon in the Woods: Tall Tales and True from East Tennessee, as told by a man who calls himself H.W., the son of the man who originally saw the creature. H.W.’s father, who was a carpenter by trade, was walking down Spring Street late one night when he came across a huge cat, the biggest he had ever seen. The cat was walking down the other side of the street, as if it “had all the time in the world.” As he was walking behind the beast, it didn’t see him. According to the witness, “the cat was about the size of a large spaniel.” The man thought that it actually was a dog…at first. Then he noticed that the creature had stripes, “just like a big tabby.” Then, things started to get strange…

Every once in awhile, the cat stopped to sniff the side of the building it was walking next to. When it reached the Jones-Vance Pharmacy, the creature rose up on its hind legs, put its paws on the windowsill, and looked in through the window. This behavior stopped the man in his tracks. The man said that the cat “must have been at least four feet tall when it stood on its hind legs.” He tried to convince himself that he must be seeing a tiger, but there was one problem: there was no circus in town at the time. “Then came the really scary part,” H.W. said. “After the cat had seen all that it had wanted to see inside Jones-Vance, it turned and, still standing on its hind legs, continued walking down the street and disappeared around the corner.” The eyewitness said that “his blood ran cold.” Nobody can say for sure what the big cat had wanted that night, and H.W.’s father never found out. When he went to look around the corner of Spring and Main, the beast had disappeared.

One prevailing question about this encounter remains: was this truly a Wampus Cat? It is uncertain at this point. As has already been established, big cats are not bipedal by nature, and cannot walk on their back legs for extended periods of time. In addition, the creature displayed almost humanlike intelligence and curiosity when it peeked through the window (although cats by their very nature are both intelligent and curious animals). This begs the question: did H.W.’s father see the legendary Wampus Cat, or did he see an out-of-place big cat? The answer remains unknown.

Judging from these eyewitness accounts, it is clear that the Wampus Cat is a truly ferocious creature. Not only is the beast hostile towards both humans and livestock, but the Wampus Cat itself has the strength, speed, endurance, and the agility of a big cat, as well as having enhanced senses of sight, smell, and hearing. And in addition to having a great cat’s ability to hunt and kill, the monster has human or near-human intelligence. Additionally, the Wampus Cat is highly territorial and is easily provoked as well. At times, the beast is content to completely destroy an intruder’s campsite as a warning to leave immediately or face deadly consequences. However, the Wampus Cat will not hesitate to attack and kill those whom it deems to be a threat or sees as its potential dinner. It cannot be emphasized enough that the Wampus Cat is extremely vicious, and the creature will absolutely tear apart anything that the beast can get its claws on. The monster is more than capable of outrunning a person, so trying to outrun the creature for a long period is a deadly proposition. Finding a place to hide until dawn is one’s best bet for surviving such an encounter.

As vicious and powerful as the creature is, the Wampus Cat does have a couple of weaknesses. One seems to be an aversion to light, whether it is natural or artificial in origin. This explains why the Wampus Cat tends to flee from its potential prey with the coming of dawn. It is unknown if the light actually harms the creature, but being primarily a nocturnal predator, it is likely that the light is painful to the creature’s eyes (which are most likely adapted for seeing clearly in low-light conditions or even complete darkness). Thus, it is forced to run away when confronted with bright lights.

In some versions of the legend, the Wampus Cat is said to fear the Holy Bible and the recitation of the Holy Scriptures. This is especially evident in the case of Jinx Johnston’s encounter with the beast. Being a creature born of evil and dark magic, it makes sense that hearing the Holy Scriptures would cause the beast pain. Keep in mind, however, that this may not work, given that the settlers added this element in order to give the legend more of a Christian overtone. Still, it is most certainly worth a try.

As for actually killing the Wampus Cat, there are no legends or stories that explicitly tell how to get rid of this cat-creature. Therefore, it can be assumed within reason that the beast is as vulnerable to ordinary weapons (i.e. blades and firearms) as any ordinary animals are. Just for the sake of caution, one may always fall back on two tried-and-true methods: decapitation and burning. Decapitation is guaranteed to put an end to any supernatural creature’s depredations, while burning the beast’s remains is the ultimate insurance policy against any monster, as it will prevent any creature from somehow resurrecting itself and beginning its reign of terror anew. Of course, getting close enough to do the deed and avoid the Wampus Cat’s claws and teeth is far easier said than done. In the end, it may be wise to incapacitate the creature from a distance and then rush in and finish the job. It is always wise to use caution, no matter what.

So, what exactly is the Wampus Cat? Because the creature was once human and transformed into a catlike monster against its will, the Wampus Cat could be considered to be a type of werebeast, albeit one that is incapable of reassuming its human form. And since the Cherokee woman was wearing the hide of a mountain lion when the shaman cursed her, one might even consider the beast to be a type of Skinwalker. Ironically, the hide of the mountain lion is considered to be unclean by the Navajo (which are many miles away from the Appalachian Mountains, obviously), and the native Skinwalkers are known for using the hide of this particular animal to spread terror and death among the people. Is this a coincidence? When it comes to monsters, one can never be too sure and must avoid making assumptions when at all possible. On the other hand, if the creature is the Ewah returned from its defeat so long ago, then it could very well be some sort of demon of the forests. The werebeast scenario seems to be the more likely of these two possibilities. But whatever the case may be, it doesn’t make the Wampus Cat any less dangerous.

The legend of the Wampus Cat has persisted to this very day. During the 1920s, the men of southwestern Virginia and some parts of northwest Tennessee would use the old tales of the Wampus Cat to their own advantage in a particularly funny way. Whenever an especially good batch of moonshine had been distilled, a shotgun was fired as a signal for the guys to gather up and have a drink of the illegal booze. To avoid suspicion from the womenfolk, the men told their wives that the Wampus Cat had been seen in the area and that they needed to hunt it down and destroy the beast before it could kill or otherwise hurt anything. In any event, the lie seems to have worked. But one has to wonder how those men managed to keep a straight face when they told their wives this.

To many people who live in the wilds of the Appalachian Mountains, the Wampus Cat is a myth, nothing more than a scary story to keep children from wandering off alone into the woods at night. But to those who have had encounters with a frightening cat-creature in the dark forests, the beast is a horrifying reality. Nowadays, sightings of the Wampus Cat are few and far between. That doesn’t mean that the monster isn’t still out there, though. The Wampus Cat still haunts the forests, always hunting for its next victim in the darkness of the night…

Acknowledgements

I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank Rosemary Guiley, L.B. Taylor Jr., and Scott Marlowe for all of their help and for granting me permission to use their books in my research. Without them, this would have been a very short entry indeed. Thank You, guys!! You are great friends, and I don’t know what I would do without you! Thank you all so much for helping me and answering my questions. I greatly appreciate it!

Sources

Guiley, Rosemary Ellen. Monsters of West Virginia: Mysterious Creatures in the Mountain State. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. Copyright ©2012 by Visionary Living Inc.

Marlowe, Scott. The Cryptid Creatures of Florida. Great Britain: CFZ Press. Copyright ©2011 by CFZ Press.

Taylor Jr, L.B. Monsters of Virginia: Mysterious Creatures in the Old Dominion. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books. Copyright ©2012 by Stackpole Books.

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Faery lore has flourished in Ireland for many centuries, if not longer. However, contrary to what most people think, faeries are not the loveable, winged pixies that popular culture has led people to picture when they hear the word “fairy”. At one time, these creatures were so feared that to even utter the word “fairy” was to invite their wrath down upon people, so terms like “the Little People” or “the Good Folk” were used instead. There is a good reason for this, too: faeries are willful and vindictive spirits, easily angered and quick to take offense. Although not all faeries are dangerous (in fact, many are merry and good-hearted creatures who mean no harm), some are downright deadly. Among the most sinister of the Irish faeries is the mysterious Far Liath, the Grey Man, who controls the mists and the fog that covers the coastal areas of Ireland.

Nearly everyone in America has heard of the elusive, apelike creature known as Sasquatch. More often known as Bigfoot, there are hundreds of sightings that occur every year in the United States alone. However, there are also dozens of reports of large and hairy humanoid monsters that have little to nothing in common with the Sasquatch at all. To distinguish these creatures from Bigfoot, some researchers have taken to calling them "Big Hairy Monsters", or BHMs for short. Despite there being physical similarities to the Sasquatch and his relatives, there seems to be something strange about these creatures, perhaps even something supernatural.

Although they may look the same physically, there are a number of differences between the Sasquatch and the Big Hairy Monsters. Whereas Bigfoot and his kind appear predominantly in heavily-wooded wilderness areas, Big Hairy Monsters are usually encountered in heavily-settled urban and suburban areas that aren't fully capable of supporting a large primate in terms of food, water, and shelter. While water might be easier to come by, food (plants and animals, assuming that the Sasquatch is in fact omnivorous) and shelter are much harder to find for an undiscovered hominid to find in a city or even a small town. Plus, Bigfoot tends to be a shy, retiring creature that avoids making contact with people if at all possible. BHMs, on the other hand, are not so unsociable. These creatures are said to approach humans on a regular basis, and have been reported pounding on household walls, walking up to parked cars, and even looking into windows. Furthermore, while the Sasquatch is only aggressive when threatened, any such behavior is limited to growling, roaring, and throwing sticks or rocks in an attempt to scare away the intruders. Alternately, Big Hairy Monsters are far more aggressive and will attack not only humans, but animals, vehicles, and even houses with little provocation. According to eyewitness reports, BHMs have been known to kill and carry off pets and livestock, presumably to devour later at their leisure. Such violent behavioral tendencies suggests that these monsters are possessed of unnatural strength and endurance, and thus encountering a BHM would be inadvisable, to say the least.

As stated earlier, the Sasquatch and Big Hairy Monsters may look very similar, but there are ways to tell them apart. The Sasquatch resembles a hairy, bipedal ape of humanlike proportions and stands roughly six to eight feet in height. Its body tends to be covered in fairly short, shaggy hair that is black or brown in color, while the face and the palms of the hands are bare and covered in black skin. The Sasquatch's feet are by far its best-known features, being fourteen inches long on average and having five toes with relatively flat soles. Big Hairy Monsters, on the other hand, tend to show a wide degree of variation in regards to physical features. They are described as being between three to fifteen feet in height, having hair of just about any length and color, and footprints show that the beasts have two to six toes on each foot. But other, more frightening features have been reported as well. Witnesses have reported BHMs as having fangs that protrude from the mouth, long talons on the fingertips and the toes, webbed hands and feet, and most disturbingly, no heads. Another feature that eyewitnesses commonly describe are glowing red eyes. But these eyes appear to be glowing from an internal source, and do not seem to be simply reflecting a light source (a phenomenon known as eyeshine), as seen in cats, wolves, and other nocturnal animals.

In addition to those traits mentioned above, witnesses have noted that both the Sasquatch and Big Hairy Monsters each have a very distinctive smell. Whereas Bigfoot emits a musky odor or smells like sweat or a wet dog that slept in a goat pen during a rainstorm (as one man so eloquently put it). BHMs smell a whole lot worse. People who have encountered such creatures say that Big Hairy Monsters smell like burning garbage, sulfur (or rotten eggs), feces, or a decaying corpse. One particular eyewitness (no name was given) described one such monster as smelling like "the sweat of a hundred high-school football teams." In other words, it was just plain awful! On a more peculiar note, however, the Sasquatch's odor usually disappears when the creature itself leaves the area (although faint traces of the smell may remain for a short time). However, in the case of Big Hairy Monsters, the smell lingers in the area for a considerable amount of time after the monster has departed. Interestingly, in some cases it has been noted that people and animals alike may suffer a very violent reaction to a BHM's odor. In one notable case in Missouri in 1972 (the case of Momo, the Missouri Monster), a dog belonging to the Harrison family became extremely sick after being exposed to Momo's scent. Its eyes turned red and watery, and the dog vomited for hours afterwards until the owners managed to calm the poor animal's stomach with bread and milk. Who is to say that people might not be affected in the same way? Needless to say, even smelling one of these beasts can have unpleasant or even harmful side-effects. Thus, it is always wisest to take precautions and be careful.

According to cryptozoological studies and eyewitness reports, the Sasquatch is an intelligent animal that displays many humanlike traits, but otherwise behaves like a wild animal. In the Pacific Northwest (and other parts of the world), the Native Americans say that the Sasquatch possesses supernatural powers and dwells with others of its kind in organized societies, but they also attribute such traits to other animals (like bears and even fish) as well. Contrary to Bigfoot, Big Hairy Monsters do not behave like corporeal beings consistently enough to be classified as such. In some cases, BHMs have been seen to materialize and dematerialize without warning, while in other instances a trail of footprints will start or stop very abruptly, as if the monster itself had suddenly disappeared. The fact that these creatures have continuously evaded capture and cannot be followed for long periods suggests that these beasts are not entirely physical beings. They may be only semi-corporeal entities, able to take on a semisolid form in order to feed or defend itself, but only for a limited amount of time. The reason for this is uncertain, but it may have something to do with the true nature of these beasts, an inherent limitation placed on them by a higher power, or perhaps some type of energy limitation. Nobody can say for sure, but it is entirely possible that these monsters are spiritual or even interdimensional in nature.

So, exactly what are these Big Hairy Monsters? It is certainly possible that a small number of these sightings are of an unknown species of primate, but what about the rest? Given that these beasts possess many distinctive traits that distinguish them from the Sasquatch and other hairy hominids, this scenario is unlikely (although not impossible). To find the answers, one must enter the realm of the supernatural. Here, everything is not always what it seems to be. In his controversial book Monsters: An Investigator's Guide to Magical Beings(first published in 2001, and then recently revised and republished in 2011), ceremonial magician and occult researcher John Michael Greer proposed a radical theory as to the true nature of the Big Hairy Monsters. He makes several compelling connections between these beasts and faery lore, and Greer proposes that these monsters may in fact be solitary faeries. He also notes that, in the older lore, such creatures frequently have a thick layer of hair or fur covering their bodies (much like the medieval Woodwose). Greer's theory definitely has merit in the field of paranormal research, but scientists will most likely reject the theory outright and will remain skeptical or otherwise critical of such things until definitive proof is obtained.

Now that the probable nature of these creatures has been revealed, there is no doubt that these Big Hairy Monsters are very dangerous. Not only are they aggressive towards both humans and animals alike, but the evidence indicates that they may be carnivorous (dogs in particular seem to be a favorite meal). In addition, these creatures seem to be in possession of supernatural powers, which includes (but is not limited to): unnatural strength and speed, the ability to appear and disappear at will, possible invisibility, the power to induce sickness in both people and animals (most likely through the awful smell they give off), creating unnatural fear in eyewitnesses or potential victims, and being impervious to bullets (although it is unknown if wrought iron or silver rounds have been tried). However, if BHMs truly are faeries, then they may be susceptible to cold-forged iron and salt, while holy icons like the crucifix and holy medals may have some power over them. Anyone who has been affected by the stench of these creatures should be fed bread and milk (both of which were traditionally offered to faeries in return for a favor or as a reward for behaving) until the sickness passes. But on the other hand, these things may not work at all. Still, it is best to be prepared for any kind of situation.

Nobody knows what these Big Hairy Monsters really are, nor can anyone be sure how violent these creatures can really be. If provoked, these beasts could easily tear a human to pieces. Caution is said to be the better part of valor, and it cannot be emphasized enough that caution is absolutely vital when dealing with these monsters. Recklessness could very easily put the lives of others in danger. Needless to say, be careful of encountering any kind of hairy hominid, even if they aren't solitary faeries.

Sources

Greer, John Michael. Monsters: An Investigator's Guide to Magical Beings. 10th Anniversary Edition. Woodbury, Minnesota: Llewellyn Publications. Copyright ©2001, 2011 by John Michael Greer.

Comments

I would like to take this opportunity to thank John Michael Greer for graciously allowing me to write about his theory here. I would also like to point out that the faery theory presented here belongs to John, and should not be used without his permission. I have only expanded and added my own thoughts to his theory here. For those who are interested in purchasing his book, the link may be found here: Monsters: An Investigator's Guide to Magical Beings. It is also available for purchase from Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

For thousands of years, cultures all around the world have told stories of the dead returning to life from the grave. These creatures are known by many names: vampires, revenants, zombies, wraiths, and so on. However, most know them collectively as the Undead. But although this phenomenon is largely confined to Europe and Asia, it is not unheard of in the Americas. One such creature is known widely among various indigenous tribes of North America, but it is particularly feared by the Wabanaki. They call it Skadegamutc, the Ghost-Witch.

The Skadegamutc (pronounced "skuh-deh-guh-mooch") is an undead monster with both anthropophagous and vampiric tendencies. It is believed among the Wabanaki that this creature was once an evil sorcerer or a practitioner of black magic who has died and refuses to stay that way. However, according to some tales, anyone may become a Skadegamutc after they die. This revenant hungers for the blood and the flesh of living humans, and will kill and devour anyone who gets in its way. There is no way to escape the creature short of destroying it.

During the day, the Skadegamutc appears as an inert, harmless human corpse. But by night, the corpse reanimates and wanders off in search of human prey. To accomplish this, the Ghost-Witch takes the form of a ball of light, which enables it to cover great distances quickly. Once the monster has found a victim, it attacks from above. It then slaughters its prey, feasting on the victim's warm flesh and blood. However, the Skadegamutc isn't just a menace from the sky. Many legends speak of a group of hunters or warriors taking refuge for the night somewhere near a recent open-air burial or within a short distance from a corpse. At nightfall, the corpse revives itself and begins to kill the members of the group, one by one. It should be noted that the Skadegamutc prefers to target individuals who are alone or have been separated from a group. It is unknown if large groups frighten the creature or if it likes to torment potential victims by picking off one person after another.

During his or her lifetime, the Skadegamutc was a powerful sorcerer or a witch. And even in death, the Ghost-Witch still wields the power of black magic. One of the creature's favorite antics is to curse her victims. But in addition to her sorcerous powers, the Skadegamutc has unnatural strength, and is able take the form of a ball of light. In this form, the creature is able to fly great distances in a fairly short amount of time, and this is how the revenant finds its prey. And according to legend, the Ghost-Witch is able to camouflage itself, enabling it to blend into any background. This allows the monster to seemingly appear and disappear at will, and in this way, the Skadegamutc is able to ambush its unwary prey. This also allows it to hide from its enemies (like hunters) and also to deal with each person one at a time.

Much like the Vampire of Eastern and Central Europe, the Skadegamutc is vulnerable during the day. The only problem is that, according to Wabanaki folklore, the Skadegamutc cannot be harmed by weapons. In some legends, it is said that arrows may ward off or even frighten the creature away, but the reason for this is unknown and may not even work. The only way to destroy the Ghost-Witch is to burn the creature to charred ashes and scatter the ashes to the four winds. This is the only way to prevent the revenant from returning and wreaking its revenge upon the would-be monster hunters.

Sources

http://www.native-languages.org/skadegamutc.htm

http://thedemoniacal.blogspot.com/2011/08/skadegamutc.html

Indiana, often called the Crossroads of America, isn't exactly a state known for its monsters or much in the way of paranormal activity. However, something truly strange and terrifying happened along the banks the Ohio River in late summer during the mid-1950s. To this very day, people are still unable to explain exactly what happened. But all that they know is that a local woman nearly lost her life to a vicious aquatic monster. That monster has come to be known as the Green-Clawed Beast of Evansville.

August 21st, 1955 was a typical hot summer's day in Dogtown, Indiana (near Evansville). Both locals and tourists alike were headed for the local lakes and rivers to take a swim and cool down. Among them was Mrs. Naomi Johnson, her children Sandra, Darwin, and Darrell, and her good friend Mrs. Chris Lamble. Mrs. Johnson told her children to stay put while she and Chris went out for a swim.  Mrs. Lamble went out with a big, black rubber inner tube, as she couldn't swim. Naomi and Chris talked while they were leisurely swimming, but little did they know that something was closely watching the two women underneath the water...

Mrs. Johnson was only fifteen feet from the shore when she felt a "large, hairy, claw-like hand" grab her around the left knee and pull her under. Naomi struggled to free herself from the unseen attacker as Mrs. Lamble looked on in horror above the water's surface. Mrs. Johnson was finally able to kick herself free from the creature's clutches and made it back to the surface, taking in a huge breath of air as she did so. But almost immediately, Naomi was seized again from behind. Mrs. Lamble shrieked and screamed loudly as the Johnson children watched helplessly from the shore...

Naomi wrestled with her unseen attacker in the murky water, desperately trying to free herself and get back to the surface for air. She managed to get herself free and made for Mrs. Lamble's inner tube. She gasped for air and screamed at the top of her lungs for help, but at that instant, the creature seized her by the leg and pulled her down once more. Kicking and screaming, Mrs. Johnson was able to break away for the final time and lunged for her friend Chris's inner tube. She made a thump upon contact with the tube, and this apparently frightened the attacker enough to drive it away.

With the aid of Mrs. Lamble, Naomi managed to make it ashore in a state of shock, crying and screaming all the while. To their horror, it was discovered that her leg was covered in deep, bloody scratches and bruises. But what troubled Naomi, her children, and their friend Chris the most was that her leg was covered in green palm stains where the beast had seized her. Somebody had called an ambulance, and Mrs. Johnson then received medical treatment for her cuts and bruises. Naomi was hysterical after the attack, and her husband was called home from work. He then called a doctor, who administered sedatives to help calm the poor lady's nerves. But although the attack was over, Naomi's ordeal was far from finished...

The next day, a local newspaper ran Mrs. Johnson's story. Several eyewitnesses allegedly reported seeing a silver oval disk floating a few hundred feet above the water that same day. The Johnson family themselves reported that they were visited by a man who claimed to be a Colonel in the U.S. Air Force. The Colonel seemed to be very interested in Mrs. Johnson's story, and he took extensive notes on the case as he interviewed and questioned her. Before he left, the Colonel told Naomi that she could never repeat her story to another person ever again (which, strangely enough, reeks of an attempted government cover-up and bears some similarities to Men in Black encounters). The man then left the house and didn't bother the Johnsons again.

Mrs. Johnson later found out that the strange green palm stains on her leg wouldn't wash off, and the stains didn't disappear for several days (suggesting that the stains were more akin to bruises rather than being mere stains). Naomi later said that "Whatever this thing was, it had a strong grip and was very furry. All I know is that I will never go swimming in that river again." And for the rest of her life, Naomi never did so again. And to this day, these strange evens are still as yet unexplained, and the case itself remains unsolved. And yet, there are questions that still remain...

This bizarre encounter begs the question: what did Mrs. Johnson encounter on that day in the river? Although shocking, this may be one of the only monster encounters where the creature wasn't actually seen by the eyewitness, but was rather felt instead. But what is clear is that the beast had great strength, was quite possibly both reptilian and amphibious in nature, and was extremely aggressive towards humans, possibly to the point of viewing people as a food source. This evidence  has led some researchers to believe that the Green-Clawed Beast is an amphibious reptilian monster of some kind, while others think that this creature may have been extraterrestrial in nature. However, the evidence in this case seems to point to a more terrestrial, possibly even supernatural sort of creature. The native tribes of North America have legends of reptilian humanoid creatures going back several hundred years. The Creek Indians of the Carolinas, for example, speak of the Inzignanin. According to Lyle Blackburn's incredible book Lizard Man: The True Story of the Bishopville Monster, the Inzignanin are a race of amphibious, lizardlike humanoid creatures with a distinctive three-foot tail that is described as being "as thick as a man's arm" and "as hard as bone." They had long fingers and rough, scaly skin. These reptilian creatures lived entirely on a diet of raw fish, and thus when the local fish population could no longer support their numbers, the Inzignanin died out...or so it is said. Could a small number of these creatures have survived and managed to find new territories? Possibly. If these creatures followed the major waterways, one of them could have easily ended up in that section of the Ohio River alongside Evansville. But if this is not the case, then where else could the Green-Clawed Beast have come from?

According to paranormal researcher Chris McDaniel, a type of strange blue mud was found on Mrs. Johnson's leg right after the attack. This mud was sent to a lab and analyzed, and it was discovered that this blue mud came from the deepest reaches of rivers. In fact, it was only found in deep underwater caves. Is it possible that some form of unknown aquatic reptilian monster dwells deep within these underwater caves? Most of the world's oceans, lakes, and rivers remain unexplored by man, so it is a distinctive possibility that an unknown species or unnatural beasts do dwell within the deep places of the world. Furthermore, Mrs. Johnson noticed that her attacker's hand had large claws and felt furry. In his excellent book Mothman and Other Curious Encounters (2002), leading cryptozoologist Loren Coleman noted that the creature's hand might have actually been scaly instead, for there are no known species of aquatic mammals or primates with furry, dexterous hands (Coleman 93-94). It remains a leading theory that the Green-Clawed Beast was an aquatic reptilian humanoid of some sort.

It is interesting to note that in 1954, a year before Mrs. Johnson had her encounter with the Green-Clawed Beast, Hollywood's Universal Pictures released the now-classic science fiction/horror film, The Creature from the Black Lagoon. This film tells the story of a team of scientists who travel up the Amazon River to the "Black Lagoon," a place that is dreaded by the locals and from which none ever return. These men and women are searching for the fossilized remains of a Devonian "fish-man," only to encounter a living specimen of this creature. But after the film was released, there was an explosion of sightings of these reptilian "lizardmen". Could this be a coincidence? After Jaws was released in 1975, there was a similar outbreak of shark attacks. However, when it comes to things like monsters, there is really no such thing as coincidence.

To this very day, the case of the Green-Clawed Beast of Evansville remains unsolved and a fascinating mystery. Even world-renowned cryptozoologists like Loren Coleman and Lyle Blackburn don't have all of the answers. Perhaps there are mysteries best left unsolved in this world, and mayhap that this is one of them. Strange reptilian monsters continue to be seen by ordinary people to this day. One has to ask: what are these people seeing? Perhaps that is a question best left unanswered, for the truth may be far too disturbing to be heard...

Sources

Blackburn, Lyle. Lizard Man: The True Story of the Bishopville Monster. San Antonio, Texas: Anomalist Books. Copyright ©2013 by Lyle Blackburn.

Clark, Jerome. Unexplained! Strange Sightings, Incredible Occurrences & Puzzling Physical Phenomena. Second Edition. Farmington Hills, Michigan: Visible Ink Press. Copyright ©1999 by Visible Ink Press.

Coleman, Loren. Mothman and Other Curious Encounters. Broadway, New York: Paraview Press. Copyright ©2002 by Loren Coleman.

Newton, Michael. Strange Indiana Monsters. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing Ltd. Copyright ©2006 by Michael Newton.

Nunnelly, Barton M. The Inhumanoids: Real Encounters with Beings that Can't Exist. Great Britain: CFZ Press. Copyright ©2011 by CFZ Publications.

Steiger, Brad. Real Monsters, Gruesome Critters, and Beasts from the Darkside. Canton, Michigan: Visible Ink Press. Copyright ©2011 by Brad Steiger.

http://www.americanmonsters.com/site/2009/12/green-clawed-beast-usa/

http://www.examiner.com/article/the-green-clawed-beast-is-it-safe-to-go-the-water

http://drvhitz.com/the-green-clawed-beast/

http://cryptomundo.com/bigfoot-report/that-damn-green-clawed-beast/

http://thedemoniacal.blogspot.com/2014/05/green-clawed-beastohio-river-monster.html

http://moonlightinvestigation.blogspot.com/2009/06/loveland-frogmen-and-green-clawed-beast.html

Acknowledgements

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Loren Coleman, Lyle Blackburn, Jerome Clark, Michael Newton, Bart Nunnelly, and Brad Steiger for all of their help and allowing me to use their books and other materials in my research. Without their help, this entry would've been very short. Thank you all, and I hope that you are very pleased with my work!

In general, the Pukwudgie (which means "little man of the wilderness") is described as being two to three feet in height (some say as tall as four feet) and look somewhat like humans, but the creature's physical features are somewhat exaggerated. Their bodies are covered with thick hair, having oversized noses (which are said to look like a dog's sometimes), big pointed ears, and oversized mouths filled with sharp, jagged teeth. This little monster is said to have smooth skin that is either bluish-gray or ashen in color. They have long fingers that are tipped with sharp talons. They are said to have a sweet odor and are usually associated with flowers. These creatures are sometimes said to wear clothes which they made from natural materials (like grasses, tree bark, leaves, reeds, tree limbs, and sometimes fur). This gives the Pukwudgie the ability to camouflage itself, enabling the creature to easily blend in with its forest surroundings. Sometimes the little troll is described as being able to glow in the dark, but this may have more to do with the Pukwudgie's magical powers than anything else.

According to Wampanoag legend, the Pukwudgie is said to possess a number of supernatural powers. Despite its diminutive stature, the Pukwudgie has a supernatural degree of strength, and thus can overpower a fully-grown man rather easily. Furthermore, this creature is able to appear and disappear at will, can emit flashes of light from its body, is able to call forth the forces of magic, can summon and control fire, and in addition, the Pukwudgie is able to shapeshift. Some tales say that the little troll can take the form of a porcupine that walks on its hind legs, while other accounts tell of this creature taking the shape of a dog, a bird, an insect, and a cougar. However, the creature may not be limited to these forms. The monster is also said to be able to confuse the minds of humans, and it has the power to cause harm to people simply by staring at them (similar to the European belief in the Evil Eye). But what perhaps is most disturbing is that the Pukwudgie is said to be able to control the souls of the people who have fallen victim to the creature's enticements (which it may do with its voice alone) and died as a result. The monster then turns these souls through magic into balls of light, which are known to the Wampanoag as "Tei-Pai-Wankas". These spirit lights are essentially the same type of phenomenon as the will o'the wisp, and the Pukwudgie uses them to lure innocent victims to their doom. Somehow, these lights are able to compel people to follow them, making them disregard their own personal safety in the process. This hypnotic effect causes the people to pursue the lights wherever they may lead, whether it's into the middle of a swamp, a pool of quicksand, or even straight off of a cliff. The lights may even take the enthralled person right back to the Pukwudgie itself! But regardless of how the troll gets ahold of its prey, it's still a nasty way to go.

Although the creature's powers are formidable, the Pukwudgie is known to use weapons to hunt and kill its prey as well. The little troll is known to use small knives (possibly made of bone or flint), pointed sticks, and bows that fire magic or poisoned arrows. The Pukwudgie is also fond of throwing a type of poison dust at its victims, and will even toss sand into the eyes of its prey. Additionally, it should be mentioned that the legends are rather vague as to what the Pukwudgie and its kin do after they have killed their prey. It would not be an unreasonable assumption that the Pukwudgies devour the flesh of their kills and store away the souls of their hapless victims for later use in their insidious "Tei-Pai-Wankas".

According to Loren Coleman's excellent book Mysterious America (2007), the Pukwudgie is said to inhabit the dismal Hockomock Swamp, which in itself is a part of the fabled Bridgewater Triangle in southeastern Massachusetts. This area is notorious for anomalous phenomena and strange occurrences, and is also known to be home to a variety of monsters, including Bigfoot, Thunderbirds, giant snakes, black panthers, phantom black dogs and, of course, Pukwudgies. This area, consisting primarily of dense swamplands, covers approximately two hundred square miles, with the towns of Rehoboth, Abington, and Freetown forming the points of the Triangle. On the inside of the Bridgewater Triangle are the towns of Raynham, Norton, the Bridgewaters, Mansfield, Taunton, Easton, and Brockton. The Native American tribes of the area have long viewed the Hockomock Swamp as being a sacred place, but they also see it as being dangerous and even evil at times. Several Native American burials have been discovered within the confines of the Triangle, which really isn't surprising considering that this area of the Bay State in all likelihood has the highest density of prehistoric sites in all of New England (Coleman 33-39). Given the area's history of high strangeness and Native American inhabitation, it really doesn't come as any surprise that the Pukwudgies choose to dwell within the confines of the Bridgewater Triangle and the Hockomock Swamp.

Although most modern-day encounters with the Pukwudgie take place in Massachusetts, stories and accounts of the little troll have also come from Maine, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and most interestingly, Indiana. According to Loren Coleman's newest book Monsters of Massachusetts: Mysterious Creatures in the Bay State (2013), most of the activity has occurred in the area of Mounds State Park in Anderson, which is located in the central part of Indiana (Coleman 64). The park itself contains ten ceremonial burial mounds, which may have been used for burying the dead (artifacts excavated from the mounds seem to confirm this). They were built by the prehistoric Adena culture, and the surrounding area was used by the later Hopewell Indians. It would seem that any area that was once (or still is) inhabited by Native American tribes is quite likely to be home to the Pukwudgies as well.

According to Wampanoag legend (and Christopher Balzano's article Pukwudgies: Myth or Monster?), the Pukwudgie wasn't always a vicious little monster. At one time, the little trolls were friends of humanity and would try to help people whenever they could. The only problem was that whenever they made any effort to help, it would backfire and become a huge catastrophe. The god-giant Maushop stepped in several times to clean up after the Pukwudgies. Maushop was beloved and revered by the Wampanoag as a hero and a creator (he was credited with having created most of Cape Cod, after all), while the Pukwudgies themselves grew jealous of the native people's love for the giant and began to despise him. Eventually, the diminutive trolls became so frustrated that they decided that if they couldn't help the Native Americans, they would make their lives miserable instead. They became mischievous, and gradually aggravated the tribes enough that the people went to Maushop's wife Squanit (sometimes called Quant) to complain. Squanit then went to Maushop and demanded that he do something about the tiny tricksters. The giant complied and began to gather up all of the Pukwudgies and put them into a leather bag. He shook the bag both violently and vigorously, until the trolls were thoroughly dazed and confused. Then, Maushop threw the Pukwudgies as far away as he could, scattering them all across New England. Satisfied with his work, Maushop went away to rest for awhile.

Unbeknownst to Maushop and his wife, the Pukwudgies were not so weak that they could be thrown away like so much garbage. Although many of them had died, some of these creatures had survived. Regaining their senses, they were now incredibly angry and vengeful because of the harsh treatment they had received and the deaths of their people at the god-giant's enormous hands. Hungry for revenge, the surviving Pukwudgies began making their way back to Massachusetts. Blood spilled demanded that the blood be repaid, and now there was hell to pay...

Satisfied that his work was done and that his wife was happy, Maushop went away to rest. But while he was gone, the Pukwudgies returned to Massachusetts. And in Maushop's absence, the diminutive trolls yet again changed the nature of their relationship with the Wampanoag. They began luring the Native Americans deep into the forests, and then proceeded to murder the people. But not only did the Pukwudgies kill the people, but the creatures also burned their villages and began kidnapping their children as well. Squanit once again intervened, ordering her lazy husband to do something about it. In reply, the god-giant sent his five sons to fix the problem. It was a decision that Maushop would forever regret...

Upon hearing their father's instructions, Maushop's five sons (some versions of the legend say that there were three) boldly headed into the woods in pursuit of the evil trolls. But unbeknownst to them, the Pukwudgies were prepared for the god-giant's plans this time around. The little monsters proceeded to entice the five sons deep into the tall grass where the tiny Pukwudgies were all but invisible to the larger giants. Once the brave warriors were within range, the Pukwudgies ambushed Maushop's sons and shot them with magic arrows, killing each one of them. Once this news reached Maushop and Squanit, the two were consumed with unbearable rage. They went out into the forest, killing every Pukwudgie they could find. However, some of them once again escaped and scattered themselves throughout New England. Eventually, the Pukwudgies regrouped and decided to end their problems with the giants once and for all. They tricked Maushop into the marshes and peppered him with arrows. Some say that the god-giant fell down dead, while others believe that Maushop was so upset about the deaths of his sons (what happened to his wife Squanit is unknown) that he went away and has remained hidden ever since. But regardless of which ending to the story one prefers, Maushop completely disappears from Wampanoag mythology at this point.

It is interesting to note that, according to Christopher Balzano's excellent article Pukwudgies: Myth or Monster? (first published on the Massachusetts Paranormal Crossroads website in 2005), the timing of these tales lines up precisely with the arrival of the first European settlers. The Europeans saw these little monsters as being soldiers in Satan's service, and believed them to be responsible for any evil or ailments that descended upon both the Native Americans and the settlers themselves. Eventually, the Wampanoag and the other tribes in the surrounding area became converted to Christianity and began to share the European views. With this, the myths and the folklore of the native peoples began to change, until the people began to see the Pukwudgie as being the hand of the Devil himself! But while most people believe the Pukwudgie to be nothing more than a myth, the people who know the forests of the Bridgewater Triangle will say otherwise...

Although the Pukwudgie is believed to be an ancient Wampanoag legend by most, it doesn't explain the fact that there have been a number of recent sightings of small, humanlike creatures that fit the general description of the Pukwudgie. And in each one of these encounters, the eyewitnesses have described feeling great fear, despite the fact that the witnesses are generally bigger than the creature itself. One of the most intriguing (not to mention chilling) encounters is that of Bill Russo, a retired ironworker (welder) who lives in Raynham, Massachusetts. His home was built on a knoll just a few hundred yards away from the Hockomock Swamp. For six years, Bill worked a shift from three in the afternoon till midnight. When he finally got home, it became his habit to take his eighty-pound female Rottweiler-German Shepherd mix Samantha for a late-night walk to get a little exercise and relax. They walked every single night, no matter what time of the year it was. And then everything changed one night...

On one night in 1995, Bill and Sam went out on their nightly walk at about one in the morning. Usually, the two friends walked on the sidewalks towards the center of town and avoided the swamps. That particular night, however, the two changed their routine up a little and cut through his backyard and headed into the deep woods next to the swamps towards an old dam that had once provided much-needed water power for an early ironworks. Sammy pulled Bill along into an area that he calls "the High Tees", and when they had gone about half a mile, they came to a break where a road cut through the swath. At this point, Samantha began acting up, pulling hard on her leach and looking up at Bill. She trembled and her hair stood on end, and looked at her master for protection. Bill asked her, "What's wrong, Samantha? I don't see anything. It's okay, baby. We'll go home now. Come on." He tugged on her leash, but she wouldn't move an inch. She was afraid of something, and according to Bill, Sam was not a dog that frightened easily. She just cried and quivered. It was clear that something in the darkness was terrifying the poor dog...

It wasn't long before Bill began to hear the thing that was frightening his beloved dog. It was faint at first, but it was unmistakable. An eerie voice was calling through the night air, saying "Eee wah chu. Eee wah chu. Keer. Keer. Eee wah chu." The high-pitched, unnatural voice repeated itself, getting louder and closer at the same time. At first, Bill couldn't see anything, even though there was a streetlight about twenty feet ahead of him. The lamp cast a bluish circle of light on the pavement in front of him. And then, in Bill's own words, "into the circle walked a hairy creature about three to four feet tall which probably weighed a hundred pounds." What happened next has been haunting Bill for almost twenty years...

"Eee wah chu, eee wah chu. Chew chew, eee wah chu.", the creature said repeatedly. It stood straight on two legs and stared at Bill "with eyes that were too large for its head - like the eyes of an owl." The two friends were paralyzed as they watched the creature, but the creature just stood there and didn't appear to be threatening. Samantha trembled, and then she looked at Bill as if to ask "What is it?" Bill looked at his dog and said "It's okay, Sam." in a somewhat unconvincing manner. The creature kept speaking and began to motion to him with its arms, asking him to come closer. The creature wasn't wearing any clothing to speak of, and "was covered in course, unkempt hair that was about five or six inches long." The thing appeared to have a pot belly, and Bill "took it to be in the young stages of old age." What in the world was he dealing with? Bill had no idea...

What was this thing? Possibilities began running through Bill's mind. Perhaps it was just a local kid, dressed up for Halloween? Then he realized that this thing couldn't possibly be a toddler, nor was it any animal that he had seen before. Bill had seen beavers, muskrats, foxes, and bears in the Hockomock Swamp, but this creature didn't even remotely look like any of those animals! Bill and Samantha stood there looking at the creature for what seemed to be hours, but in reality the encounter itself probably lasted only a few minutes. Although it appeared to be friendly and nothing overly threatening could be detected in its mannerisms, Bill had heard stories from other people about bizarre things that they had seen in the swamps, stories that he could neither confirm nor deny...

Bill was scared. The tiny creature was much smaller than he was, and yet he was still very frightened. Worse yet, it was the middle of the night, and the thing was talking to him! Bill eventually worked up enough courage and asked the creature a few questions, but the only answer that he received was "Eee wah chu" over and over again. It was at this point that Bill and Samantha made a very big circle around the creature and went home as fast as they could. The two friends didn't look back, not even once.

When Bill arrived home after the encounter, he was very shaken up about it. He made a big pot of coffee and kept drinking it throughout the night, one cup after another. That night, he relived the entire experience over and over again in the confines of his living room. He wondered if he should've tried to talk to the creature more, or if he should have at least walked up to it. "What was it? What did it say?", he asked himself. As near as he could figure, it was trying to speak English and was saying, "We want you. We want you. Come here. Come here." Bill took this to mean that there was more than one of these creatures. Needless to say, Bill didn't get much in the way of sleep that night.

To this day, almost twenty years later, Bill doesn't really know why the tiny creature wanted him. He has come to believe that he narrowly avoided his own death that night, but he also regrets not having taken action. "If I had been Darwin, or Dr. Livingston," he recounts, "I would have walked to the thing and would have made a great discovery and would have written a new chapter in human history. But I was just a weak, frightened man who slinked away and lost a chance to catalogue an entirely new species. I am ashamed to admit that I walked away."

Did Bill encounter a Pukwudgie that night? He believes that he did, and the description of the creature's appearance and behavior all point out that he may have indeed encountered one of these tiny trolls. If one buys into the legends, then Bill was very wise to walk away from the creature. If he hadn't, then it is very possible that the creatures would've made a meal out of Bill and his faithful dog, Samantha. The man also believes that as more and more of the Hockomock Swamp is filled, such encounters will become more and more commonplace. Who is to say that Bill isn't right?

Bill Russo's encounter with the Pukwudgie is just one of the many reported sightings of this little monster with the isolated confines of the Bridgewater Triangle (and elsewhere). And according to Christopher Balzano, a number of these sightings have taken place in the Freetown State Forest. A woman named Joan (no last name is given) was walking her dog Sid on a cold Saturday morning in April 1993 or 1994 (the exact date isn't certain). As they made their way down the path, the dog suddenly became anxious and strayed from the path. Joan followed, and when she found Sid, he was lying down flat in the leaves. Ten feet away and standing on a rock was a strange, troll-like creature that was "two feet high with pale gray skin and hair on his arms and the top of his head." She noted that the creature didn't seem to be wearing any clothes, but it was hard to tell because the creature had a distended stomach that hung down over his waist and just about reached its knees. She said that its eyes were a deep green color, that it had large lips, and it had an elongated, almost caninelike nose. Joan had never run into anything like this before...

The hairy little creature stood perfectly still and stared at the woman, with not even the slightest hint of an expression on its face. It's like the little monster was surprised to see her. Joan was frozen in place, and recalls feeling like "the air in her lungs had been pushed out." At that moment, her dog Sid finally came to, and ran back to the main trail, dragging Joan along with him. At the most, Joan's encounter lasted about half a minute, but her experiences with the creature didn't end there.

Joan still recalls the experience to this day, over twenty years later. She hasn't been back to the forest since then, but the creature still continues to haunt her. Since her experience, she had been visited by the little monster three times (or maybe more) while she's asleep. Although it hasn't tried to hurt her or to speak to her, it is still unsettling. She only sees it staring at her through the bedroom window, and even then the creature leaves once Joan takes notice of the creature. Each time this happened, Joan was fully awake and was able to move if she needed to. Could this be the Pukwudgie's trickster side showing? It's definitely a possibility.

To reiterate, Joan isn't the only one who has encountered the Pukwudgie. One man who lives in Framingham, Massachusetts claims that he's had not just one, but two different experiences with these creatures. Tim is a paranormal investigator, but his experiences have forced him to remain well away from the forests. In 1997, he was walking through the woods when a ball of light appeared to him. He became very excited, and pulled out his digital camera to take a photo. The orb suddenly disappeared, and his it reappeared a few feet away. Tim followed, and the orb repeated its actions several more times. Clearly, this light had an agenda...

It wasn't long before Tim realized that the ball of light had led him more than thirty feet off of the beaten path into a thickly-wooded area. Tim became frightened, and proceeded to make his way back towards the path. When he got there, he was startled to find a two-foot tall, manlike creature making its way towards him. Tim turned around and ran the other way, only looking back to see the creature walk into the woods. He noted that the thing was bipedal and walked with a slight limp, and that it had used its arms and hands to push branches aside, in the exact same way that a human does.

A few years later, Tim was waiting for a friend in a parking lot close to the exact same forest where he'd had his original encounter years earlier. The impish creature just stood there, watching him intently. Suddenly, Tim's car revved itself of its own accord. Then, the radio became louder. It was clear that there were unnatural forces at work here. In a panic, Tim backed out of the parking lot and took the long route home to get his hands to stop shaking so much.

What exactly did Joan and Tim see on those fateful days? Judging by the eyewitness descriptions, there is little doubt that these creatures were in fact Pukwudgies. But what is surprising is that, despite the Pukwudgie's propensity for violence towards humans, these creatures seemed content merely to frighten their victims. It's possible that, much like humans, each Pukwudgie varies in regards to personality. That is to say, perhaps some Pukwudgies are less evil than others, perhaps even to the point of being beneficial or helpful towards people. Keep in mind, however, that these individuals are likely to be few and far between. One can never tell with supernatural creatures...

And as for Tim's encounters, one is inclined to believe that the hairy creatures that he saw were Pukwudgies as well. But what about the ball of light that nearly put him in danger? If one believes the legends, then it may very well have been one of the Tei-Pai-Wankas. To reiterate, these orbs of light are said to be the souls of people killed by the Pukwudgies. The creature controls these orbs and uses then to entice more people into the forests, where they are killed to create even more of these lights. It is a vicious, never-ending cycle. However, while Massachusetts may be home to the Pukwudgies, it isn't the only state where these creatures are seen...

In the state of Indiana, often called the Crossroads of America, it is interesting to note that the Pukwudgie is said to dwell here as well. Author Michael Newton records in his book Strange Indiana Monsters (2006) that in June 1927, a ten-year-old boy by the name of Paul Startzman was walking along Indiana's White River when he discovered an abandoned gravel pit. There, he met a strange, barefoot creature that stood two feet tall and was wearing a light blue robe (which may have been a man's shirt that was taken from a clothesline). "We stood about ten yards apart and looked at each other," the young boy later stated. "He had thick, dark blond hair, and his face was round and pinkish in color, like it was sunburned." After a moment or two, the creature turned around and ran back into the woods.

A short time later (possibly within days), Paul was hiking with a friend in the same area. Paul and his friend came across a similar creature. Eerily enough, instead of immediately fleeing into the woods, this time the tiny creature followed Paul and his companion before the creature disappeared into the surrounding forests. Paul later repeated his encounters to some TV reporters. But one question remains: why did the Pukwudgie choose to reveal itself to the boy, and more than once? Interestingly enough, it was later revealed that the boy's mother was a full-blooded Native American. This could explain why the creature chose to show itself to the boy. It wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that the Pukwudgie might have been able to sense Native American blood running through the boy's veins. But what did the creature want? Perhaps it is for the best if that question remains unanswered.

For all of its formidable powers, the Pukwudgie does have a few weaknesses. Some people have speculated that these creatures are demonic in nature, while others believe that they may be closely related to the faeries of European folklore. It is said that both salt and iron (both of which are known defenses against faeries and demons alike) are feared by the Pukwudgie, so it may be possible that these tiny terrors are related to both faeries and demons. In a similar vein, it is believed that reciting the Lord's Prayer will frighten the Pukwudgie away. But according to Native Americans, the best defense against these little monsters is to simply ignore them. Acknowledging their presence or paying any attention to the little troll will only aggravate the creature, even if one sees it. Doing so will only cause the Pukwudgie to follow that person and cause them misery at every possible opportunity.

As for actually killing the Pukwudgie, Wampanoag folklore does not cite any specific methods for doing so. Decapitation and burning the creature's corpse afterwards are almost always effective for dealing with monsters and supernatural beings. However, burning the creature before it is actually dead would be unwise, since the Pukwudgie is able to manipulate fire and could easily turn such a blaze back on a would-be monster hunter. As mentioned earlier, the Pukwudgie abhors iron. This metal could easily be used to manufacture weaponry for destroying these creatures in the form of blades or projectile points. But be warned: if this creature isn't destroyed properly, then the Pukwudgie may very well return and seek revenge on its killers. Nobody wants that to happen.

Many (if not most) people in this day and age believe that monsters like the Pukwudgie are only a myth. But if that is indeed the case, then why do people keep seeing these creatures? If they aren't hallucinations, and it isn't mass hysteria, then what is it? Once can only come to the frightening conclusion that Pukwudgies do indeed exist, and that these eyewitnesses are telling the honest-to-God truth. But it also leaves one disturbing truth: that the Pukwudgie is out there stalking through the forests, hunting for its next victim...

Sources

Coleman, Loren. Mysterious America: The Ultimate Guide to the Nation's Weirdest Wonders, Strangest Spots, and Creepiest Creatures. New York: Paraview Pocket Books. Copyright ©2001, 2007 by Loren Coleman.

Coleman, Loren. Monsters of Massachusetts: Mysterious Creatures in the Bay State. Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books. Copyright ©2013 Loren Coleman.

Newton, Michael. Strange Indiana Monsters. Atglen, Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing Ltd. Copyright ©2006 by Michael Newton.

Weatherly, David. Strange Intruders. Arizona: Leprechaun Press. Copyright ©2011, 2012, 2013 David Weatherly.

Pukwudgies: Myth or Monster?

What's in Your Swamp? Perhaps Bridgewater Triangle Creatures

Legendary Native American Figures: Pukwudgie (Puckwudgie)

Pukwudgie (Monstropedia)

The Demoniacal: Pukwudgies

What Exactly is a Pukwudgie?

In Search of Puckwudgies

The Pukwudgie of Wampanoag Lore

Pukwudgie (Wikipedia)

Acknowledgements

I would like to take this time to thank Loren Coleman, David Weatherly, Christopher Balzano, Michael Newton, and Bill Russo for allowing me to use their books and articles in my research. Without their help, this would've been a very short entry. I cannot begin to tell all of you how much you have helped to expand my research, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate all of your help. I am forever indebted to each and every one of you, and I am proud to call all of you my friends. Thank you all so much, and I hope that my essay does you all proud!!

Everybody knows what a werewolf is. Ask anyone on the street and they will say that it is a bipedal, hair-covered creature with a man's body and the head of a snarling wolf that slaughters and devours hapless human victims. But there are few people that have ever heard of such a beast that returns from beyond the veil of death as a ghost. Such an entity is known as a phantom werewolf, which is the spiritual remains of a werewolf that died of unnatural causes (like being slain by a monster hunter) and whose remains were not properly disposed of (i.e. by burning the body to ashes). Other such manifestations may be more closely related to thought-forms, while others may be connected to a haunted place or an object. Whatever the case might be, such apparitions are terrifying to behold, and may even be dangerous.

Curiously enough, most manifestations of phantom werewolves seem to occur within the confines of the British Isles. Werewolf stories abound here, as do tales of ghosts and hauntings. It makes sense that there would also be stories of werewolf ghosts as well. Authors such as Donald F. Glut and the early twentieth-century ghost hunter Elliot O'Donnell have recorded such stories to share these experiences with others. One such case occurred in Merionethshire, Wales during the late 1880s, as recorded by J. Wentworth Day in the July 9, 1932 edition of The Passing Show. A professor from Oxford and his wife were having a guest over for the night in their small cottage in Merionethshire. While swimming in the lake the previous day, the professor found the skull of a large canid. Intrigued, he placed the skull on a shelf in the kitchen for later study. Shortly thereafter, the professor and his guest left the house, leaving his wife alone with the skull...

It was after dark, and the woman had no desire to be in the same room as the eerie skull. Her fear intensified when she heard something scratching at the kitchen door. Perhaps it was a dog? Regardless, she thought that it would be safest to lock the kitchen door. When she entered the kitchen, the woman found herself staring through the window at a hairy, manlike beast with the head of a wolf and glowing red eyes. And worse yet, the creature was trying to get into the house! Luckily, the professor and his friend returned shortly thereafter. Upon hearing the terrified woman's story, the two men decided to wait for the werewolf to return. This time, however, they would greet the beast with a loaded gun and couple of hefty clubs...

After waiting for several hours, the professor and his friend heard the telltale sound of claws scratching at the window. Quickly taking up their weapons, the men saw the beast staring with eyes that glowed like the hot coals in a fire. The men immediately ran off in pursuit of the creature, but the werewolf moved too fast! When the beast reached the edge of the lake, it completely disappeared, not even causing a ripple on the water's surface. The next morning, the professor put the skull back where he had originally found it. The werewolf's ghost was never seen again after that.

So, what was it that caused this beastly apparition to appear? In this case, the answer is a fairly obvious one: the professor not only disturbed the werewolf's remains, but he actually removed a portion of the remains (in this case, the skull) from their resting place. Not only did this disturb the spirit's rest, but it also made the spirit very angry as well, perhaps to the point of being willing to kill in order to retrieve its skull. But there is something else that is notable about this case: the woman actually heard the werewolf scratching at the kitchen door. This suggests that the ghost is actually able to materialize and take on a corporeal or semi-corporeal form, with which it would most likely be able to wound or even kill a person. This would make a phantom werewolf just as dangerous as the beast was while it was still living, perhaps more so because of its ghostly nature.

Another case investigated by Elliot O'Donnell involving a spectral werewolf occurred in the early half of the twentieth century, on the shores of the Baltic Sea in Estonia. A man and his sister by the names of Stanislaus and Anno D'Adhemar were invited to spend a few weeks at the country home of their friends, the Baron and Baroness Von A (their full name isn't given). They were taken there by a horse-drawn carriage one evening on a moonless night through a great pine forest. The two city-dwellers felt somewhat out of place here. There were birds they had never seen before, and these birds sang unusual songs. To these two siblings, it was quite refreshing. But being in a dark forest at night has its dangers as well as its wonders...

The road gradually became bumpy and uncomfortable, and the two began picking on each other and their driver. Soon they started getting drowsy, and sleep overtook them. In the quiet of the night, the driver gradually became aware of the sound of footsteps coming from behind the droshky (a type of carriage), but he did not know whether they were human or animal in origin. Whatever the pursuer was, the steps were getting louder. The driver felt the temperature drop, and huddled up with his furs. Before long, the horses heard the sounds as well. They whinnied and shivered, and then took off running, waking up the gentleman and his sister. The footsteps were getting closer yet, and the creature chasing them had to be very large. It sounded like a huge wolf, and even stranger was that it was taking strides like a man. A shudder went down the driver's back. Suddenly, the howl of a wolf echoed through the dark forest. Anno and Stanislaus asked what was wrong, and the driver shouted one word: "Wolves!" The passengers urged him to go faster, and soon the horses were running as fast as they could. Despite their best efforts, the footsteps were getting closer and louder...

Eventually, they saw it: a naked, gigantic figure surrounded by an eerie glow. The figure was manlike in shape and covered with hair, and its head had the features of a man and a wolf at the same time. Its body was that of a man, but the arms and legs were longer and covered with short hair. The hands and the feet were larger, having longer fingers and toes tipped with claws. The monster had a pale, white complexion, the ears and sharp teeth of a wolf, green eyes, and a hellish expression on its face. Seeing this hideous thing, the siblings and the driver were frightened out of their wits! The brother and sister had no idea what they were dealing with. They screamed aloud and beat the air with their fists, hoping to scare the animal off. The beast came nearer and nearer, until it was almost at arm's length away from the carriage. Soon it was running alongside the carriage, and the two passengers feared that it might take a slash at them with its clawed hands at any time. The creature's eyes seemed to glint, and it bared its fangs at the horrified brother and sister. They wondered how much longer it would be before death overtook them...

Suddenly, the driver turned violently and finally left the forest. The driver and his passengers were able to escape from the horrible creature, and when they next peered into the forest, the beast had vanished. Another hour passed, and soon Anno and Stanislaus arrived at the Baron's house, shaken but otherwise unharmed. Upon telling the Baron of their strange encounter, he profoundly apologized to them and revealed to them the truth about what they had seen. Many years ago, a werewolf had been slain on that very road. Ever since then, the road had been haunted by the werewolf's ghost. No further reports were recorded.

In some regards, this is a baffling case. Exactly why the werewolf is haunting the road is easy to guess: the beast was killed there. In ghost lore, it is a very common theme that dying a traumatic or otherwise sudden death is one of the best-known ways to become a ghost. But why did the apparition chase the carriage? If a living werewolf had been chasing the vehicle, it would've made more sense. Werewolves are best known for killing and devouring humans, but a spectral entity cannot eat. So, why was the ghost chasing them? Perhaps it has more to do with territory than anything else. During its life, the beast hunted and perhaps even lived in the forest. There is also the possibility that this particular werewolf used this road to ambush human prey and feed itself. It is possible that this phantom werewolf is seeking to protect its hunting grounds, even in death. Also, why couldn't it leave the confines of the forest? It is most likely because the pine forest was where the werewolf died. Most ghosts are tied to the site of their demise, either because of the emotional trauma that the place symbolizes to them or because their mortal remains rest there. But perhaps the spirit is simply seeking revenge for its wrongful death and wishes to rest in peace. The truth may never be known.

The late ghost hunter Elliot O'Donnell gives yet another case of a phantom werewolf, which also occurred in Merionethshire during the 1900s. He relates the story of a Miss St. Denis, who was staying at a farm when the encounter happened. The farm itself was a fair distance away from the village, but was close to the railway station. This station was small and was run by one person, who performed the duties of station-master, booking clerk, porter, and ticket-collector, all at the same time. Miss St. Denis, an artist by trade, enjoyed coming down to the station and painting the beautiful, picturesque Welsh countryside. It gave her a terrific view of the area and was usually deserted. In such a setting, she could paint without being disturbed and devote her full attention to her work. But on this particular night, she would find no peace in that lonely place...

One afternoon, she had stayed later than usual, and night was starting to fall. She was beginning to feel somewhat uneasy, but then she saw what appeared to be a man sitting on a truck a few yards away. She couldn't make out any facial features, but the figure had unusually bright eyes and remained completely silent as it stared at her. She coughed to try to break the ice, and when that didn't work, she coughed again. It had no effect at all. So this time she tried to speak to him, and said "Can you tell me the time, please?" But the figure just sat there and stared eerily at her. Things were getting a little bit too awkward for her tastes...

Miss St. Denis had finally had enough. She packed her belongings and walked out of the station, trying her best to act as if nothing had happened. The only thing that she wanted was to get as far away from the stranger as possible. Against her better judgment, she glanced behind her. To her alarm, the figure was following her! Quickening her pace, Miss St. Denis started to whistle. She realized that, if this man wanted to kill her, then her prospects looked very grim indeed. If she screamed, she knew that without a doubt nobody would hear her in the vicinity of the surrounding cliffs. To allow this man to continue stalking her was out of the question. There was only one thing left for her to do...

Without hesitation, Miss St. Denis spun around to confront her mysterious stalker, and demanded "What do you want? How dare you!" What she saw next would haunt her for the rest of her life, for her pursuer was nothing human. Instead of the rugged features of a man, the creature that she saw had the body of a man and the snarling head of a wolf. The head was covered in gray, shaggy fur, and the beast opened its mouth, revealing the long white fangs contained within its maw. The monster's eyes blazed with rage as the werewolf crouched down, readying itself to pounce upon the woman...

Without thinking, Miss St. Denis reached into her pocket and pulled out a small flashlight. She pressed the button, and focused the beam on the beast's face. As soon as the light hit the creature's face, the werewolf recoiled and covered its face with two pawlike hands to protect its eyes from the searing light. As Miss St. Denis stood there awestruck, the werewolf faded away and disappeared. Needless to say, the young lady hurried back home that night.

Despite having been terrified out of her wits by the ghostly encounter, the lady was curious about what she had seen. The next day, Miss St. Denis made several inquiries about the road where the beast had vanished. Unfortunately, there wasn't much of anything that the locals could tell her. The only thing that she learned was that peculiar remains had been unearthed at one of the quarries nearby. The bones appeared to be part human and part animal. She also discovered that local people avoided the area after dark. And now she knew why.

Merionethshire seems to be crawling with phantom werewolves. Elliot O'Donnell's own research appears to confirm this notion, and both O'Donnell and Miss St. Denis agree that what she saw that night was, in all likelihood, "the earth-bound spirit of a werewolf." The reason for the haunting is clear: at some point in time, the werewolf's earthly remains were disturbed and might have been moved, lost, or possibly even destroyed. This is undoubtedly the reason for the beast's anger as well. But why did the werewolf attack her? Perhaps she was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. There are many questions about this haunting, and finding the correct answers is difficult. This is clearly an intelligent haunting, as the creature is apparently self-aware enough to attempt to defend itself from the blinding glare of Miss St. Denis's flashlight. There must be some manner of supernatural connection between the flashlight and the apparition being forced to disappear. Maybe it just didn't like the light? According to some beliefs, sunlight could damage ectoplasmic forms. So perhaps bright light, while not as powerful as the light of day, could force such a ghost to dematerialize. But enough speculation, for there are other tales to tell...

Elliot O'Donnell makes note of another first-person account of an angry werewolf's ghost that is very similar (if not nearly identical) to the story of the Oxford professor and his wife that occurred in Merionethshire during the late 1880s. However, the encounter takes place in the area of Hebrides and is recounted by a man who goes by the name of Andrew Warren. Mr. Warren was about fifteen years old at the time and had been staying with his grandfather for a number of years, who was both an amateur geologist and an elder in the Kirk of Scotland. The elderly man's house was literally filled with fossils, which he had excavated from the many caves and pits within the vicinity of their house. Little did Mr. Warren and his grandfather know that one of those pits held a spectacular and frightening discovery...

One morning, Andrew's grandfather burst through the front door "in a great state of excitement," and made his grandson walk back to the site with him. They came upon a dried-up tarn, and at the bottom of the tarn was a human skeleton. But instead of having a normal human skull, the remains had the skull of a wolf. "It's a werewolf!", the elderly man proclaimed. He bade his grandson to help him carry the bones into the house, where they placed the remains on the kitchen table. The elderly man thought that the skeleton would undoubtedly make a priceless addition to his fossil collection, but little did he know that the werewolf's remains would instead cause his grandson terror beyond reason...

That night, the young Mr. Warren was left alone in the house while his grandfather and the rest of the household had gone to the kirk. He entertained himself by reading for awhile. Suddenly, he heard a noise near the back of the house and went into the kitchen to investigate. He heard nothing, and thought that it must have been a rat. He sat down at the table next to the remains of the alleged werewolf to see if the noises happened again. He waited, and suddenly heard the distinctive rapping of knuckles on the window-pane. He turned in the direction of the sound and, to his horror, saw the head and the face of a wolf with a human neck. The creature snarled at the boy, displaying its long, sharp teeth. The beast had pointed ears, green eyes, and stood erect on two legs. Andrew gazed at the creature with a mixture of horror and wonder, and the beast seemed to notice this. It raised a hand (which Mr. Warren noted was slender like a woman's and had very long, curved fingernails), as if it was about to break through the window...

Remembering what his grandfather had told his about evil spirits, Andrew made the Sign of the Cross upon his chest. It had no effect on the wolf-beast. Fearing for his life, the young man ran out of the kitchen and then slammed the door behind himself. He stayed in the hall until his family returned. When Mr. Warren recounted his story to them, his grandfather became very upset. The elderly man attributed his grandson's inability to make the ghost disappear to the young boy's lack of faith. Had the older man been there himself, he would have been able to repulse the apparition. Regardless, the grandfather still made the young Andrew help get rid of the bones that were lying in the kitchen the next day. The two men then reburied the skeleton in the bottom of the dried-up tarn where they had found the remains. No further incidents were reported thereafter.

Like the nearly-identical story recounted previously, these two men made the mistake of disturbing the werewolf's remains. But unlike the other account, the geologist and his grandson actually removed the entire skeleton from its grave. This clearly made the ghost very angry, and it seemed to be more than willing to tear Andrew apart in order to reclaim its mortal remains. But there is something particularly interesting about this case: the creature was actually heard rapping on the window. Furthermore, the apparition acted like it was actually going to smash the window. As noted previously, this seems to imply that the ghost is able to materialize itself and hence take on a corporeal form. In this way, it could most likely kill a person. Not a pleasant thought, to be certain.

Another tale comes from the town of St. Lizier. Two brothers were sleeping in an upstairs bedroom, and the only way in or out was a small staircase outside of the bedroom door. On one particular night, they heard the telltale sound of someone walking up the stairs. When the sounds ceased, the brothers were horrified to see "a huge wolf, the size of a calf." They could both see the beast with a great degree of clarity, as the night was clear and the moon was shining bright (no account of the phase of the moon is given). The beast just stared at the two men, clearly as surprised as they were...

At first, the two brothers just clung to each other with fright. And then one of them, with a sudden burst of courage, leaped to his feet and grabbed a pitchfork from a corner and thrust it menacingly in the beast's direction. The wolf quickly turned around, striking the bed with its tail, "producing a solid thump as if it were quite physical and material." The beast fled down the stairs and disappeared at the bottom of the staircase. Afterwards, the brothers were convinced that they'd seen a werewolf. A local man was under suspicion for these visits, as other people had seen the same thing. Strangely enough, what happened next isn't recorded.

Clearly this beast isn't an animal, but neither is it a run-of-the-mill phantom sighting. This is, in all probability, the manifestation of an etheric werewolf. This is similar to the magical practice of astral projection, except that an etheric projection is much more solid and can physically interact with living beings. In the case of a werewolf, that means that such an entity would be more than capable of physically harming a person or an animal. Luckily for the two brothers, this werewolf didn't seem to be interested in slaughtering and eating them.

Elliot O'Donnell recounts yet another (if rather short) story of a phantom werewolf from a woman that he'd met in Tavistock, Britain in the late 1900s, who claimed that she had seen a ghost that she believed was that of a werewolf some years previously in the Valley of the Doones, Exmoor. She was walking home late one night when, on the road in front of her, she saw a tall, gray figure with a man's body and the head of a wolf. The beast was moving very slowly towards a large rabbit, readying itself to pounce. The rabbit seemed to be too horrified to move or to otherwise escape. Suddenly, a stag burst through the bushes, alarming the wolf-beast so much that it disappeared. The lady confessed that, at that point, she hadn't even seen a ghost, nor had she particularly believed in them. However, that particular encounter convinced her of the existence of such things. She believed that she had seen the spirit of one of the werewolves referred to by Gervase of Tilbury and Richard Verstegan, "werewolves who were still earthbound owing to their incorrigible ferocity."

Out of all of the cases of phantom werewolves recorded here, one of the most fascinating (and the most frightening) is that of the Hexham Werewolf (although it would be more appropriate to refer to this spectral beast as the Southampton Werewolf). This case still intrigues and baffles both paranormal investigators and monster hunters alike, even to this day. In late May 1971 (or early June, as the exact date is disputed), an eleven-year-old boy by the name of Colin Robson was weeding the garden in his home's backyard, while his eight-year-old brother Leslie watched from an upstairs window. Suddenly, Colin made a strange discovery. Buried in the dirt was a rounded object, slightly smaller in size than a tennis ball. Colin wiped away the dirt on the object, and what the boy had found was a miniature stone head with a human face carved into it. Colin called for his younger brother Leslie to come see what he'd found, and the two boys decided to keep digging to see what else they could find. Soon after, Leslie unearthed a second, slightly bigger head. Little did the two boys realize that their finds might hold more significance than either of them could possibly know...

Excited by their trophies, Colin and Leslie brought the two heads into the house, where they washed the heads with water and cleaned them up. These things were clearly man-made, and the heads were carved from a heavy, greenish-gray sandstone that bore traces of quartz on their surfaces. The larger head had feminine features and resembled a witch. Vertical grooves were carved into the back of the head in imitation of combed hair, and traces of a yellowish-red pigment (possibly some sort of ocher) further enhanced the effect. The smaller head had the masculine features of a young boy, and it had the same vertical carved grooves on the back of the head. Although both had frightening expressions carved into their faces, the "girl" (as it came to be known) was definitely the scarier of the two heads, due to its witchlike features. However, the seemingly harmless heads would soon prove to be the Robson family's worst nightmare...

Almost immediately after the discovery of the heads, unexplained phenomena began to occur with the Robson household. The case was examined by journalist Paul Screeton, who has a keen interest in both folklore and the paranormal (and who recently authored the definitive book on the case, Quest for the Hexham Heads, in 2012). Paul was able to catalog these events when he began his investigation in 1977, saying that "The heads would turn around spontaneously, objects were broken for no apparent reason, and when the mattress on the bed of one of the Robson daughters was showered with glass, both girls moved out of their room." In other words, the Robsons were experiencing classic poltergeist activity inside of their house. Strangely, the Robsons weren't the only people to experience such phenomena. Their next-door neighbors, the Dodds, encountered something much more frightening...

A few nights after the discovery of the heads, Mrs. Nellie Dodd (her name is sometimes given as Ellen) had a terrifying experience with the evil of the Hexham Heads (as they've come to be known). Her ten-year-old son Brian had been ill from a toothache (other accounts say that it was Nellie's daughter Marie, who had a bad ear infection), and Brian had been complaining that something was moving around the bedroom at night and touching him. Nellie passed this off as late-night childish pranks, and she was becoming very irritated at her son's supposed antics. She decided to put a stop to it once and for all, and pulled herself up into her son's bed (the children slept in bunk beds). She was on the verge of falling asleep when she felt a "malevolent presence" in the room and saw a tall, dark shape. It started to move towards her...

At this point, the thing reached out and touched Mrs. Dodd's legs. She screamed loudly, and the creature dropped down on all fours and ran out of the room. The Robsons next door heard everything, and found the front door of the Dodds's house standing wide open. Upon questioning, Mrs. Dodd described the creature as being half man and half animal, with a sheep's body and a man's head with black hair (other accounts conflict with this, saying that the apparition was more wolflike, "something like a werewolf," one of the Robsons later said). After she screamed, Nellie reported that the creature "went padding down the stairs as if on its hind legs." Needless to say, the Hexham Town Council granted the Dodd family permission to move out and into another house soon afterwards.

As for the Robson family, they stayed in their home on Rede Avenue and never encountered the creature. However, they did experience other paranormal phenomena, most of which centered around the garden where the heads were unearthed. There was a strange glowing light seen in the exact same spot where the heads had been buried, and an odd "flower" kept reappearing in the exact same place during the Christmas season. Eventually, the heads were donated to Newcastle Museum, and the supernatural happenings in the Robson household ceased. But wherever the Hexham Heads go, trouble is sure to follow...

At the Newcastle Museum, the staff tried their best to find out exactly what the Hexham Heads were or where they had originally come from. In truth, they were completely confounded! They were so puzzled in fact that Dr. David Smith arranged for the heads to be examined by Dr. Anne Ross, an archaeologist and a leading Celtic scholar at Southampton University. Dr. Ross received the two heads in November 1971, and thus began her study of the objects. Dr. Ross believed that the Hexham Heads were both examples of Celtic head worship, and dated back roughly to the second century AD, making the heads at least eighteen hundred years old. Soon, however, Dr. Ross would wish that she had never laid eyes on the Hexham Heads...

In a 1978 interview with famed ghost hunter Peter Underwood, Anne made her feelings about the heads known. Right after she had taken possession of the heads, Anne took an instinctive dislike to the heads. She had planned to have them analyzed by a geologist and then to send them back up north as soon as she possibly could. Then shortly after that, Dr. Ross would resume her life as usual. Little did she know that she would soon have the fright of her life...

A couple of nights after the Hexham Heads had arrived at her home, Dr. Ross had a horrifying encounter of the beastly kind. She was sound asleep in her bed at home when, at about two in the morning, she was suddenly awakened feeling "deeply frightened and very cold." Anne glanced towards the bedroom door, and saw a dark figure moving towards the door. As Dr. Ross recalled, "It was about six feet high, slightly stooping, and it was black, against the white door, and it was half animal and half man. The upper part, I would have said, was a wolf, and the lower part was human." As the creature moved out of the bedroom, Dr. Ross was suddenly seized by an overwhelming compulsion to run after the beast. She quickly climbed out of bed and ran into the hallway. The wolflike figure was halfway down the stairs, and Anne could very clearly see the menacing figure (as she always kept the hallway light on at night for the sake of her five-year-old son). As she watched, the creature leapt over the balustrading (a small pillar that holds up the handrail of a staircase) and landed on the floor with a heavy, distinct thud. Then, it turned and fled out of sight towards the kitchen. Anne pursued the creature to the bottom of the stairs, and then the compelling force that had made her run after the beastly thing suddenly vanished. Dr. Ross became too frightened to go any further at this point in time.

Anne's husband Dick (a commercial artist by trade) came downstairs, having been awakened by the commotion. Dick, upon hearing his wife's story, thoroughly searched the house for any signs of intrusion or forcible entry. However, he could not find anything amiss, nor was there any kind of indication that a large animal had gotten into the house. The couple eventually concluded that Anne must've had a nightmare, as real and as vivid as it may have seemed. Eventually, Anne and Dick would finally realize that the beast's visitations were not merely a bad dream...

Four days after Anne's initial encounter, the wolf-beast struck again. Anne and Dick were spending the day in London on business. At about four o'clock that afternoon, their teenage daughter Berenice (who was fifteen years old at the time) came home from school. She walked in through the door and, to her horror, the first thing she saw was a large black figure standing on the stairs. It didn't take Berenice long to realize that the thing on the stairs was more animal than human. As she stared, the beast rushed down the stairs towards the terrified girl...

Suddenly, the beast jumped over the stairway railing and landed in the hallway with a soft thud (which gave Berenice the impression that the creature had padded feet like an animal) and ran away on all fours towards the family's music room. Like her mother, Berenice felt an unnatural urge to pursue the beast, and she ran after the shadowy thing. But when Berenice reached the music room, she found that the black figure had disappeared into thin air. This left the poor girl scared half to death, and she stayed that way until her parents came home at about six o'clock that evening. Dr. Ross recounts that, when they found her, "she was deathly pale and clearly in a state of shock." The girl then told her parents what she had seen, after some convincing and coercing on the part of Anne and Dick. Berenice later said that she was distinctively aware of the beast's wolflike nature, which she described as being "as near a werewolf as anything." After calming the girl down, they searched the house and, as they had expected, found no signs of an intrusion.

The Hexham Werewolf was by no means finished with the Ross family, though. Supernatural happenings continued to plague the Ross household, and they seemed to be centered around the stairway. Anne reported that she often felt cold spots on the stairs, and heard the soft footfalls of an animal close to the staircase. Loud crashes and other phantom sounds were heard, and several doors within the house began to open and slam themselves shut of their own volition. Furthermore, Anne and Berenice both saw a "dark figure" while they descended down the stairs together, and they heard it land on the hallway floor after it leaped over the rail. But the sinister werewolf was not seen by the Ross family again after that.

Eventually, Dr. Ross learned about the troubles of the Robson and the Dodd families. She discovered how Colin and Leslie Robson had dug up the heads and that, soon afterwards, a similar entity to the wolflike beast she had seen made itself known to the Robsons' neighbors, the Dodds. At this point, Anne had made the connection between the Hexham Heads, the werewolf sightings, and the supernatural occurrences, and she decided that it would be best to get rid of the heads. And not only did she dispose of the Hexham Heads, but Dr. Ross also threw out her entire collection of authentic Celtic stone heads, just to be on the safe side. She never wanted to see the accursed things again for as long as she lived.

After Dr. Ross got rids of the artifacts, they disappeared for awhile and eventually resurfaced, this time in the hands of inorganic chemist and author Dr. G.V. Robins, otherwise known to his friends as "Don." Dr. Robins was well aware of the haunted reputation of the Hexham Heads, but he never encountered the Hexham Werewolf itself. He did, however, encounter what he described as a "stifling, breathless" atmosphere around the "girl" head. And on the day he picked up the heads to bring them back home with him, the electrical system in his car abruptly failed. Dr. Robins noted that he hadn't experienced these particular problems until that particular day.

Eventually, Dr. Robins gave the heads to a dowser by the name of Frank Hyde. Mr. Hyde wanted to determine if the Hexham Heads did indeed have any supernatural properties. He then created a casing of copper mesh, which he hoped would nullify the manifestations associated with the heads. Apparently, this worked very well. But it is interesting to note that soon after this, a man named Desmond Craigie came forward and claimed to have lived at No. 3 Rede Avenue for some years before the Robson family. Not only that, but Mr. Craigie claimed to have made the Hexham Heads himself! With that, the controversy began to grow...

In 1972, a year after the Hexham Heads started making headlines (pun intended), Desmond Craigie claimed to have made the stone heads. He had lived in the Robsons' house for thirty years with his father, and he had "made these heads from local stone, sand and water" in 1956 as toys for his daughter, Nancy. He had been working at an artificial stone firm and had originally made three heads, but he had apparently broken one of them and threw it away as a result. The remaining two were later lost in the garden. Mr. Craigie thought that it was "really funny to think about all the fuss that is being made about them." In his book, however, Paul Screeton describes Craigie as being a "legendary mischief-maker" and an "artisan, iconoclast, trickster, and pantomime villain rolled into one." So, one might be able to rule out Desmond Craigie's claim as a hoax or as an attempt to cash in on the infamy of the Hexham Heads.

Where are the Hexham Heads now? The heads haven't been seen since February 1978, and they have yet to resurface. It is rumored that the heads were eventually buried in an undisclosed location in order to put an end to the supernatural manifestations associated with the heads. Maybe they were even destroyed. In other words, the current location of the Hexham Heads is unknown. Perhaps that is for the best.

The saga of the Hexham Heads raises another, altogether different question: what was the wolflike beast seen by the Dodds and the Ross family? It was called "a werewolf" several times by eyewitnesses, and the beast fits the profile of a phantom werewolf as has been established through the numerous eyewitness accounts recorded here. But was this entity truly a spirit of the dead? In all likelihood, probably not (although it can't be ruled out entirely). The behavior of the Hexham Werewolf doesn't entirely fit into the traditional mold of a ghost. But if this creature isn't a werewolf, and it isn't a ghost, then what is it?

Over the years, a number of paranormal experts have developed a number of different theories in an effort to explain the paranormal activity surrounding the Hexham Heads and the appearances of the ghostly werewolf. One of the most prevalent (if somewhat dated) of these is the so-called "stone-tape theory." This theory, while scientific rather than supernatural in nature, does bear some merit in the case of the Hexham Heads. According to the stone-tape theory, certain types of rock that contain large amounts of the crystalline mineral quartz (which is widely used in electronic devices of all kinds) may have the ability to store energy in the form of so-called "place-memories" and images from the past. Theoretically, it would be possible to "replay" those distant memories by "exciting" the stone or crystal through electrical impulses applied to the stone in question. But what if psychic energy were stored? This could mean that a person's thoughts and mental images could also be stored and projected into the environment under specific conditions. But does this theory explain the spectral werewolf and the poltergeist phenomena experienced? One might say "No. No, it does not." Such manifestations cannot be explained by science as being mere "place-memories" or projections of psychic energy.

Another theory of interest in regards to the Hexham Werewolf is the "Deck of Cards" theory, developed by Steve Jones. This theory states that many entities in folklore and legend are shapeshifters, and that these entities may appear differently to each individual that encounters it. According to Steve, "There are a series of archetypes like a deck of cards in our minds." When a person encounters such an entity, "the mind shuffles the deck and deals a card so that one person may see a large hooded shape, another a small one, another a black dog, etc." In other words, the same entity will appear as a different entity or creature to different people. It is interesting to note that Anne Ross was obsessed with werewolves as a child, while Nellie Dodd had a familiarity with sheep. This suggests that some manner of shapeshifting entity had attached itself to the Hexham Heads and, when the two families respectively encountered a sheeplike creature (which was seen by the Dodd family) and a phantom werewolf (which was encountered by the Ross family), both families were most likely interacting with the same entity. But this doesn't explain everything, does it? What about the poltergeist activity and the semi-corporeal traits of the manifestations? The Ross family heard the werewolf walking down the stairs, while Nellie Dodd was actually touched by the sheeplike entity. What about the cold spots, the phantom sounds, and the strange glow in the garden that were experienced by the Robsons and the Ross family? Can these anomalous happenings be explained by the "Deck of Cards" theory? Perhaps some of it, but not necessarily everything.

One of the most likely theories comes in the form of a question: what if the Hexham Werewolf is a guardian spirit, conjured up by ancient pagans to protect the Heads? This would not only explain the appearances of the phantom werewolf, but would (to an extent) explain some of the other paranormal occurrences as well. However, if Desmond Craigie is indeed a hoaxer, then where did the Heads actually come from? Dr. Douglas Robson (of no relation to the Robson family who discovered the Hexham Heads), an archaeologist who examined the artifacts, says that "if the heads were ancient they could have been made from quartz grains mixed with limestone." Lime plaster was used extensively by the Romans, so it is quite likely that the Hexham Heads are actually Romano-Celtic in origin. Anne Ross, it should be noted, saw stone heads of a similar appearance and style in France (which was part of Gaul in Roman times). This, along with the information given above, may indicate that the Hexham Heads are indeed ancient.

So, if the Hexham Werewolf actually is a guardian spirit of some sort, how did it come into this plane of existence? The answer may quite simply be druidic magic. It is a known fact that the ancient Romans appropriated and adapted the technology of the people they conquered, so who's to say that the Celts didn't make the Hexham Heads using adapted Roman technology? Exactly how the Druids summoned this entity is unknown, but it would have undoubtedly involved blood sacrifices (possibly of the human variety) and complex incantations designed to call down and bind such an entity to the Heads. It's possible that these artifacts were intended for use as a weapon against the Celts' Roman enemies. It is also very interesting to note that the Celts had a head cult, where they literally worshipped the severed heads of their enemies (although they also carved stone heads for the same purpose). Is it possible that the guardian spirit was summoned to protect these pagan idols? Possibly, but summoning such things is fraught with danger. One risks serious injury, death, or even bodily possession from such things.

As for the guardian spirit itself, the Hexham Werewolf never actually hurt anyone. However, it did induce feelings of lasting terror in the people who saw it. Maybe the beast was only trying to frighten them, although it most certainly could've inflicted serious harm on the eyewitnesses if it had wanted to do so (as the beast may have been able to assume a corporeal form if it had wished). This also explains the poltergeist effects, the sense of a "malevolent presence", and the phantom sounds, as they may have been intended to scare the witnesses into getting rid of the Heads, or returning them to their original resting place. Eventually, the werewolf did manage to scare away all of those who came into possession of the Hexham Heads. And as to where the Heads lay now, nobody knows.

There is one other point worth considering. Nearly seventy years prior to the events in Hexham and Southampton, sightings of a large wolf and reports of mutilated livestock began turning up around the village of Allendale in December 1904 (which coincidentally is seven miles southwest of Hexham). The corpses of several sheep were discovered nearby, having been brutally slaughtered and partially eaten. In addition, many of the living animals had what appeared to be bite marks on the legs. And according to one account, the beast confronted a group of women and children, only to be frightened away by the sounds of their screams. A local newspaper, The Hexham Courant, told of the efforts of the locals, which at one point armed themselves and coalesced into a party of over one hundred people in an attempt to hunt down the beast and put an end to its depredations.

Eventually, the body of a large wolf was found thirty miles away on a railroad in Cumwinton (yes, it's a funny name). Could this have been the animal responsible for the carnage in Allendale? Maybe so, but the Beast of Allendale (as it was called at the time) was never caught, and the attacks themselves suddenly stopped in early 1905. Could this creature have been a werewolf that, when it died, attached itself to the buried stone heads in nearby Hexham in order to keep terrorizing the living, even after death? It stretches credulity a bit (okay, quite a bit), but in the world of the supernatural, anything seems to be possible. But what about the Hexham Heads themselves? Where are they now? Nobody knows for sure, and perhaps that is for the best.

The final account of a phantom werewolf comes from a man by the name of Nick Redfern. Nick is a widely-respected cryptozoologist, ufologist, Fortean researcher, and a monster hunter who has had more than his share of anomalous experiences, but nothing could have prepared him for something quite like this. In happened in August 2002, after he had gone to bed. It was about four o'clock in the morning, and Nick was lying in bed, "awake and yet not awake." He couldn't move, and to make matters worse, he became aware "that something was slowly heading down the corridor that linked the bedroom to the living room." Even though he couldn't see it, Nick knew that it was "a man-sized figure with the head of a wolf and dressed in a long black cape." The creature emitted a series of "strange and rapid growling noises" that made it sound like it was talking to him in another language. Whatever the beast was, it "seemed mightily ticked off about something." It was getting closer to Nick's bedroom door...

"As it closed in on the room," Nick recounts, "I made a supreme effort to move my rigid form and finally succeeded, just as the man-beast entered the bedroom. In an instant it was gone, and I was wide-awake." According to modern-day psychologists, what Nick experienced was a state known as sleep paralysis. In this state, one is awake but is incapable of moving. But what about the growling, cape-wearing wolfman that Nick encountered that night? That he attributes to hypnagogia, which is the state in between wakefulness and sleep in which a person is susceptible to an enormous and widely varied range of sensory experiences. In such a state, people have heard voices, buzzing, humming, roars, nonsensical talking, hissing, rushing, screams, and whispers. But not only that, but people have also reported seeing fully-formed apparitions and even disembodied heads. But is that it, or is there more to Nick's encounter than a mere psychological phenomenon? Perhaps even something supernatural?

Interestingly enough, at the time of his encounter, Nick was deeply involved in writing his excellent book, Three Men Seeking Monsters (2004). This book focuses on the notion that many of the creatures that cryptozoologists pursue might not be flesh and blood animals, but rather could be paranormal in nature. It that vein, the caped wolfman could've been a tulpa (a thought-form). By definition, a tulpa is a creature or an entity that attains corporeal reality, having been previously only imaginary. In other words, it is a person's thoughts that have taken on a solid, physical form by entering this plane of existence through that person's use of spiritual or magical practices. But how did Nick do this? Perhaps because of his intensive concentration on writing the book and researching supernatural beings, Nick was able to bring this odd creature into a physical existence, if only briefly. Or maybe the apparition was trying to warn Nick to stop his research (which would explain why the beast seemed so angry). Either way, Nick didn't listen and continues to write some of the best works on monsters and the paranormal to date. And since that night in 2002, Nick hasn't seen the beast. And as for what he saw, Nick states, "For me, the jury is still open."

Having gone through a number of eyewitness accounts, one has to ask: what is the true nature of these phantom werewolves? Are they merely ghosts, or is there more to it than that? A few of the traits of these phantom beasts has thus far been established: they are able to appear and disappear at will, and they are able to take on a physical or semi-physical form in which they are able to cause serious injury on any potential victims (and more than likely possess the same unnatural strength, agility, and speed as their living counterparts) using their vicious claws and needle-sharp teeth. They oftentimes have eyes that glow an unnatural red, yellow, or even green in the dark. Furthermore, they tend to dematerialize and disappear entirely when physically confronted by humans. These beasts seem to be spirits of the dead in most cases, while in others they seem to be guardian spirits or thought-forms. And when examined under scientific scrutiny, they make little or no sense at all.

To understand the nature of the phantom werewolf, one must view it from another perspective. To do this, one must step into the shadowy realm of the occult and search for answers there. In John Michael Greer's book Monsters: An Investigator's Guide to Magical Beings (the 2011 revised edition), one may find some of the answers to these questions. But to do this, some explanation of magical theory is necessary. According to his research, the body goes through three different stages in the dying process (although only the first two are of any relevance here). The first part is known as the First Death, and involves the separation of the physical body from three of the four "subtle bodies" (the astral body, the spiritual body, and the mental body), while the etheric body remains inside the physical body. The second stage is known as the Second Death, and involves the separation of the etheric body from the physical body. But sometimes, the etheric body becomes trapped between the First Death and the Second Death. This can happen if the death is very violent or sudden, especially if powerful negative emotions are involved (i.e. rage, pain, hatred, or fear). This may also occur if a dying person remains in a specific emotional state in a certain place for an extended period of time. In either case, those emotions anchor the etheric body to the material plane and prevent the Second Death from occurring (at least in part). In essence, a ghost is created.

Magicians believe that shapeshifting isn't a physical process (a view not necessarily shared by this blog), but rather occurs on an etheric level. The etheric body, out of all of the other "subtle bodies", is the one closest to the physical body, existing in both time and space, and is therefore capable of directly affecting the physical world. The etheric body can be reshaped and molded according to one's willpower and imagination. And when the energies within the etheric body are focused and concentrated, the etheric body becomes corporeal to a certain degree, and is almost as solid as the physical body. The touch of an etheric being can thus be felt by a living person (or an animal), but it may also be able to harm or to even kill a living being. When at rest or otherwise diffused, those very same etheric energies are reduced to the point of intangibility and become invisible to the human eye.

But how do shapeshifters use this kind of magic to achieve such a transformation? In magical practices, there is a technique called etheric projection in which half of the etheric body remains in the physical body, while the other becomes a sort of "vehicle" for out-of-body traveling. Most often, the etheric body retains the shape and the features of the physical body. As mentioned earlier, the etheric body is very pliable and can be reshaped, much like clay. Through the application of certain magical techniques, it is possible to reform the etheric body into an animal shape which is, according to Greer, "charged with etheric substance drawn from sources outside the body." If done correctly, one will be able to imbue the etheric body with an animal's power and its powers of perception as well. This reshaped and empowered etheric form is known as the animal body of transformation. This is a semi-physical animal form that can be used for a wide variety of purposes. This body gives the magician the animal's abilities (i.e. strength, speed, endurance, and agility) and its senses as well.

There are two methods of shapeshifting in this manner. Once can best be described as projecting the etheric body outwards into the environment while the physical body remains safe elsewhere (usually in a deep trance). The other method occurs while the practitioner is awake and active in the physical body. The etheric body, in this case, actually surrounds the physical body, creating a sort of etheric shell that gives the shapeshifter the outward appearance of an animal. In addition, the etheric shell enhances the practitioner's own abilities with those of the animal aspect. This gives the otherwise-human shapeshifter greater strength, agility, speed, and endurance as well as the animal's senses. This latter technique, according to Greer, seems to be the only method that can be used to injure or kill other living beings.

One might be inclined to ask what these notions have to do with sightings of ghostly werewolves. However, the explanations above give some possibilities in regards to the origins of such apparitions and why they appear to people. These phantom werewolves could be the cast-off etheric bodies of humans who practiced shapeshifting using magical techniques (like the animal body of transformation) who died while in such a transformed state. If the death was sudden enough, some degree of consciousness or intelligence may remain within the etheric body (since the etheric body is closest to the physical body in a metaphysical sense). In ghost lore, this leads to what is known as an intelligent haunting.

However, there is a problem with this hypothesis. Metals like iron and silver are highly conductive to an etheric charge. When a metal object passes through the core of the animal body of transformation (like the heart), it causes a chain reaction that in turn causes the body of transformation to implode. Without a way to rejoin the physical body, the practitioner usually dies of etheric shock and immediately goes through the Second Death. This is especially true if the shapeshifter is projecting his etheric self from a distance. But if the shapeshifter's physical body is present within the animal body of transformation, the results are somewhat less dramatic. However, the shapeshifter may still die from a combination of physical shock and what John Michael Greer calls "etheric rebound."

The problem here is that since the animal body of transformation disappears when the physical body dies, there is usually very little chance of the etheric body becoming a ghost. But in some cases, the shock of death (especially a sudden or violent one) and strong emotional distress may trap the animal body of transformation between the phases of the First Death and the Second Death. In the process, this anchors the body of transformation to the physical plane while it is still in the shape of a wolf, creating a phantom werewolf. This entity behaves like a ghost, but still retains its bestial form and many of the abilities it had while the shapeshifter was alive. Since the consciousness or intelligence may very well remain within the etheric body (and therefore the individual's willpower as well), the entity may be able to manipulate the etheric substance of its body and thereby interact with the physical world if it chooses to. But since not all shapeshifters employ an animal body of transformation (it is possible that a number of shapeshifters do physically transform, including werewolves), this explains why such encounters with phantom werewolves seem to be few and far between.

Like most ghost lore states (most phantom werewolves are a type of ghost, after all), there may be a few ways to keep such entities at bay. According to folklore, salt is one of the best defenses against all manner of ghosts, demons, witches, evil spirits, and vampires because of its purity and preservative properties (salt is also used in making holy water). An unbroken line of salt across any door's threshold or any windowsill will keep most supernatural entities from entering through that particular opening, but only as long as the line of salt remains unbroken. Another thing that ghosts abhor is iron. Folklore (especially European folklore) states that iron is dangerous to many supernatural beings, but is particularly harmful to ghosts and faeries. It seems likely that a piece of iron (some say that it should have an edge or a sharp point) that makes contact with a ghost (or an etheric body) will drain the energy used by the ghost to manifest itself, and will temporarily dispel the spirit's form (or in the words of John Michael Greer, it will cause "an etheric short-circuit"). However, this is only a temporary measure, as the ghost will eventually appear again. These defenses can also be used against a phantom werewolf. Silver can also be used to the same effect, as an etheric body may be able to resist the effects of etheric disruption caused by iron, or it may be completely immune to the metal. Also, fleeing across a stream or a flowing river is an ideal way to escape from such entities. In magical traditions, running water is known to be an "etheric eraser," and any etheric being caught in running water will be destroyed (or at least dispelled) very quickly (a ghost will pass into the Second Death immediately, as will a phantom werewolf). Prayer may or may not work (most likely depending on one's faith in God), but it is certainly worth a try. But because the phantom werewolf is so unique, some of these methods may not work. Still, it is a good idea to try everything and hope for the best.

Although the methods of escaping and warding off these particular entities have been established, there is still one question that remains: how does one destroy a phantom werewolf? One cannot kill something that is already dead, so it must be dealt with in other ways. As mentioned above, luring one of these spirits into cold running water will most likely destroy it, causing it to pass into the Second Death. The colder and purer the water, the more powerful the effect on the ghost will be. However, this isn't guaranteed to work, and luring this ghostly beast into a river or a stream may prove to be next to impossible. Therefore, another means of putting the ghost to rest must be utilized. One must seek out the werewolf's bodily remains, and the remains must be salted and burned into cinders. The salt must be pure, without any iodides or impurities. This will effectively sever the ghostly werewolf's physical ties to the material plane and will force the entity to pass on to either its eternal reward or everlasting punishment (most likely the latter, as becoming a werewolf and murdering innocent people will inevitably lead to eternal damnation and suffering in Hell). Such measures will ensure that the spectral beast is never seen or encountered again.

Despite the ongoing research and speculation, the phantom werewolf remains something of an enigma. Nobody is truly sure what the true nature of these spectral beasts are, nor does anyone know what it is that binds these spirits to the earthly plane. But what are they? Are they ghosts, bound to the physical world due to their bestial ferocity in life and the violent circumstances of their deaths? Are they guardian spirits, conjured up from another realm to protect a place or an object? Or could they be thought-forms, summoned up from the darkest recesses of the subconscious human mind into this world? The truth is that these entities could be all of these things, and more. But this doesn't change the fact that phantom werewolves are very dangerous entities and could very easily kill a person if so inclined. But when it comes down to it, it is always wisest to exercise caution when dealing with supernatural beings. Without caution, there could be death in one's future...or worse.

Sources

Adams, Paul & Eddie Brazil. Extreme Hauntings: Britain's Most Terrifying Ghosts. Stroud, Gloucestershire: The History Press. Copyright ©2013 by Paul Adams & Eddie Brazil.

Swamps have always been held in deep fear by people, and with good reason. A number of fearsome monsters and entities are said to lurk within the Louisiana swamps. Among these are the Rugarou, the Honey Island Swamp Monster, boo hags, ghosts, vampires, boo daddies, hairy hominids, giant alligators, enormous snakes, and reptilian humanoids. But there is one among them that is said to be truly hideous, an unnatural hybrid of man and alligator. The Cajuns know this monster as the Parlangua, the Alligator Man.

According to legend, the Parlangua (pronounced par-lann-gwah) is a reptilian humanoid that is half man and half alligator. It is said to stand up to ten feet in height, having an elongated snout filled with needle-sharp teeth and a tough hide covered in green scales, fingers and toes that end in black talons, glowing red eyes, and a long tail (which can be used as a weapon). Although alligators and all known crocodilians let out a hiss when angry, the Parlangua is said to have an extremely loud roar that reverberates through the swamps. This unnatural hybrid beast is said to possess superhuman strength and endurance, while the creature’s hide is reputed to be bulletproof. It is unknown if blades may pierce this monster’s defenses.

The Parlangua is said to reside in Rapides Parish, Louisiana. This area mainly consists of undeveloped woodlands, protected wildlife sanctuaries and wilderness areas, and swampland (with the exception of the nearby city of Alexandria). It is here that the legend started, with sightings going back to the 1970s (although sightings then and today are few and far between). None of them have been verified or recorded by means of photographs or film. It would seem that the Parlangua is mostly unsubstantiated rumors and an urban legend.

According to Inuit legend, the Ahkiyyinni appears as decaying human corpse. Strands of rotting flesh hang from the creature’s face and body. The creature is described as having a skull-like countenance, with black pits standing where the monster’s eyes used to be. His body is skeletal and covered in desiccated flesh, and its ribs protrude from its sunken chest. Furthermore, the Ahkiyyinni is able to manipulate water through magical means, and this makes the revenant even more dangerous. This the creature does through its dancing, which channels supernatural energies from the creature into the earth and causes the rivers to rise and flood the surrounding land. Anyone caught in these supernatural tides will quickly be pulled under, where they will die an agonizing death by drowning. Even those who think themselves safely ashore are likely to be swept into the waters by the violent waves.

It is said that the Ahkiyyinni was once a handsome and athletic young Inuit hunter who lived on the frozen shores of a river with his tribe. However, the man had one all-consuming passion: dancing. It is said that the beauty and power of his dancing had made him known far and wide in what is now Alaska and the northern parts of Canada. Then one day, tragedy struck. Ahkiyyinni died (it is has not been revealed as to how he died), and he was buried on the top of a hill that overlooked the nearby river where his tribe had made their home. He was interred with much ceremony, and his people mourned the dancing brave's death greatly. Ahkiyyinni rested peacefully within the confines of his grave for years as his people went on with their lives, no longer mourning but never forgetting the young man, either. For now, the dancing brave was at peace...

Many years passed before Ahkiyyinni's rest was disturbed by the ignorance of foolish humans. One day, a boat filled with young men floated past his grave. Remembering the young man who rested there, they made a number of jokes about the dead man's inability to dance within the tight confines of his grave. Unfortunately for the young men, the now-decomposed corpse heard their cruel jests and seethed with anger. Ahkiyyinni then furiously clawed his way out of his grave, and once he had reached the surface, he began to dance feverishly. In the depths of his passion, he ripped one of his own shoulder blades and began to beat on it like a drum. The men saw the reanimated corpse and screamed with horror as Ahkiyyinni cackled maniacally. As the creature danced, magic began coursing through the revenant's limbs and brought chaos to the land around him. The earth began to shake with his footsteps, and the beating of his drum caused the waters of the river to rise. The young men profusely apologized and begged for their lives to be spared, but Ahkiyyinni would hear nothing of it. He flashed them a wicked grin, and danced even more savagely. The rising waters began thrashing about in response to the creature's rhythmic dancing. Eventually, the boat overturned itself, and the young men drowned.

Thus was the dreaded Ahkiyyinni born. Reveling in his new-found powers, the creature found itself very hesitant to return to the confines of its grave. Thus, it set out to find out what had changed during the many years he had been dead. But much to his dismay, the Ahkiyyinni found that it could not venture far from the water’s edge without feeling the pull of the grave and being compelled to return to the earth. Driven insane as a result, Ahkiyyinni vowed to kill any human who crossed his path. It is said that this creature still roams the shores of the many freezing rivers, lakes, and streams that flow throughout Alaska and northern Canada, still wanting to create unbearable misery for humans. Because he so enjoyed his life, his jealousy in death drives him to kill any living being in order to alleviate his envy.

Ahkiyyinni (Cryptic Catalyst)

I am happy to announce that this afternoon on September 2nd, 2014, I finally received my copy of American Monsters from Amazon! I've had my copy on pre-order via Amazon since December 28th, 2013. That is a LONG time to wait, about nine months. Along with that, I received my copy of Written in Blood: A Cultural History of the British Vampire (by Paul Adams). It was supposed to arrive tomorrow, but luckily it came today.

Linda has deviated from her usual studies of werewolves and dogmen in America (don't worry, they're still in this one!), and has opted to write a nationwide study of monsters and strange creatures in America! Amazon has this much to say about the book:

"From pre-Columbian legends to modern-day eyewitness accounts, this comprehensive guide covers the history, sightings and lore surrounding the most mysterious monsters in America—including Bigfoot, the Jersey Devil, and more."

"Bigfoot, the chupacabra, and thunderbirds aren’t just figments of our overactive imaginations—according to thousands of eyewitnesses, they exist, in every corner of the United States. Throughout America’s history, shocked onlookers have seen unbelievable creatures of every stripe—from sea serpents to apelike beings, giant bats to monkeymen—in every region."

"Author, investigator, and creature expert Linda S. Godfrey brings the same fearless reporting she lent to Real Wolfmen to this essential guide, using historical record, present-day news reports, and eyewitness interviews to examine this hidden menagerie of America’s homegrown beasts."

Publisher's Weekly has this to say: "Godfrey frequently draws from myth and folklore and cites cases from history and pop culture, demonstrating extensive knowledge of her subject matter. The book will prove a handy encyclopedia for enthusiastic cryptozoologists of all ages."
—Publishers Weekly

I honestly cannot wait to start reading this one!

The Dalhan (pronounced dah-lan) is a carnivorous demon from Islamic mythology that inhabits the deserts of the Middle East, but it is also said to inhabit the many islands on the seas off of the Arabic coastline. The Dalhan appears to be vaguely human in overall shape, but its skin is almost black. It wears filthy rags in place of clothing, and course hair grows through the rags. Its face features a sloping brow, a flat nose, and its mouth is a wide gash filled with sharp, rotting teeth that it uses to tear the flesh from the bodies of its victims. Its fingers and toes are tipped with cracked, jagged nails. The creature's body smells of decay and the filth of the grave.

The Dalhan possesses unnatural strength, speed, and endurance. Furthermore, the creature can let loose a horrible cry or a scream that causes disorientation in everyone who hears it. These abilities make it easier for the demon to hunt and kill its prey. It preys on travelers who are foolish enough to wander in the lonely places of the desert, as well as those who are shipwrecked or marooned on desert islands inhabited by this creature. It will even attack ships that venture too close to its home, especially if the creature inhabits one of the many islands.

The Dalhan is said to ride a demonic beast that, rather oddly, appears to be very similar to an ostrich. This creature has glowing red eyes and is purportedly able to run faster than any horse. It is practically impossible to escape from. When the Dalhan is in pursuit of its prey (who is usually mounted himself), the demon attacks the rider while the demon-ostrich delivers a devastating slash to the throat of the rider's mount (which is usually a horse or a camel) with long, sharp talons not unlike those of a velociraptor (making the Dalhan's mount very strange indeed). Once the rider and his mount are dead from blood loss, the Dalhan and its pet are free to feed on the fresh corpses at their leisure.

If the Dalhan is truly a demon, then it may be vulnerable to traditional apotropaics (salt, iron, prayers, holy water, holy medals, etc.). An iron weapon may be able to harm or even kill this creature. And when it comes to dispatching monsters, decapitation is always the best bet. A long, sharp blade such as a sword or a machete are invaluable for decapitations. Swords with wide or curved blades are best, while a machete should have a wide blade and a thick spine for strength. And decapitation should always be followed by burning the corpse to cinders. The ashes should then be scattered to the winds.

It goes without saying that the Dalhan is extremely dangerous, and not just because of its appetite for human flesh. The primary danger of encountering this desert demon is the creature that it rides upon. This flightless demon-bird moves faster than any beast of burden, and trying to run from it on foot is an utterly stupid idea. Even mounted on a swift horse, there is no guarantee of escape or survival. It is unknown if this monstrous ostrich-thing can keep up with modern-day vehicles, although it seems likely. Either way, it is best to stay as far away from areas where the Dalhan is said to reside. Anyone who tries to pass through these regions alone or unarmed is most likely doomed.

Sources
Bane, Theresa. Encyclopedia of Demons in World Religions and Cultures. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company Inc., Publishers. Copyright ©2012 Theresa Bane.

Maberry, Jonathan and David F. Kramer. They Bite: Endless Cravings of Supernatural Predators. New York: Citadel Press Books. Copyright ©2009 Jonathan Maberry and David F. Kramer.

Demons aren't just a part of the Christian belief system. They are found all over the world in all religions and cultures. One of the most unusual of these demons belongs to Inuit traditions. They know it as the Mahaha, a maniacal creature that has inspired fear and caused terror in parts of the Arctic for centuries. This monster has been described as having ice-blue skin and a thin, sinewy body that is cold to the touch. It has white eyes and long, stringy hair that is dirty and always hangs in the creature's face. The demon is said to always be grinning and giggling, and is unbothered by the intense cold of its arctic home.

According to legend, the Mahaha is possessed of preternatural strength, and always runs around barefoot in the snow. In fact, the demon wears little or no clothing at all, and yet the cold never seems to bother it. But what makes the Mahaha truly unique among demons and monsters is that it loves to tickle its victims to death with the long, vicious talons on its bony fingers. According to Inuit tribal elders, this leaves a telltale expression on the victim's face - a twisted, frozen smile. Such a sign on any corpse is an indication that this monster is on the prowl.

Despite this creature's evil nature, the Mahaha isn't very bright and can be fooled rather easily. Most tales of this demon end with the creature being outsmarted by its would-be victims. In these stories, the Mahaha is tricked into leaning over a pool of water, a stream, or a river to drink, only to be pushed in from behind by its prey. The monster is then swept away by the current, supposedly never to be seen again. If one ever finds themselves cornered by the Mahaha, they should request to share one last drink of ice-cold, refreshing water with the demon before they die. If the demon hasn't learned by now that this is a trick, it probably never will.

Sources

Mahaha (Inuit Myths)

One of the most popular and widely-believed conspiracy theories is that world governments are guilty of covering up sightings or encounters with the unknown, particularly those relating to UFOs and monsters. I personally find conspiracy theories to be interesting, but I place little to no credence in most of them, nor do I believe in the existence of UFOs or aliens. Some of them, like David Icke's belief that shapeshifting Reptilians are walking among us and are actively trying to take over the world, seem absolutely ludicrous to me. Others, like the governments of the world covering up encounters with monsters and trying to silence eyewitnesses, are much more believable to me. This is what author Nick Redfern covers in one of his latest books, Monster Files.

A little over a year ago in July 2013, Nick had just published Monster Files in May, and I had made it known that I wanted a copy on Facebook (which is where I first made contact with Nick). I had originally intended on buying it from Amazon. However, Nick told me that he'd be more than happy to send me a free review copy, saying that I was a valued colleague and friend. I jumped at the chance, naturally. I gave him my mailing address, and within a week I had a new book! I started reading it soon thereafter, and discovered that it was filled to the rim with all sorts of interesting information. Just wait and see...

(Cryptozoologist's Note: The following are real-life accounts of a murderous beast which is said to haunt the National Recreation Area of Kentucky known as the Land Between the Lakes (LBL). This creature fits the description of such other "wolf-men" or "dog-men" as The Beast of 7 Chutes, The Michigan Dogman, and the Wisconsin Wolfman. What sets it apart is that it has been associated with the gruesome deaths of at least four members of one family, and has been the subject of well-orchestrated and documented hunts. The first two accounts are by Jan Thompson from the webpage "Guardian Tales", and are reprinted here verbatim. Be forewarned, her accounts are fairly graphic.)

JAN'S TALES
 
THE BEAST OF LAND BETWEEN THE LAKES - PART 1

There is a national recreation area in Western Kentucky (that also runs down to Tennessee) called 'Land Between the Lakes', or LBL for short. It is situated between the Kentucky and Barklay Lakes, consisting of more then 300 miles of shoreline, 170,000 acres of forest and over 200 miles of walking trails. It is currently a focal point for over $600 million in the tourism industry. Prior to 1959, the area was called 'Between the Rivers'. That was before the Kentucky and Lake Barklay Dams were constructed, and before it was officially called LBL (in 1963 by President John F. Kennedy), and before TVA (the Tennessee Valley Authority, an agency of the federal government), took over the land and used it's powers of eminent domain to buy and tear down all the houses, businesses and community buildings throughout the entire area, forcing over 700 families to give up their homes.

There are over 228 small family cemeteries, many forgotten about and lost, dotted throughout the acres of forests, as it was once used as homesteads by early Kentucky settlers. Some of the earliest graves date back to the early 1700's, which include graves of white settlers, veterans from nearly every war, including the Revolutionary War, and also those of black slaves and Chinese immigrants who worked in the iron furnaces that were in the area. There was also a very high infant mortality rate, and many of these children were buried right outside the cabins in which they were born so that their mothers could peer out the windows and see the graves. There are also numerous Native American graves scattered throughout the acres, much older than even the earliest of settler graves, some discovered, others lie in secret beneath the layers of leaves and forest ferns.

Back before the 1950's, it had always been a very rural area to live in, with farmsteads far and few between, and with no real town to speak of except up at the north end in Grand Rivers. It was in this town, back in the mid 70's that I first heard of 'The Beast Between the Rivers' or known now as 'The Beast of LBL'. Some old timers would sit on this long wooden bench outside the old IGA store that used to be the old 'country store' for decades before the grocery conglomerate came to town. I used to hang around there on the weekends during the day and listen to the stories they would tell. These old men, most of whom used to live in LBL before they were forced to move, had some very interesting stories to tell about that part of the country.

There was talk of hauntings, Indian curses, mysterious lights over gravestones at night, old hag witches that lived deep in the woods, and more importantly, several tales of a wolf like creature that stood on two legs that would come out of the thickets and attack their cattle and live stock. Day or night. A creature that was taller than an average man by well over a foot, nearly 7 feet tall, with thick long hair covering its body, and a stench that matched that of some of the freshly opened graves that were discovered now and then. This 'wolf man' left tracks like a barefoot man but where the toes should have been, instead were paw prints. The head was huge and wolf-like in appearance, with an extra-long snout, and uncannily long, sharp incisors that glistened from the moonlight with saliva, along with eyes that, "Radiated red, like one of the hottest fires in Hell', they'd say. It had long arms that ended with huge hands and long spindly fingers with long, pointed, dirt-caked claws. At night they would hear it howl; unnatural guttural sounds of painful hungry agony, and at that warning, all would go out and tie up their livestock and even bring their most prized selections inside their homes with them.

The legend of the beast went back at least a hundred years, was passed along through time from family to family and updated as new sightings occurred. One old man said that his great great grand pappy told him that the creature used to be a man, a Native American that had the ability to shape shift, a powerful shaman that had been outcast from his tribe because he used his magic for evil. The Shaman had been tracked and killed while in his wolf state by a few warriors and a couple of settlers in the area. In his dying breath he cursed them and vowed to return from the dead to haunt the forests and seek revenge on their families and all who lived there. Another man on the bench with a leathery, weathered face said he heard from his grandma that the beast was once a settler that came over from Europe back in the early 1800's with a disease that made him turn into a madman at night. The disease was eventually passed along to his children, who never went to school, but stayed hidden away from the population. Many thought the family had died off, because for years they never saw or heard from them, and after investigations by some brave men, they discovered the homestead vacant and abandoned in the early 1900's.

The sightings of the monster were still frequent throughout the beginning of the twentieth century, and the elderly group on the bench told some unsettling encounters they or members of their own families had with it. Each one told stories of finding livestock slaughtered, ripped to pieces and eaten upon. Cows and pigs with their legs dismembered from the sockets. Even a few horses had met their end with savage attacks upon their bodies. A few of them described what they saw at different times when they caught glimpses of the figure by peeking out of the curtains of the windows into the night. One man said it jumped out of one of the horse stalls one evening while he was putting up some animals. It stopped in front of him, arms spread out like it was getting ready to grab him, let out a howl and then sprang past him and into the dusky shadows of the sunset.

This particular man said he 'wet his overalls' during the episode. Another man said he never saw it, but would always hear it's baleful wails frequently at night, not like a regular wolf or a coyote, "No," he said, "It was deeper, longer, stronger-sounding than what would come out of any animal I ever heard." Another old-timer said his wife had seen it trying to get into the chicken coup, but it gave up after getting tangled in the chicken wire. They all had tales of 'someone's hound dog' getting killed, ripped apart limb from limb, 'someone's pig or cow or chicken' getting eaten, the mysterious footprints left in the mud, and the stench it left behind wherever it appeared. And more than one had the same story of listening to it walk across their front porches at night and scratching on the doors and walls, which would leave deep gouges in the wood they would find in the morning. All of them agreed that this was not a Bigfoot or Sasquatch. It would be only another year or two after hearing about this mysterious beast that I myself would encounter it at the home of a family member that lived in the same area.

But this isn't the story I was wanting to tell you. This was just a brief introduction to the unwritten accounts of the darker side of LBL. A prelude actually to the real story I will begin to unfold. I just wanted to lay some groundwork so you could get the big picture and form some of your own opinions and theories. Walk with me now as I take you back about twenty-two years, back to the early 1980's. Then I used to work midnights at a gas station a few miles from the Kentucky Dam, which was a few miles from the beginning of LBL in Grand Rivers. And it was on one of these midnight shifts I had two visitors that would change my outlook on the subject of 'werewolves' (... and make me believe in what I had seen myself a few years back in the same area but had kept between myself and two other family members that were with me at the time, but that's another story to be written.) This story was never in the paper, on the news, or had any media attention at all. It was kept hush hush, and a sacred silence was demanded on all those involved. It couldn't get out, ever. It was a few weeks before the beginning of tourist season, and tourists were what the locals survived on, they were the 'bread and butter'. A story like this would be like screaming 'Sharks!' at Daytona Beach, or 'Child Molester!' at Disneyland. The people would stop coming out of fear.

I wasn't a witness to the fact, just a third person, making observations and having conversations with two individuals who were a part of the incident, who were involved in the whole ordeal. They had just came from the crime scene down in the middle of LBL after being there for over 8 hours. It was around three in the morning and they were taking a much needed reality break.

Two officers of the law. Two grown men who both appeared shaken beyond description. A mixture of fear and confusion, shock and disbelief emanated from them both. One was paler then the other, a deathly pallor over his skin, and it was this one (I'll name him officer Adam, to protect their identities) that had to sit on the curb of the gas pumps, head between his legs and expel the last bit of his stomach contents. The other officer (I'll name him officer Bill) came in for some coffee for himself and a cup of water for his partner, then rejoined Adam outside. There were no other customers so I went outside with them to see if I could offer some assistance with the ill man. He gladly took the few Rolaids I had extended in my hand, with his own shaky fingers he struggled to get them into his mouth.

For quite a long while the only thing that was heard were the crickets in the nearby fields, the sounds of bugs hitting the fluorescent lights above us, hanging from the gas station canopy, and the distant sound of highway traffic that was far and few between as it was in the wee hours of the morning. My mind was buzzing with various scenarios of the cause of their distress....a tragic car accident....possibly a motorcycle wreck...a boating mishap with drown victims....a murder.....a dead body discovered. ('Curiosity killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back...that's why the cat has nine lives.')

I don't remember sitting down but after about 15 minutes of this hushed stillness I found myself beside them both on the curb staring out at the darkness of the nearby corn pastures, letting my mind paint pictures of imaginary traumas. Adam spoke first, breaking the silence of obscurity, "I can't believe it...it's not possible...I just can't believe it...". In a hushed agreement, that was almost inaudible, Bill replied, "I know...it was....is....it is so unbelievable...I've never seen anything like this before...", a long pause, a deep breath, and he continued, "... or even heard of anything like this before." I looked at Bill and then at Adam, they were both gazing, open eyed, unblinking, out into the inky color of the night. Adam's bottom lip was trembling slightly, and it wasn't from the slight chill in the late spring air. Something, or some thing had filled them each with a congested fear.

After a few more moments of silent reserve, my patience was rewarded with some slow, fragmented descriptions of their past 8 hours. Bill turned his wide azure blue eyes towards me, they were glazed and blood shot, tired, frightened eyes. With a weary, shaken voice he began to unfold a tale that would forever be embedded within my spirit, like a nasty shadow that lingers around a corner waiting to pounce, to awaken your inner fears once again. Why he decided to tell me of all people was beyond my comprehension, maybe it was an avenue he felt safe to travel upon, to get it off his chest, off his mind. They were both frequent customers, and we knew each other on a first name basis, but to divulge such a torrid account of great magnitude, well, I can only say that the fear inside them both at that moment in time had to be released, eased, and extracted from their souls, or else they may have gone mad with unbalanced thoughts. Without interrupting, I sat entranced, listening to every word, absorbing them like an opiate, a spellbinding narcotic that hypnotized me into forgetting the world even existed for the next half hour or so.

They had gotten a call to help with an investigation at one of the many rural camp grounds down in LBL. The tourist season was about to start in a few weeks, so as usual there were some early arrivals that had come to claim prime camping spots before the areas were overrun with tents, campers and travel trailers The sun was setting low in the sky when they arrived at the scene. Several other official vehicles were already there, and there were many more to come as they would soon find out. Many coming from other counties, and a few coming all the way from another state. Several of these to come were coroners from different counties. One coroner vehicle was already present as well as an ambulance, which would prove useless, as there was no one to save. The victims were all dead. Quite dead. Completely, totally and thoroughly deceased. A young married couple, that had come down to take it easy for a few days, were the first to discover the ghastly scene. Neither one of them wanted to stay behind while the other went for help, so they both nervously traveled to the nearest town, Grand Rivers, and called the authorities. They did not return to LBL, they merely gave the arriving officer directions to the area of discovery and rented a local hotel room.

With the sun going down, it got dark pretty fast, so there was a flurry of flood lights from the cruisers being pointed in all directions, along with the excited movements of fifty dollar flash lights being held by nervous, restless hands, searching the trees, the ground, the leaves, the shadows. There was a parked motor home at the site, it's frame being lit by a campfire close by, a fire that had almost gone out on its own, but had been rekindled by the new crowd of men in uniforms so that they could have more light. The front and back doors to the home were open, one of the doors hanging by one hinge in a crooked slant. Through the windows they could see zigzagged movements of luminosity as the beams from flashlights searched the interior. Bloody hand prints slid down the thin metal walls close to the front door and more bloody hand paintings could be seen along the length towards the back door. Their images dancing eerily in the fire light like some ancient tribal symbols .

Adam and Bill did not even want to imagine what was inside the motor home, but then again, they would soon find out that it wasn't what was 'inside' but what was 'outside' that would change their lives forever. There was already crime scene tape placed in numerous, scattered parts of the area, and little white flags on metal stakes stuck into the ground marking evidence. Evidence of ripped clothing, bodies and body parts, separated limbs, a pile of bowels, pieces of loose flesh clinging to muscle tissue. What used to be three bodies that just hours before had been a happy family, on a happy vacation, to create happy memories for years to come; a father, a mother and a young son.

The happiness was gone. Destroyed by a psychotic mad man, or was it 'men'? A murderous rage had taken place, one so abhorrently appalling that there were few witnesses to the scene that had kept their composure or held their recently eaten dinners down. At first sight, the victims appeared to be butchered by some unnamable weapon, possibly an ax, or a chainsaw. Upon further inspection, by the first arriving coroner, the wounds on the bodies were determined not to have been caused by a sharp instrument but rather by some piercing, well-defined claws, and other wounds by some keen, mordantly long incisors.

Wildcat, bear, wolves? The coroner shook his head in baffled disagreement with each guess from the officers. The claw marks, for instance, on the back of the fathers corpse were distinctively made by 4 long claws, with a smaller digit, like a thumb, on the side; it's span was wider then a man's print, wider and different than a bears mark, with deep deliberate gouges in the flesh. Rake marks from an angry unknown source trying to grab it's prey that was no doubt trying to escape. The wildcat and wolves theory was dismissed as the open wound marks were apparently made by a more grandiose animal source. The bite marks were much larger than any mountain lion, wolf or coyote. Whatever did it had a longer snout and more sizable teeth. There were also indications, in the larger areas of the cadavers, of bite marks where the flesh, meat and bone had been yanked away from the body. Like a human who bites into an apple and leaves the impressions of his bite and teeth marks, so were the open wounds on these individuals. Bears, well, they aren't native to the area, but who knows. Maybe a grizzly did sneak in some way, but that was far fetched; he would've had to travel several states and cross several rivers to even get close to that part of Kentucky. Everyone present was betting on the 'bear' hypothesis anyway, and no one even thought of anything else to be the cause of such a savage attack. A bear, it had to be a bear.

From the back door of the motor home, an officer stepped down slowly, holding in his hands some type of garment. A dress. A small dress, that would have fit a small girl of around five years old. He informed the on onlookers that there were more 'little girls' clothes packed inside the coach. This meant there was a missing person, or an absent body; a member of the family. They all prayed she was still alive somehow, hiding somewhere. A new search began.

As time went by, additional law enforcement employees arrived, as well as a few volunteer rescue squad members. Groups were spread out and assigned areas to examine and explore. Another coroner arrived to assist in the identification and causes of death, and much later a third one showed up, this one from a nearby state. All types of samples were placed in plastic bags, marked as evidence, and carefully stowed away. As they were packaging up what appeared to be one of the fathers arms, one of the doctors noticed something wrapped between the dead fingers. Some tweezers slowly untangled a clump of long, gray and brown hairs. This too was placed in a bag, marked and put away to be analyzed at a lab later.

From somewhere in the nearby woods, about 50 yards from the campfire, a scream was heard. A man's shriek that turned into a long wail and then to whimpering. As others arrived they could see by the gleam of several flashlights that the cop was holding his hat in one hand and his light in the other. There was blood on his face, the front of his shirt and on the brim of his hat. More blood could be seen dripping on him. It was coming from above. High in the trees the flash lights swung, searching for the source of the mysterious bleeding. A very small hand could be seen dangling down from a tree limb way up high, as well as a slender lifeless leg that still had a white sock on the foot. The missing child had been located. It had been Adam that the blood had trickled upon, hitting his hat first, making him look up, and then feeling the thick cold fluid sprinkling his face then sliding down to his neatly buttoned shirt. It had been Adam that had screamed. The little girl had apparently been carried up the tree and leisurely eaten upon while carefully laid across a large tree branch. More of the same long gray and brown hair was found sticking in the bark of the tree near her body.

After about 7 hours, most of the officers were sent away as a new team of investigators arrived. They were told not to talk to anyone of the incident, especially not the media. I am sure that besides Adam and Bill, there were others who had to confess what they saw that night, if in fact this whole event ever really happened. Witness's that had to divulge the awful secret of that atrocious discovery at one of the campgrounds at LBL. About a month after sitting outside with Adam and Bill that night, they stopped in again during one of my midnight shifts. They were both rather more serious in nature, not like before the incident where they would kid around while drinking their sodas and eating a snack or two. They had both aged in some odd way. Streaks of gray, that had not been there before, highlighted both of their heads of hair. Their faces had lines of worry and showed signs of stress. I would see them again many times afterwards, but on this particular evening, they informed me that they got word about some of the lab tests that were taken that dreadful night. The tests, on the saliva taken from the bite marks and from the hair found on the mans fingers and in the tree bark, came back with an unknown species origin. The closest animal that they could be compared to was that of a Canis Lupis, a wolf.

Whether Adam and Bill had played an elaborate hoax on me I'll never really know for sure, but their sincerity and fear painted a picture of truth in their eyes and actions. There are several more stories that I have heard about this 'Werewolf' over in LBL that have been told to me over the years since this particular incident. There were several groups of boy scouts that had seen it. Several more campers, fishermen and boaters that had seen it from the safety of their boats, floating in some of the many bays that touched upon the shoreline. Hikers and bikers have heard its howling and have seen 'something' stalking them while they were on rural trails, hiding amongst the trees and foliage. Hunters have run across deer carcasses that have been brutally torn apart.

There was even a pair of curious gravestone rubbers (those who go out in search of century-or-more-old tombstones, then make rubbings by placing paper against the coarse stones and using a piece of charcoal to rub across it, capturing the images and dates from the stones onto the paper) who had a fearful encounter with it at one of the old cemeteries. It had actually come up to their car as they were leaving and shook the back end of the vehicle up and down, leaving terrible scratch marks in the trunk lid as it tried to hold on to the little Toyota while the tires were spinning in the wet grass to get away. These two individuals didn't stop driving until they were about 40 miles away; only then did they dare stop to investigate the damage done. I myself have seen those scratches. Much too wide for any man to have made them. They looked like they'd been made by a heavy metal garden rake.

But you will never read about it in the papers, or hear about it on the news, or get a confession from any law enforcement official or man of office. The media will say it's a bunch of 'Whoo Haa', or just pranks, silly stories, urban legends, lies, tall tales and such. This is tourism country, and that means millions of dollars to the area, so you can't scare off business, can you?

But, as San says on her website, 'You can't tell me there's no such thing!', because I have my own tale to tell about this creature. That story will come soon, I promise, but this one had to be told first, for it is far more scary and full of detail than my own. And that bench, the long, sturdy, heavy oak bench, that sat in front of the old country store for decades? It is still in existence. In fact, I had the grand opportunity of acquiring it several years ago when an even newer version of an IGA store was being built upon the same grounds. The previous owners remembered my fondness for sitting with the old timers and having undying patience with their many stories, and they got ahold of one of my family members to ask if we would like to have it to keep in the family. The bench now sits in my front yard, by the driveway, where I sit to wave good-bye to all those who have come to visit for the day. I've learned to always wave good-bye, because you never know if you'll see them again. You never know what lies in store for you or them. What lies in the shadows. Waiting. Watching. With hungry eyes and a drooling snout.

~ Jan Thompson.

JAN'S TALES

FROM THE WOODS

The summer of 1978 will always be a turn about in my beliefs of 'real monsters' versus the demonic or paranormal type. Ghosts and spirits had become a common event during my life growing up, until that particular summer when a new avenue of fear introduced itself and made a permanent pathway inside my mind. A path made of concrete that wanders through the forests of my memories. A trail that will not be covered with weeds, or fade with time. A place that my daily thinking bypasses to avoid the beckoning desire of fear that calls from down that menacing road of remembrance. For this moment though, for the benefit of you, the reader, I will travel down that route once more and try to recapture the scene so that you, too, will lay awake wondering and asking the Universe, "Is there something else out there somewhere that is above us humans on the food chain?"

It was on one of those hot July summer evenings in Grand Rivers, Kentucky, back in 1978, when this took place. (Grand Rivers is at the beginning of Land Between the Lakes entrance.) The sun was not completely down and the skies were streaked with violet-pinkish Posy colored clouds that outlined the curtain of darkness that was pushing the turquoise blue away. I was staying at my Aunts house with my cousins for a few weeks during summer vacation, a very welcome home at the end of a dead end road. Hundreds of acres of woods surrounded the home that that had been built down a hill and into the side of a large hill of dirt. There were several homemade trails throughout the woods that led to several places; an old abandoned rail road track that went on for miles, another abandoned place- the old sawmill, and other paths led to parts of the shore line of the Kentucky lake. They all started out as walking trails, but with the new addition of a dirt bike that my cousin Joe had the trails became well outlined and defined. As with almost every day that I was visiting, Joe was out riding his bike through the woods, exploring, and just being with his own thoughts of a 13 year old. His younger sister, Ronda, was with me outside on the porch swing. She was 10, and I was 17 at the time. My uncle was working and my aunt was at the local IGA store down in town. Beside the driveway was a huge dog pen where their pet basset hounds lodged and was at the moment quite relaxed in the shade. The woods had been filled with only the sounds of birds and the chatter of squirrels for a few hours. Joe must have been way far off on a trail somewhere to not have heard that distinct sound of the dirt bike screaming through it's gears echoing around the trees. I knew he must be on his way home, because his dad forbid him to be out in the woods at dark, so Ronda and I were waiting to hear that familiar putt-putting of the bike slowly coming down the drive as he reluctantly came home to park it for another night.

As we swung back and forth, singing silly songs, we heard something a bit strange in the distance, it was Joe's dirt bike screaming at almost a soprano type of gear, long, steady, and fast, with no shifting sounds, just a straight stream of one gear in motion with a full throttle, going at top speed. The sound accelerated as he drew closer at such a fast pace, and we watched from the swing up to the top of the driveway where he would appear from the other side out of the woods. I couldn't help but think that he had better slow down or he would come flying up over the top of the hill and downwards missing a wide stretch of pavement by being airborne. The noise didn't softened or slow. Steady and fixed was his speed. And just as I had thought, he emerged from the woods in such a tenacious movement, that he did indeed go airborne a few feet before pounding down the front tire on the driveway, continuing his descent now with a struggle of keeping the bike upright and straight. Ronda and I jumped from the porch swing and got out of the way as we didn't know where he was going to stop or in what position. The brakes hit hard and the bike slid sideways and as it came down to the edge and end of the drive, Joe tilted his body and let the bike slide out from under him before he went down the rest of the hill with it. Instead of the bike continuing to slide to the edge it was caught in a spin that variably died down as the engine sputtered, and then quit altogether. Everyone was wide eyed and full of adrenaline, all our mouths open in shock. But Joe's mouth was open in a strange fearful grimace, he was sweating profusely and his breaths were coming and going in great heaves. Tears were coming down his cheeks, mixing with the dusty dirt that the trail had left him powdered with. His eyes were at the top of the hill, at the top of the drive, unblinking, searching, waiting. We followed his gaze not understanding what this escapade was all about. In silence we watched with him for a about 30 seconds and then the dogs started barking. Growling. And then whining, trying to get out of the pen in a frantic panic of digging and gnawing at the fencing.

"IT GRABBED ME!! LOOK AT MY LEG!!", Joe screamed, making us jump with alarm at the sound of his voice. We looked down at his Levi's and saw scratch marks going across his right thigh, scratches that tore through the tough denim and left small bloody marks on his skin. The marks were like a bears-claw-rake, not those caused by branches or sticky bushes, but a definite wide pattern of a paw print.

"IT WALKED ON TWO LEGS!", his voice startled us again, as he was trying to tell his story in between huge gulps of air. He was frightened beyond belief, and the bits and pieces of what he was striving with extreme effort to tell us was coming out in loud syllables that filled us both with the same dread. "It was following me through the woods....along the path....from the old sawmill....hairy...it was so hairy...and it's snout was so long...and it walked on two legs....it ran on two legs...", his voice was sputtering, slowing, his eyes were still wide, and I could see the pulse of his heartbeat throbbing under the skin of his temples.

A howling began. From the woods, not from the dog pen where now the dogs suddenly stopped their own complaining, standing deathly still, staring up at the top of the hill, the nape of the hair on their back standing up, ruffled, their noses up in the air breathing in a strange scent. A wolfs howl. It was close. It seemed it was just a few yards from the road up above. Just as the idiot in a horror movie stands and stares at something to appear, that was what I was doing then, with a mixture of anticipation and confusion. What the hell was he talking about? I thought to myself, mulling over the brief descriptions; torn blue jeans, walks and runs on two legs, stalking him, hairy with a long nose and calling the mysterious hunter an "IT".

Joe's tears came quicker and he started to push us towards the front door of the house demanding that we go inside and lock the doors. He had a hand on each of our backs and was urging us onward when IT came out of the woods above. At first it appeared to be a very large wolf emerging from the dark outline of the trees, but as it approached the one lane road that connected to the driveway, it's height grew to a towering shadow that stood on two legs. Much taller then a man's height, maybe by a foot, and with the sun gone down behind the clouds, it only cast a silhouette of blackness, hairy blackness. My mouth dropped wide as well as my eyes. This was not happening, this was not what I was seeing. My mind was going back and forth from rationality to reality. 'I was from St. Louis, the most frightening thing back home in Missouri was MO MO the Monster, the Show Me States version of Bigfoot. This was no Bigfoot!'

It raised it's long snout up in the air and let out a gurgling, slow, deliberate howl, while stretching it's long arms to it's sides and upwards, like it was praising the coming of the night, praying to the unseen moon and stars. At that moment the security light that was at the top of the hill at the beginning of their driveway popped on. Slowly at first it began to glow and gathered it's energy to shine more brightly over the next few seconds. One of the creatures arms bent and shaded its eyes from the glare. It wasn't an 'It' any longer, nor was it a Bigfoot, this was a wolf-like creature that, like Joe said, stood on two legs, was taller then a man, and was staring at the three of us down the hill. Those huge, black eyes; I will never get out of my mind. They were like two sockets of ebony oil shining under magnifying glass lenses.

We ran into the house, tearing the screen door in the process, slamming the main door, locking it, pushing things, anything we could reach against the inside of the door. The kitchen was right behind us and so was the knife drawer, which we raided and took several with us as we tried to decide where to hide. There was a house dog inside, another basset hound, Stubby, and he met us in the kitchen wondering what the racket was. Another howl from outside, came from the driveway. Stubby's hair raised and he started backing up at first, then he went to the front door and was smelling around the edges. The three of us ran to my aunt's room and were about to slam the door and lock it when the dog tucked tail and ran after us, beating us under the bed. All of us squeezed under the four poster, knives clutched in our hands, scared half to death. We could hear the dogs in the pen outside going absolutely crazy with barking, and we could also hear other things being knocked around on the porch, then on the side of the house, then at the side door. We heard glass break. We could tell it was from one of the bedrooms, the windows were up high and they were very narrow so we knew that it would take some effort for anything to get thru them, but still we shivered from fright.

My aunts horn on her Cadillac sounded several times as she drove down the road and approached the house. That meant for us to meet her outside and help with the groceries. We didn't budge. We couldn't move. We didn't answer her yells from outside for us to come unload the bags, we didn't crawl out and unlock the door for her, nor answer her knocking. She finally had to use her keys and then give some hefty push's against the pile of items we had up against the door; the trash can, 25 pound bags of dog food, water jugs, and a variety of other stuff. We stayed put. She discovered us only after all the groceries had been brought in and she noticed that her bedroom door was closed and locked.

It was amazing that we hadn't cut each other in some way or another with the immature use of the knives in our haste to hide, and we were chastised in more ways than one when it came down to my aunt observing us slowly emerging from her bedroom with the kitchen weapons in hand. We all started talking at once in a fervor, then we finally let Joe tell his story first, and we finished with "it" breaking a window just before we heard her car horn. She must have startled it. She didn't laugh; she didn't respond at all at first; in fact she never said a word until she came back from inspecting the windows in the bedrooms. My aunt said, indeed, there was a broken window, broken from the outside in. She made us clean up our barricade and put up all the groceries. Later that night, after we were all in bed, and my uncle came home, she related that evening's events to him.

The next morning, their dad warned us, "Stay out of the woods."

No problem.

He went on to say that he himself had gone down into the woods earlier that morning and found several pits dug and filled with animal bones and parts of carcasses along the path that led to the old sawmill that couldn't be explained. There were also holes dug in the sides of the bluff along the hills that overlooked the old mill that looked like deep caves, big enough for a man to hide in. Then he told us that years before, when the old boy scout camp used to be on the other side of Grand Rivers, an unexplained creature with wolf features was seen along the waters edge close to the camp sites. He and his older son had witnessed it themselves one evening.

I went back home a few weeks after this happened. And since then it has never ceased to be a moment of complete terror lodged inside my mind, along with the horror experienced at the Oakwood Home. It would only be a couple of years later, after moving from the city down to Kentucky, that once more I would come into the legend of the wolf creature by means of some old timers that use to live in Land Between the Lakes (LBL for short). Their tales, told to me while sitting on an old bench in front of the IGA down in Grand Rivers, would help me draw a bigger picture of what this thing actually was. Then, a few more years in passing, in the early '80's, two police officers would tell me their own tale of the events of a tragic scenario discovered in one of the campgrounds down in LBL. Events that were never published in the media.

Just about ten years ago, in the early '90's, Joe and my dad, who had come down from St. Louis to visit, decided to venture into those same woods in front of my aunts house. They took a couple of pistols and two rifles and were gone for several hours. These were two brave men, the bravest I know of, both of whom served in the military and fought in two separate wars, wars of their own time. These two men came back ashen faced and bewildered. They had walked all the way back to the old saw mill. The pits, fresh ones, were still around, filled with the bones of forest animals. The holes in the bluff still there also. They both experienced the feeling of being watched and felt an uneasiness that 'something' just wasn't right. The area where the sawmill was had no life stirring around it. No birds, no squirrels, no crickets, no bugs, even the small pond was still and lifeless. The birds that did fly made their way around the area and refused to fly overhead. The men couldn't shake the feeling of being observed by a secret watcher, and both swore they saw a large black shadow lurking in the shade of one of the mysteriously dug caves. That had been the first time Joe had been down that far on that side of the woods since he was thirteen, and both of them agreed that it was to be the last. My dad said there are some things you just can't explain, that science doesn't know about it, and these things should be left alone; they are not a part of our modern world. He felt that whatever it was that had scared the crap out of us so many years ago still existed in the same area. His intuition has never been wrong so far.

Urban legend? Maybe some of the stories passed along over the years have been added to or stretched a bit, like all local folklore and firsthand stories are over time. My story wasn't an urban tale though. It was a firsthand account of something I really and truly do not want to believe in, and wish I could forget or erase from my memory, because the nightmares remain real, while the events are still inexplicable by the laws of science as we know it.

~ Jan Thompson.

(NOTE: Jan stated in an email that Joe saw the sketch below, and they both "agree on the animal's features, except for the ears.") Joe remembers the creature with a bit shorter ears than are depicted in the sketch.)

[Cryptozoologist's Note: Geocaching (pronounced geo-cashing) is a worldwide game of hiding and seeking treasure. A geocacher can place a geocache in the world, pinpoint its location using GPS technology and then share the geocache's existence and location online. Anyone with a GPS device can then try to locate the geocache.]

Stories and sightings of the Beast of LBL go back for over 100 years. Some say the Beast is an exiled Indian Shaman that used his shapeshifting abilities to do evil and was killed by tribal braves - before he died he vowed to torment the tribe and anyone on this land. Others say the legends of the beast were conjured up by moon shiners to scare people and keep them out of the wood so there stills would not be found. More recent explanations say the beast is a predator cousin of Bigfoot that kills for sport and always kills more than it can consume.

So what is the Beast of LBL? Descriptions of the beast state that it is a werewolf-type creature, with a wolf-shaped head, and a muscular human-like body, it walks on two legs, stands 7 feet tall, it is covered in thick dark hair, with large fangs and ominous claws. Many stories tell of it's wolf-like wail and guttural growls.

Experiences with the beast range from hearing howls in the distance to fleeting glimpses in the shadows to victims being stalked or chased and even tales of murder.

The cache is placed near the alleged site of the most horrific account of the Beast. In the early 1980’s, just down this old road bed at the waters edge, officials were called to a camp site where a family of four were found viciously killed, dismembered and partially eaten. Bites and claw marks let the officials know that they were dealing with a very dangerous animal. However, there were no animals native to this part of the country that could have caused the type of wounds found on the victims, so theory turned to the legend of the Beast. It is not known what the outcome of the investigation was, because this story was never released publicly. But there are those that believe that the government took over and bunkers were built so the military could hunt and kill the Beast.

This cache is located within site of the alleged bunkers. As you walk down the old road from the cemetery you will see concrete structures evident along the road and in the woods throughout this area. To visit the site where the family was supposedly killed continue down the old road, past the bunkers, to the lake. The cache site can also be reached by a short bike ride along the Canal Loop Trail from the Visitors Center.

The cache is not in or near any remnants of a structure and it is not necessary to go near the structures to find the cache. Some of these structures have access hole in the tops that a person could be injured if they fell into them, so do not walk on and be careful near any structures you find here or anywhere in LBL. It is forbidden to drive off of un-maintained roads so if by chance the gate is open YOU are not allowed to drive on this or any road that is not clearly marked with a road number.

ON THE DARK SIDE

LAND BETWEEN THE LAKES - AFTER DARK

Land Between The Lakes is located in Western Kentucky and Tennessee. It's basically a huge wildlife refuge, with nothing but forests and undeveloped shoreline. There aren't residential areas or businesses located in LBL.

Really, after dark LBL is spooky. You can go out there in a car, turn off the headlights, and you are in total darkness. You won't see any lights out there.

There have been many reports of things not in this world out there. There have also been reports of weird creatures and evil spirits.

There have been many reports of red eyes in LBL. There is a legend that if you see a group of white-tailed deer out there at night, to turn back. They are trying to warn you not to go any further because a "demon" is nearby.

I personally have seen the red eyes. About thirteen years ago, I went out to LBL with a friend. It was night, and we were just driving around. There's something about LBL that makes people want to do that for some reason. Anyhow, we went down one of the side roads that led to an empty area that people use as a campground. There was nobody else out there that night.

He got out of the car to find a tree, which I really though was a bad idea. Before getting out of the car, he turned off his headlights. You couldn't see anything outside the window. Even the moon was dark. He gets out and disappears into the night. While waiting, I looked around and in the distance I saw two red glowing eyes.

As I watched it, it started moving closer. Believe me, I was scared to death. I opened the door, and literally hollered for my friend. He came running, jumped in the car, and got going. When he hopped in, he glanced in the direction and saw exactly what I saw. It was a scary experience. The oddest thing? After turning on the lights, we didn't see anything at all that could have had the red eyes.

A few months later, I went out again to LBL with a group of friends. Once again, it was night. We were riding along, and I started feeling this overwhelming feeling that we needed to get out of there. As we kept driving along, I felt so spooked. The feeling just got stronger and stronger.

Finally, I mentioned something to my friends. Knowing the way that I am, they immediately turned around and we headed back towards the bridge. I cringe to know what would have happened if we hadn't turned around.

The ironic thing is, before writing this post I did a search online. I came across a forum post from a lady that had a similar experience to mine. It really gave me the spooks to see that I'm not the only one.

"We continued our drive deep into Land Between the Lakes, searching for wildlife of any kind. As we drove, I started getting a very funny feeling, but kept it to myself. Little did I know, he was having the same feeling. At one point, he mentioned that the hair was raising on his arms and he felt that something wasn't right. "

There is a lady named Jan who has written a very extensive article on the Beast of LBL. She is from the area, and her page is updated. It's really a creepy and scary tale that is based on her true experience. [Cryptozoologist's Note: To read Jan Thompson's accounts of the Beast of LBL, see my previous blog post, "The Beast of Land Between the Lakes - Part 1"]

Last but not least, is how Roderick Justin Ferrell used a structure in LBL as his vampire hotel. He made world news for his arrest after murdering the parents of his friend. He believed that he was a vampire and a leader of the vampire clan. Ferrell told people that he was a 500-year-old vampire named Vesago. This clan used a structure in LBL, and called it the "Vampire Hotel". The oddest thing about this was that I could find only one picture of this online. After the story broke, officials made every effort to make this place disappear. They closed the road, and the location is pretty much secret now. Some sources say it has been demolished

LBL can be a spooky place. Should you ever find yourself in Western Kentucky, you might find it worth the trip to travel through it at night. You might end up having your own horror story to share.

Comments

I know of only one beast that could inflict such horrific damage. I have no doubt in my mind that the Beast of Land Between the Lakes is a Werewolf, and a particularly vicious one at that. My thanks to my good friend Randy Merrill for allowing me to borrow these articles for my blog. He may be found at: The Cryptozoologist.

Sources

http://thecryptozoologist.webs.com/apps/blog/show/6515972-the-beast-of-land-between-the-lakes-part-1

http://thecryptozoologist.webs.com/apps/blog/show/6516150-the-beast-of-land-between-the-lakes-part-2

http://walkingonthedarkside.blogspot.com/2008/11/land-between-lakes-after-dark.html

http://www.guardiantales.freewebspace.com/JAN-FromTheWoods.html

http://www.guardiantales.freewebspace.com/JAN-LBL.html

http://www.phantomsandmonsters.com/2014/10/kentuckys-beast-between-lakes.html

http://beforeitsnews.com/strange/2012/08/the-beast-of-the-land-between-the-lakes-2442404.html

According to Tlingit legend, the Kushtaka is a mythological shapeshifting beast that is said to be half man, half otter, and wholly monstrous. Loosely translated, the word kushtaka (or Kooshdakhaa) means "land otter man." This creature is believed to inhabit the hundreds of lakes, rivers, and ponds that lie scattered throughout the Alaskan landscape. The Kushtaka is said to be especially prevalent in the temperate forests of Southeastern Alaska. In its native habitat, it can be assumed that this creature feeds on fish and mollusks like its animal kin, although it may be more than willing to devour the flesh of its victims if it feels so inclined.

Because the Kushtaka is a shapeshifter, pinning down exactly what the creature looks like is difficult. Most descriptions say that the Otterman is exactly that: half man and half otter. It is said to be bipedal and stands at around the height of a man (about six to eight feet). The creature is covered in sleek, dark brown or black fur, having the hands of a man with taloned fingers, humanlike feet, a long tail, large glowing eyes, and a mouthful of needlelike teeth. Others say that the Kushtaka looks more or less like a Sasquatch, although there seems to be enough differences between these monsters for them to be two entirely different creatures. Because of this, it is sometimes referred to as "Alaska's Other Bigfoot." When the Kushtaka has assumed another form, however, it becomes much more difficult to identify. It is said that the only thing that can differentiate the Kushtaka in another form (like a person) from the real person is that its teeth never change, remaining long and sharp.

The native peoples of Alaska are wary of the Kushtaka and the waters that it calls home to the point of paranoia, for the monster's cruelty and sinister nature seem to have no bounds. In other words, it is considered to be both malicious and very evil. The beast is said to be as intelligent as any human, perhaps more so. The Kushtaka is known for being able to eerily mimic the crying of a baby and the screams of a woman, and it uses these sounds to entice people to the water's edge. Once the monster's prey is close enough, it proceeds to kill the victim by tearing them into pieces with its claws and teeth. Either that, or it will turn the victim into another Kushtaka. It will also lure sailors further away from the shoreline to their demise (much like the Siren in Greek mythology). The creature preys mostly on small children, as a child's innate curiosity makes it easy to lure them in close enough to where the Kushtaka can reach them. On a more frightening note, the Kushtaka is said to abduct human babies as well (which ties in with European tales of faeries and changelings). If the creature keeps the baby for long enough, the infant will eventually become a Kushtaka itself. Additionally, the Otterman is also known to emit a high-pitched three-part whistle, which consists of a low whistle, a high whistle, and another low whistle. Presumably this also serves to entice potential victims, but it could also serve as a means of communication with others of its kind. And according to some legends, one should never speak the Kushtaka's name, especially three times in a row. This is said to summon forth the monster, and is very likely to make the Otterman very angry.

Paradoxically, there are instances of the Kushtaka behaving kindly or in an otherwise benevolent manner towards people. In some stories, the Otterman is portrayed as saving people from drowning or freezing to death by turning the person into another Kushtaka. It does this by creating illusions of the person's family and friends to distract them while the Kushtaka transforms them into one of its own. Strangely enough, these illusions are somewhat otterlike in appearance (which would alert any human with knowledge of such things). Exactly how the Otterman is able to transform people into more of its kind is unknown, but it may involve magic. This sudden change allows the person to survive the cold, but this is viewed as being a mixed blessing. On one hand, they are gifted with supernatural powers. On the other hand, however, that person (now a shapeshifting beast) will never again be able to resume their lives as humans among their families and friends. Perhaps the Kushtaka, like people, varies in regards to personality from one individual to another (it is said that there is an entire race of these creatures, after all). But it would seem that the stories of the evil Kushtaka far outweigh any others.

The Kushtaka has a variety of supernatural abilities at its disposal. One of them, as already mentioned, is shapeshifting. The creature is said to be able to assume any form or guise that it pleases, and its most common form, of course, is that of an otter. Some say that it may become any species of otter (like a sea otter or a river otter), while others believe that it is limited to only one. The Kushtaka is also said to be able to take on human form and walk amongst humans if it so desires. Although most sources aren't very specific, it can be reasonably assumed that the monster is capable of assuming any form that it desires. Some say that it is even able to take on the appearance of someone who has recently died!

In addition to its shapeshifting powers, the Kushtaka is possessed of supernatural strength, speed and agility in the water, and endurance. The creature is able to create illusions that enable it to deceive its victims and entice them into coming close enough for the Kushtaka to strike. It is able to appear and disappear at will, communicate telepathically, and it can (allegedly) manipulate time and space. The creature is able to survive in freezing conditions that would kill a person outright, and it can hold its breath underwater for long periods (although exactly how long is unknown). And finally, it is able to turn humans into others of its kind, a concept that is absolutely terrifying to the Tlingit. This is because the Tlingit believe that, in order to achieve reincarnation and eternal life after they die, they have to be human. Not only this, but their souls have to be intact as well. Being transformed into a Kushtaka deprives the victim of both of these things, and the transformation would last forever unless a shaman was found who could rescue the victim. And not only that, but the shaman had to be powerful enough in the ways of magic and the spirits to reverse the transformation and change the victim back into a human. It might be reasonable to assume that medicine men with such powers are few and far between in the twenty-first century.

As dangerous and powerful as the Kushtaka is, it does have a few weaknesses. The creature both fears and despises dogs, and it is said that the animal's barking can force the Kushtaka to reveal its true form. That being said, it is also possible that dog bones can be used as weapons against the Otterman. A dagger carved from dog bone might be able to kill the creature, although this is purely speculation. But it must be emphasized that the bone should be taken from an animal that has already passed away from natural causes (as anything else is both immoral and unethical). In one way or another, dogs are not only faithful friends, but they also provide excellent protection from the Kushtaka. According to legend, the Kushtaka may be kept at bay with copper, human urine, and in some stories, fire. No reasons are given as to why these things hold sway over the Otterman. Theoretically, a copper blade may be able to wound or even kill the Kushtaka. Shamanic magic could be used defensively against the creature and ward it off, although finding a shaman in this day and age who has the necessary power to do so would be a task in and of itself.

There are a great many stories and folktales that tell of the Kushtaka, and some of these stories may actually be true. One of the better-known of these stories is that of gold prospector Harry Colp and his three companions (their names are not given). In 1900, Colp and his associates set about exploring the Patterson Glacier north of Thomas Bay, in what was called "The Devil's Country" by locals. This place was known locally as "The Bay of Death" to the Tlingit, who recalled a horrible tragedy that took place there over one hundred and fifty years earlier. In 1750, an enormous landslide killed five hundred innocent villagers, and this incident was attributed to the evil of the Kushtaka. It is said that the village shaman broke his covenant with the monster, effectively sealing the fates of his people. Mr. Colp later returned with a disturbing story that he later wrote down. The manuscript itself wasn't discovered until after Colp's death by his daughter. She called it "The Strangest Story Ever Told."

Early in the morning one day, Harry Colp left his home. He brought his rifle along for the adventure. He came to a ridge, where he noticed some grouse frolicking about. Raising his rifle, Colp shot three of the birds. While on his way to pick up the third, he found a large piece of quartz. He hadn't been looking around much at the surrounding terrain, but he knew that it was densely wooded and full of brush. He noted that "the formation didn't show up," but he couldn't uncover the ledge without any tools. Fortunately, a snag had broken off and fallen to the ground, scraping off the moss and loose soil and leaving an area some eight feet wide and eighteen to twenty feet long. The entire ledge was made of quartz!

Colp noted that the ledge had been worked smooth by a passing glacier at some point in the distant past. Knowing that where there was quartz there might be gold, he searched for a rock or something to break a piece off of the ledge with. He couldn't find anything, so he used the stock of his rifle to get a piece of the quartz, and he actually broke the stock in the process. He wasn't too worried at the time, as there weren't any animals that he'd seen in the area larger than the grouse that he'd shot earlier that day. He admired the richness of the quartz, and he immediately thought of heading back to town and gathering up his associates so that they could begin their work. He'd made a rich find, and he concealed the ledge "with moss, limbs, and rotten chunk."

Colp began to think, pondering if he should climb the ridge that was standing directly over the quartz ledge to find some landmarks in order to guide himself back to that particular spot, or at least tell his companions where the ledge was in case something happened to him. He then decided that this was the best course of action, "climbing straight up over the ledge on the ridge" until he reached the top, some six hundred feet above the quartz ledge. Looking down below, he scouted out a tree that was taller than the rest and which had a thick, leafy canopy. It was fifty feet to the right of the ledge, and he gazed over the top of the tree. From where he was standing, Colp "could see out on Frederick Sound, Cape of the Straight Light, the point of Vanderput Spit; and turning to the left a little, I could see Sukhoi Island from the mouth of Wrangell Narrows." Colp turned halfway around to get a view of the mountain peaks, and below him on the other side of the ridge "was the half-moon lake the Indian had told me about." What Mr. Colp didn't know was that he was about to encounter something that would scare the wits out of him...

"Right there, fellows, I got the scare of my life. I hope to God that I never see or go through the likes of it again." Colp found himself confronted by a mob of "the most hideous creatures." Colp described them, saying that "I couldn't call them anything but devils, as they were neither men nor monkeys, yet looked like both." These creatures appeared to be genderless, "their bodies covered with long course hair, except where the scabs and running sores had replaced it." The creatures had their arms extended, trying to get ahold of him. He reported that "the air was full of their cries and the stench from their sores and bodies made me faint."

Forgetting about the broken stock on his rifle, he tried firing on the first creatures that came towards him. When that didn't work, he threw his rifle at them, turned around, and ran for his life! "God, how I did run!" Colp could feel the creatures breathing on the back of his neck, and the creatures slashed at his back with their long, clawlike fingernails. The stench of the creatures made him nauseous, and their yelling and screaming was driving the man out of his mind. According to Colp's account, at this point his powers of reasoning left him. What happened next is unclear, as Colp himself had no recollection.

When Mr. Colp came around, he recorded that "I was lying in the bottom of my canoe, drifting between Thomas Bay and Sukhoi Island, cold, hungry, and crazy for a drink of water." What was even stranger was that he was still holding on to that chunk of quartz! At this point, he made for the town of Wrangell. There, he recounted his terrifying encounter with the horde of hairy, stinking beasts, saying "You no doubt think I am either crazy or lying. All I can say is, there is the quartz. Never let me hear the name of Thomas Bay again, and for God's sake help me get away tomorrow on that boat!"

What did Harry Colp encounter on that fateful day? Was it truly a horde of Kushtaka that had attacked him? It is most certainly possible. One has to remember that the Kushtaka is a shapeshifting trickster, and it may be capable of assuming any form that it desires. Secondly, the Kushtaka isn't just the name of one monster: it's an entire race of creatures. But why would a group of Kushtaka take on the forms of a band of marauding Sasquatches, especially ones with stinking, oozing sores on their bodies? Perhaps it was just a group of Sasquatch with mange or some type of skin disease, but the possibility that these creatures may have been Kushtakas should not be ruled out.

Tlingit folklore and oral traditions do not have much to say when it comes to how to kill this monster. The Kushtaka is said to be impervious to bullets, thus leaving firearms out of the equation. The best way to find out how to dispatch one of these creatures is to speak to the native peoples of Alaska and see what they have to say. As mentioned previously, the Kushtaka fears and hates dogs. A dog, if large enough and having enough strength, might be able to kill the Otterman. It would be a bloody, violent struggle in which the Kushtaka might emerge victorious, due to its superior strength and perhaps its ability to shapeshift. Either that, or both the dog and the monster may sustain mortal wounds in their battle.

There may yet be other ways to kill the Kushtaka. It was mentioned earlier that the monster may be kept at bay with copper, human urine, and fire. Exactly why the Otterman fears human urine is currently unknown at this time (possibly because of the smell), but it might be a good idea (albeit a disgusting one) to bottle some of one's own pee, just in case of an emergency. Why the Kushtaka is afraid of copper is another mystery. Copper was one of the very first metals (after gold and silver) to be utilized by modern humans for tools and weapons. It is soft and easily shaped by hammering, readily taking on useful forms that can be refined by rubbing on an abrasive stone saturated with water. It can be rather easily cast and hammered into cutting tools or weapons. Copper also work-hardens as it is hammered, making it stronger and better able to hold an edge. Perhaps it is this primitive connection with mankind's past that gives the metal power over the Kushtaka. It may be reasonable to suggest that the monster can be severely wounded or even killed by a copper blade, especially if the blade pierces the heart. The only disadvantage of a copper blade is that it isn't very rigid and will bend very easily if used for hard cutting or thrusting strokes. A copper weapon will also not hold a sharp edge for very long, and thus its use is limited by the metal's lack of resilience.

Another thing that may be utilized against the Kushtaka are the bones of a dog. Given the creature's hatred of the canine species, it is hardly surprising that, even in death, the dog may still be able to save those that it loved in life from the evil of the Kushtaka. If carved into a dagger, or mounted onto a wooden pole as a spear, it may prove to be extremely effective. But to kill the Kushtaka, it would have to pierce the heart (or possibly the brain). This is purely theoretical, however, and may not even work. It's the same with a copper blade, and while copper is harder than bone, the metal's softness limits its usefulness to two or three strikes before it bends and deforms to the point of being useless.

There are two other methods that may work against the Kushtaka: decapitation and fire. A steel blade should be used for this (copper makes for poor cutting weapons), and while not everyone can afford or knows how to use a sword, a machete is a great alternative. That is, assuming one is able to get close enough to the Otterman to do the deed without being torn to pieces in the process. After the creature is dead, its bodily remains should be burned to cinders immediately to prevent the creature from possibly regenerating and taking revenge upon its would-be killers. And rest assured that the Kushtaka's revenge will be both bloody and excruciatingly painful.

Despite the fact that the Tlingit and the Tsimshian are now living in the twenty-first century, they cling to the old ways and still very much believe in the existence of the Kushtaka. They are somewhat reluctant to speak of the creature with outsiders, fearful of the monster's wrath and the white man's skepticism. Little is actually known about this creature, and some of the information above is pure speculation from a learned man's point of view. But native Alaskans are slowly beginning to open up to outsiders about their beliefs and traditions, especially the younger generations. Some of the native people claim to have actually encountered a creature that they believe is the Kushtaka, and they want answers.

In the end, the Kushtaka remains one of the most fascinating creatures in Native American folklore. The Kushtaka is an extremely dangerous foe, however, and one can never be entirely sure if the person standing next to him is human, or if it is a shapeshifting otter-monster in disguise. Precautionary measures should always be taken whenever possible in case the worst should happen. When it comes to monsters, one cannot afford to make any mistakes. One moment of bad judgment could cost an innocent bystander his or her life, and protecting others from the things that lurk in the darkness should always be a monster hunter's top priority.

Acknowledgements

The credit for the artwork seen above goes to Scott Mardis, an expert on lake and sea monsters. Thank You, Scott!!

Sources

Kushtaka (Wikipedia)

Kushtaka (Monstropedia)

The Fearsome Alaskan Tlingit Kushtaka: If it's not One Thing, it's an Otter

Beware the Kushtaka!

Have You Ever Heard of the Kushtaka, Alaska's Other Bigfoot?

Seeking Alaska's Bigfoot

Strange Tails: Kushtaka and the Bay of Death

Kushtaka Mystery

Magical Mondays #12: Kushtaka, the Otter Men

Countdown to Hallowe'en 1: Nature's Gods

Cryptozoology Creatures: Animals of Legend

Alaska's Otterman, or Kushtaka

"In Search of the Kushtaka", The New Book by Dennis Waller

Kushtaka - A Creature of Cryptozoology

Many Names: Alaska's Bigfoot

When the average person sees a baby, they cannot help but be overwhelmed by feelings of love and caring. And why not? They're adorable and innocent, as yet uncorrupted by the selfish ways of the world. They rely on their parents and other appointed adults for nourishment and protection, because they are weak and vulnerable to harm at this point in their lives. In the Philippines, however, those feelings are tempered by a sense of caution and fear of the supernatural. These people know that the cries of an infant in distress don't always belong to a human child. Those cries may belong to a demonic monster known as the Tiyanak, which deceives people into taking them in and then feeds on their would-be saviors when they least expect it.

In Filipino mythology, the Tiyanak (or Impakto) is a vampiric monster that takes on the form of a human baby or a small child (it can appear as a boy or a girl) that dwells within the deepest, darkest parts of the forests and abandoned parts of small towns or villages. The Tiyanak is believed to be the ghost or the reanimated corpse of a child who died before it could be given the rites of holy baptism. These innocent souls are bound for Hell, where they will spend the rest of eternity in Limbo. Over time, these unbaptized innocents are warped and corrupted by the hellish environment and the evil of the Pit, and are thus transformed into evil spirits. Some of these spirits escape from their fiery confinement and return to the mortal plane as goblins, where they devour living humans. In modern times, this definition has been extended to include miscarried or aborted fetuses. Tiyanak who are "born" in this manner inevitably seek to exact their revenge on the people who deprived them of their right to live: their parents. But that vengeance may also extend to the doctor who performed the abortion.

There are also people who believe that the Tiyanak is the offspring of a human woman and a demon, possibly one that is related to the Incubus. Other legends say that this creature is created when a pregnant woman dies before giving birth. When the unfortunate woman is buried, the baby undergoes a transformation into an undead creature in the womb and then emerges from the grave to feed on humans. Thus, the Tiyanak is "born in the ground," neither living nor dead, but undead. It is interesting to note that a similar creature may be found in Malay folklore: the Pontianak, a vampiric ghost that preys upon men. This undead monster was once a woman who died before she was able to give birth. Although they are from different cultures, the Pontianak could be said to be the mother of the Tiyanak. Be aware that this is only speculation, and should not be taken at face value.

There seems to be some differences in opinion as to what the Tiyanak's true form looks like. Some say that the creature's natural form resembles a baby with claws, fangs, and red eyes. It may also be able to take on the appearance of a specific child. There are others who believe that the Tiyanak has more in common with the dwarves of Filipino folklore, sharing their elemental connection to the earth (although whether or not this connection to the earth grants the demon child any specific powers remains to be seen). In this instance, the Tiyanak appears as a short elderly man with wrinkled skin, a mustache and a long beard, a flat nose, and eyes that are said to be the same size as peseta coins. Oddly enough, the creature's right leg is said to be much shorter than its left one. This handicap forces the Tiyanak to move by leaping, and makes it very difficult for the creature to hunt or to otherwise pursue potential prey. However, the monster is able to compensate for its relative lack of mobility with its eerie ability to mimic the cries of a frightened baby.

There are other versions of the Tiyanak legend as well. In one instance, the demon child is thought to fly through the air under its own power, all the while still appearing to be a baby! On the island of Mindoro, the Tiyanak is thought to be able to assume the form of a black bird and soar through the skies in that form. In Pampanga, the legend changes yet again. Here, they are believed to be small people (like faeries, also known as the Little People) with nut-brown skin, large noses, wide mouths (presumably filled with sharp teeth), fierce-looking eyes, and "sharp voices." On a rather incredulous note, these Tiyanak don't walk on the ground like ordinary people do. Instead, they float in mid-air! This may yet be another connection to faery lore. But regardless of how the creature appears to humans, it is still a monster that seeks to kill people whenever it has a chance.

In order to lure its prey within striking distance, the Tiyanak cries like a baby. There are very few people who can ignore this disheartening sound, as only the truly heartless could ignore the sound of an infant in distress. The creature varies the sound of its voice, at times getting closer while seeming further away at other times. By doing so, it seeks to thoroughly confuse and disorient its prey so that they become hopelessly lost in the forests. Once the intended prey picks the creature up, the Tiyanak assumes its true form. The creature's claws and fangs extend, and the Tiyanak proceeds to feed on the still-living victim's flesh and blood. Additionally, the demon child takes great delight in leading travelers off of the beaten path before it entices them with its cries. The Tiyanak is also said to be fond of abducting children, much like the Changeling of European faery lore.

As frightening and dangerous as the Tiyanak is, there are ways to counter and drive the creature away. According to legend, the most effective way to break free of the monster's crying enchantment is simply to strip down, turn one's clothes inside out, and then put them back on. Apparently, the Tiyanak finds this to be hilarious, and will generally let the victim go before it heads back into its forest home. It is also thought that loud noises, like those from a New Year's celebration, will frighten the Tiyanak and cause it to flee back into the forest. According to legend, objects that are used to ward off the Aswang are also said to be effective against the Tiyanak as well. Such objects and substances include garlic, silver, a rosary, holy water, salt, and a crucifix. However, there are no given methods for destroying the Tiyanak. However, one may always fall back on decapitating the monster and then salting and burning the corpse afterwards. It never hurts to be careful.

In the sixteenth century, the Spanish sailed across the Pacific Ocean to the Philippines and began to colonize the islands, starting with Ferdinand Magellan in 1521. Over time, Roman Catholicism became the dominant religion through the Philippine Islands, and the legend of the Tiyanak was incorporated into that particular branch of Christianity, becoming the unbaptized, undead souls of children who had died. But many of the Filipino people still recall the old ways of life, which includes beliefs in monsters and spirits that pre-date the Spanish colonization. And encounters with these creatures of the night, such as the Tiyanak, continue to be reported to this day. It would seem that, as long as the Filipino people themselves continue to endure, then monsters like the Tiyanak are here to stay.

Sources

Tiyanak (Wikipedia)

Legendary Humanoids - Tiyanak, the Demon Child

Tiyanak - Demon Child

Monster of the Week: The Tiyanak of the Philippines

Tiyanak

Tiyanak (Monstropedia)

Legend and Story of the Philippine Tiyanak Child Vampire

Within the annals of folklore, legend, and mythology, some truly bizarre monsters can be found. But being bizarre doesn't make them any less dangerous. In fact, it may make them even more deadly. One of the most bizarre of these creatures can be found in the oral traditions and folklore of the Iroquois. These creatures appear as decapitated human heads with wings that will devour anything that moves. They are known as Kanontsistóntie, the Flying Heads.
 
The Flying Heads are undead disembodied heads or demons that have the wings of a bird or a bat growing from their temples. They have fiery eyes that glow eerily in the darkness, while their heads are covered in a matted mess of long, tangled hair. Their heads vary in size, from being human-sized to being "four times as tall as the tallest man." The faces of the monsters are described as being "very dark and angry, filled with great wrinkles and horrid furrows." These creatures have large mouths that are filled with needle-sharp fangs, which they use for catching and devouring their prey. Their skin is thick and matted with dirty, greasy hair, so much so that no weapon can penetrate these disgusting defenses. Some legends say that they have long talons of great strength on their undersides for tearing flesh and seizing prey, but this trait is either absent or is simply not mentioned in other accounts. These monsters can be found in the dark forests of the Adirondack Mountains in New York.
 
The Flying Heads were once thought to kill primarily for revenge because of some wrongdoing on the part of the Iroquois. However, these creatures have since become so feral and debased that the only thing that they think about is what they're going to eat next. They are constantly hungry and, being only disembodied heads, they can never know the satisfaction that a full stomach brings. Hunger is now their only motivation, and it drives them at all times. These demons travel in groups and are entirely carnivorous, and they especially seem to savor the taste of human flesh. They are relentless predators, pursuing and devouring any living creature that makes the slightest movement. They appear to be nocturnal by nature, roosting in caves or desecrated ruins by day (much like bats). Some of them might make their nests in an abandoned village, where all of the original inhabitants were mercilessly slaughtered by the winged demons. By night, the Flying Heads soar through the darkened sky at speed, shrieking and laughing like madmen as they go.
 
While the Flying Heads are exactly what their name suggests (severed heads with the ability to fly, obviously), they are supernatural entities with powers beyond those of a mere mortal. They are most obviously able to fly, although there is no evidence of any limit to the distance or the speed of their flight capabilities. They are possessed of great strength, particularly in their jaws and the talons on their undersides. It is said in some legends that the stumps of their necks drip blood, and that this blood is both toxic and corrosive to human flesh. Some people say that they are able to spread disease by appearing in the dreams of their victims, which is always taken to be an omen of a coming illness or death. And wherever these monsters choose to dwell, the place eventually becomes corrupted by their evil. This unnatural taint gradually spreads to the surrounding countryside, rendering the area desolate and devoid of life for many miles. This corruption may attract other monsters, making such a territory both inhospitable and extremely dangerous to human beings.
 
There is one question that begs to be answered about the Flying Heads: where did they come from? Many people say that the Kanontsistóntie are the result of a horrible violent death, while others say that a human may become one of these creatures through an act of cannibalism (a trait shared with the more notorious Wendigo). Some folklore suggests that the Flying Heads are the decapitated remains of great sorcerers, sorceresses, or giants. Some stories, however, do not speak of the origins of the Flying Heads at all. This would seem to imply that these monsters are primordial in nature, having existed since prehistory with little to no purpose other than to terrorize and feed upon humans. In order to understand the origins of these monsters more clearly, one must look to Iroquois mythology for answers.
 
Long ago, there was a very severe winter on one particular year. The intense cold killed most of the plants, and it drove the deer, the moose, and the other game animals off to other regions in search of food. The local native tribes decided against following the animals, and decided to rely on their fishing skills to sustain them. But the fishing didn't last, for it seemed that the fish had abandoned the area. Eventually, a devastating famine swept through the area, becoming so severe that it killed entire families. What were the natives to do?
 
It wasn't long before the younger members of the tribe began to talk about migrating from the area that they had long called home. The young braves proposed a secret journey to a great lake to the west of them. The journey would be dangerous, as there were a number of hostile tribes in the area that always seemed to thirst for the blood of their enemies. But once they were beyond the borders of the lake, it would be a fairly simple matter to find a new home. However, not everyone agreed with this plan.
 
The elders of the tribe absolutely refused to make the journey, saying that it was madness to attempt such a feat. They argued that the famine had been orchestrated by the Master of Life to punish the people for their sins. They believed that if they could endure the famine, it would eventually pass. But if they tried to escape it, the consequences would follow them for the rest of their lives and beyond. They would rather die in their own homelands than to live in a strange place where they didn't belong. The young men were furious with the elders' decision, and they proceeded to slaughter the elderly men in their anger.
 
When the young men realized what they had done, they were faced with a dilemma: how would they dispose of the bodies? Seeking to justify their grisly deed, it was eventually decided that the bodies would be decapitated and burned as an offering to the Master of Life. The heads would be bound together and thrown into the lake (presumably with heavy stones), so that they would sink to the bottom and never be seen again by the eyes of man. Then they would be free to migrate to new hunting grounds, where food would be plentiful. Of course, things never go exactly as planned when murder is involved, do they?
 
When one of the chiefs involved in the murders tried to hurl the heads into the lake, he himself became entangled in the ropes and fell into the lake. Unable to break free of the ropes, the chief drowned. According to legend, the water started to bubble, and a sickening slime appeared on the water's surface. Then, something monstrous emerged from the lake: a gigantic head covered in matted hair, with the wings of a bat and a cavernous maw filled with needle-pointed fangs. The Iroquois would never be able to escape this horrible monster, which arose from the depths of the lake to avenge the deaths of the tribal elders.
 
It wasn't long, however, before the Flying Head began to attack other tribes in the area, seemingly for no apparent reason. The Flying Head would devour any living thing that moved, oftentimes while the victim was still alive. Over time, the Flying Head's attacks grew more vicious and its unceasing hunger claimed more and more lives. Eventually, people fled and hid themselves from the monster. All that remained was a woman and her baby inside of a longhouse, and she had a decision to make. "Someone must make a stand against this monster," she thought to herself, "It might as well be me." She began to build a large fire, and tossed in several large stones. And then, she sat down to wait for the monster.
 
The young mother watched and waited for the monster to make its presence known. Suddenly, the Flying Head appeared in the longhouse doorway! Looking inside, the monster grinned horribly when it saw the woman sitting within the dwelling. The woman pretended that she didn't notice the hideous creature and acted as though she was cooking a meal for herself (some versions of the legend say that she was roasting chestnuts or acorns over the fire). Picking up the now-glowing stones with a forked stick, she then pretended to eat the red-hot rocks. In reality, the woman passed the stones behind her beautiful face and simply dropped them on the ground. All the while, the woman smacked her lips and exclaimed, "Ah, how good this is! What wonderful food! Never has anyone feasted on meat like this before!"
 
The woman's ruse worked. Unable to control itself, the Flying Head rushed into the longhouse and seized the entire pile of glowing, red-hot stones in its mouth. But as soon as the creature had swallowed them, it let out a horrifying scream that echoed over the trees, the mountains, and the streams as it frantically flew off in agony. Its screams reached such volumes that the largest and oldest of the trees trembled, the earth shook, and even the very leaves fell from the branches of the trees. Every person throughout the land covered their ears and grimaced in pain from the monster's screams! Gradually, the screams faded into the distance, becoming fainter and fainter until they could no longer be heard. What became of the monster after that is unknown. Some people say that the Flying Head burst into flames and burned into ashes. Others say that the creature fled into the wilderness and never bothered humanity again. Could this demon still be out there somewhere?
 
There are very few known ways to deal with the Flying Heads in regards to warding off or even destroying them. They are said to be vulnerable to medicine charms (traditionally used by the Native American peoples to ward off sickness and evil) and seem to particularly hate ritualistic dancing and sacred songs. They do have one huge weakness, however: their lack of intelligence. Despite the fact that these creatures are little more than heads with wings, they aren't much smarter than the average wild beast. They are driven only by their voracious appetites for flesh. Because of their stupidity, they are easily deceived and will fall for the simplest of tricks. And while the Flying Heads are highly aggressive and dangerous predators, they are cowards and will retreat if the dominant member of their flock is destroyed or if their chosen prey proves to be more powerful than the creatures had anticipated.
 
It would seem that the only way to destroy the Flying Heads is fire. Decapitation is obviously out of the question here, although splitting the monsters in two with a bladed weapon or piercing the brain may also work. Gunshots to the head may also stop these flying demons, although the veracity of this theory will most likely never be proven. Cutting the wings of these creatures will most likely disable them, causing them to fall helplessly to the ground. There, they can easily be finished off by piercing the brain with a narrow spike or blade (like a bayonet). The remains should then be salted and burned, and the ashes cast to the four winds to prevent the Heads from possibly returning.
 
The Flying Heads have not been seen in the modern age, and one might be able to assume that they have died off. Either that, or encounters with such creatures are few and far between and may be so sporadic that people don't bother reporting them for fear of ridicule! But is it possible that the Flying Heads are still out there, flying out in search of prey when the sun goes down? It is certainly a possibility. Perhaps somewhere, deep in a forgotten cave in a dark forest, the Flying Heads sleep and await nightfall, when they may prowl the darkened skies once again in search of living prey...
 
Works Cited
 
Zenko, Darren. Field Guide to Monsters. Canada: Dragon Hill Publishing Ltd. Copyright ©2008 by Dragon Hill Publishing Ltd.

Flying Head (Wikipedia)

Legendary Native American Figures: Flying Head (Big Heads)
 
Flying Head (The Demoniacal)
 
The Flying Head
 
FLYING-HEAD
 
Flying Head
 
Big Giant Heads: The Importance of Being Monstrously Gluttonous

Swamps have always inspired fear and awe in the hearts of men. These lush, waterlogged forests and wetlands are as beautiful as they are dangerous, and with good reason. The murky water is notorious for concealing deadly animals like alligators, venomous snakes, dangerous fish, and disease-bearing insects. But people fear the swamps for other reasons, too. They are said to be home to monsters, ghosts, evil spirits, and the undead. The swamps and the bayous of Louisiana are no exception, and this waterlogged land seems to be haunted by some particularly vicious creatures. One of the most feared of these swamp monsters is the Rougarou, a shapeshifting man-beast that feeds on the flesh and the blood of sinners.

According to local folklore, the Rougarou (also spelled rugarou, rugaru, roux-ga-roux, or rugaroo) is a sort of Cajun werewolf that is said to stalk the swamps surrounding Acadiana and Greater New Orleans, but there is little to no doubt that the beast prowls the forests, fields, and bayous of these regions as well. To the local Cajuns, the name Rougarou is interchangeable with the French name for the monster, Loup-Garou. Over the years, the word eventually became rougarou. According to Cajun folklorist Jonathan Foret (who appeared on Monsters & Mysteries in America on Destination America), this may have been what the English-speaking people thought that they had heard, and in the end, that word became more popular and stuck. But regardless of what the monster is called or where it chooses to dwell, the Rougarou is feared by both Native Americans and white men alike. The word rougarouitself is actually a corruption of the French loup-garou, with the word loupbeing French for “wolf,” while garouoriginates from the Frankish word garulf, meaning a man who transforms into an animal. However, behind all of this is a horrible monster that is terrifying to behold. Legend says that the beast is bipedal and has a human-looking body that is covered with shaggy brown or black fur and has taloned fingers and toes (some say that the creature only has three toes on each foot). Standing seven to eight feet in height, the monster most commonly has the head of a wolf or a dog, with an elongated snout filled with razor-sharp teeth and eyes that glow an eerie red or yellow in the darkness. In other words, the Rougarou isn’t something that a man would want to run into in the middle of the night.

According to Native American folklore, the Rougarou is thought to be a sacred being that is in harmony with the energies and the power of the Earth itself. In these traditions, the beast is seen as being akin to the timid Sasquatch and the cannibalistic Wendigo. However, it can be argued that there are enough differences between the Rougarou and the Wendigo to warrant classifying the Cajun Werewolf as a different type of monster altogether, even though they were both once human and share a taste for human flesh. In any case, it has been said that if a person gazes upon the Rougarou or looks into the beast’s eyes, he take the curse upon himself. Such a man is doomed to live out a short portion of his life as a werewolf. This curse can last up to one hundred and one days (about three months and eleven days), provided that the afflicted person refrains from consuming human flesh and avoids telling anyone that he is a rougarou for the duration of the curse. Other legends say that the curse lasts for the rest of the person’s life, or at least until the beast is either cured or killed. Either way, living as a monster and avoiding human contact is a very lonely and deeply depressing experience, one that a man is forced to endure as he walks the earth in the form of a vicious, predatory beast.

In Cajun folklore, the Rougarou is thought to be a type of bogeyman. Parents who know the story will often tell their misbehaving children, “If you don’t behave, the Rougarou is going to get you!” According to the Catholic version of the legend, a rougarou is created when a man doesn’t observe Lent for seven years in a row. As punishment, God supposedly curses the perpetrator to become a werewolf every Lenten season for the remainder of their lives. However, it is unclear as to whether the afflicted one only becomes a monster every night for the forty days of the Lenten season or if it is a year-round curse. The beast may also come into being in much the same way as the Native American version of the creature, but there is a much more sinister side to the story. Because of its own sins, the Rougarou feels compelled to hunt down and kill any Catholics who don’t abide by their own Lenten vows (like giving up alcohol, sweets, or red meat for the forty days of the Lenten season). Those who haven’t adhered to their vows are inevitably ripped limb from limb by the Rougarou, and what remains of the bodies are found half-eaten and torn into pieces for the victim’s transgressions.

According to the legend, someone who is cursed to become a rougarou is said to develop an insatiable thirst for human blood, although not every version of the legend shares this notion. As mentioned previously, folklore says that the victim of this curse becomes a ravenously hungry man-beast every night for one hundred and one days. At the break of dawn, the Rougarou reverts to its human form. He then spends the day bedridden, feeling sick and frail as though he is slowly dying from an incurable wasting disease. For fairly obvious reasons, the afflicted person must refrain from telling others of his predicament, for he fears being killed (or at the very least, a trip to the local psychiatric ward). After the original one hundred and one days are over with, the original victim may transfer his curse to another person by drawing blood from another individual. This can happen by accident, but it is most often done intentionally. The original victim is freed of his curse, but the suffering of the newly-afflicted has just begun. In this way, it seems that one can never truly be rid of the Rougarou’s curse. Other stories say that witchcraft or practicing the dark arts is the cause, either by the witch transforming herself into a wolf or by cursing other people with lycanthropy.

Avoiding the Lenten season for seven years straight isn’t the only way to become a monstrous wolf. In some versions of the legend, the curse is said to be hereditary, in which case it is passed on from one generation to the next. The curse itself is usually inherited by the third child. In other cases, a rougarou is created when a man is rejected by society, especially for his religious beliefs. But one of the most common ways to become a rougarou is through sorcery, and this is most often done by accidentally angering a powerful sorcerer. According to legend, Native American shamans will curse people who abuse the swamplands, squander its resources, or attempt to use the swamp for their own personal gain. One such story, as related by folklorist Alyne Pustanio, tells of a white trapper that would don the skins of wolves and other animals that he had caught and would wander the swamps and the forests at night, taking great delight in terrifying friends and neighbors alike by pretending to be the dreaded Loup-Garou. This was eventually brought to the attention of a native Louisiana medicine man, who knew of the perfect punishment. The medicine man decided that if the disrespectful fur trader loved playing the part of a monster so much, then he should stop pretending. Stricken by the shaman’s curse, the trapper sang a sadder song from that point on as a ferocious werewolf, forever condemned to hunt under the swampland moon’s eerie yellow glow for both his abuse of nature’s resources and his wicked sense of humor.

But hope isn’t completely lost for someone so afflicted. Most traditions in Southern Louisiana hold that the curse of the Rougarou can be lifted or broken by a gypsy witch, a Hoodoo conjurer, a Voodoo priest, or another shaman whose powers are equal to or greater than those of the sorcerer that cursed the afflicted individual to begin with. Any of these conjurers could, if willing (or for the right price), remove the curse and quite possibly turn it back on the medicine man who cast the spell to begin with. This could have debilitating or even fatalresults for the angry shaman who cursed the person. Of course, there is never any guarantee that the curse can in fact be broken. Curses are fickle by nature, and are seldom so easily dispelled. This is especially true in the case of curses that create monsters, and some can never be broken.

According to legend, there is another way to cure a rougarou, although it is by no means pleasant. In some of the stories, a person who is attacked by the beast draws a knife to defend himself and manages to cut the monster. At the first drop of blood, it is said that the Rougarou will revert to its human form. The drawing of blood has somehow freed the individual from the werewolf’s curse, which has its origins in European werewolf traditions. The now-human monster will then tell his savior who he is and that if the other person tells anyone else of the encounter before a year and one day have passed, then the would-be victim of the cured creature is doomed to become a werewolf as well. But more often than not, the man runs home and proceeds to tell his family all about his encounter with the dreaded beast. In one such case, a young boy was attacked by a strange white dog and managed to save himself by cutting the dog on its right foot with a pocket knife. The white dog turned back into a man, who was a doctor by trade. The man then warned the boy not to tell anyone what he had seen for a year and one day. But the boy foolishly ran home and told his family what had happened. His family was familiar with the legends of the Rougarou, and they were heartbroken. The next day, a respected doctor appeared in town with his right arm in a sling. Shortly thereafter, he shot himself. And then, a year later, the boy also killed himself. Secrecy seems to be essential to the Rougarou’s existence, as exposing the afflicted person’s cursed nature to other people may turn the other person into a werewolf…or worse.

While most legends speak of the Rougarou as being a werewolf, there are others who say that the beast’s shape isn’t limited to that of a wolf. Because wolves are somewhat uncommon (although by no means unheard of) in the Louisiana swamps, local tales of the monster usually incorporate other animals into the legend. Such animals include dogs, pigs, alligators, cows, and even chickens. Furthermore, it is said that these animals are usually white in color (like the white dog mentioned earlier). Other legends say that the Rougarou is capable of shapeshifting into any of these animals completely, and other than some unusual coloring and strange behavior on that animal’s part, most people would never know that it was a monster in disguise. But make no mistake, because the Rougarou is a ferocious monster regardless of the form it takes. And no matter what shape it assumes, the beast still hungers for the flesh of sinners.

According to legend, the Rougarou’s bestial form and its ravenous hunger for human flesh (or blood, according to some versions of the legend) gives the beast a supernatural degree of strength, allowing the Rougarou to rip apartlivestock like cows, goats, and even horses with ease. The Cajun Werewolf can break down household doors with little effort. The monster’s unnatural strength is one of a number of reasons why most animals (including the alligator) give the beast a wide berth. Because most animals are sensitive to any supernatural presence (whether corporeal or otherwise), most animals (including trained pets) will instinctively flee immediately. However, they may not be able to escape for long. Once the werewolf has chosen its prey, the beast’s sheer speed, agility, and endurance (exceeding that of any animal) allow the Rougarou to outrun and outlast any potential prey in a chase, whether the victim is human or an animal. Even if its potential meal tries to hide, the creature’s heightened senses of sight, smell, and hearing ensure that the victim doesn’t remain hidden for long. The Rougarou can see clearly in the dark, can hear the heartbeats of its victim, and is able to smell the sweat dripping from their faces. Even in the deepest, darkest swamps, one is not safe from this horrifying man-beast. And once the werewolf has caught its prey, it will rend and tear the flesh from its screaming victim’s body. At that point, the Rougarou will feast on the victim’s flesh and blood until the monster’s hunger has been satisfied. But no matter how much the beast feeds, the hunger will eventually return, and the Rougarou will be forced to hunt once again.

With all of the folklore and legends that surround the beast, one feels compelled to ask: where did the Rougarou come from? Some people say that the beast is nothing more than a werewolf that traveled to America from France, gradually adapting to living and hunting in the dark swamps and eventually becoming a different breed of werewolf altogether. In the process, the monster took on some different qualities that aren’t typical of the European Werewolf. But there are some, like author and folklorist Alyne Pustanio, who argue that the Rougarou (which she spells Rugarou) has darker, more obscure origins. The Native American traditions found in Southwest Louisiana are particularly rich in tales of werewolves and other shapeshifting creatures. In the traditions of the Chitimacha, the Opelousas, and especially the Attakapas, there is an ancient and perhaps even primordial ancestral memory of savage, powerful shapeshifters that the Opelousas and the Chitimacha knew as the “Wolf-Walkers”. These legends are predominantly associated with the Attakapas, and the name of the tribe itself is derived from the Choctaw word for “man-eater”. At one time, the people of this tribe were fierce warriors who made a habit of consuming the flesh of their fallen enemies. Today, there are very few members of this once-proud tribe remaining in the Louisiana swamps. But what happened? What events took place that dealt such devastatingconsequences to the Attakapas?

In the early 1700s, the Opelousas and the Chitimacha waged an all-out war against the Attakapas. There was one battle in particular, however, that devastatedthe tribe. This battle (which has no name to speak of) took place in a stretch of low country just six miles outside of what is now the small city of St. Martinville in St. Martin Parish, Louisiana. In what was undoubtedly a bloody hand-to-hand conflict, the Chitimacha and the Opelousas virtually wiped out the Attakapas. It has been reported that only six individuals (perhaps more) escaped with their lives and fled into the surrounding swamps. Where they went is debatable: some took refuge with a tribe up in Calcasieu, while others ran away to the area around Indian Bend. Some legends, however, say that they fled into the deep, dark swamps to eke out a living, relying on their knowledge of the swamps and their primitive living skills to survive. Some appeared in the settlements, driven to begging for food by their desperation. They were eventually discovered, and those that weren’t killed were driven back into the swamps.

In the winter that followed the fateful battle, things reached a turning point. According to one account from Spanish settlers, impending starvation drove the surviving Attakapas to kill and devour their own people. But cannibalism was linked with these people long before the Europeans made contact with the tribe. Sick and tired of being hated and feared by others, the Attakapas appealed to their shamans for guidance in their time of need. In their desperation, the medicine men turned away from their places as servants to the Great Spirit and sought help from the evil that dwelled within the swamps. When they cried out, something dark in the forests answered. Legends say that evil spirits came up from the depths of the swamp and entered the bodies of the Attakapas, possessing them. Possession by these dark spirits gave what was left of the Attakapas something unique: the power of shapeshifting. Now able to become vicious beasts at will, these men gave themselves over to their feral natures entirely. In other words, they had overcome their starving bodies by supernatural means, giving up their humanity in exchange for something else: animal instinct. These people had become vicious werewolves, seeing other people as their food. Over time, the Attakapas came to be known as the Rugarou, the Wolf-Walkers. And to make matters worse, their numbers were slowly starting to grow once again.

During the spring and summer months, the Attakapas seemed to be happy to live like any other people by hunting, fishing, and farming for food. Only the most savage and feral among them chose to live as monsters all year-round. But when winter came and an icy chill could be felt on the wind, it was then that the Wolf Walkers were feared the most. When in the form of a beast, the Rugarou appeared as manlike wolf-creatures, much like the Werewolf is portrayed in Hollywood cinema today. Possessed of unnatural strength, endurance, and speed while bearing ripping claws and teeth, these creatures were not something that a man all alone in the swamp could encounter and hope to survive.

During the winter, it is said that the Attakapas lived in the form of an animal at all times, whether they were men, women, or children. And during those long, freezing winter nights, some say that the heart-wrenching memories of starvation would cause insanity in the beasts. This drove them out of the swamp and into the lowlands, where they prowled about in search of human prey. But the Opelousas and the Chitimacha have more to fear than other people, for madness and hunger aren’t the only forces that drive the Rugarou. The Attakapas haven’t forgotten how the other tribes brutally slaughtered their own families and friends, and their desire for revenge still burns fiercely in their hearts. And one day, they firmly believe that vengeance shall at long last be theirs.

Today, the Chitimacha continue to live in the Louisiana swamps, while the Opelousas endure in smaller numbers. But when winter comes, fears of the Rugarou and its depredations come back with it. As for the Attakapas, they’re still around. On October 28th, 2006, hope for the future was restored as the Attakapa-Ishak Nation met for the first time in over one hundred years as “one nation.” There was a total of four hundred and fifty people gathered together that day, all representing Louisiana and Texas. Rachel Mouton, the mistress of ceremony and the newly-appointed Director of Publications and Communications introduced Billy LaChapelle, who opened the afternoon with a traditional prayer in English and Attakapa.

As recently as 2010 (and possibly much more recently), there have been reports of mutilated livestock and strange figures seen close to the roads around the Chitimacha reservation near Charenton, Louisiana. People have begun to whisper that the Rugarou is once again on the hunt for human prey. The Chitimacha elders believe that it is because the Hurricanes Rita, Katrina, and Gustav have devastated the ecosystem of the Louisiana swamps, effectively destroying the many foods and resources that the Attakapas have depended upon for so long. Some say that this is the Rugarou’s revenge, a vendetta that stretches back from at least three hundred years ago, if not longer. It is only a matter of time until the Rugarou strikes again, and there can be little to no doubt that blood will be spilled on that day.

The legend of the Rougarou is well-known among the Cajuns and the Native American tribes of Louisiana, but they aren’t the only people in the region plagued by the beast’s depredations. The Cajun Werewolf is also an old enemy of the Romani Gypsies, who inhabit Louisiana’s Atchafalaya region. The Gypsies know this horrible monster as “stragoi jostumal,” also known as “the unclean”, “the enemy”, “the evil one”, and “the accursed”. According to Roma legend, the Stragoi (which may be related to the Romanian Strigoi, a species of vampire) is a sort of revenant that feeds on human blood and is capable of assuming the forms of a variety of animals at will. The enmity between the Gypsies and the werewolf is deep-rooted, and goes back hundreds of years.

The Gypsies, as a people, have long been persecuted wherever they go. And although the attitudes towards the Roma have changed considerably in the twenty-first century, things were very different in the late 1600s. In Germany, it was actually legal to hunt and kill Gypsies like animals. They were persecuted and burned at the stake by the Spanish Inquisition, and English laws announced that trading or otherwise making purchases from the Gypsies was illegal. But it was in France that things were the worst. Initially, the French enjoyed a very friendly relationship with the Gypsy caravans, and they were welcomed in many of the great cities throughout France. But eventually, laws were passed against the Roma, and the French authorities reinforced those laws brutally. Even the innocent act of stopping to reprovision themselves with food and supplies was punishable by death. It is thought that these restrictions may be one of the reasons why Gypsies lead a nomadic existence. What were they to do?

Eventually, some of the Gypsies were placed on ships by the French and deported to the Americas. By this time, the Gypsies had taken a French name, calling themselves the Manouche. They ended up settling in exotic locales like the Canary Islands and Brazil, but some of them wound up in the French colony of Louisiana. Over time, the Manouche abandoned their nomadic ways and began to settle down in the area. They began to intermarry with the local Native American tribes, and also with the Acadiens, those people exiled from the French colony of Nova Scotia in Canada. The intermingling of blood between such diverse cultures created the unique Cajun flavor of what is known today as the great state of Louisiana.

Before the Gypsies had arrived, however, legends of deadly shapeshifting beasts had already been known to the native peoples of the region for many generations. The French settlers had inadvertently brought their legends with them of a beast that they called the Loup-Garou, a particularly vicious werewolf that had terrorized France for centuries. The Gypsies themselves were (and still are) very superstitious, and their culture abounds with legends of the walking dead, curses, witchcraft, and werewolves. The Stragoi, as mentioned earlier, is one such creature that is able to shapeshift. When the Manouche encountered these horrible man-beasts from the Native American and French cultures, they knew exactly what they were dealing with. The caravan’s resident sorceress (or drabarniin Romani) and the elders knew that they had to do something, or people would begin to die...

The people of the Atchafalaya region hold some peculiar beliefs about the Manouche Gypsies. For example, they have long believed that the old witches among the Gypsies could transform themselves, at will, into crows. Seeing one of these birds or being followed by a flock of crows isn’t necessarily a bad thing in Gypsy traditions at all. In fact, it is actually considered to be a good omen. The very presence of these birds is believed to be sure protection against the Stragoi, and despite the fact that it is illegal to this day to do so, crows are kept by many Romani as pets. According to legend, one harsh croak is all that is necessary to frighten the Stragoi away. The same could be said for the Rougarou.

In the event that the Rougarou (Stragoi) is found to be one of their own people, no time is lost in attempting to drive the beast out of hiding and to rid the afflicted of the curse. The caravan’s wise men and women (puridanos) use their powers of divination to single out the individual who carries the werewolf’s curse, after which the tribe’s men will then capture that person (the Rougarou can be male or female, although males are the most common). Once this has been done, the puridanos will attempt to use every kind of magical cure that they can possibly think of to save their kinfolk from the curse. Most Romani accounts say that this painstaking process very rarely fails, but it has happened. And when the process does fail, they all know that the beast must be destroyed. If this isn’t done, then the lives of the entire tribe are at risk.

When a monster must be destroyed, that task falls to the leader of the tribe, the most powerful and prominent man among them. He is known as the Rom Baro, the “Big Man.” Only he has the authority and the power to kill the Stragoi. According to eyewitness testimony, there is a very strict ritual that must be followed to the letter. This is an ancient tradition that is used to put the afflicted person out of their misery. Thus, it is an act of mercy, not malice. As such, the only person in a gypsy tribe who may have a sword in his possession is the Rom Baro himself. This sword is usually made by the caravan’s blacksmith to exacting standards. It can be assumed that the Big Man uses this weapon to dispatch the werewolf, usually by beheading the individual and then burning the body until only ashes remain. And while the Gypsies of the Atchafalaya region have been plagued by the Rougarou or Stragoi for hundreds of years, the Romani themselves say that only three times in the American chapter of their history have they resorted to killing a person suffering from the werewolf’s curse. The Gypsies remain dead silent about those particular incidents.

Today, the curse of the Rougarou is so widespread and feared that the native Cajuns still seek out Gypsy help when they feel that they have been “jinxed” by the werewolf’s curse. There are still many remote gypsy encampments scattered throughout the swamps of Southern Louisiana. Here, the gypsy wise women (or puridai) are sought out. There are quite a few people who are willing to brave the dangers of the swamps just to receive her advice and wisdom. Their magic is believed by some to be the only suredefense and the only promise of salvation from the Rougarou’s curse. And they are usually willing to give their help to those in need…for a price.

As terrifying and dangerous as the Rougarou is, it does have several weaknesses. A bright, roaring fire will cause the beast to retreat, as fire is said to be one of the few things that the Cajun Werewolf fears. According to Alyne Pustanio, there are several herbs that have protective properties which can be used against the beast. These herbs include wolfsbane, angelica root, rue, sage, bay leaves, and laurel. However, these herbs must be gathered when the moon is in its waxing phase, or else they won’t work. Alyne also says that salt, holy water, consecrated Eucharist wafers, and the ashes of blessed palm leaves from the previous year’s Palm Sunday celebration will also protect a person from the depredations of a werewolf. Brick dust, a contribution from New Orleans hoodoo conjurers, is said to work as well.

One unusual method of keeping the Rougarou at bay, according to Claudia Reynolds, is to place thirteen small objects along the doorways and the windowsills of one’s home. According to some versions of the legend, the Rougarou can only count up to the number twelve. And thus each time the beast counts out twelve of those objects, it will be forced to start all over again. It is said that the monster will become so occupied with this task that he will fail to take notice of the rising sun until it’s too late. It will be forced to run back into the swamp. In the same vein, some say that hanging a colander on one’s front door will achieve the same effect. The Rougarou will just stand there counting all of the holes and, once he gets to twelve, he has to start all over again. When the sun comes up, the Rougarou will be forced to retreat. This may have more to do with legends of the Vampire in Eastern and Central Europe than anything else, and little to do with the Rougarou. Still, it might be worth trying.

There are a number of other ways to deter the Rougarou from attacking as well. If one takes the Gypsy legends of the Stragoi into account, the harsh cries of a crow may frighten the monster away. Some say that by rolling up a certain leaf (which might be wolfsbane or one of the herbs mentioned above) and placing it inside one’s wallet will keep the creature away. There are others who say that there are elderly women who paint protective hexagons in the middle of their floors and say certain prayers to keep the beast at a safe distance. Mojo bags and other charms from the Voodoo and the Hoodoo religions may also work.

Despite the beast’s sheer strength and ferocious appetite for human flesh, the Rougarou can be killed. However, the sheer danger and the risk to life and limb are beyond measure and thus should only be done when there is no other choice. Like the Werewolf of film and literature, silver is said to be an effective means of destroying the Rougarou. Brad Steiger recounts in The Werewolf Book (Second Edition, 2012) that silver, in alchemical traditions, symbolizes “the moon, the Divine Virgin, purity, and chastity” (Steiger 252). In her book, The Encyclopedia of Vampires & Werewolves (Second Edition, 2011), Rosemary Ellen Guiley writes that silver is a “precious metal with protective powers against negative influences and everything evil” (Guiley 313). It is interesting to note that the use of silver as a means of killing the Werewolf comes from France in the mid-to-late 1760s. During the years of 1764 to 1767, a monstrous wolflike creature terrorized the Gévaudan region of France, where it killed and devoured anywhere from sixty to over one hundred people, if not more. But in the end, on June 19th, 1767, a reclusive hunter by the name of Jean Chastel shot and killed the Beast with two bullets forged from a blessed silver Communion chalice that he had melted down and cast into three bullets. The monster has since become known as the Beast of Gévaudan, and the case still remains unsolved, even after over two hundred years of searching for answers. It is from this case that Hollywood gained the idea that a werewolf can be slain with a silver bullet.

There are two distinctive ways of killing the Rougarou. The first is the classic Hollywood approach, and that is to pierce the monster’s heart with a silver bullet or a blade. The silver must be fairly pure, but alloys like sterling silver or coin silver (both of which contain copper as an alloying element, making the resulting alloy harder and more resistant to wear). A steel blade can be plated with pure silver as an alternative to an expensive blade forged entirely from silver or a silver alloy (although pure silver is considered to be more effective). However, be cautious not to remove the blade until after the beast has been permanently dealt with (which shall be discussed shortly), or else one risks the werewolf regenerating and returning to life.

The second and most effective means of killing the Rougarou is decapitation. This involves taking a long, very sharp blade of iron or steel and separating the head from the rest of the body. This can be done with a sword, an axe, or a long knife (having at least twelve to fifteen inches of cutting edge), but such a weapon demands getting very close to the monster in order to deliver a beheading blow. That also puts the hunter within striking distance of the Rougarou’s claws and fangs, so it is recommended that the Rougarou be taken down from a distance beforedecapitating the beast. The Gypsies, according to Alyne Pustanio, preferred forged iron for this purpose, usually in the form of a sword. It can be reasonably assumed (but it could be wrong) that this means wrought iron, but it should be known that wrought iron is a fairly soft metal that doesn’t take or otherwise keep a very sharp edge. However, it should be noted that that the Gypsies performed their mercy-killings while the werewolf was in human form. In all likelihood, the modern-day monster hunter will not have this option, as he is far more likely to encounter the Rougarou after the cursed person has transformed into a monster.

There is one final step in permanently destroying the Rougarou, and that is to salt and burn the beast’s body and scatter the ashes. This step in the process is crucial, as it will prevent the monster from regenerating and thus returning to life to seek revenge on its would-be killer. But keep in mind that burning a human body requires extremelyhigh temperatures of at least sixteen hundred degrees Fahrenheit or higher and several hours of burning time to reduce a corpse to ashes, not to mention the fuel needed for such an undertaking. A modern-day crematorium would be far more efficient, but good luck finding one that doesn’task questions. A good old-fashioned bonfire that is constantly watched and tended to is probably a safer alternative than a crematorium. But if done correctly, the threat of the Rougarou will be gone…for the time being. There is always the possibility that the Rougarou’s curse will manifest itself once again.

The idea of having to resort to killing a human being cursed to prowl the swamps at night as a monster brings up some issues regarding the morality of such a situation. Is it immoral to kill something evil? Generally speaking, no. But is it immoral to do the same to an innocent human being? Yes, it is. It is crucialto remember that the Rougarou is still human underneath the fur and the fangs, and may just be the innocent victim of a sorcerer or a shaman’s curse (although some of these people may have done somethingto deserve it). Either that, or they may have been infected with the affliction by another werewolf. It could even be hereditary. Thus, the victim’s condition may not necessarily be their fault. But killing the beast should only be done as a last resort, and every possible effort should be made to cure the afflicted person before it’s too late. Louisiana is filled with Gypsies, Hoodoo conjurers, Voodoo practitioners, and Native American medicine men, so a cure could very well be found for this particular type of lycanthropy. It should be noted that this blog neither encourages nor condones murder of any kind, because it is wrong on both legal and moral grounds and will likely result in imprisonment for the rest of one’s life…or worse.

It would seem that there are two types of Rougarou prowling the swamps of Louisiana. One is the Loup-Garou, the werewolf that immigrated to Louisiana from France with the settlers. The other is the Attakapa Wolf-Walker, a member of a near-extinct tribe of vicious shapeshifters. While both may look similar when fully transformed, there may be something different about each one that distinguishes one from the other. On one hand, the French Loup-Garou is believed to physically transform into a monster. On the other hand, the Attakapa Wolf-Walker could be transforming on an etheric level by utilizing a magical animal body of transformation (see this blog’s entry on Phantom Werewolves for more information). But regardless of those differences, both of these varieties of the Rougarou are extremelydangerous, and encounters with either one should be avoided at all costs.

The legend of the Rougarou may very well be changing. As people’s perceptions of the world around them change, so do their beliefs. There are a few people in Louisiana who believe that the Rougarou might be something metaphysical, an entity that isn’t entirely a physical, flesh-and-blood monster. Some paranormal investigators are intrigued by this notion and theorize that this creature may be interdimensional or perhaps even spiritual in nature. However, there are a great deal of people who believe that the Rougarou is a flesh-and-blood monster that, at the same time, is supernatural in origin. “These tales twist and turn throughout history,” says Cajun folklorist Jonathan Foret, “and this may be one of those twists.” Who’s to say that Jonathan isn’t right?

Today, the Rougarou is most often thought of as a kind of bogeyman, a scary story to frighten children into behaving themselves. The legend is becoming increasinglypopular and more widely-known to people outside of Louisiana due to the beast’s portrayal in popular culture and especially television. The monster has appeared in the enormously popular TV series Supernatural in a very different form in the fourth season’s fourth episode, “Metamorphosis” (originally aired on October 9th, 2008). The monster has also appeared in the short-lived series Cryptid: The Swamp Beast (2013), the four-episode reality TV series Swamp Monsters (2014), and gained widespread notoriety in the ongoing series Monsters & Mysteries in America (2013). But there are many credible eyewitnesses who have come forward with their stories, and they are adamant that they have seen something truly horrifying in the swamps of Louisiana, something that they cannot explain. And the sightings just keep coming in. Does a werewolf truly prowl the forests and bayous when the moon is full? The people of Louisiana seem to believe so. And maybe, just maybe, they have a good reason for their beliefs. But regardless of what some people may say, the legend of the Rougarou continues to endure, and the beast still hungers for the taste of warm, raw human flesh...

Acknowledgements

The legend of the Rougarou has fascinated me for a few years now, and this is the culmination of that fascination. But I wouldn’t have been able to do this without some serious help. I am deeply indebted to my good friends Jonathan Foret, Alyne Pustanio, and Brad Steiger. I would like to sincerely thank Jonathan and Alyne for allowing me to use their expertise and for putting up with and answering my seemingly endless barrage of questions. As for the history behind the legends as told by the Opelousas, the Chitimacha, and the Gypsies, that is Alyne’s original work and research, which I have retold here with her gracious permission. I would also like to thank Brad for allowing me to use his excellent books in my research. In fact, it was from Brad’s work that I first learned of the Rougarou. Jonathan, Alyne, and Brad, I am so very thankful for your kindness, your understanding, your willingness to help, and your friendship especially. I owe each one of you a debt of gratitude, and I hope to repay each one of you someday. Thank You for allof your help!!

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