This entry is dedicated to the memory of my dear friend Linda S. Godfrey, who was a truly kind soul and pursued the truth behind real monsters for her entire adult life. She inspired many others to take up the hunt for the truth, and her legacy will always live on that way. May she forever rest in peace, and I hope and pray that she now knows the truth.
The late Linda Godfrey (who sadly passed away in November of last year) was best-known for her many books on the dogman phenomenon and encounters with what seem to be modern-day werewolves, but she also recorded some very intriguing (and utterly horrifying) reports of phantom black dogs appearing in the most unlikely of places. One of the most intriguing of these encounters takes place in Pendleton, Indiana, this writer's home state. In her final book I Know What I Saw: Modern-Day Encounters with Monsters of New Urban Legends and Ancient Lore (TarcherPerigee, 2019), a man from the aforementioned city by the name of Wayne Highsmith (which may or may not be his real name) wrote to Linda in late 2017 to tell her a story that had been haunting him for almost forty years. In late summer, between the years of 1980 and 1981 (he couldn't quite recall the exact date), Wayne and his friend Mark (who was visiting at the time) had decided to go out for a bike ride to a local hangout spot in Falls Park to have some fun (and to check out the girls, of course). It was Saturday evening, after all, and the sun was still shining brightly. The boys were both in their late teens to early twenties at the time, and so probably still had some of that teenage desire for adventure and getting into trouble. Nearby, on a hilltop that directly overlooked the park, was a delapidated old Victorian-style house that "everyone in town claimed was haunted", although nobody had really ever told him why it was haunted (Godfrey 168). Apparently, nobody knew exactly what haunted the house, either. And if any of this blog's followers watch horror movies on a regular basis, they should immediately see where this is going...
The spooky old house seemed to be abandoned for the most part, although Wayne noted that the only person that he ever saw on the property was an elderly man who appeared to be the caretaker. This man was the archetype of the old, grumpy "curmudgeon", according to Wayne, and he would stop by every day or two to check on the place and make sure that everything was okay. In addition, the man was immediately hostile towards anyone who even went near the place (Godfrey 168). But he hadn't been there that day, and so the two friends decided to risk a closer look and explore the property. And according to the eyewitness, the house was everything one would expect a classic haunted house to look like. "The place was Spooksville, to be sure," Wayne said. "Creepy spiders everywhere, loose shingles, broken windows, the works", he had noted (Godfrey 168-169). The boys first attempted to open the front door, but to nobody's surprise, it was locked. They had expected this, so the kids then "walked clockwise around to [the] back of the house and on to the back porch," which Wayne noted was located directly on the right side of the house from their position (Godfrey 169). There was nothing there, so they began to make their way back to the front when Wayne realized that they hadn't tried the back door. Having said as much, they turned back and went around the corner to the back porch again. What they saw next has haunted Wayne and Mark for nearly four decades...
There, in the very same spot that they had been standing in less than a minute earlier, was a huge, coal-black dog that looked "rather like an oversize Rottweiler on steroids. Except for glowing red eyes! Its bark was utterly unearthly! Its teeth were large and exceptionally bright white". The boys were frozen in place by their fear, and yet the animal didn't attack. Wayne later puzzled over this, adding that "I don't know why it didn't pounce. We were no more than seven to eight feet away." And then Wayne took half a step back and yelled, "M-Mark! RUN!" His friend didn't argue, and they took off like a shot down the driveway, jumped onto their bikes, and put the literal pedal to the metal (Godfrey 169). The two boys never looked back, not even once.
Wayne has struggled ever since then to wrap his head around the creature's sudden appearance. How could this animal have gone around to the back porch so quickly without making a single sound? He explained his confusion thusly: "When we first left the porch, we never took but maybe a dozen steps when we turned and went right back. Only a few seconds had passed. If that thing had come from the back of the house, it would have immediately seen us. It couldn't have missed us! Why would it have ignored us, waltzed up on the back porch without barking or making any noise, and then turn aggressive only when we just happened to turn around to walk back??" It just didn't make any sense to him (Godfrey 169). It seems that, at least initially, Wayne had been under the impression that this black hound had been a living, flesh-and-blood animal, albeit one of unusual cunning and intelligence. Perhaps it was at this point that he realized that he'd been mistaken.
Wayne went on in his letter to give a more detailed description of the creature to Linda. He recounted that the beast was "Totally black in color with very smooth hair. Extremely large and muscular. It had large glowing red eyes that were terrifying! But its ears weren't like most of the ones I've read about. They were large but flopped forward. For some reason, the whiteness of those teeth struck me. Maybe the contrast with the solidly black fur. Unfortunately, I didn't check out its legs and paws. I'd seen more than enough already. Its overall size was roughly that of a large English mastiff." However, despite its ferocious appearance and demeanor, the creature didn't attempt to pursue the intruders. And maybe it felt that it didn't have to. After all, the two boys were haunted by that one encounter for the next four decades, and perhaps that unto itself was punishment enough. Lastly, Wayne remarked that he and Mark hadn't experienced anything of a "supernatural" nature in their lives before "that damned dog", and neither Wayne or his friend have had any ever since, although he did go on to say that Mark still sees the dog in his dreams (Godfrey 169-170).
According to the book, Linda spoke with Wayne on the phone soon thereafter, with a few additional questions about the encounter for clarification. And in response to those questions, Wayne noted that the beast emitted no stench (of sulfur or otherwise), and (upon Linda's request) gave a more detailed description of the creature's "utterly unearthly" bark. Wayne described the bark as being "low and guttural", that there had been no howling, and that it was a lengthy, continuous vocalization, beyond what any natural animal would have been capable of (Godfrey 170). Linda also asked him if he had seen the creature in any other position, but Wayne replied that they had only seen it in a sitting position, staring straight at them. After that, they immediately turned around and ran for their lives!
In addition, Wayne put great emphasis on the whiteness of the dog's teeth, especially in regard to how they contrasted with the hound's "solidly black" fur and the eerie red glow of its eyes. He also noted that the creature had large ears that drooped forward, and that from the way it was sitting, Wayne was able to see a small tail that ended in a point. Lastly, Linda asked the witness if the old house was still standing. He replied that it had been remodeled a few times over the years, but it seemed to him that nobody ever lived there for long (Godfrey 170). Needless to say, Linda wasn't surprised.
So, what exactly did Wayne and Mark encounter all of those years ago? To Linda, the answer was obvious from the start. The sheer size of the dog, the jet-black fur, and the glowing red eyes puts the Pendleton Devil Dog "squarely in the realm of phantom dogs similar to the UK's Black Shuck, which has haunted old mansions and crossroads there for centuries, and of other entities that have shown up in people's homes". Linda sometimes referred to these entities as "bedroom invaders", and noted that they "tend to shun grand entrances, appearing and disappearing on two legs, and display tall, pointed ears people liken to those of the Egyptian god Anubis or to a tuft-eared lynx". Furthermore, Linda had this to say in addition: "I feel that they may best be explained as some other type of entity or projected energy masquerading in the form of one of the earth's natural creations" (Godfrey 170). While this writer isn't sure that he agrees with that last statement, her theories are as valid as any other researcher's, perhaps even more so. She spent her life chasing after monsters and other denizens of the dark that most people don't believe exist. But this writer (and the readers of this blog) all know better. There are such things as monsters, and they can appear in the unlikeliest of places...even in one's home!
Sources
Godfrey, Linda S. I Know What I Saw: Modern-Day Encounters with Monsters of New Urban Legend and Ancient Lore. New York: TarcherPerigee, 2019.
This entry is dedicated to Linda Godfrey, who passed away in late November of 2022. Although I never met her face-to-face, we communicated via email and Facebook regularly. She was always more than happy to answer any of my questions, as well as to grant me permission to use her books in my own research. Her publishing company was kind enough to send me copies of her new books for review, even if I didn't always publish those reviews. I am proud to have known her and to have called her my friend. I miss her every day, even though it's been nearly a year since her passing. I now hope and pray that she knows the truth about the things that she devoted her life to studying and pursuing, and that she rests in peace. May God bless and keep her.