The Werewolf Conundrum

I have been a very big fan of author Linda Godfrey's work concerning the infamous Wisconsin oddity known as the "Beast of Bray Road'.  Her work is actually one of the reasons I rediscovered the fortean world; having lost interest during the college years in things paranormal, I happened upon a podcast by Tim Binnall and an interview about the Beast of Bray Road.  I was immediately hooked.

Godfrey has since taken on leadership of the investigation and cataloging of the werewolf/canine/dogman events.  Like UFOs, ghosts, Sasquatch, and even sea monsters, why do so many people experience creatures that make absolutely no sense?  Why is A type science, journalism, and literature hard wired to dismiss these type of encounters outright when the encounters obviously occur?  It is a fascinating paradox.

Back to the subject at hand, last fall I purchased Linda Godfrey's book "Real Wolfmen: Encounters in America", and like all of her books, I read the entire book within a week's time.  One of the more curious encounters she discussed involved a family of wolflike creature terrorizing a couple in Maine.  I remember reading the encounter and thinking "how crazy is this?"  Five creatures on the ground, crawling up to the couple's house, then immediately retreating when being struck by light from a flash like.  All creatures looked like upright dogmen; they would crawl to the house, retreat when hit by light to a small pond area, then begin the crawl again.  Very odd.

SyFy's Paranormal Witness recently adapted the encounter in a episode entitled "The Wolf Pack".  When I saw previews of the episode, I immediately thought the incident was one in the same as the one I had read last fall and was ecstatic.  Paranormal Witness's typically features ghost stories, but I've found the episodes involving Bigfoot, UFO abductions, and now Dogmen, to be the most engaging.  The show does a good job of incorporating reenactments of various encounters with actual interview footage of the actual witnesses.

This particular episode does a wonderful job of mixing the fear of the actual witnesses, the bizarre nature of the creatures, and the completely "highly strange" demeanor of the event.  The case has it all from a fortean perspective; UFOs, unnatural sensibilities felt by the human participants and the participant's hunting dogs (charged ozone/atmosphere?), werewolves/dogmen, and even more bizarre, the werewolves' reactions to flashlight/outdoor lights.  The incident falls directly into the John Keel camp of the unknown; all that was yet needed was poltergeist activity in the cabin.  The creatures appear to be of ultraterrestrial origin, demonstrate violent tendencies towards humans, but then are repulsed/deterred by synthetic lighting from a flashlight?  Again, all of it is highly strange.  All of it is most bizarre.  Yet, I have no doubt the encounter likely occurred in the woods of an offhand spot in Maine.

I would recommend Linda Godfrey's books to all; the frequency of reported canine sightings is unbelievable, but a number share similar traits.  I would also recommend Tim Binnall's podcast, as well as this particular episode of Paranormal Witness.  Again, I have no doubt this type of "thing" occurs more often than most would like to think, but what exactly this "thing" is, I do not know.  And yet the adventure and experience continues...

The Iowa Devil

Last Thanksgiving, my girlfriend and I traveled to the southwest corner of Iowa to a town called Keokuk to enjoy the holiday with her family.  Nestled only minutes from Missouri and located on an expansive part of the Mississippi, Keokuk is a city of great history.  The start of the Black Hawk war, the loading port for thousands of Northern troops heading south for conflict, one of several Civil War hospital locations, a home of Mark Twain, and across the river, the final resting spot of the alleged prophet Joeseph Smith and the settlement of Navoo, IL, the area has been an epicenter for intense, human emotion over the past two centuries.  No doubt, Keokuk has witnessed more than its fair share of violence and death.  Grand, decaying mansions still sit high above the river banks; symbols of the town's past fortunes and its current economic plight.

As with all new spots that I visit, I always keep an eye out for locations of high strangeness interest.  Fortunately, the area delivered in one very interesting story.  Roughly eighty miles away exists School Number Nine, or the Monkey's Den School.  Located in a deep wooded portion along the southern Skunk River, the area has been witness to many Iowa Devil sightings.  Sasquatch-esque in nature, the area residents have encountered a large, hairy, shadowy biped for over one hundred years.  As the stories go, former students of School Number Nine fondly recall that how, during school days at the early part of the 20th century, screams would be hurled at them from the nearby timber.  Witness accounts of a "hairy large cryptid" and screams allegedly continue to this day.

I again can only speculate on the area and its connection to the Devil of Iowa.  Is this creature (if it indeed exists) truly an "unknown" animal?  Is it simply some flesh and blood animal that we have yet to discover?  I am more inclined to believe that this is not the case.  I find it fascinating that such a rich area of human history is near to a potential cryptid hotspot.  Why can't such impossible correlations exist?  Why must everything be proper in terms of scientific grandeur?  In my mind, I can see the outcome of thousands of young Iowa/Wisconsin/Minnesota  men on their way to battle leaving a scarred, frightened, and alienated print on the psyche of the human collective consciousness in that area of the country.  Why couldn't the the fears and worries of a lost generation forever be imprinted on the area?  And why couldn't such an imprint attract or generate the "thing" that is, for whatever it is, the Iowa Devil?

I was not able to actually visit the Den; my knowledge of the area comes from only a precursory review of literature on line (which at this time includes a BFRO archived report).  In the future and on a next visit, I hope to follow up with the area and speak to its high strangeness.  And for anyone who happens to be in the area (and reads this blog), I strongly recommend a similar visitation.