New : Strange Wisconsin, More Badger StateWeirdness

Get Weekly Creature Reports - Best of my E-Mail - Weekly on Beastwatch on Uncannyradio.com

WOLF DID NOT BITE MAN ON BRAY ROAD - Posted Feb. 27, 2008

This is about what I expected. The man, "Nathan," who claimed in a local chat site that he had been bitten by a wolf on Bray Road, (see below) is now saying online that the story was typed up by a friend on his computer as he lay passed out from drinking too much. Whether that is true or he submitted the hoax himself, the whole thing was rather stupid and a prime example of a "red flag" report. I think it is good to always remember there are people out there brainlessly seeking attention, and I offer it as both a cautionary tale and the reason I don't "bite" on everything presented to me. As anyone who has read my books knows, it's not the first Bray Road hoax and I'm sure it won't be the last.

WOLF BITES MAN ON BRAY ROAD? Posted February 25, 2008

I'm not sure what's happening on Bray Road lately...sightings of bipedal canines out there are up again, but on the evening of Feb. 20, the night of the lunar eclipse, an Elkhorn area man and his girlfriend took a spin down Bray Road, he said on a local chat site called "Coffee Talk"...and saw a hulking, wolf-like creature. Evidently the foolhardy sort, the man began to get out of his car, and the animal rushed at him and bit him on the ankle. He said he kicked at it with his other foot, causing it to bleed on its muzzle, managed to slam the door as it ran away yelping and took off to a nearby medical facility (not the local hospital). Since it was an animal bite, it should have been reported to police. The man, known on the site as "Nathan", says he has a copy of the report. The man added that since blood from the animal's muzzle splashed onto his leg, they were able to do some analysis and concluded that it was from a canine associated with wolves and some coyotes. (That is mighty fast marker analysis!) The creature was as high as the man's waist on all fours, he said, so if that is true it was no coyote. However, it did not stand upright so there is every possibility it was a stray wolf or hybrid. If it was anything but a tall tale. The site regular who tipped me to the story advised me the man has a reputation as someone who likes to stir things up. He claimed to another member that Milwaukee's Fox 6 News was interested in the story but he wanted to keep it "private."

I will be checking this one out but am not too excited about it until and unless I get a corroborating incident report.

Oh, and the man did not test positive for rabies, according to his story. However, according to government standards, tissue (preferably brain) from the animal itself is required to test for rabies, and results are not instant. Most times, shots are started as a precautionary measure even when the animal has been captured and particularly when it is not available for testing. He hints his friends will be keeping a very close eye on him come the next full moon, however.

By the way, a very recent CSI episode (airing a day or so after the man's post) featured almost an identical story thread. Did he read a preview and become inspired?

I offer this "report" as a prime example of one that, at least at first blush, does not pass the sniff test.

January 29, 2008

Here is a new venture; through a series of strange circumstances, I seem to have ended up co-host of a new radio show based in Wisconsin's strangest town, Burlington (also on the Web). We have some great guests line up for the hour show, and I'll be sharing the lateste creature reports on my segment called BEASTWATCH. Manwolf, aka Steve Sullivan, will inform and perhaps incite mob action with his consumer guide to sci-fi and paranormal film and TV. At any rate, it should be a lot of fun. By the way, those "Bigfoot" sightings reported from Seeley WI lately? I have it on good authority...guy in a gorilla suit trying to drum up local business.

P.S. I hope viewers of the recent History Ch. Monsterquest episode "American Werewolf" weren't too disappointed to learn the origin of the famous "werewolf" fur. I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't yet seen the show which repeats Feb. 3

Here is the radio info:

"If it's downright uncanny, it's on Uncanny Radio"The strange, the unfathomable, the peculiar, and the downright uncanny -- you'll find them all on UncannyRadio with Manwolf and Linda. UncannyRadio will cover all aspects of the strange -- from UFOs to unicorns, werewolves to weird places, to the just plain eccentric people who live among us. Hosted by award-winning authors Linda Godfrey and Stephen D. Sullivan, Uncanny Radio brings you the latest creature reports, a consumer's guide to paranormal and sci-fi TV and movies, and conversations with fascinating and unusual people. Based in America's Strangest Town, Burlington, Wisconsin, but covering the galaxy. Recent guests have included Nick Redfern discussing his book "Man Monkey: In Search of the British Bigfoot" and Mark Moran, one of the originators of the Weird US series.

Wednesday nights 8-9 pm Central on 89.1 FM -- or streaming live on www.wbsdfm.com.

PODCASTS OF OUR SHOWS are now available on either uncannyradio.com or uncannyworld.com

November 16, 2007 -

I want to say my head is swimming but it's more like swarming -- with monsters. That is after reading Neil Arnold's new book from CFZ Press, MONSTER! The A-Z of Zooform Phenomena.

As an author in the strange-creature genre, I'm always looking for new, comprehensive and well-researched reference books. It helps if they are fun, besides. Neil Arnold's new "MONSTER!" book hits each of those nails on their warty, pointy-eared heads. Even Karl P. Shuker, a pre-eminent writer and researcher in this field who wrote the foreword, confesses to finding entries in Arnold's book of creatures he had never before heard or dreamt of. Arranged alphabetically for easy look-up, the entries also contain brief commentaries on the "zooform" likelihood of the creature in question, explaining their relation to other known or unknown entities and opinions on the reliability of the report.

Arnold also enforces his own ratings system, from 1-4 stars, on the solidity of each entry. Speaking of solidity, Arnold makes it clear up front that he believes many of the creatures described in the book are "zooform" or non-flesh-and-blood in nature. He does his best to sort them out, which increases the book's usefulness as a reference source. "Mystery cats," for instance, rate 3 stars and the comment that they are simply out-of-place felids, while the Karakura, "a vague night-demon from Turkish lore" rates only one star and a note that too little is known about it. I rate Arnold's book five stars, with the comment that anyone wanting to bone up on unknown creatures throughout world history will want MONSTERS! at their fingertips. And I'm still swooning over the revelation of Japanese vampire cats and the High Hat Sasquatch. -

November 5, 2007 - Return of the Bearwolf?

It never ceases to amaze me the way these things seem to work. Only a few days ago I had decided to post a note about the Washington County Courthouses's cryptid creature art, and then today I get a call from Mike Lane, the hunter who went looking for the creature's footprints last fall right about this time. He found some, too...bipedal, large and roundish looking deep imprints that indicated something very large and upright went walking through a mushy field across from Holy Hill, and then entered a marsh where the tracks ended. (See photo of Mike standing in front of that marsh last year.

Mike was calling today to tell me that he heard of another sighting that occurred not much more than a week ago, on Oct. 25 or 26 very nearby the original incident. He was in a local watering hole Nov. 1 and got talking to a man who told him his brother was driving along Hwy. 175 near midnight the previous week when he saw something big running along the adjacent railroad tracks, clearly distinguishable by moonlight. (Oct. 26 was a full moon and it was light, indeed, that night as I had noticed myself.) At first he thought it was a bear because he estimated its weight at about 300 pounds and the creature was running on four feet, but then he realized it did not move like a bear or have a bear's physical shape; it looked more like a large dog, he said.

Then the "bear" stood up and began running on two legs and he knew it was no bear. Bears will rear up sometimes to see better, true, but they do not run on their hind legs, and the man said this thing continued at a very rapid speed. Mike gave the man his card to pass on to his brother in hopes of learning more, but so far the witness has not responded. Mike has promised to keep me posted.

Add this to the second sighting original witness Steve Krueger had in June of an extremely large, wolflike creature and it looks like something very large and out of the ordinary is still running around Holy Hill.

November 1, 2007 - Crypto Critter in Courthouse, Mysterious Kentucky and American Werewolf on Monster Quest

I'm back after the appearance marathon that resulted from Halloween coinciding with the release of Strange Wisconsin (see link above). Some of the highlights included signing all my books for two days at the Milwaukee Public Museum last week, with almost all of the 1500 daily participants dressed as trolls, beasts, fairies and other fabulous personae, and speaking at Chad Lewis and Terry Fisk's Eau Claire Unexplained Conference which drew a crowd of 375 on the Saturday before Halloween.

With Strange Wisconsin now officially on both online and brick-and-mortar bookshelves, I want to point out one story that has not been printed elsewhere of interest to all students of crypto-related culture. In West Bend, Wisconsin, the Washington County Courthouse has a new mural painted last winter that contains, to my knowledge, the only purposely included cryptid in a courthouse mural in the country, excluding classic griffins, chimeras, etc.

The mural, 30 feet wide, was created under the direction of artist Ted Conde. He included the fuzzy creature depicted right (and told me there are several others hidden in the mural as well) after last fall's news reports about the Washington County creature mistakenly reported as Bigfoot. (See update below and full story ). Conde told me he wanted to add mystery to the painting, and that he's open to the existence of such creatures. Partly because the painting was done in a stippled, Impressionist style and partly because Conde wanted the creature to remain mysterious, the image is admittedly a true blobsquatch. But the intent is there and included in a government building meant for permanency. If anyone knows of other courthouse murals that include a Bigfoot, mystery canid, Mothman, or other cryptid I'd love to hear about it. (Photos copyright Linda Godfrey)

The Strange Wisconsin book, btw, tells the full story with an excellent illustration by fantasy artist Troy Therrien, along with explorations of the Man Bat of LaCrosse, the Wausau Whatzit, many Bigfoot sightings and the latest Bray Road incident.

And yeehaa it's here! the new History Channel show "Monster Quest" has hit TV screens at last with its Halloween debut episode, and finally I can talk about it without violating contract rules!

A new series produced by Doug Hajicek of Whitewolf Entertainment in Minnesota, Monster Quest aims to investigate monster lore and legend by using the latest in scientific equipment and technique. The first episode aired Oct. 31, and will continue with different cryptids each time. If you check the episode lineup on the above link, you will see American Werewolf is slated for Jan. 23. That title is based on my book, Hunting the American Werewolf. I've been interviewed on many national TV and radio shows, but this is the first time I was ever asked to write and co-produce one. I spent most of the summer of 2006 tramping around Wisconsin and Michigan with Hajicek and his crews, setting up polygraphs and interviews with witnesses, staking out Dogman hotspots, and digging up historical incidents. I still can't reveal results, of course, and the show has undergone many revolutions of change from my original script but the HC writes:

"American Werewolf - Eyewitnesses in Wisconsin and Michigan report seeing a tall hairy man - beast some describe as a dogman...a centuries old legend based on myth, not a real animal. But what are they seeing? MonsterQuest will deploy professional hunters and trackers in an area with recent sightings, armed with a tranquilizer gun. And for the first time eyewitness accounts will be put to the test, using polygraphs and hypnosis&the results will astonish. Wednesday January 23rd"

Also, my son Nate who is a film and painting grad of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago was tapped to do historically researched art for the film; at right is a detail of his interpretation of a peasant woman being attacked by a French werewolf. He even checked details such as the red color of the hood a female peasant would have worn at that time (remember Little Red Riding Hood?). (copyright Nate Godfrey, may not be reproduced or posted elsewhere).

Mysterious Kentucky is another book I'd like to recommend. By my friend and fellow Fortean Bart Nunnelly (also a fine artist and who contributed several illos to Strange Wisconsin), this book covers everything from Western Kentucky Werewolves to lake creatures, Bigfoot, Goatman and more, and is embellished with Bart's powerful drawings. A true field investigator, Bart is also an "experiencer" who has been lucky enough to have several of his own encounters.It's a 164-page Crypto-rama of lore and first-hand reports, and I enjoyed it immensely. I also supplied a "blurb" for the book's front page and meant every word of it.

Sept. 18, 2007 - Was the Washington County Bearwolf "Just" a Large Wolf?

Last fall, a man who contracted with Washington County to pick up deer carcasses made headlines when a wolf-headed creature stood upright to pull a deer off the back of his pickup truck as he sat in the cab doing paperwork. See full story. But in June, just weeks before ending his contract for that route, Steve Krueger saw something else in that area that amazed him. In his words:

I was picking up a deer on the north side of Zedler between Parkside and Thornapple in Mequon. As I was loading the deer with my winch I glance up and saw the VERY large wolf come out of the brush from the north side of Zedler and head south down Thornapple. It was walking casual and I don't even know if it saw me, if it did I was no concern to it. It's back was about 4' from the ground almost touching the bottoms of the mailboxes. It's fur was pretty dark. It was by far the biggest wolf I've ever seen. I did not know they got as huge as that one was. I called the DNR and they confirmed that wolves have been known to travel the lake down from up north, but also there are people that have wolf hybrids as pets also.

Wolves do get that large. I have a photo from an old Michigan newspaper that shows a dead wolf held upright that towers over the men next to it. It makes me wonder, of course, if what Krueger saw was actually this creature boldly bracing itself on the truck bed to snatch the deer. Almost 8 months had passed since the original incident, but wolves are territorial. They also range very widely, so it's hard to say whether the same animal Krueger saw would still be in the area.

However, Krueger plainly saw the deer-napper reach into the truckbed to grab the deer with its paw! It's hard to imagine a natural wolf doing this. Expected canine behavior would be to use its forepaws to hold itself up and position itself, while lunging for the carcass with its jaws.

I've often noted in interviews that, other than noticeable shoulders and sometimes lack of a tail, the main difference between Manwolves and very large timber wolves seems to be behavioral. Manwolves have often been observed holding prey meat with their paws while walking on their hind legs or "kneeling." Witnesses have also often noted that the forepaws had longer "fingers" than is normal on a canine paw. But they have also been seen many times converting from bipedal locomotion to moving on all fours, and vice versa. A witness in Texas who has been tracking what may be a Manwolf sent me the map below that shows where he could tell that it converted from quadruped to biped in one short journey. Therefore, I can't rule out the possibility that this June sighting may have been the same creature Krueger saw, but in its quadrupedal position.

In the man's own words, "I am an avid outdoorsmen and have been conducting bigfoot research for over ten years now and have found many tracks of bigfoot. The tracks I seen were not the tracks of a bigfoot, but of an odd type of canine for lack of a better word. These tracks were made by something I have never seen before." The tracks were "three-toed" and larger, and similar to others found in Australia. He included a photo of an Australian print which I'm not reprinting since I don't know who owns it. But it is almost identical to my photo of the tracks found in the mud pit south of Milwaukee last spring, where something large appeared to have surrised a deer. (That link takes you to my Myspace blog, which is also where I have a pictorial "Bloghouse" having some fun with my cancer journey.My websites were not working for months so I was stashing important creature lore there too) I don't think it's a bear print; the toes are too long and too few and the back pad seems too narrow.

This south Milwaukee print site would be completely within the range of something based in Washington County. Could it be Krueger's creature? It's impossible to know either way for sure, but it could even have been the very large wolf he observed in June. Looking at a massive wolf from the front end, there would be no way to learn whether its hind feet were super-sized for walking bipedally when it chose. So...I still think there is the possibility this was the Manwolf variation I've come to call Bearwolf, or just a very robust Manwolf. It could also be a timber wolf that has become fearless of man from living too close. Much easier is declaring what it is not...like Steve Krueger has said from the beginning, it isn't Bigfoot!

Sept. 8, 2007 - Books!

Woohoo! I think I have my Web problems solved, and can update once more! It was a combination of factors, not least among them the case of chemo-brain that I am just now coming out of as if awaking from a horrific nightmare. I can think again! Well, at least as well as I could before chemo. And not a moment too soon. The speaking season is fast upon me, and as I've happily noted above, my sequel to Weird Wisconsin is about to debut. Titled "Strange Wisconsin: More Badger State Weirdness" and published by Trails Books in Madison, Wisconsin, it features not only people, places and "things" that were oddly omitted from the Weird book, but many new legends, creature sightings, oddities and more. It's about the same size, with the same full-color photos and illustrations, many by yours truly and my son Nate. I also am proud to claim a raft of fabulous contributors, both of articles and of art, who helped to make this book something I'm really excited about.

But speaking of books, I received one last week by my friend Nick Redfern (who wrote the foreword for Hunting the American Werewolf). Nick is the author of some of my favorite tomes, including Three Men Seeking Monsters and Body Snatchers in the Desert. Now he has written Memoirs of a Monster Hunter, a rollicking tale of his creature-seeking trek through the US, beginning with the Laughlin, Nevada UFO conference where he met his Texan wife. I hadn't intended to read the whole thing right away but couldn't put it down. And that is not just because I happen to take up the better part of the chapter on Wisconsin upright wolfen creatures...I had actually forgotten we did that interview back in 2003. Nick is a keen observer of both the incredible people he meets and the strange, synchronistic events that seem to occur where ever he goes. His investigations into Owl Men, Goat Men, the vicious Chupacabras, vampires and water monsters delve not only into mere physical reports but also touch upon inherent Fortean aspects when present. The Goat Man of Texas and the irrational, palpable sense of fear and foreboding that accompany its encounters are compared to Pan, the old Goat Man of antiquity and similar creatures in Great Britain.

The book is not only an overview of current cryptid hot spots, but Redfern's own journal of the strange as he lets readers inside his very active, punk rock-drenched mind to share his hunt from a winningly intimate perspective. Highly recommended. Nick has simultaneously released a book on British Bigfoot sightings with a title I love, "Man-Monkey." Watch for that review next.

Blog Archives

Blog 1 - Blog 2 - Blog 3