Palmyra Paranormal

Chapter 10: Dogmen, Werewolves and Skinwalkers. Oh My!

He thought he was screaming at the top of his lungs, but as Josh awoke, cold sweat soaking the sheets, he realized he was only croaking quietly in the dark. He rolled over, untangling his legs from the damp fabric wrapping his legs, and grabbed his phone to check the time.

"Barely past midnight," he mumbled, then cleared his throat. He didn't like the cracking in his voice, so more strongly he said. "Fuck!"

That was better. He sat up on the edge of the bed. The ice had melted, but the water in the plastic pitcher was still cool. The chill liquid felt good on his throat. In the dream, he'd been screaming and his throat felt raw and painful. He leaned over and rubbed his temples. He picked his glasses off the nightstand and managed to get them situated before making his way to the bathroom.

After taking care of business, he stopped at the sink, washed his hands and splashed cold water on his face. Shaking the terror of his nightmare was turning out to be harder than he expected. He looked at his reflection in the mirror.

"God, you look like shit, Bucko." He cupped his hands under the running tap and took in a mouthful of water. He swished it around a bit then spit it back into the sink. "Damn, I could use a bourbon about now."

He shuffled his way back to the bed and rearranged the pillows so he could sit comfortably against the headboard. Without any real possibility of getting back to sleep, he thought he should do something productive with his time. The Microtel he'd found in Macedon provided a wifi connection so he figured he'd take advantage of that and pulled his laptop out of its case.

What he'd witnessed on the road earlier that night couldn't possibly have been what it looked like. But maybe he could find some references online that he could use to make sense of what was going on here. At the very least, he should be able to get information he could use for his next episode.

The first thing he noticed was a new email.

"Crap!" he muttered as he read the note from the Palmyra Hotel. He was being charged for the room he hadn't stayed in. "Worth it to not have to drive down that way again."

He opened a browser and in the search field, he typed real life werewolf sightings. The first hit sounded promising. War Cemetery Werewolf - Cannock Chase, West Midlands.

This story was from 1975. West Midlands, UK. A group of ghost hunters went searching for the paranormal in the German War Cemetery. But instead of ghosts, they allegedly encountered a "snarling beast" which "reared up onto its hind legs" before running at high speed into the bushes. In 2007 the West Midlands Ghost Club decided to check things out, following a series of reports from local residents who encountered a "werewolf-like creature" in the cemetery. A local postman claimed to have spotted a 7 ft beast.

"Ok, but that's England," Josh said, mostly to hear his own voice. "What about this side of the pond?"

He scrolled down until he found a reference to American Dogman Sightings.

"Yeah, this is more like it." He began to read.

One of the first documented cases of a Dogman was from 1936, in Wisconsin on the coast of Lake Michigan. In the city of Racine, Mark Shackleman worked as a night watchman for the Saint Colletta Convent. While making his rounds, he reportedly came across a large canine with enormous claws and black fur that smelled like old road kill.

The creature was on its knees and was digging in the burial ground of Indigenous Peoples that was adjacent to the convent. The beast fled when Shackleman moved to investigate. When the watchman returned the next day, he found footprints and claw marks in the dirt.

The next night Shackleman again saw the creature scratching at the burial mounds. He tried to shoo the animal away, but instead of running, the monster stood up on its hind legs. It was easily 6 feet tall. It looked directly into Shacklman's eyes and spoke.

"Gadarah," is how Shackleman understood it. He decided it best to back away and let the beast do what it wanted. He never saw the creature again, but noticed the smell of dead meat on more than one occasion. He decided not to investigate further.

"Hmm," Josh scrolled a bit more. "Dogman? I could get on board with that. Better than a werewolf. Right?"

No one answered.

"What's this? The Michigan Dogman." He leaned forward and began to read the next story.

Fishing on the Muskegon River was a popular pastime in 1938 for 17 year old Robert Fortney. It was summer time, and well, what else was there to do?

But on this day, young Robert was stalked by a pack of wild dogs. He reckoned there were six of them. Robert knew better than to venture out in the country without his Winchester, and that day was no different. Firing a warning shot over the heads of the pack, he saw them scatter. Well, except for one. A large, black furred animal with shocking blue eyes.

With the shot still ringing in his ears, Robert watched as the beast stared intently into his eyes. It was barely 10 feet away and Robert had a clear view of it. Presently, the animal grinned at him, showing no signs of fear at all. Unnerved, the teenager fired a second shot, hoping to scare the monster off. But instead of bolting, the thing stood up on its hind legs, easily exceeding Robert's own height, and casually turned and ran off; without dropping to all fours!

In 1987, Mr. Fortney called Steve Cook, after hearing the song The Legend, to let him know, in no uncertain terms, that the monster Cook had "made up" was indeed real.

"Wait," Josh remarked. "There's a song?"

He clicked the link provided and was taken to a YouTube video. After listening to the tune and watching the video (mostly just images of artistically drawn werewolves), he shook his head and went back to reading.

"Ok," Josh mumbled under his breath. "That was pretty hokey."

Nevertheless, he scrolled around looking for more information on the Michigan Dogman. After reading through several sites, he decided that the takeaway was that the beast had been first seen in the late 1800s, but was still being spotted in northern Michigan to this day.

"Hmm, if this thing is real, there must be more than just the one." In the search field, he typed Dogman sightings in North America. He quickly zeroed in on a site titled Dogman Sightings Across America.

The first story was about a couple of lumberjacks in Michigan who spotted a creature that walked like a man, but had the head of a dog. This sighting was apparently considered the first documented case of the Dogman. But the author went on to point out that the Native tribe, the Odawa, had a long history that included these dog, or wolf-headed beasts.

"Wait," Josh switched over to a blank document and started typing as he spoke his thoughts out loud. "Native Americans? Wolfmen? Sounds to me like Skinwalkers."

He knew a bit about Skinwalkers. There was that whole Skinwalker Ranch mystery. But he felt he needed more detail. He'd have to look for more information in that direction.

He slid the cursor up to the search field, but before he could type in new criteria, his eye caught a phrase on the current page. The Beast of Bray Road. That was too good a name to pass up. He scrolled down and read about the Wisconsin town of Elkhorn, the Christmas Card Town, and numerous reports of a wolf-like creature that seemed to be using a desolate country road as its hunting grounds.

There were dozens of websites dedicated to the Beast and it seemed many of the encounters were from genuine and otherwise reasonable, trustworthy people. One witness, a local farmer, had photos of footprints (pawprints?) that seemed to be much too large for even a timber wolf, as well as a mutilated corpse of a deer that he claimed must have been savaged by the Beast.

Scrolling a bit further down, Josh found a photograph of the Beast! Although it didn't look right, he couldn't detect any obvious tampering with the image. Perhaps, he thought. Just maybe there's something to this whole Wolfman thing.

He decided to read more about this beast. He typed The Beast of Bray Road into the search field and hit ENTER. What caught his eye first was a link to a video from the TV show Expedition X: The Hunt for the Beast of Bray Road. He sat back and began to watch, with fascination.