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The American Werewolf / Dogman - Ninurta - 01-19-2025
Running through some YouTube videos, I found a couple that may be of interest to cryptid-hunters regarding American werewolves / Dogmen. Since they are cryptids, the distinction may only be academic, but I've always thought of werewolves as shape-shifters, and Dogmen as pure critter cryptids. It never really dawned on me that the two may be the same critter, They were - and still are - firmly separated in my mind.
In this day and age of creepypasta, and the recent resurgence of Appalachian folklore being promoted on the internet, a strange phenomena is on display - every bit as strange as the cryptids themselves, I think. It's this: bits and pieces of folklore from far-flung realms, and across a range of times from the distant past to this morning, are being conflated and repackaged for consumption on the internet., creating what one author has dubbed "fakelore".
Examples may be found in these videos. Some speculate that these critters may be "skin walkers". They are not, nor can they be. This is the eastern US forest. It's not the Arizona or New Mexico deserts where the Navajo roam, and "skin walkers" are a firmly Navajo thing. There are no "skin walkers" in the Appalachians, for example, no matter how many YouTubers try to convince you otherwise. The closest thing here would be things like the "owl witches" of some local native american tribes - "Medicine Men" or "witches" that transform into owls. Creepy maybe, but definitely not your average Navajo skin walker.
Others claim they may be "wendigos". No cigar there, either. The Wendigo is a mostly Canadian - Cree I think - legend, although some of those legends may be found as far south as the Great Lakes... but NOT this far south. Furthermore, the wendigo is a spirit-being, and can't be seen with the eye. They made themselves known by "posessing" Native Americans, who then proceeded to kill and eat other folks. In other words, the wendigo is an explanation for just plain old cannibal behavior.
As an added bonus, we now have reports of "the rake" or "pale crawlers" in the Appalachians. No such critters here. Never have been, and there ain't now. That, as with most of the above, is a pure fantasy product of the internet, and a desire to make a buck by getting clicks. What folks are doing, really, is combining and ultimately diluting legitimate folklore, turning it into "fakelore" by doing so. They are destroying our legitimate folklore.
There ARE strange things here. I myself have seen things in these hills that I can't quite explain, some fairly recently, at this very location, in this last snow storm. But the creepypasta versions of cryptids cannot hold a candle for the "real" things that may be encountered here, if you thrash around in the forests long enough. Even my Dear Old Dad, who feared nothing and believed in nothing that he couldn't shoot or pop a knife into... or just grab hold of and give a good shaking, has seen things he couldn't quite explain. His take on it was to shrug and say that SOMEONE could explain it, just not him. In other words, just because he didn't know what it was didn't mean that no one knew what it was, or just because HE couldn't explain it, that didn't mean it had no explanation. Pap was smart like that. He had a measured IQ of 194 as I recall, but he was the first to admit that didn't mean there wasn't anything he didn't know. Being smart isn't the same thing as being educated, or knowing everything there is to know... the ability to learn something is not the same thing as already knowing it.
So, without further ado, I present to you the videos of the American Werewolf / Dogman, most centered around the Ohio Valley, in Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky - and keep in mind the woods surrounding my humble home here are directly connected in an unbroken line to all of the woods in those places as well... so what may be found there may also be found HERE. I live a few hundred yards from the top of the ridge that divides the Ohio Valley from the Tennessee Valley, and there are unbroken woods for a couple of hundred miles in all directions from where I sit. I could almost walk under continuous tree canopy from here to Michigan Swamp Buck's place, if it weren't for some farmland and prairie in western Ohio and eastern Indiana.
First up is a relatively short, 13 minute video of "werewolves caught on camera". This particular video is not limited to the Ohio Valley. It includes the Beast of Cannock Chase and "Old Stinker" in Yorkshire, both UK legends, as well as a Brazilian werewolf:
Next up is an hour and 20 minute documentary on "The American Werewolf", concentrating on the Ohio Valley:
And, last in this post, another hour and 20 minute documentary, "Werewolves Unearthed", dealing mostly with Kentucky:
Enjoy... and make sure your doors and windows are locked at night, and your curtains drawn. I do.
.
RE: The American Werewolf / Dogman - F2d5thCav - 01-19-2025
"Fakelore". I like that term, very apt.
Yeah, I'd say Mothman is much more Appalachian than Wendigos etc.
Cheers
RE: The American Werewolf / Dogman - Ninurta - 01-19-2025
(01-19-2025, 10:54 AM)F2d5thCav Wrote: "Fakelore". I like that term, very apt.
Yeah, I'd say Mothman is much more Appalachian than Wendigos etc.
Cheers
Apparently, "fakelore" is a more commonly used term than I thought. It is, however, an appropriate term!
I've never heard of a "wendigo" around here... until the internet, CreepyPasta, and Fakelore became a thing. Likewise for "the rake" and "pale crawlers". I've heard of "sheepsquatch", but have never heard of any tales of sheepsquatch around here, and generally place sheepsquatch in the fakelore category. "Devil Monkeys" actually were a thing around here at one point, many years ago and before the internet. There was apparently a rash of sightings of them on the road that intersects route 19 and runs south east runs beside Witten's Fort back in the 1950's through the 1970's. Interestingly, there is an Indian village site on the other side of that road from the fort that had "an old Indian burial ground" from which several bodies were excavated back in the 1970's.
In the 1990's, "something" slaughtered a bunch of goats over a couple week period in southern Russell County, VA. The goats were just slaughtered, but not eaten. Oddly perhaps, there were about 3 ancient Indian "mortuary caves" in that near vicinity as well. The caves are still there, and still have Indian burials in them, but the government has suppressed their locations using "pot hunters" as an excuse for supressing the locations, and only the locals know where they are. I remember when the stock slaughters occurred, but now you can't find mention of them on the internet anywhere. I reckon that got "supressed" too.
"Bigfoot" and "sasquatch" has always been a thing around here, but not under those names. Way back when, it was referred to as a "wood booger" Daniel Boone told a tale of seeing one, which he referred to as a "Yahoo", apparently a hat-tip to "Gulliver's Travels". But generally, they were referred to as "wood boogers" by white folks, and a variety of names such as "mishishingwa" by the Indians before them.
Native Americans had a well-developed folklore for this area, but it mostly involved "little people", thunderbirds (some of which are painted in ancient petroglyphs on Paint Lick Mountain), Great Horned Snakes (like the Cherokee Uktena, but not limited to the Cherokee - Great Horned Snakes go back at least to the Mound Builders), and various wood spirits such as the Mishishingwa, which was apparently a Gamekeeper spirit, later known as the wood booger, and still later as bigfoot or sasquatch.
The werewolves must have been imported by Europeans, as the Indians never mentioned anything like them that I know of.
RE: The American Werewolf / Dogman - Michigan Swamp Buck - 01-19-2025
Our dogman legend was centered in Paris Michigan north of my swamp. Some local disc-jockey recorded a novelty song about the dogman and that is supposedly how the whole urban legend began.
Quote:In 1937 or 1938, on the banks of the Muskegon River, near Paris, Mecosta County Michigan, a Cadillac man named Robert Fortney was attacked by a pack of wild dogs.
This was reported in a local newspaper in the spring of 1987. That year there was a claim that some animals attacked a cabin near the town of Luther Michigan. This was probably when that DJ recorded the dogman song.
Then there was the "Bray Road Beast" in nearby Wisconsin.
Quote:In 1936, two or three years before the Paris Michigan sighting, Mark Schackelman reportedly encountered a wolf-man on Highway 18, east of Jefferson, Wisconsin.
Related are the "shunka warak'in" and the French "loup-garou" that contribute to the legend in the region up north here abouts.
LINK
RE: The American Werewolf / Dogman - GeauxHomeLittleD - 01-19-2025
Okay, so my home town has/had its own werewolf. In fact back when it was first seen and caused a big ruckus the area it was frequenting was very close to not only where my dad lives now but also my mom (they actually live withing walking distance of each other even though neither knows where the other lives- and sister and I refuse to tell them). It was years ago when the werewolf sightings made the news but over the years the occasional stories of new encounters have made the rounds.
My home town is definitely not in the mountains but actually in what is known as "The Big Thicket". Reports of all sorts of cryptids has been consistent over the years with many sightings of werewolves, dogmen, Sasquatch, black panthers (which I have actually seen myself), UFOs (that I've had close up experience with myself), etc. It is also a hotbed of paranormal activity and in past incarnations of RN I have related a little bit of my own experiences. I have come to believe over the years that the entire area is a "thin spot" where the veil between dimensions is much easier to penetrate.
I believe the Appalachians is also a "thin spot". Though the terrain is completely different from where I was raised there are similarities between them. Lots of woods, fresh running water, lots of game, lots of Native American tribes in the areas and histories of much violence and death. And witches, always the witches.
Here in Kentucky we have our own werewolf and dogman stories, stories of "rake" sightings, lots of Sasquatch encounters, many mass animal killings such as you spoke of that have never been convincingly explained, even "Sheepsquatch". I actually even saw werewolf footage a lady got on her phone while walking her dog about an hour from here a few years back, an older, "no bullshit" kind of lady (it made the news). I myself have found massive paw prints a few times during some of our hikes in the woods- make the hair stand up on the back of your neck kind of massive because we were waaaay out in the woods with nobody around to help if shit went sideways.
I guess the point I'm getting to is that these people with their "fakelore" for clicks just want to make money, I don't think they're trying to muddy the waters- they're just greedy. If they put in a little more effort they might find something really weird to share with the world but that would require actual work and more time and energy than they are willing to spend. Monetization of social media is a bane on society!
RE: The American Werewolf / Dogman - Michigan Swamp Buck - 01-19-2025
Here we go, the dogman song from 1987 . . .
northernmichiganhistory.com
RE: The American Werewolf / Dogman - EndtheMadnessNow - 01-20-2025
That term is very fitting in the UFO community too. Invention for Profit or Propaganda.
Quote:“Fakelore” is a term coined in 1950 by American folklorist Richard M. Dorson (1916–1981) to describe anthologies and commercial materials that are presented as authentic oral folklore, but are actually fabricated or heavily edited. This label has been used to describe wholly new creations originating from a single author, those that put characters from folklore into nontraditional situations, those that have undergone serious editorial revisions, and those that use these characters and legends for commercial or ideological purposes. It has also come to describe Internet hoaxes and urban legends that falsely claim to have folklore origins. Fakelore is considered to be a type of fraud, and so the term is always applied with a tone of disapproval. However, some scholars argue that materials once dismissively labeled “fakelore” are actually rich areas for study, and question whether the distinction between folklore and fakelore is truly as unambiguous as the names suggest.