Beast of Bray Road

The Beast of Bray Road (or the Bray Road Beast) is a creature reported in 1936 and the 1990s on a rural road outside of Elkhorn, Wisconsin, US. The same label has been applied to other sightings from southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois.

Bray Road is a quiet rural road near the community of Elkhorn. The rash of claimed sightings in the late 1980s and early 1990s prompted a local newspaper, the Walworth County Week, to assign reporter Linda Godfrey to cover the story. Godfrey was initially skeptical, but later became convinced of the sincerity of the witnesses. Her series of articles later became a book titled The Beast of Bray Road: Tailing Wisconsin's Werewolf.[1]

Encounters and description

The Beast of Bray Road is described by purported witnesses, including a former assistant district attorney of Walworth County, (source, Terry Evan Williams, Walworth Co. Defense Atty.) in several ways: as a bear-like creature, as a hairy biped resembling Bigfoot, and as an unusually large (2–4 feet tall on all fours, 7 feet tall standing up) intelligent werewolf-like creature able to walk on its hind legs and weighing 400-700 pounds. It's also said that its fur is a brown gray color resembling a dog or bear.

Several witnesses reported the beast had made contact with their vehicles, leaving long scratch marks on doors of one vehicle and on the trunk of another vehicle who also made contact with the creature. One witness while driving on Bray Road on a foggy night reported hitting something crossing the road, then exited their vehicle to determine what they had hit, and reported that a large wolf-like creature with red eyes chased her back into her car, then left claw marks in the rear passenger door. Sightings also have been reported during daylight hours, with several witnesses stating they observed an unusually large wolf-like creature running on all fours through corn fields. One witness stated they observed the creature in pursuit of a deer. Unusually large animal tracks resembling coyote tracks have also been discovered in the area of Bray Road, leading many researchers into the sightings to conclude the creature is an unusually large coyote or wolf/coyote hybrid. [2]

Animal mutilations have also been reported in the area around Bray Road with animal remains, including deer and livestock, partially eaten with specific organs removed from the animal carcasses. Another witness reported driving down Bray Road late one night and observed an unusually large wolf-like creature eating an animal which had been hit by a car on the side of the road. The creature reportedly ran into the woods as the eyewitness approached it in their vehicle.[2]

Explanations

A number of animal-based theories have been proposed. They include that the creature is an undiscovered variety of wild dog, a waheela (said to be a giant prehistoric wolf similar to Amarok), or a wolfdog or a coydog.

It is also possible that hoaxes and mass hysteria have caused some falsehoods and sightings of normal creatures to all be artificially lumped under the same label. Concurrently with the sightings in Wisconsin, there was a rash of similar encounters in the neighboring state of Michigan. Following the release of "The Legend", a popular song about the Michigan Dogman in 1987, author Steve Cook received dozens of reports, including photograph and film evidence of the creature. There is no known link between the sightings in adjoining states, other than the similarity of the creature described.

In the Legend Hunters S1E3 it was pointed out that the beast may be a bear suffering from mange.[3]

Movie

In 2005, The Asylum distributed a fictionalized account of the search for this monster, directed by Leigh Scott.[4]

See also

References
  1. Godfrey, Linda S. (2003). The Beast of Bray Road: Tailing Wisconsin's Werewolf. Black Earth, Wisconsin: Prairie Oak Press. ISBN 978-1879483910.
  2. The Bray Road Beast, 2018 Documentary Film
  3. Price, Diana (18 February 2019). "Did Legend Hunter just solve the mystery of the Beast of Bray Road and add new theories on Dogman and Chupacabra legends?". Monsters and Critics. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  4. IMDB Movie Page: The Beast of Bray Road
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