The image of the werewolf—a creature half-human, half-wolf—has stalked our nightmares and folklore for centuries. From ancient legends to modern horror films, this fearsome beast is a staple of the monstrous. But what if these tales aren’t just fiction? Enter the Dogman, a cryptid that many believe is a real-life, modern-day werewolf. Sightings of these upright canids, often called the ‘Michigan Dogman’ or the ‘Beast of Bray Road,’ have been reported from the early 20th century to the present day, with a chilling concentration in the American Midwest, particularly around Michigan and Wisconsin. Get ready to explore ten disturbing encounters that blur the line between myth and reality. These stories, presented chronologically, are just a glimpse into the unsettling world of Dogman sightings.
10. The Whispering Horror of Racine, Wisconsin (1936)
Our journey into the unsettling world of Dogman encounters begins in Racine, Wisconsin, a city nestled on Lake Michigan’s western shore. It was 1936, and Mark Shackleman was on duty as a night watchman at the St. Coletta Convent. One evening, his rounds led him to a truly chilling sight: a dark-furred, dog-like creature with long claws, exuding a foul smell of decay. It was disturbingly occupied, kneeling and digging at a Native American burial mound near the convent. The moment Shackleman moved closer, the creature vanished into the night.
The next day, Shackleman found peculiar footprints and claw marks at the site. He noted that two of the creature’s ‘fingers,’ based on the impressions, seemed shriveled. His duties required him back at the convent the following night, and to his dread, the creature returned. This time, it didn’t flee. Instead, it rose to an imposing height of six feet, locking eyes with Shackleman. Then, in a moment that would haunt him forever, it spoke a single, guttural word: “Gadarah.”
Shackleman, though terrified, stood his ground. He met its gaze, offered a prayer, and then slowly retreated. The Dogman merely sneered, its menacing stare fixed on him, but it made no move to follow. Mark Shackleman never laid eyes on the creature again, but the horrifying memory, and occasionally the putrid scent of death, lingered for years.
9. The Grinning Beast of Paris, Michigan (1938)
Two years later, in the summer of 1938, a young Robert Fortney had a terrifying encounter while fishing on the Muskegon River near Paris, Michigan. At just 17 years old, Fortney found himself suddenly surrounded by a pack of six aggressive wild dogs. Quick thinking and his nearby rifle likely saved him. He fired a warning shot into the air, causing most of the dogs to scatter in fear.
One dog, however, a black-furred canine, remained. It stood its ground merely ten feet away, locking its piercing blue eyes with Fortney’s. Then, to the teenager’s astonishment and horror, it began to grin. Unfazed, Fortney fired another warning shot. This time, the creature reacted, but not like any ordinary dog. Instead of fleeing on all fours, it rose to an imposing six feet tall and sprinted away on two legs, disappearing into the wilderness.
Years later, in 1987, Robert Fortney would call into a radio station after hearing Steve Cook’s song “The Legend,” a song Cook initially created as an April Fool’s prank about the “Michigan Dogman.” For Fortney, the creature Cook sang about was no joke; it was a terrifyingly real memory from his youth.
8. The Photographed Shadow of Big Rapids, Michigan (1961)
Fast forward to 1961 in Big Rapids, Michigan, where an anonymous night watchman experienced a chilling encounter that may have yielded photographic evidence of the Dogman. It was approximately three in the morning, and the watchman was at his home, which conveniently sat across from the manufacturing plant he guarded. The plant itself was located next to the Haymarsh State Game area.
He heard a noise near the chain-link fence bordering the property and initially suspected an intruder. He went from his workplace to his house to get a weapon. However, upon returning outside, he wasn’t met by a human trespasser, but by a six-foot-tall, greyish-brown upright canine figure moving awkwardly in his driveway. Thinking fast, the man rushed back inside, this time not for a gun, but for his camera.
By the time he returned, the Dogman had moved from his driveway and was further down the dark street. Fortunately, the creature briefly passed under a streetlight, allowing the quick-thinking watchman to snap what is claimed to be one of the very few alleged photographs of the Michigan Dogman before it sprinted off into the shadows of the night.
7. The Stalker of Alto and Lowell, Michigan (1988 & 2008)
This unsettling account details two encounters with a Dogman, twenty years apart, experienced by the same anonymous individual. The first incident occurred in 1988 in Alto, Michigan. The witness, then an elementary school student, was playing during recess around ten in the morning. He decided to venture into the woods near the school playground, hoping to find a hiding spot for their game of War.
Near a river by some train tracks, he heard a massive splash. Looking up, he saw a dark-furred Dogman bolt into the woods, bizarrely switching between running on two legs and all fours before vanishing. Terrified, the boy ran straight home and kept the sighting a secret until he was an adult. He described the creature as being around eight feet tall, weighing 300 pounds, with blue eyes, and resembling an upright timber wolf but with longer legs.
The second sighting happened in the winter of 2008 in the nearby town of Lowell. Now an adult with a family, the man was awakened by a thud on his roof. His childhood memories of the creature instantly resurfaced. He cautiously snuck outside, only to see the same blue-eyed Dogman peer over the edge of the roof, staring directly at him. The creature then leaped an astonishing thirty feet from the roof, landed on all fours, and sprinted to the tree line. It stood up again, staring at the man for a full minute. Armed with a machete, the man charged at the Dogman. The creature just stared, almost grinning, and uttered a single, clear word: “Don’t.” Overcome by a strange sense of calm, the man stopped, dropped his weapon, and slowly backed away. The Dogman turned and calmly walked into the woods.
6. The Birth of a Legend: Bray Road, Elkhorn, Wisconsin (1989)
Bray Road, a quiet stretch of pavement east of Elkhorn, Wisconsin, would become infamous thanks to a string of terrifying encounters. The creature seen here earned the chilling moniker, the “Beast of Bray Road.” One of the first documented sightings occurred on a crisp fall night in 1989, around 1:30 a.m.
Lori Endrizzi was driving home from her job as a manager at an Elkhorn lodge. As she navigated the dark, backcountry road, her headlights illuminated a strange figure. A dark-brownish-grey creature was kneeling by the roadside, its back to her. The only prominent features at first were its short, pointed ears. As Lori drove closer, it turned, revealing a disturbingly canine face. “Its elbows were up, and its claws were facing out, so I knew it had claws,” Endrizzi recalled. “I remember the long claws.” The creature appeared to be clutching roadkill, and its eyes eerily reflected her headlights. She estimated it to be about five-foot-seven and 150 pounds.
Unlike a typical wild animal, this creature didn’t bolt. Instead, it stared directly into her eyes. The intensity of its gaze made Lori feel it was more human-like than animal. “To this day, I believe it was satanic,” she stated, deeply unsettled by the encounter. Lori Endrizzi later reported her experience to Walworth County Animal Control. Her account became one of the first entries in officer Jon Fredrikson’s file ominously labeled “Werewolf,” marking the beginning of the Beast of Bray Road legend.
5. Halloween Horror on Bray Road, Elkhorn, Wisconsin (1991)
Two years after Lori Endrizzi’s chilling encounter, Bray Road delivered another terrifying tale, this time on Halloween night in 1991. This story also found its way into Jon Fredrikson’s “Werewolf” file. Pat Lester, Lori Endrizzi’s mother and a part-time school bus driver, even had a student on her bus who reported a Dogman sighting, further cementing the road’s eerie reputation.
On that foggy Halloween, Doris Gipson was driving to a friend’s house to pick someone up from a party. As she drove along Bray Road, she suddenly hit something, causing the front of her car to lift off the ground. She got out to check for damage or an injured animal but found nothing. As she headed back to her car, a figure lunged at her through the dense fog. It was brown, with straight fur, a canine face, a muscular build, and it was striding on two legs.
Gipson wasted no time, scrambling back into her car and hitting the gas. But as she tried to speed away, the upright canid allegedly grabbed onto the rear bumper of her car, trying to hold it back. The next day, deep scratch marks were reportedly found etched into her car’s rear. The horror wasn’t over. On her return trip that same night, with her friend now in the car, her passenger suddenly shouted, “Look at that thing!” Both saw the same muscular, werewolf-like creature. Gipson floored the accelerator, desperate to escape the terrifying presence on Bray Road.
4. The Screaming Shadow of Fitchburg, Wisconsin (2006)
In September 2006, the unsettling phenomena extended to Fitchburg, a suburb of Madison, Wisconsin. It was a cool fall night, around 2:00 a.m., and a Minnesota college student named Matt was up late studying. His quiet night was first disturbed by strange popping sounds, like bubble wrap, seemingly coming from within the walls. Suddenly, thousands of birds took flight in alarm, an unusual occurrence for the middle of the night. Then, he felt it – the distinct tremors of a minor earthquake.
Believing the earthquake explained the strange events, Matt tried to return to his work. But then, a horrifying sound pierced the air: a blood-curdling scream that seemed to echo through the entire neighborhood, like that of a murder victim. Worried someone might have been injured due to the earthquake, Matt rushed outside. The screaming continued as he ran into the street. Just then, an approaching car’s headlights illuminated something truly bizarre – a humanoid creature with a distinctly wolf-like head.
The screaming ceased, and the canine cryptid bolted as the car drew nearer, preventing Matt from getting a detailed look. The car turned out to be a police vehicle. The officer asked Matt if he was the one who had called, but clarified he was checking on concerns related to the earthquake, not any screams. After the officer left to patrol the neighborhood, Matt continued to hear the same disturbing screams intermittently throughout the rest of that night, and unsettlingly, for several nights afterward.
3. The Hunted Hunters of Reed City, Michigan (2007)
Our next chilling tale comes from Reed City, in northern Michigan, during November 2007. A man named Sam and his two friends were out hunting. Each was positioned in their own hunting stand. As the sun began to set around 4:30 p.m., an eerie silence fell over the woods; the usual sounds of birds and insects completely vanished.
Moments later, three deer sprinted past Sam’s stand, closely followed by a foul, mothball-like stench. Then, it appeared: a massive, hunched-over, yellow-eyed creature moving on two legs, breaking through the bushes in pursuit of the deer. Thoroughly disturbed, Sam stayed put until his friends arrived. Though they initially made fun of his story, the trio decided to head home, planning to return the next day. Their subsequent days of hunting would prove even more terrifying.
The following day remained calm until about 5 p.m. Sam heard gunshots from about 100 feet away, followed by panicked screams from his friend over the walkie-talkie. His friend described the exact same Dogman Sam had witnessed, though thankfully, it ran away again. Undeterred, or perhaps overly courageous, they decided to continue hunting for two more days. The third day was uneventful, but the fourth day confirmed the Dogman was still lurking. This time, the creature didn’t wait for dusk. It ran into a well-lit clearing, directly in front of two of the hunters, stared at them, and began to grin. Sam’s friend aimed his gun, and the creature immediately fled, making a growling, hissing sound. About an hour later, their third friend radioed in, nervously asking, “Um, you guys, are you in a werewolf suit at my blind? Because it’s not funny.” Before Sam could reply, he heard five distinct gunshots. Their friend was safe, but Sam reported deep claw marks on the butt of his rifle. Later, back at their cabin, they found the snowy ground covered in large canine footprints and the same deep claw marks embedded in their front door.
2. The Roadside Menace of Shelby, Michigan (2009)
In the depths of a frigid Michigan winter in 2009, another unsettling Dogman sighting occurred. It was a cold night, about thirty minutes before midnight. Retired law enforcement officer Laura Love was a passenger in a car driven by her friend, referred to only as “C,” who wished to remain anonymous. They were traveling north on US-31, near the West Weber Road overpass, when they encountered something truly lycanthropic on the snowy road.
“We saw a large, tall, dark, and oddly shaped creature run out from the left side of the overpass…” Love stated, “and hit the rear quarter panel of the small truck in front of us, causing the truck to fish-tail.” The truck that was hit didn’t even stop to assess the damage; it just sped off. However, this allowed Love and her friend to get a look at the creature illuminated by the moonlight.
She described it as an imposing figure, nearly seven-and-a-half feet tall, with dark fur. It moved bipedally, with distinctively backward-bending knees. Adding to its bizarre appearance, it had a thick mane of fur around its neck, almost like a fancy fur collar from a bygone era. Love also noted that the Dogman had a face resembling that of a border collie. The creature didn’t linger; it ran off, quickly disappearing into a patch of weeds and trees. Stunned into silence, Love and C drove home. It wasn’t until they were safely inside Love’s home that they could finally discuss what they had both witnessed: the Michigan Dogman.
1. The Shadowy Figure of Duluth, Minnesota (2016)
Our final account takes us just across the Wisconsin border to Duluth, Minnesota, at the westernmost tip of Lake Superior. This report, from November 7, 2016, comes from an anonymous graphic designer. Her artistic skills, however, allowed her to create a compelling sketch of what she encountered.
It was a cold night on Maple Grove Road, a street that marks the boundary between residential Duluth and the more rural landscape to the northwest. The witness saw an upright cryptid running from the edge of the area illuminated by streetlights, dashing into a field where an old barn stood. She described the creature as likely being seven feet tall if it weren’t running with an extremely hunched back, almost on all fours. It possessed a wolfish face with a long snout and short, pointed ears. Its movements were stiff and awkward, as if it were propelling itself on its haunches like a gorilla.
The graphic designer froze for a moment, watching the Dogman move. Then, a passing car’s headlights illuminated it from behind, bringing its silhouette into much sharper focus. Panicked, she drove to a well-lit gas station and waited for her husband. She described an overwhelming, almost supernatural fear that weighed her down “like a thick sludge.” The story, however, had an even more chilling postscript. When she told her family about her encounter, her sister confessed to having seen the same hunched, wolf-like being years earlier. In her sister’s experience, it had been standing at the edge of her property, ominously staring into her house with piercing red eyes.
These ten accounts, spanning eight decades and multiple states, offer a chilling glimpse into the phenomenon of Dogman sightings in the American Midwest. From fleeting shadows to terrifyingly close encounters, the descriptions share unnerving similarities: tall, canine figures with bipedal capabilities, often exuding an aura of dread. Are these creatures misidentified known animals, products of overactive imaginations, or something far more mysterious lurking in the shadowy corners of our world?
While skeptics search for rational explanations, the consistency in witness testimonies and the sheer terror these encounters evoke keep the legend of the Dogman alive and well. Whether you believe in modern-day werewolves or not, these stories serve as a potent reminder that the wilderness can still hold secrets, and sometimes, those secrets stare back.
What do you think about these Dogman sightings? Have you heard other stories or had an an inexplicable encounter yourself? Share your thoughts and experiences in the comments below!
