Tritone’s love of horror and mystery began at a young age. Growing up in the 80’s he got to see some of the greatest horror movies play out in the best of venues, the drive-in theater. That’s when his obsession with the genre really began—but it wasn’t just the movies, it was the games, the books, the comics, and the lore behind it all that really ignited his obsession. Tritone is a published author and continues to write and write about horror whenever possible.
A barmaid was murdered in Candy Cane Park in the 1980s and her spirit never left the grounds. She haunted the merry-go-round until its removal in 2003. She is now known to wander the park where she continues to warn others entering the area to remain safe.
Tritone’s love of horror and mystery began at a young age. Growing up in the 80’s he got to see some of the greatest horror movies play out in the best of venues, the drive-in theater. That’s when his obsession with the genre really began—but it wasn’t just the movies, it was the games, the books, the comics, and the lore behind it all that really ignited his obsession. Tritone is a published author and continues to write and write about horror whenever possible.
In 1949 the murder of a Roosevelt High School girl occurred at Cathedral Park. This park has been reported to be haunted since that date. Several people have reported hearing a woman’s scream come from the park only to find no one there. Have more stories or information about this haunting? Please let us know in the comments.
Tritone’s love of horror and mystery began at a young age. Growing up in the 80’s he got to see some of the greatest horror movies play out in the best of venues, the drive-in theater. That’s when his obsession with the genre really began—but it wasn’t just the movies, it was the games, the books, the comics, and the lore behind it all that really ignited his obsession. Tritone is a published author and continues to write and write about horror whenever possible.
First witnessed in 1887, but there is no real knowledge of how long the Dogman has been around. It’s said that the hieroglyphs of the Egyptian god of the underworld, Anubis could possibly be an ancient explanation of the Dogman. Whether or not the Dogman existed thousands of years ago in Ancient Egypt, or if it was truly their depiction of the entity of the underworld, it will never be known.
Name
The Dogman, also known as the Wisconsin Werewolf and the Beast of Bray Road.
Physical Description
The basic description of these creatures shows them as being seven feet tall, with blue or amber eyes, a half-man and half-dog humanoid, that is said to be bipedal. Dogman, however, describes a group of more than one type of cryptozoological beings that are large and described as looking like upright canids. There are reportedly two types of Dogman, one which is called a K9-Type and the other which is a Type-3.
Its howl is said to sound like a human scream.
K9-Type
The basic K9-Tupe is described simply as looking like an upright canine. They are characterized specifically by their canine legs, with hocks and stifle joints. Some of them have disproportionately large heads, while others have more hyena-like appearances. The most visual appearance is when they are described as looking like the black Werewolf from the Van Helsing movie, but by far the most comical are when they are described as a large timber wolf that ambulates bipedally. This version of the Dogman accounts for over 90% of the sightings that have occurred and are more prone to aggression than Type-3.
Type-3
The basic Type-3 is described as looking like a sasquatch, or bigfoot, with a muzzle–instead of having the flat face of a bigfoot. Eyewitness accounts report that these particular creatures have claws on the tips of their fingers and toes, instead of fingernails and toenails. Like the K-9 Type Dogman, the Type-3 Dogman does not always look the same. They are characterized by their hominid-style legs, with ankles and knees that are the same as humans or sasquatch.
Origin
Originating from the folklore of Michigan–Wexford County, Michigan to be exact. This creature was unknown to most of the modern world until very late in the twentieth century but was said to have been stalking the area around the Manistee River since the days of the Odawa tribes.
First allegedly encountered in 1887 by two lumberjacks who reported having seen a creature that had the head of a dog and the body of a man.
Authentic sources aside from the song made by Steve Cook have not been documented due to the claim of the whole thing being a hoax.
Mythology and Lore
According to most legends, the Michigan Dogman appears every ten years. Sightings have occurred in several locations throughout Michigan, but primarily within the northwestern quadrant of the Lower Peninsula.
1938 Paris, Michigan, Robert Fortney was attacked by five wild dogs one of which he said walked on two legs and reports of similar creatures also came from Allegan County in the 1950s, then again in 1967 in the Manistee and Cross Village.
One night in 1961, a night watchman was patrolling a manufacturing plant in Big Rapids, Michigan when he saw a peculiar creature–he believed this creature to be a person until it got close enough to see that it had doglike features. He was just about to pull his gun to shoot the creature when he remembered that he had his camera with him. Any photographic evidence remains an unsolved mystery, however, as the photos were never analyzed.
Modern Pop-Culture References
The Cook song
In 1987, disc jockey Steve Cook recorded a song about the creature as well as alleged sightings, which is when the creature gained much of its popularity. He recorded and aired a song called, “The Legend,” on the station he jockeyed for at WTCM-FM in Traverse City, Michigan, which he introduced as an April Fool’s Day joke. He said he based the songs on mythology and legends from all over North America and had never heard of a dogman in Michigan before recording.
I made it up completely from my own imagination as an April Fools’ prank for the radio and stumbled my way to a legend that goes back all the way to Native American times.
Steve Cook, Skeptoid.com, Wag the Dogman
Apparently, Cook maintains his skepticism about whether or not the dogman really exists though.
I’m tremendously skeptical because I’ve sort of seen the way folklore becomes built from the creation of this song to what it’s turned into … but I do believe people who think they saw something really did see something. I also think the Dogman provides them with an avenue to explain what they couldn’t explain for themselves.
Steve Cook, Skeptoid.com, Wag the Dogman
Oddly enough after airing the song as a fun April Fool’s prank, he received numerous calls from listeners who claimed they had encountered a similar creature, and in the weeks following it became the most-requested song on the station. In the years since, Cook has received more than one hundred reports of the creature’s existence and in March of 2010, it was featured in an episode of MonsterQuest.
The Legend of the Michigan Dogman by Steve Cook
Linda S. Godfrey, in her book The Beast of Bray Road, compares the Manistee sightings to a similar creature sighted in Wisconsin known as the Beast of Bray Road.
Georgia-based author and artist, Mary has been a horror aficionado since the mid-2000s. Originally a hobby artist and writer, she found her niche in the horror industry in late 2019 and hasn’t looked back since. Mary’s evolution into a horror expert allowed her to express herself truly for the first time in her life. Now, she prides herself on indulging in the stuff of nightmares.
Mary also moonlights as a content creator across multiple social media platforms—breaking down horror tropes on YouTube, as well as playing horror games and broadcasting live digital art sessions on Twitch.
The Gumberoo, with a scientific name of Megalogaster repercussus.
Physical Description
This bear-like creature is described as being incredibly fat–in some cases, compared to the shape of a football–with no hair, and dark leathery skin. Oddly enough, this creature has a large grin with sharp teeth, a beard, and prominent eyebrows. Their dark complexion is said to be as black as coal, but there is speculation that this is due to rubbing up against the inside of the charred cedar tree.
Origin
The Gumberoo originated in the foggy region along the Pacific Coast from Grays Harbor, WA, the entire coast of Oregon, all the way to Humboldt Bay, CA as well as the forests of Wisconsin and Minnesota. Its origin is spun from the folklore of lumberjacks and forest workers–with particular emphasis on the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
According to Giants, Monsters, and Dragons: An Encyclopedia of Folklore, Legend, and Myth by Carol Rose, the Gumberoo belongs to a group of beings within this mythology called the Fearsome Critters. All of the Fearsome Critters are noted to have exaggerated proportions and activities which are believed to be the explanation of the strange sounds and bumps in the night when in isolated and remote locations. They also provided some amusement for the men in the camps, as they told stories to pass their down-time.
The Gumberoo is said to be a scarce creature due to the fact that it is quite combustible, and forest fires are relatively prevalent. They are said to be as flammable as celluloid film; during and after a forest fire within the heavily forested cedar region near Coos Bay, lumberjacks reported that they heard loud sounds that were not identifiable as well as the smell of burning rubber.
Mythology and Lore
When the lumberjacks, responsible for its discovery, attempted to kill it–except the Gumberoo didn’t die, its skin was apparently impenetrable. It is said to hibernate a majority of the time and it lives in old enormous, burned, and hollowed-out cedar trees. When it does come out, it only comes out at night and has an insatiable appetite when it does. The Gumberoo will devour anything that crosses its path, even reportedly a whole horse at one point, which was still not enough to discomfort nor satiate it.
Georgia-based author and artist, Mary has been a horror aficionado since the mid-2000s. Originally a hobby artist and writer, she found her niche in the horror industry in late 2019 and hasn’t looked back since. Mary’s evolution into a horror expert allowed her to express herself truly for the first time in her life. Now, she prides herself on indulging in the stuff of nightmares.
Mary also moonlights as a content creator across multiple social media platforms—breaking down horror tropes on YouTube, as well as playing horror games and broadcasting live digital art sessions on Twitch.
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