In folklore, a werewolf is an individual that can shape shift into a wolf or wolf-like creature, either purposely or occurring on a night of a full moon. Having unusual speed, strength, reflexes, and senses. Eating on animals and people, but returns to human form by day.
Where Werewolves first appeared in Greek mythology. According to the legend, Lycaon angered the god Zeus when he served him a meal from the remains of a sacrificed boy. As punishment, the enraged Zeus turned Lycaon into a wolf.
A savage beast rampaged across the French countryside between 1764 and 1767 and killed as many as a hundred people. The true nature of the attacks and the creature itself remain a mystery.
They can be found in countless books, films, and television shows, from the classic, The Wolf Man, to Twilight, and the Underworld series.
My favorite is Wolf played by Jack Nicholson. Worn down-and-out of luck, aging publisher Will Randall (Jack Nicholson) is at the end of his rope when a younger co-worker snatches his job out from under his nose. But after being bitten by a wolf with whom he accidentally struck while driving. Will suddenly finds himself energized, more competitive than ever, and possessed with amazingly heightened senses. Meanwhile, the beautiful daughter of his shrewd boss begins to fall for him – without realizing that the man she’s begun to love is gradually turning into the creature by which he was bitten.
Real Sightings
Wisconsin is well-known for its werewolf sightings in the US. The Southern part is filled with animal-shaped burial mounds, which date back as far as 500 BC. An estimated 80 percent of the mounds are now gone, built over or plowed under. A night watchman said he saw a shaggy, dog-faced creature with a muscular human torso. It was kneeling on one of the mounds, digging into the mussed earth.
He slowly backed away so did the creature. At some point it began to run, but it ran like a man with two paws on the ground. When he returned to the mound the next morning the earth was torn by the rake of claws. He returned the next day during his rounds and saw the beast again. This time it stood up and looked him the eye, snarled and growled before running away.
Another sighting in 1964, a man was driving along Highway 89 around midnight when he saw a figure running across the road. Large and muscular, stood around seven feet tall, covered in dark brown hair, with a dog-like face. It jumped over a barbed-wire fence and disappeared into a corn field.
Again in 1972 a woman called 911 when she heard someone trying to break into her rural home in the middle of the night. Upon further investigation, it appeared that it was not a person, but a large animal that had tried to get in. A few weeks later the creature returned and again tried to forcefully enter the house. This time the woman saw the creature. She described it as around eight feet tall, covered in dark brown hair, and it stood on two legs. It had long arms with hands that had long, sharp claws on them.
When the creature couldn’t get inside the house, it went out to the woman’s barn and attacked a horse. The horse was alive, but had a deep cut across its back. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources investigated, finding a foot print that was said to be over a foot long.
In 1989, a woman named Lorianne Endrizzi had seen a large figure on the side of the road. As she got close she realized that it was not a person but a tall beast, covered in gray/brown hair, with a dog-like face featuring fangs, pointed ears, and glowing yellow eyes.
A dairy farmer named Scott Bray owned a cattle pasture near his family’s namesake street, Bray Road. He reported seeing a dog, larger and taller than a German Shepherd, in his pasture one night. The creature was muscular and heavy, covered in gray/brown hair with pointed ears. Bray was able to find footprints, larger than any known dog or wolf, in the pasture the next day.
Later in 1991, two Wisconsin residents claimed to have seen a wolfish-looking creature in unrelated incidents. There has been countless more. Is it a werewolf or some other unknown beast? No one knows for sure.