Beast of Bray Road

Infobox Paranormalcreatures
Creature_Name = Beast of Bray Road


Image_Caption =
Grouping = Local legend
Sub_Grouping = Therianthrope/Werewolf
AKA = Bray Road Beast
Country = United States
Region = Elkhorn, Wisconsin
Habitat =
First_Reported = 1936 (sighted later in the 1980s)
Last_Sighted = early 90s (but there was one in Hebron, north of Whitewater, Wisconsin, in February 2002.) Fact|date=May 2008
Status = Local legendThe Beast of Bray Road (or the Bray Road Beast) is a cryptozoological creature first reported in the 1980s on a rural road outside of Elkhorn, Wisconsin. The same label has been applied well beyond the initial location, to any unknown creature from southern Wisconsin or northern Illinois that is described as having similar characteristics to those reported in the initial set of sightings.

Bray Road itself is a quiet country road near the community of [http://www.elkhorn-wi.org/ Elkhorn, Wisconsin] . The rash of claimed sightings in the late 1980s and early 1990s prompted a local newspaper, the [http://www.theweekextra.com/ "Walworth County Week"] , to assign reporter Linda Godfrey to cover the story. Godfrey initially was skeptical, but later became convinced of the sincerity of the witnesses. Her series of articles later became a book entitled " [http://www.amazon.com/Beast-Bray-Road-Wisconsins-Werewolf/dp/1879483912 "The Beast of Bray Road: Trailing Wisconsin's Werewolf"] ".

Description

The Beast of Bray Road is described by purported witnesses in several ways:
*A hairy biped resembling Bigfoot.
*An unusually large and intelligent wolf-like creature apt to walk on its hind legs, right up to 7 feet, on all fours 2-4 feet, and weighing 400-700 lbs.
*A bear-like creature.

Although the Beast of Bray Road has not been seen to transform from a human into a wolf in most of the sightings, it has been labeled a werewolf in newspaper articles.

Explanations

Paranormal researcher Todd Roll said that there may have been a connection with the werewolf to occult activities involving mutilated animals in Walworth County. [ [http://www.prairieghosts.com/brayrd.html The Bray Road Beast on PrairieGhosts.com] ]

A number of animal-based theories have also been proposed. They include::* The creature is an undiscovered variety of wild dog.:* It is a cryptid named the Shunka Warakin (a hyena or wolf-like beast).:* It is the waheela (a giant prehistoric wolf similar to Amarok).:* It is a wolfdog or a coydog, possibly one that had been trained to stand upright before becoming feral.:* It is a living example of an actual werewolf.:* It is a cryptid named the Wendigo.:* It is related to Native American traditions of skin-walkers.

It is also possible that mass hysteria has caused different creatures to be artificially lumped under the same label, since the Beast of Bray Road does not look the same from one sighting to the next. 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.

Popular Culture

The Beast of Bray Road appears in the television program "Mystery Hunters" as well as several books and a motion picture. Articles about it have appeared in "Weekly World News". The sightings spawned a 2005 exploitation movie directed by Leigh Scott entitled "The Beast of Bray Road". The History Channel's TV series "MonsterQuest" launched an investigation on the beast, in which all witnesses were subjected to lie detector tests. The polygraph administrator could find no indication that any of the witnesses had fabricated their stories. In addition, an expedition found a large nest-like clearing in a bed of sawgrass, along with several hair samples, identified as belonging to a black bear.

ee also

*Werewolf
*Shunka Warakin
*"The Werewolf of Fever Swamp"

References

*Godfrey, Linda S. "The Beast of Bray Road: Tailing Wisconsin's Werewolf". Black Earth, Wisconsin: Prairie Oak Press, 2003. ISBN 1-879483-91-2
* [http://www.prairieghosts.com/brayrd.html Haunted Wisconsin: The Bray Road Beast]
* [http://www.americanmonsters.com/interviews/linda/interview.html Interview with Linda S. Godfrey on American Monsters.com]
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462193/ IMDB Movie Page: The Beast of Bray Road]

External links

* [http://www.beastofbrayroad.com/ BeastofBrayRoad.com — Site by Linda S. Godfrey]
* [http://www.newanimal.org/brayroad.htm The Cryptid Zoo: Beast of Bray Road]
* [http://www.weird-wi.com/brayroad/index.htm Weird Wisconsin] (this site is temporarily down due to renovations)
* [http://www.cryptozoology.com/gallery/gallery_show.php?id=804 A depiction of The Bray Road Beast as the Shunka Warakin]
* [http://www.haveyouseenthiscreature.com A sighting in Quebec? (Photo)]
* [http://www.michigan-dogman.com Michigan Dogman] Several pages of sighting reports, including photographs

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