Strange Encounters

It was a dark night in late August, back in 1981. We were fourteen. My two best friends, Rich and Barry, and I walked along the dark streets of the lake community where we grew up in north western New Jersey. During the day it was a nice enough place, way out in the country, what my father called the "boondocks." But at night those rural country roads were as spooky as any imagination could make them.

We had just seen American Werewolf in London at the movie theater, and as we walked we talked about how cool the movie had been. We recalled the transformation scenes, the marauding werewolf attacking hapless victims around London, and the creepy setting of the Slaughtered Lamb pub.

We were just one block off the lake, and passing a road that led down to the darkened yards along the lake shore. Suddenly a long, low, howl echoed across the cool, black lake. We froze in our tracks.

Was is a dog? A wolf? Gulp... a werewolf? To our fertile imaginations it sounded exactly like the spooky howls we heard in the scary movie we had just seen.

Rich jumped, Barry yelled, and the three of us tore off up the street like we were being pursued by David Naughton's evil, fanged and furry alter ego. We ran... and ran... and ran... imagining a huge, bloodthirsty, salivating beast right on our heels the whole time.

We suspended fantasy and stopped to catch our breath before setting off again. Then we came to our senses and decided that it was just a dog after all, howling in the night. We rationalized that the distance, and the echo added by the large lake area made it seem more sinister than it actually was.

To this day I recall the howling I heard around that lake. The eerie, long, mournful howls that seemed to come straight out of a movie like American Werewolf in London. I've heard similar howling as the years have passed, wherever I happened to live, in the dark hours of the night. The imagination can have a field day.

Is it possible that werewolves do exist? Since I can remember I've been intrigued by these creatures of lore, but I know they are not a reality.

Werewolves simply can't exist, and for various reasons, not the least of which being the impossible mechanics of an actual transformation. Still, tales of wolf-men persist. Believe it or not, people claim to actually see these things.

Modern accounts of encounters with man-sized, wolf-like creatures are presented in two books written by Linda S. Godfrey. "The Beast of Bray Road," and "Hunting the American Werewolf"

The first details encounters with upright walking, wolfish beasts near Walworth County in Wisconsin, and neighboring states. Her second book takes the search for these creatures beyond the midwest with sightings from across the United States.

Being from New Jersey, and having an interest in all manner of strangeness, I found one particular tale from Godfrey's "The Beast of Bray Road" interesting. It happened right here in my home state, and not too very far from the place where my friends and I heard that spooky, wolf-like howl.

As the story goes a woman was on her way to a party, late in the evening. She was travelling the dark, remote roads of north western New Jersey, in Warren County. Along one particular stretch of road a startling scene unfolded before her.

Some distance ahead a beast entered the road, moving fast. It was tall and hairy, standing upright like a man. In its arms it carried a dead deer. The beast crossed from one side of the road to the other, seemingly effortless in spite of the weight of the deer carcass. As quickly as it appeared, it disappeared from view into the woods on the opposite side of the road.

So far this sighting sounds very similar to reports of alleged Bigfoot encounters which describe large, hairy, bipedal creatures crossing the road before unsuspecting motorists. But the similarities end there.

Unlike the more ape-like Bigfoot, this creature had a canine head. That is, dog- or wolf-like. According to the witness the head resembled a German Shepherd's in shape, with a long snout and pointy ears on top. The legs were strange too. They were reported as "horselike."

Wolfish and running on horse-like legs. A startling sight for sure.

Upon her arrival at the party the witness told her friends what she had seen. Returning to the scene they found nothing remaining, save for some deer entrails.

Godfrey states that the tale seems credible enough, that her contact was friends with the witness and he claims she is level-headed, not the lying type.

If this story is true, I wonder why we haven't heard about more man-wolves roaming around the state. To my knowledge this is the only case of a tall, hairy, biped with wolf- or canine-like features in New Jersey. I'd be happy to hear more from this state if anyone out there has a story to share.

New Jersey is no stranger to Bigfoot sightings, and I've been collecting them over at the NJBFRC, but a wolf-headed Bigfoot I haven't heard of. Bigfoot are considered to be primates, if they are real maybe there is a form of Bigfoot with a Baboon-like head, which is very canine in appearance. A Baboon-headed creature roaming around on two legs could fuel stories of werewolves.

That deosn't explain the legs though, which were described as horse-like. A canine leg may appear horse-like on a larger animal, especially if it is muscular and holding the creature in an upright stance. But canine legs are not meant for bipedal locomotion.

While considering this tale I tried to think of logical explanations. One idea -- or visual, based on what the witness describes -- is that of a wolf attacking a deer while the deer was on it's way out of the woods. The attack could easily continue across both lanes, as the deer kept moving and the wolf held on, biting and clawing.

With the right lighting and angles, and depending on which side of the deer the wolf was attacking, the scene may very well have conveyed the impression of a large wolf-headed creature doing something with a deer.

The only problem with this theory is that there is currently no wolf population in New Jersey, as far as we know. Repopulation has been taking place in Upstate New York, so I guess there's a slim chance that a few stray wolves have made their way down to Jersey, but it is unlikely.

There are coyotes in New Jersey though, in great number, and large, wolf-like specimens do exist. It's possible a large coyote could take the place of a wolf in the scenario above. It is also not mentioned in the story if the deer appeared full grown or young. A large coyote should be able to overpower a young deer.

What about two deer? Shadows from one deer could obscure parts of a deer behind it. Maybe the wolf-head was actually a deer head in shadow, silhouetted against a twilight sky.

With no other reports or information to corroborate this story it remains just that, a story, with many possible explanations. We can surmise and speculate all we want, but without more substantial evidence nothing can be confirmed.

Somewhere someone is seeing something they can't explain. Somewhere lore seems to merge with reality and the unexplained takes a startling turn into someone's headlights. Somewhere explanations exist for these mysteries. We just need to find them. Somewhere.