I first heard of the Dogman when I researched Michigan’s legends. Then exploring Ohio, I learn that Ohio has either a Dogman or Werewolf. I thought how fascinating.

Michigan and Ohio have Dog-like creatures running loose in their forests. It makes those stories more accurate because the sightings aren’t random. There have been so many sightings that it warranted creating a group—the North American Dogman Project (NADP).

The goal of the NADP is to gather as much information about this elusive creature. To provide a central source of data to share with other like-minded people. They have over 700 members, many of which are law enforcement officers and military-trained people. That alone got my attention. 

These are not people prone to hysteria or making things up. They are logical, down-to-earth men and women who saw something that shook them up. Something strange and unusual enough that they formed a group of other people like them.

So, what is it that is terrorizing Ohio, Dogmen or Werewolves? 

I would have to lean towards Werewolves, as witnesses are describing it as wolf-like. What’s interesting is the encounters aren’t coming from a single county in Ohio. The reports are from all over Ohio and make the stories more believable because there aren’t one or two instances. Hundreds of witnesses have seen this wolf creature.

The first reported sighting of the Dogman was in 1887 by two loggers in Michigan. Since then, sightings of this cryptid are coming in from all over the United States.

This week’s article is about the Ohio Dogman, and the first report was From Defiance, Ohio. The newspapers of both Defiance and Toledo documented the strange events that occurred in August 1972. A humanoid with an animal head attacked three townspeople in the wee hours of the morning. The Wolfman of Defiance made his infamous debut. What made this even more fascinating is that the police never released the description of the first attack. Then a week later, another report describing the same creature came in.

The police took these calls seriously because of that. However, even with the heightened alerts and intense investigations by the police? The sightings continued for a few more weeks. All the witnesses described these creatures as either a “Wolfman” or very hairy. Police tried to downplay the hysteria by saying it was a human wearing a mask. The police theory it was a human playing a practical joke didn’t convince the townspeople. 

London, Ohio, in 1981, a married couple Keith and Diane Williams, moved into their new house. The house located in the wooded part of town can be spooky. Primarily when Keith worked and attended night school, so Diane was left alone a lot. It’s not unusual then that Diane reported seeing eyes outside her window. 

Animals live in the woods, and seeing lights reflected off their eyes isn’t that strange. Except these eyes followed her every movement from one side of the house to the other. Not something animals would do. Her husband, Keith didn’t believe her and thought it was some critter. When he got home, he investigated. He checked out the woods and around the property, but never discovered any evidence. 

Until…one morning, he bought donuts for breakfast. Keith got in his car and started up the engine, and checked the rearview mirror. Glowing eyes were staring straight at him in the mirror. I would assume Keith became a believer after that.

Cental Ohio near Columbus again in August. Anyone else seeing that most of these sightings are happening during August? On August 27th, 2005, a truck driver going by the name of Scott called into a radio show. Scott, while driving his truck, the headlights illuminated a large creature eating a deer. He told the Coast to Coast host Ian Punnett that the creature looked like it stepped out of the Van Helsing movie. 

 In 2010, an Allen County, Ohio resident wishing to remain anonymous saw a strange beastie. He was talking to his sister and saw a humanoid creature through the back door. His sister’s back was facing the backyard when he saw the creature run across the bean field towards the neighbor’s pond.

He described it as being 6-feet tall with grey or pink skin and long ears like a Doberman. The startled witness said the creature was “muscular as hell.” Even more interesting is that the witness only saw the back as it was running. The Dogman had a human butt with human legs. The only thing dog-like was the head. 

Not sure, but that sounds like the description of a Werewolf to me.

Ohio remained relatively quiet until Autumn 2013 when there were not one but two sightings. Both sightings were around Silver Creek, near Norton, Ohio. The witness “Andrew” works at night, driving these urban roads mostly when it’s dark. One night he is driving down Johnson Road, which borders Silver Creek Metro Park. 

Two deer dashed in front of his car, running across the road as if chased by something. Andrew stopped near Medina Line Road, surprised not by the deer but by what’s pursuing the deer. He described them as being between 6’6 to 7′ feet tall. He reported there were three of them, and the creatures were running in formation. Like our anonymous friend from earlier, Andrew said they were very muscular. Lightning fast and bipedal, and everything happened in seconds. 

Two different witnesses report similar sightings from two other locations. One report is from Allen County, and the other from Summit County. The distance between the two counties is one hundred-fifty-six miles. So, not that close to each other.

One month, on Johnson Road again, Andrew passed a cornfield when they leaped from one side of the road to the other. 10-15 feet distance. Now the pair he saw by moonlight had fur. The first one had a black coat, and the second was black, but with silver or white on its chest. Interestingly enough, the first sighting the creatures had solid coats. 

That means Andrew saw four different creatures in two months in the same area. Beasties that didn’t seem to care who saw them, or they were too hungry to care.

In August 2014, a writer joined Andrew in going back to Silver Creek to look for evidence. Unfortunately, their investigation coincided with the Fall Family Outing. It appears, though, that the cryptids aren’t interested in humans. There have been no reports of missing or mutilated humans. So far!

There have been so many reports and sightings of the Ohio Dogman. It makes it hard to disbelieve in this type of monster. So, if you ever visit any part of Ohio, especially the heavily wooded areas. I would think twice about driving at night in August if you don’t want a run-in with the Ohio Dogman.

Featured image by Pablo Elices from Pixabay.