Hi everyone. Here is an assemblage of some strange news bits from the week you may not have heard about. And, with apologies, maybe you’ll wish you didn’t. So, look out! The werewolf/dogman stuff is still steadily rolling out and gaining momentum. A new crop circle cost the farmer some significant damages. And, an excessively exaggerated “haunted” location now has another kooky claim.
Clap (and click) for the wolfman
If you follow my social media, you may have noticed I have been fixated a bit on dogman/werewolf stuff of late. You’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg as the discussion in the background has been ongoing. This week there was no shortage of werewolves in the fringe news. I know, it seems unreal, but, be assured, there is a small percentage of people who deeply believe that humanoids with canid characteristics exist across North American. The stories are spreading and gaining popularity. Faked videos and images, and supposedly eyewitness accounts are fueling the belief. You might have guessed that no actual evidence for an actual unexplained animal exists, so believers are desperate for anything to support their imaginative claims.
Several faked or ambiguous videos get huge attention on TikTok. And, it’s a good game, when consuming any Dogman content, to listen for when someone says they heard about a claim via a podcast. This is a major form of story transmission these days.
This week, there was an entirely ambiguous TikTok video showing a very short, far away clip of a dark thing on a road or sidewalk said to have been taken in Argentina. It was likely one of the typically enhanced videos labeled as “weird mystery creature”. It also wasn’t exactly “viral” as the mystery sites proclaimed, only gaining tens of thousands of views when it was publicized. People could not make out what it was, and it was originally not deemed to be anything paranormal, until the werewolf label was attached.
Also promoted by paranormal sites was a game camera photo said to be from North Carolina that at first glance appears to show the backside of a bear. However, no head is visible, and the feet look odd, as if there is a raised ankle joint (so that the animal is walking digitigrade like a dog, rather than plantigrade, like a bear or human). This meant it was tagged as a dogman on Reddit where it first appeared. The story was picked up by a Bigfoot research group who didn’t even consider that the image might be misinterpreted or manipulated. Instead, they fussed over whether it was a Bigfoot or a Dogman. However, the sound explanation is that this is a black bear facing away from the camera. The short tail is visible, and the animal is thin and has thin fur. It is on all fours but bending to the right. The angle makes the body appear foreshortened. Game cameras usually fail to show perfect detail and may have deceptive blurring or shadows.
Since there is no credible evidence for a dogman, jumping to a conclusion that it is that thing is absurd. Such an incredible conclusion cannot otherwise be reasonably made from one game camera photo of unknown provenance. But, if you already believe in the premise, you are primed to accept even the weakest examples to support your belief.
An actual expert weighs in on the dogman craze
The best Dogman/Werewolf information out this week was a long discussion on the TetZoo blog by paleozoologist Darren Naish. His Werewolves in America; the Tale of Dogman traces the history, notes the famous cases, and comes to the inevitable conclusion that the dogman/werewolf is “real and alive in modern culture, for sure,” but the folklore is obviously evolving. As for its possibility as a a flesh-and-blood creature that science can recognize, that’s a solid “No.”
Crop circle criminal
Moving on, I noted in a past post that it’s crop circle season. A farmer in Dorset, UK was decidedly displeased to have one appear in his field in mid July. The police consider the unlawful trespassing and destruction of part of the field to be criminal activity that cost the farmer some £2,000. Police are asking for tips about who did it.
A ghostly tattle-tale
Finally, if you thought the use of spectral evidence ended with 17th century witch trials, prepared to be flabbergasted. Brian Dansereau worked at the Burrillville farmhouse in Rhode Island, also known as the Old Arnold Estate, and famously for being the house at the center of the 2013 movie “The Conjuring”. Dansereau was fired by the current owner, Jacqueline Nuñez, who claims that the spirit of the original owner, John Arnold, informed her from beyond the grave that Dansereau was stealing. Suddenly unemployed, he subsequently filed a claim for unpaid wages with the R.I. Department of Labor and Training, estimating Nuñez owes him $9,000 for uncompensated work. Nuñez asserts she is a medium that received this message from the spirit world and said that “every person is entitled to experiences that bring understanding and meaning to our lives”. She also says she has additional evidence from accounting to back up her claims. The story of “The Conjuring” haunting is dubious to begin with, and the movie was additionally exaggerated. It’s no surprise that gaining money from such an alternative reality will come back to truly haunt you one day. It might be interesting to see how this case shakes out.
That’s it for now. I think it’s enough.