Lycanthrope

Also seen in this project:

The Ohio Nightbeast, Clark and Greene counties: Oct 15th 2008, 9:00 pm

Animalia Chordata Mamilia Omnivera Hominidae Homomuto Lupis

The Nightbeast is the local’s name for what seems to be a lycanthopic specimen. However, accounts vary. The first to see it, a Ms. Garrity, reported it as being large, and black, with green, glowing eyes. The encounter occurred late at night on October 28th, 2007. She said it was a quadrapedal beast, and displayed acutely lupine features, including large, pointed ears, a long muzzle, and bushy tail. However, subsequent reports by others say that the more recent sightings are of a bipedal beast, yet still wolven. Perhaps, these may be sightings of the Ohio Grassman, a sasquatch-like creature. These newer reports also contradict the original story in that most of the newest reports speak of a brown and white creature, though it still is reported as having green eyes.

According to my research, the first sightings of the Nightbeast may have started in 2007, but Ohio is not unfamiliar with werewolves. In 1972, the townspeople of Defiance, a city near Toledo, reported seeing werewolf like creatures along the train tracks. Likewise, early in Ohio’s history, Worthington was reported to have a number of werewolves. In fact, Worthington’s Resurrection Cemetery is said to have been at the heart of Ohio’s werewolf territory. This history was commented on as recently as November 1st, 2006, in the Delphos Herald. The Nightbeast, while not yet reported in the local newspapers, is starting to become quite the legend in some of the communities along I 675, much the same as Wisconsin’s Bray Road beast was commonly seen along roadways. Called “The Dogman” by some, this lycanthrope is spotted most commonly near the city of Elkhorn. Michigan has a Dogman legend as well, which is so prominent that even a song has been written about it.

My search for the Nightbeast was frustrating, at first, due to a complete and utter lack of evidence. Most locals, when asked about the creature, said they knew nothing about it, even though the fearful expression on their faces said otherwise.

It wasn’t until the fifteenth of October that I was able to locate anything. In a creek bed in John Bryan State Park, I discovered a line of odd footprints, which were distinctly canine in nature. The prints were all but ten inches in length. Stride length seemed to differ a great deal, and I suspect that the beast was tracking something. The print depth and pitch varies greatly, due to the terrain. However, bearing in mind that I hardly left any tracks at all, and the average of these prints was about an inch, my presumption is that this creature may have weighed in excess of four hundred pounds.

November 1st, I stumbled across yet another set of prints, as well as a sampling of fur. The samples were divided amongst several bags. Then, each bag was labeled for location, and three were sent off for DNA analysis.

November 13th, I encountered the beast. It displayed typical canine behaviors, sniffing around, ears perked up in a dominant stance. However, aside from that, the creature’s behavior was peculiar. For a wild creature, it showed little fear in the presence of a man, and I was able to snap several photos of it, though only a few came out at all. I owe this good fortune to the fact that it seemed almost as interested in me as I was it.

It seems the trip here was more than worthwhile.

Please also see: [link] and [link] .

This is the last stand-alone image from my project :From the desk of Seamous Theiss. Once again, special thanks to :iconshadechristiwolfen: for wearing my mask and stuff so I could take pictures like this. I have one last image to upload, showing how some of this was presented.

The project was well recieved at school, and two images, along with some of the notes and samples are on display at the college's upper gallery. Wewt.

While "The Nightbeast" is my own invention, the rest of the legends are real.