The Dogman is a wolf-headed, upright creature reported in the woods of the American Midwest, especially northern Michigan and Wisconsin. Witnesses describe a tall, muscular, furry animal with a dog- or wolf-like head that can walk on two legs as well as on all fours, often with glowing or amber eyes and a howl like a human scream. Unlike most cryptids, the Dogman’s modern legend has a clear starting point: an April Fools’ song broadcast on a Michigan radio station in 1987.[1][2]
| Region | Midwestern United States, especially northern Michigan and Wisconsin |
|---|---|
| Typical description | About 7 ft tall, upright, wolf- or dog-like head, glowing or amber eyes |
| Origin of the modern legend | “The Legend,” a 1987 song by Steve Cook, WTCM-FM, Traverse City, Michigan |
| Famous “evidence” | The Gable Film (2007), later admitted to be a hoax |
| Related legend | The Beast of Bray Road, Wisconsin (1991) |
| Physical evidence | None |
The 1987 song
In 1987 Steve Cook, a disc jockey and producer at WTCM-FM in Traverse City, Michigan, wrote and recorded a song called “The Legend” in about half a day, credited it to a fictional “Bob Farley,” and aired it as an April Fools’ joke.[1][3]
The song told of a creature with a man’s body and a dog’s head seen in northern Michigan over the past century, starting with lumberjacks in Wexford County in 1887, and claimed that it appears in years ending in seven. It wove in stories of dead horses, attacks on lumber camps and a dog-faced figure at a van. Within weeks it was the station’s most requested song.[1][4]
Cook has said that he made the story up entirely from his own imagination as an April Fools’ prank. Yet after the song aired, listeners began calling in with their own sightings, and local newspapers took up the story. When an animal attack near Luther, Michigan, was later rumored to be the creature’s work, the Dogman began to seem to many people like a real threat. Cook describes himself as very skeptical, but he believes that many callers genuinely saw something they could not explain.[1][3][4]
The Gable Film
In 2007 a short, silent video known as the Gable Film appeared online. It purported to be home-movie footage from the 1970s, shot on 8 mm film, apparently ending in an attack by a large, dark creature. It was widely shared as proof of the Dogman, and a follow-up film appeared a year later. Both were hoaxes made by a Michigan man, Mike Agrusa, who admitted it; the television series MonsterQuest confirmed the hoax in 2010.[4]
Bray Road and the spread of the Dogman
In 1991 the Wisconsin reporter Linda Godfrey began writing about the “Beast of Bray Road” near Elkhorn. In her 2003 book The Beast of Bray Road she compared the Wisconsin reports with sightings in Michigan, and she later wrote The Michigan Dogman and several other books on upright canines. Godfrey became the go-to source for television programs and radio shows on the subject.[1][4] Over the following decades, podcasts, YouTube channels and documentaries spread the Dogman across the Midwest and beyond. See our entry on the Beast of Bray Road.
Folklore features
The Dogman has acquired many features typical of folklore. It is said to appear in a ten-year cycle tied to years ending in seven, an idea that comes straight from Cook’s song, and loud clapping is said to drive it away. Unlike a real predator, it is rarely said to kill people.[1][4]
What scientists and skeptics say
The paleontologist Darren Naish, reviewing Dogman reports in 2024, concludes that the most likely explanations are hoaxes, folklore, embellished stories and misidentified real animals such as bears, wolves and coyotes. He points to the influence of werewolf films and the long history of upright wolf-man imagery, and he rejects ideas such as a newly evolved upright canine or a laboratory creation. He considers the Dogman a genuinely interesting example of modern folklore, but not an animal awaiting discovery.[5]
- Bears. Black bears stand and even walk on their hind legs, and bears with mange can look gaunt and canine.
- Wolves, coyotes and large dogs, especially at night or when one rears up. Gray wolves have returned to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and Wisconsin, and tracks attributed to the Dogman are most likely from wolves or coyotes.[4]
- Expectation. Once the song and the stories were known, people who glimpsed something strange in the woods had a ready-made explanation.[3][4]
Most northern Michigan residents, as one skeptic put it, enjoy the legend without taking it too seriously.[4] For older wolf legends, see the Werewolf and the Beast of Gévaudan.
References
- “Michigan Dogman,” Wikipedia, citing T. Royce (2007), R. Sands (Huffington Post, 2012) and L. Godfrey (2003).
- Steve Cook, “The Legend” (WTCM-FM, Traverse City, Michigan, 1987).
- “Michigan disc jockey shares story behind the Dogman legend,” Central Michigan Life (October 2017).
- Alison Hudson, “Wag the Dogman,” Skeptoid episode 477 (28 July 2015).
- Darren Naish, “The Tale of Dogman,” Tetrapod Zoology (30 July 2024).
Correction note (October 2026): This entry was rewritten from documented sources. An earlier version said Dogman reports “span centuries”; the modern legend traces to a 1987 radio song. The illustration above is an artistic impression.