The Night I Saw the Dogman

Those from Northern Michigan who like a good scary story have no doubt heard of the Dogman, that 7-foot, 4-inch tall wolf-like creature that supposedly roams the woods at night terrifying loggers from the late 1800s and the like.

Considering it’s (the day after) Halloween, and that I’m quite familiar with the Legend of Michigan’s Dogman, it only seems right to call to mind an image that has been stuck in my head for years.

Let me set the scene for you: it’s a moonless summer night in the early- to mid-2000s and I’ve fallen asleep on the couch, trying to stay up late watching cartoons on TV. At some point or another — let’s say 1 o’clock in the morning — I wake up.

The only light in the room emanates from the still-turned-on TV, and for some reason, I feel like walking over toward the window by the front door which looks out across our front lawn at my neighbors’ house on the other side of the road.

Now, in those days (look at me sounding all nostalgic and what not), the neighbors had a spotlight of sorts stationed along the right side of their house. It shone rather brightly that night, as I recall, most likely because, as I mentioned already, the moon hadn’t been out. And as I walked to the window, I looked across the street, over the 60–70 yards of earth that separated me from the space where the spotlight shone.

There, under that bright light, stood some thing that appeared very tall and very hairy, from what I could see. More accurately, it must have been standing in front of the light, per my view, because all I could see was its silhouette, black and lanky.

That’s the image that I can still see when I close my eyes today — that tall, hairy thing standing there across the road, looking at me for all I knew. I would dismiss it as only a dream, but my brother swears he remembers seeing the same thing (this I learned only some months ago while sharing stories at a friend’s bonfire in the woods).

I’ve previously shared this story in a blog post for an English class I took at the University of Michigan — which can be found by clicking here — and it once inspired me to write a poem for another class, which can be found below:

— Monster in the Spotlight —

I woke up once

— (Or did I?)

— — On a quiet moonless night

— — — In the heart of summer

And walking over by

The window next to the front door

— Pulled along by some compulsion

— — I peered hazily outwards across the darkened yard

— — — At the lone light shining beside my neighbor’s house.

There was no particular commotion

But in fact there stood

— A menacingly tall and thick-furred creature

— — Its towering stature visible even from this side of the road

— — — Silhouetted entirely in black.

Too difficult to make out any feature,

Its frozen figure commanded my attention.

— Though a mystery was written about its eyes

— — I knew they could be looking

— — — Nowhere else but at me

And so they held me mesmerized.

And I wondered

— What agenda this beast might be keeping

— — And why stop across the street

— — — Beneath the window there

If I was the one upon which it meant to be creeping?

Its presence felt familiar

— Like a wolf I remembered dreaming,

— — It had chased me through the woods

— — — Up a sticky needled pine tree

While all along I’d been screaming.

So then I got thinking

— As insidious as this monster appeared

— — I should have been afraid

— — — But something told me this was different,

That its frightening quality had disappeared.

I then discovered

— What I now know to be true

— — That some demons lose their power

— — — Become only a shadow

Of the childish nightmares they once drew.

Were this our last encounter

— I looked on a while longer,

— — Imagining the frown upon its defeated face

— — — Until it trod off into the nearby woods

Leaving that empty space under the light and thoughts of growing up to ponder.

~~~

Happy (day after) Halloween, you nuggets!

-LTH