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The Werewolf
Type: Werewolf
Date: July 1964
Location: Delavan, Walworth County, Wisconsin
Source: The W-Files Book by Jay Rath, pages 7-8
"Just in the outer fringes of the headlights, not quite out of headlight range, I saw this big hairy thing. It scared the devil out of me. It was probably 7- or 8-feet tall. It was running across [the road], from south to north, and it jumped a 4- or 5-foot barbed-wire fence."
The story of what Dennis Fewless saw near Delavan, in Walworth County, late that night in July 1964, is just one of many Wisconsin sightings of a large animal-like creature that walks upright. The creature has dented cars, slashed livestock, hunted hunters and even flown a UFO - if all witnesses are to be believed.
"I'm no nut," Fewless told me. "I'd been making that same drive night after night. It wasn't just a one-night affair. I know what to look for. You know what deer look like or skunk or bear - you know what that looks like. This didn't look anything like that at all. As far as I'm concerned it was real, and no one can tell me it wasn't."
A Delavan native, Fewless was driving home around midnight from his job at the Admiral Television Corp. in Harvard Ill. After turning onto Highway 89 from Highway 14, his headlights picked up an animal running across the road, from one field to another, on two legs. It was dark colored and weighed between 400 and 500 pounds.
"I was awful scared that night," Fewless told me. "That was no man. It was all hairy from feet to head."
The next day Fewless and his wife returned to look for footprints or other evidence. The sun-baked ground offered no clues, "But we found where the corn had been pushed back aside," he said.
The Phantom Ship Griffin
Green Bay Wisconsin
Green Bay Harbor. The phantom ship Griffin lurks in the fog off this pleasant lakeside community. The ship belonged to Robert Cavelier de La Salle, the famous French explorer. At the time it was the largest vessel to sail the Great Lakes, and Indians believed the 60-foot-long ship was an affront to the Great Spirit. Metiomek, an Iroquois prophet, placed a curse on the Griffin. On August 7, 1679, La Salle docked the ship on Washington Island in Green Bay harbor and embarked on a canoe trip down the St. Joseph River to search for a water link to the Mississippi River. His ship returned to Niagara on September 18 and was never seen again, except as a ghostly outline in the fog. Legend says the Griffin "sailed through a crack in the ice," fulfilling the Indian curse. (The town of Green Bay is in northeast Wisconsin, at the junction of I-43 and U.S. Hwy 41. The ghost ship sailed from Detroit Harbor on Washington Island, off Door Peninsula on the northeastern tip of Wisconsin.)
Source: The Ghosts Of Door County by Geri Rider, pages 31-34. Published 1992.
THE VANISHING SHIP
Considering the vast number of ship wrecks in the Door Passageway, it would be amazing if there weren't some unusual tales involving that treacherous area of water between Washington Island and the northern tip of the Peninsula.
It was an overcast night in late July. An old moon hung low in the sky, lending a yellow glow to the wispy clouds surrounding it. The Kelly, a small cruiser, was coming through the Door from the east headed for Gill's Rock to tie up for the night when her crew saw a sight they'll never forget.
The two couples constituting that crew had spent the day in Rowley's Bay exploring the Mink River and Newport State Park and had left in the late afternoon, planning to reach Gill's Rock before dark. However, the protected waters of Rowley's Bay had given no indication of just how rough the open water of Lake Michigan had become during the afternoon.
When they left the protection of Rowley's Bay, they were faced with rolling three and four foot waves and a gale force wind that took their breaths away and strained the small boat's motor. The trip to Gill's Rock would take much longer than the morning trip over. The sun dropped below the tree line of Newport State Park, and dusk settled over the small boat.
After rounding Spider Island, they ran north along shore. The Peninsula offered some protection until they passed Gravel Island and crossed Europe Bay, but when they headed out around the North Port dock into open water, the small cruiser was buffeted by a strong northwest wind that whipped the waves into white caps. The cross currents in the Door waters made steering even more difficult. It was all the motor could do to push the craft through the rough waters.
Dusk had fallen making the Peninsula a dark, hulking shape to their left. A lone gull flew overhead, its wings flapping wildly as it too struggled to make headway in the strong winds.
The outline of Pilot Island and beyond that Detroit Island could be seen when they crested a wave. "Look, there's a light!" yelled one of the women over the howl of the wind.
"It's a ship. I can see lights on the ends and along the sides. It's huge," called her husband. They all peered through the night trying to catch a good look at the boat vaguely outlined in the gloom.
"Is it the ferry headed for Washington Island?" questioned one of the women. "How late is it? Would they still be running?"
As they crested the next wave, the ship passed just beneath the moon. Three masts, full sails billowing, were silhouetted against the yellow half circle of the moon. The boat itself, a wooden sailing ship of the type used in the Great Lakes in the 1800's, was lit by the golden glow of the moon overhead. It cut through the rough water of the Door headed south, toward Gill's Rock. The small cruiser dipped into the trough of a wave. When it crested the top of the next wave, the ship had vanished. The small boat crossed where the tall-masted sailing ship had ridden in the waves just moments before, but it was gone as though it had never been. Peace, Robert Cools
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Posted by robertcools on 2009-10-31 17:06:20 | Rating: | Views: 27
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