The Beast of Bray Road, is the name given to a

wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly u ...

-like creature allegedly reported to have been witnessed in or near Elkhorn, Walworth County,

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. The creature has become a part of Wisconsin

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

and has been the subject of multiple books, documentaries and a 2005 horror film. Named for the rural farm road in which it was first purportedly sighted, reports of the creature in the 1980s and 1990s prompted a local newspaper, the ''Walworth County Week'', to assign reporter Linda Godfrey to cover the story. Godfrey was initially skeptical, but later became convinced of the sincerity of many witnesses. Her series of articles later became a book titled ''The Beast of Bray Road: Tailing Wisconsin's Werewolf''. Skeptics maintain that the creature is likely the result of misidentification of known animals, most likely gray wolves.

Description

The Beast of Bray Road is often described by alleged witnesses as large, between and tall, with a humanoid style body, covered in fur or hair, and with a head resembling a wolf and large, glowing red or orange eyes. It is purported to have been seen moving as both a

quadruped Quadrupedalism is a form of locomotion where four limbs are used to bear weight and move around. An animal or machine that usually maintains a four-legged posture and moves using all four limbs is said to be a quadruped (from Latin ''quattuor' ...

and a

biped Bipedalism is a form of terrestrial locomotion where an organism moves by means of its two rear limbs or legs. An animal or machine that usually moves in a bipedal manner is known as a biped , meaning 'two feet' (from Latin ''bis'' 'double' ...

, and some reports describe it more closely to resembling a traditional

werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (; ; uk, Вовкулака, Vovkulaka), is an individual that can shapeshift into a wolf (or, especially in modern film, a therianthropic hybrid wolf-like creature), either purposely or ...

Bigfoot Bigfoot, also commonly referred to as Sasquatch, is a purported ape-like creature said to inhabit the forest of North America. Many dubious articles have been offered in attempts to prove the existence of Bigfoot, including anecdotal claims o ...

History

The creature was allegedly first sighted in 1936. In the 1980s, several alleged witnesses reported the beast had made contact with their vehicles, leaving long scratch marks on doors and trunks of vehicles. One witness stated she hit something while crossing Bray Road. Upon exiting her vehicle to determine what she had hit, supposedly a large wolf-like creature with red eyes chased her back into her car; leaving claw marks in the rear passenger door. Sightings also have been reported during daylight hours, with several witnesses stating they observed an unusually large wolf-like creature running on all fours through corn fields. One stated the creature was in pursuit of a deer.The Bray Road Beast, 2018 Documentary Film
/ref> Animal mutilations have also been reported in the area around Bray Road with animal remains, including deer and livestock, partially eaten with specific organs removed from the animal carcasses. Another witness reported driving down Bray Road late one night and observed an unusually large wolf-like creature eating an animal which had been hit by a car on the side of the road. The creature reportedly ran into the woods as the eyewitness approached it in their vehicle. In February 2018 and July 2020, alleged witnesses reported observing a large, hair covered upright creature in Spring Prairie and

Lyons Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of th ...

; both in Walworth County.

Proposed explanations

A number of misidentified animal-based theories have been proposed including that the creature is simply a gray wolf or a large dog such as a

Great Pyrenees The Pyrenean Mountain Dog (french: Chien de Montagne des Pyrénées) is a breed of livestock guardian dog from France, where it is commonly called the Patou. The breed comes from the French side of the Pyrenees Mountains that separate France an ...

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

. While not common in the southern part of the state, wolves are occasionally found in Walworth County and nearby areas. It is also possible that hoaxes and

mass hysteria Mass psychogenic illness (MPI), also called mass sociogenic illness, mass psychogenic disorder, epidemic hysteria, or mass hysteria, involves the spread of illness symptoms through a population where there is no infectious agent responsible for c ...

have caused some falsehoods and sightings of normal creatures to all be artificially placed under the same label. Others have theorized that the creature may be an

American black bear The American black bear (''Ursus americanus''), also called simply a black bear or sometimes a baribal, is a medium-sized bear endemic to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. American black bear ...

suffering from

mange Mange is a type of skin disease caused by parasitic mites. Because various species of mites also infect plants, birds and reptiles, the term "mange", or colloquially "the mange", suggesting poor condition of the skin and fur due to the infection ...

. Like wolves, black bears have been sighted in Walworth County.

Popular culture

* The creature was featured as the primary antagonist in the 2004 film '' The Beast of Bray Road'', a horror film produced and distributed by

The Asylum The Asylum is an American independent film company and distributor that focuses on producing low-budget, direct-to-video films. It is notorious for producing titles that capitalize on productions by major studios, often using film titles and sc ...

. * The creature was the subject of the 2018 documentary film '' The Bray Road Beast'', produced by Small Town Monsters, an indie production company documenting unusual events throughout America. * The creature has also been featured in episodes of ''

Lost Tapes ''Lost Tapes'' is an American television series that aired on Animal Planet. Produced by Go Go Luckey Entertainment, the program presents fictional found footage depicting traumatic encounters with creatures cryptozoological, supernatural, myt ...

'' (2008), ''Legend Hunter'' (2019), '' Haunted Highway'' (2012), ''America's Urban Legends'' (2016), ''Hexen Arcane'' (2020), ''Slammarang!'' (2014), ''In Search of Monsters'' (2019) and on Expedition X (2021)

References

{{reflist, 30em Walworth County, Wisconsin Wisconsin folklore American folklore American legendary creatures Werewolves