Taking another look at some odd old newspaper reports today...and these ones might make you a bit wary to go wandering off in the dark by yourselves!
(From the Luther Register, dated Friday, August 24th 1923)
STRANGE BEAST IS SEEN AT WAUKOMIS
WAUKOMIS - Tales of a strange beast which chased Art Baker, a farmer living a few miles west of here from his pasture, are being told here and many persons have gone out to have a look at the animal.
According to Baker he had gone to his pasture to bring in his cows when the strange beast made its appearance. He said he was chased away and had to get his horse to round up the cattle.
Baker describes the animal as something like an elk-cow, being nearly as large as an elk but hairy as a buffalo. Some persons say the animal has escaped from a show and wandered into the pastures.
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(From The Dothan Eagle, dated Saturday Afternoon, February 19th 1927)
Three Strange Beasts Worry Bungalow City Inhabintants
NEW YORK, Feb.19. - When the night wind blew up over Gravesend Bay Wednesday night, Bungalow City was wide awake and the hunt for the Three Strange Beasts was on.
Old Cap'n Sam bought raw red meat for his traps and set them just before sundown. Andrew Peterson, who owns the bungalows and the little shipyard and most of the land thereabouts, took the late watch in the crow's nest of his office shack with a forty-five in his fingers and a searchlight for action on the window rail.
Children and dogs were kept behind doors, for none could tell what the Three Strange Beasts might do if they got real mad.
Wolves or mountain lions, hyenas or ocelots, coyotes or spotted leopards - no one knows. But there are three of them, a small one, a middle-sized one and one that is enormous; they make tracks in the sand like nothing anybody has ever seen, and they killed a dog and sucked his blood just six nights ago.
May Be Lordknowswhat
And Peter Romanoff, an expert from the Bronx Zoo, saw the tracks yesterday that the enormous one made the night before when Mrs. Kate Barene glimpsed him from her kitchen window - and Mr. Romanoff told Cap'n Sam, in effect, that the beast might be - well, almost anything!
It started two weeks ago. Mrs. Jensen, who'd rather not appear in full print, saw the three of them traipesing across the sand back of the cottages.
"I guess I know dogs when I see 'em," said Mrs. Jensen yesterday. "And these wern't dogs, or I'm a panther! They didn't trot, they didn't gallop - they slung. And leaped."
Dog Murder Clinches
But with the murder of Mr. Dutton's daschund the feeling reached what might be called a peak.
"Coming up from the yard," relates the grave, ponderous Mr. Dutton, "and here ten feet from my doorstep lies the dog. He didn't have any name - I never like him much - But here he was - dead. And I looked around, and there, in the dark was three eyes, burnin' and borin' away like lights on the water.
"I thought - dogs. I edged up 'till I could see the big thing faint in the moonlight, and I picked up this half-brick and heaved it at him. It hit him, but he didn't yelp. Right then I knew t'was no dog. Dogs yelp when hit - cats slink away.
"I go in and get ready to bury the dead dog and I light a lantern. 'Bout twenty minutes later I come out - and the dead dog's been dragged ten feet further away. And I see where they've chewed his throat from ear to ear and sucked the blood."
Desolate Spot For Prowlers
The section wherein the three strange beasts are roaming is in summer time better know as Ulmer's Park, near the foot of Bay 37th Street in Brooklyn. This time of year the pavilions are deserted and the whole section desolate except for the dozen families, mostly fishermen and ship workers, who live in the row of Bungalows that is called Bungalow City.
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(From The Morning Leader, dated Tuesday, September 27th 1927)
STRANGE BEAST CHASES YOUNG BOY IN OAT FIELD NEAR TRUAX
(Special to The Leader)
TRUAX, Sept. 26 - Has the strange beast reported at Killaley recently reached the Truax district? The recital of Eldin Bannert, 11-year-old boy, of a blood curdling tale last Thursday night, after reaching his parents' home, lends color to the belief that the monster is in the environs, or at least, was last Thursday evening. Eldin will not soon forget last Thursday evening, September 22nd, because a wrenched and badly bruised shoulder is a reminder of what nearly scared him out of a few years growth, also his hands and knees are still tender from his "crawl" of more than a hundred yards, in his efforts to get away from an animal, the likes of which he never saw before, and never wants to see again.
Eldin was stooking oats about dusk at one end of the field and his father was at the other end finishing the cutting. Eldin noticed that his dog was acting strangely, keeping so close to him that he trod on it. As he was setting up the last stook he noticed something moving in the flax nearby.
Thinking it was his dog, that had wandered into the field, he called to it, and a strange beast jumped out and leaped at him.
Eldin took to his heels and cleared the ground fast, but the beast followed him, leaping about six feet at a time. After he had covered about a hundred yards, Eldin fell down and wrenched his shoulder badly. By this time the beast had given up the chase, but Eldin did not know this and he crawled on his hands and knees, hiding behind stooks at times, then trying to get up, to run to the house. When he reached there, he told his mother what had happened. Medical aid was summoned and his shoulder attended to.
Describing the animal, Eldin said it was about six feet long, about a foot high, brown in color, with a black ring around the neck, and with long pointed ears. Its most peculiar characteristic was the growl it emitted, something of a mixture between the bellow of a cow and the growl of a dog.
Friday a search of the fields was made but no trace of the strange beast was found, except where it had trodden the flax. A neighbor also reported that his dogs acted strangely Thursday. He could hardly keep them off the binder while he was cutting his grain.
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Hmm...might have to look into the Killaley report mentioned at the start of that last story, but some interesting 'strange beast' reports there...hope you enjoyed them!
Check back tomorrow for more Halloween weirdness and in the meantime, click the badge below to see what the other bloggers taking part in the countdown are up to!
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