Beast of Bray Road

## Overview and Evidence

The **Beast of Bray Road** was a large canine-like beast reported by many residents of Elkhorn, a small rural town in Wisconsin, to stalk the wooded areas around Bray Road. Often likened to the werewolves of classic European folklore, the Bray Road monster has since become somewhat of a local legend in Elkhorn and the surrounding regions, although alleged sightings of the creature have significantly decreased in frequency since the turn of the 21st century.

Supposed eyewitnesses seem to struggle with creating a unified appearance for the creature. They have described it as either a bear-like animal or a bipedal canine similar to a typical Hollywood werewolf, making it difficult to discern which reports (if any) are reliable. The beast is reportedly very large, weighing several hundred pounds and standing between six and seven feet in height. The beast's body is allegedly like that of a muscular human covered with short brown fur and its head is that of a wolf-like creature with yellow eyes and pointed ears.

Alleged photographs or videos of the creature are difficult to come by with nearly all evidence for its existence consisting entirely of personal testimony. One particular image (shown in the infobox above and in the gallery below) surfaced online in 2018 and was reportedly taken by Danny Morgan in late January of that year. The photograph allegedly shows a canine walking upright across the road, but most people who have seen the photo, including many in the cryptozoologist community, believe the photo to either be a hoax or a picture of a deformed wolf. More detailed versions of the photo seemingly reveal its forelimbs to be nearly skeletal, which would suggest that the creature is either a taxidermy job or a severely injured wolf or dog walking on its hind limbs to survive, a behavior not uncommon in domestic dogs that have undergone amputations or been born without front limbs.

Like many of the more unusual cryptids, the creature's anatomy seemingly defies all current zoological knowledge due to being a perfect blend of human and dog anatomy. This alone has raised skepticism among zoologists, who have proposed that the creature is almost certain a misidentified wolf or American black bear, both of which have been witnessed in Elkhorn's Walworth County. Cryptozoologists who deny these hypotheses have suggested that the creature is some sort of new species of upright canid or a genetic experiment, but this is difficult (if at all possible) to verify.

## Alleged Sightings

### Third-Person Accounts

* Ron Rice

On an unspecified day in May of 2020, Lake Geneva resident Ron Rice claimed that he had traveled to the town of Lyons to deliver a load of fertilizer to a farm on Highway 36, a job that he performs on a regular basis. While sitting in his truck on the farm's driveway after having completed the delivery, Rice looked to the side and noticed a strange figure standing at the edge of the treeline approximately 150 feet away. Rice described the creature as standing nearly seven feet tall and being covered in coarse brown hair. The creature picked a unidentifiable object off the ground and retreated into the foliage.

## Popular Culture

### Film

* In 2005, mockbuster film studio The Asylum produced a horror film named for and starring the creature.

## Sources

1. ↑ https://www.legendsofamerica.com/beast-of-bray-road/
2. ↑ https://nationalcryptidsociety.org/2018/01/31/concerning-the-wolf-walking-like-a-human/
3. ↑ https://www.timberwolfinformation.org/dnr-investigating-southern-wisconsin-wolf-killing/
4. ↑ https://www.gazettextra.com/archives/31-sightings-of-black-bears-in-southern-wisconsin-since-march/article\_f0defe0a-e33d-57af-85fd-c9755b94dbbd.html
5. ↑ http://myracinecounty.com/news/burlington/2020/man-says-he-saw-beast-of-bray-road-in-lyons/

## Gallery

### Image Gallery

An alleged photo by Danny Morgan (almost certainly a hoax)