Werewolf County, USA
Werewolves and other hairy beasts of unknown orgin thrive in southeastern Wisconsin.
Jefferson County, Wisconsin is home to the pre-Columbian city of Aztalan. There, you'll find it’s restored temple mounds, fishing weirs, earthworks and the burial site of the 1,000 year old pearl princess. Nearby, in the town of Lake Mills, is Rock Lake - the site of an ongoing investigation into underwater stone structures purported to be that of an ancient necropolis (city of the dead). Here and in other nearby lakes were many Lake Monster sightings in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Haunted roads, sacred sites, the ghosts of settlers, natives and ancient ones alike populate the landscape of Jefferson County. So do persistent sightings and incidents involving large, canine-like bipeds. The most compelling of which occured at St Coletta’s - a highly regarded teaching institute serving the physically disabled and mentally gifted, set amidst ancient mounds on the outskirts of the town of Jefferson.
In 1936, Mark Shackelman was the night watchman at St Colettas. One evening while patroling the grounds he witnessed a large animal digging into a burial mound. The creature noticed Shackelman, then fled - upright on two legs - into a nearby woods. Shackelman, not sure of what he witnessed the previous night, returned to the site in the morning to confirm that the mound had been dug into. It was. The diggings bore the distinctive mark of a three fingered creature. That night, when Shackelman returned to the mound, he once again saw the beast, hunched over, still digging. The night watchman pointed the beam of his flashlight at the crouched figure. It suddenly stood upright and confronted him. Shackelman could now clearly see the face and features of a tall, dog-like beast covered in fur. It also had hands. Three fingers of each hand (between the thumb and the small finger) were very long with jutting claw-like nails. Shackelman, a level headed man who kept this incident to himself for most of his life, was frightened in place. He did the only thing he could think of - He prayed. Aloud. The creature turned and walked away.
16 miles away In the Norwegian tobacco country of southeast Dane County, is the town of Deerfield. In the early 1970's two sightings were made of a calm, eerie scene involving a bipedal canine-like creature. Both scenes were witnessed at dusk. In a cemetery just outside of town, a passing driver saw what appeared to be a tall, hairy creature with a snout - fully dressed in gentleman's evening clothes of a bygone era (top hat and tails). It was standing still among the headstones. The driver pulled his car to the side of the road and took a second look. The dapper beast was still there. The driver related his story to a local man who quickly laughed it off. One month later, a salesman from Minnesota, a man not acquainted with the first witness, was visiting that same local man. The salesman told the exact same story...with one difference. This time, after pulling his car over to get a closer look, creature turned his head and met his gaze. The salesman was reportedly much shaken.
Werebeasts are numerous in Wisconsin. They occur most often in the adjacent counties of Jefferson, Walworth and Waukesha. Walworth County is home to The Beast of Bray Road - the most famous of Wisconsin's many werewolves - making the three counties a veritable Werewolf Triangle. The connections between Wisconsin's ancient mounds, earthworks and sacred places and these incidents are a recurring common factor. For further reading go to Linda S Godfrey's site. She is an investigative reporter and the author who first wrote about the Bray Road sightings and investigated the St Coletta incident.