The Beast of Land Between The Lakes

This was one of my favorite local legends growing up as a kid. I left this off of the Scariest Stories thread because this one deserves it's own due to the length. Dogman? Bigfoot?

There was talk of hauntings, Indian curses, mysterious lights over gravestones at night, old hag witches that lived deep in the woods, and more importantly, several tales of a wolf like creature that stood on two legs that would come out of the thickets and attack their cattle and live stock. Day or night. A creature that was taller than an average man by well over a foot, nearly 7 feet tall, with thick long hair covering its body, and a stench that matched that of some of the freshly opened graves that were discovered now and then.

The legend of the beast went back at least a hundred years, was passed along through time from family to family and updated as new sightings occurred. One old man said that his great great grand pappy told him that the creature used to be a man, a Native American that had the ability to shape shift, a powerful shaman that had been outcast from his tribe because he used his magic for evil. The Shaman had been tracked and killed while in his wolf state by a few warriors and a couple of settlers in the area.

The story starts getting really weird when it comes to talk of strange murders, almost covered up by default because no one wants to think about what may actually be behind it.

But this isn't the story I was wanting to tell you. This was just a brief introduction to the unwritten accounts of the darker side of LBL. A prelude actually to the real story I will begin to unfold. I just wanted to lay some groundwork so you could get the big picture and form some of your own opinions and theories. Walk with me now as I take you back about twenty-two years, back to the early 1980's.

Then I used to work midnights at a gas station a few miles from the Kentucky Dam, which was a few miles from the beginning of LBL in Grand Rivers. And it was on one of these midnight shifts I had two visitors that would change my outlook on the subject of 'werewolves' (... and make me believe in what I had seen myself a few years back in the same area but had kept between myself and two other family members that were with me at the time, but that's another story to be written.) This story was never in the paper, on the news, or had any media attention at all. It was kept hush hush, and a sacred silence was demanded on all those involved. It couldn't get out, ever. It was a few weeks before the beginning of tourist season, and tourists were what the locals survived on, they were the 'bread and butter'.

The Beast of LBL Part 1
thecryptozoologist.webs.com...

The Beast of LBL Part 2
thecryptozoologist.webs.com...

A call in on a show by a guy claiming he was shown a crime scene of an attack:


And as it turns out, the very first recorded sighting of a Bigfoot like creature in Western Kentucky was at Land Between The Lakes.

Early in the summer of 1902, around 11 o’clock in the evening, two men were walking down the road near Center Furnace (in what is now the Land Between the Lakes) when they encountered a strange animal, a fierce-looking beast, lurking in the darkness. William Littlejohn and William McWaters, both of Trigg County, didn’t tell their story to the papers until weeks later, but they relayed their sighting in vivid detail. The beast was six feet tall and covered in hair. It reared and growled upon seeing the pair of Williams. The men swore it was ape-like, even stating they thought it was a gorilla. Littlejohn raised his gun and fired three times…

mclib.net...

So a Bigfoot? A Dogman? I've heard stories about seeing them both around the area but I haven't seen one myself so, I really have no idea. Also in Part 2 of the links above are pictures of the bunkers that were supposedly built to fight off whatever this thing was. I remember playing around them as a kid, never knowing what they might have been used for. Local legend? Or actually some kind of cryptid?

ETA: A nice sized list of local Bigfoot Encounters
www.kentuckybigfoot.com...

Happy Halloween

a reply to: underwerks

I had to shut it down most of the way in. I kept feeling like the author was writing a bleeding 12 page readers digest story that should have only taken 1 page. This is the kind of stuff you read to put you to sleep. This makes me believe it's all made up. Too much "story" and not enough substance. Way too much detail that anyone in this situation wouldn't have been able to capture. It's as though a story writer was taking note of every little detail that would come out of the mind more than an actual real event.

originally posted by: StallionDuck
a reply to: underwerks

I had to shut it down most of the way in. I kept feeling like the author was writing a bleeding 12 page readers digest story that should have only taken 1 page. This is the kind of stuff you read to put you to sleep. This makes me believe it's all made up. Too much "story" and not enough substance. Way too much detail that anyone in this situation wouldn't have been able to capture. It's as though a story writer was taking note of every little detail that would come out of the mind more than an actual real event.

Which is why I said "local legend" before anything else. Whether the story is true or not, there's a lot of sightings of something around there.

a reply to: underwerks

That I don't doubt at all. I believe in such things.

Can`t say as how I am convinced of bigfoot,werewolves-well the Beast of Gevaudan was real and sure left a lot of strange tales and dead people behind.Now I am sure there are unknown species out there so I would not be shocked if bigfoot is real,just need to see 1 bit of evidence.Our local legend is a big black,or dark brown cat.Since I have personally seen tracks that were exactly like the cougar tracks I saw in California I kinda have to believe this one.Another one was that Ivory billed woodpeckers still lived in the Clinch mnt valley.I saw one of these in March of 1991 and watched it for at least 20 minutes.It was a female and absolutely not a pileated woodpecker,No other woodpecker has a black head with a white stripe and as much white markings on the wings.So some of these local legends are 100% real and anyone who dismisses them should at least have a open mind while being skeptical.

This is very near where I live. I've heard the stories all my life. Never saw anything myself, but the woods around here are kinda creepy in some places.

a reply to: ridgerunner

Since I have personally seen tracks that were exactly like the cougar tracks I saw in California

Where about in CA? I have seen what I believe to be 'Bigfoot' tracks in Malakoff Diggins. What I saw was definitely not cougar-like. I've seen cougar tracks in the same area too.

Do you have a link describing your local 'big black cat'?

a reply to: underwerks

I thought the Youtube link was intriguing. The guy sounded genuine, and claims his friend corroborated what the cop told him. I wonder how many other areas have werewolf legends.

I grew up in Detroit. City kid through and through. My father would tell me every day it seemed "never touch a gun or I'll blister you". We moved just north of Fairdealin KY when I was 15.

First thing my dad did was give me a short barrel 20 gauge and said "never, ever go into the woods without this".

I can't begin to tell you how many times I've seen things in those hollers I shouldn't have seen (clap board shacks with alters, fresh graves, knackeries, stills). Those deep woods around LBL are spooky and thick and dark (in more ways than one).

My last duty station as an adult was Fort Campbell KY and LBL is only about 30 minutes away. I've spent many weekends hiking the trails and off the trails as it's beautiful country.

It's not really that rare to come across dogprints the size of your shoe out in the woods or to have the wind blow the scent of "sour ammonia" across your path.

Who knows what is out there where man doesn't go? But in all honesty, I'd be far more worried about the human monsters in that area than I would werewolves.

a reply to: Lucid LunacySaw the tracks ,and the mountain lion,in Lucerne valley,right where I almost got snagged by him when he was 10 ft from me as I rounded my camper the night before.I heard the stories all my life here in East Tn,all of us have. Don`t know any sites where they reference them,but if interested you could google up East Tenn/Western North Carolina sightings.Never saw any sign of bigfoot and I have been in a lot of remote places.I did hear a strange scream one night,the evening before something or someone threw rocks at my buddies while they were recovering a deer,so maybe....There are a lot of Skunk ape/bigfoot sightings in this area.

a reply to: 200Plus Most likely theres a bear around when you smell the sour ammonia scent, they smell pretty awful sometimes.I completely agree about the human monsters

Wow! This is almost in my backyard and I've never heard of it! I have to listen to this.

Even though I've never seen anything around here, my grandpa did always swear that one night when he was coming home on the parkway he saw a bigfoot on the side of it.

originally posted by: Lucid Lunacy
a reply to: underwerks

I thought the Youtube link was intriguing. The guy sounded genuine, and claims his friend corroborated what the cop told him. I wonder how many other areas have werewolf legends.

A friend of mine swears up and down the reason he wrecked his car was because one of these things ran in front of him. I've heard the stories in this area long before it started being called a "dogman". We just called them werewolves as a kid lol. Definitely something creepy though.

originally posted by: 200Plus
I grew up in Detroit. City kid through and through. My father would tell me every day it seemed "never touch a gun or I'll blister you". We moved just north of Fairdealin KY when I was 15.

First thing my dad did was give me a short barrel 20 gauge and said "never, ever go into the woods without this".

I can't begin to tell you how many times I've seen things in those hollers I shouldn't have seen (clap board shacks with alters, fresh graves, knackeries, stills). Those deep woods around LBL are spooky and thick and dark (in more ways than one).

My last duty station as an adult was Fort Campbell KY and LBL is only about 30 minutes away. I've spent many weekends hiking the trails and off the trails as it's beautiful country.

It's not really that rare to come across dogprints the size of your shoe out in the woods or to have the wind blow the scent of "sour ammonia" across your path.

Who knows what is out there where man doesn't go? But in all honesty, I'd be far more worried about the human monsters in that area than I would werewolves.

Same here. Some of the really creepy things I've seen in those woods I've yet to talk about on this site because it sounds so unbelievable when you type it all out. Land Between The Lakes is also home to the Vampire Hotel, which is creepy in it's own right.
theparanormalanalyst.com...

The meanest sasquatches around live in the LBL. Not recommended you go there