"The Legend of the Dogman" was a song written and broadcast in 1987 by disc jockey Steve Cook. The song tells the story of a half-man, half-dog creature that attacks every ten years. While it was originally intended as a prank, the song ended up being popular and requested enough to become remembered for years after, creating an Urban Legend about the creature in the woods of Michigan.
It can be listened to here
Tropes of the Dogman:
- The '60s: In 1967 a group of hippies saw the dogman looking into the window and grinning
- Agent Scully: After the 1957 sighting the newspapers explain the claw marks as those of a dog, despite the fact that a dog would have to be over seven feet tall to make the scratches.
- Based on a Great Big Lie: The song is allegedly a recounting of real incidents and stories- all of which were Cook's inventions.
- Don't Go Into the Woods: Leave the Michigan woods well alone if you don't want to meet the dogman.
- Jump Scare: Two examples- the dog chased into a log by lumberjacks stands up after running through the log, and a group of hippies waking up to a dog looking in and grinning.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: The '87 sighting suggests that the screams in the night are from the wind.
- Nothing Is Scarier: For most of the song, the only evidence for the dogman is tracks and howls.
- Our Cryptids Are More Mysterious: In this case, our cryptids are huge, bipedal wolves living in the forests.
- Undead Author: One of the accounts is from a person who was never heard from again, creating all kinds of
Fridge Logic. - Unreliable Narrator: The narrator of the song mentions at least two unrecorded accounts. On a meta level, the song was a prank on the part of a disc jockey that became popular enough to achieve genuine folkloric status.
- Urban Legend: The song is about a Wolf Man that stalks the Michigan forests. The popularity of the song caused this to
become a genuine folktale. - Wolf Man: The titular dogman is a seven foot four wolf standing on two legs
