; Phantoms and Monsters: Pulse of the Paranormal

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Reader Submission: Brazilian Werewolf Encounter


I recently received an email from Brazil that describes a supernatural encounter...possibly with a werewolf or dogman creature. It was written in Portuguese, so I did my best at translating it...even though some of the original text was difficult to piece together:

Dear Sir - I write you this story of my attack by a werewolf last August. It was a clear moonlit night as myself and a friend were sitting outside my home. I live near Oros, Ceara, Brazil near a large lake. I had heard strange sounds coming from the lake valley for many nights. It reminded me of a snorting bull but louder. There are legends of large demon dogs and stories of people who roam the night with wolf masks who steal sheep, but I never believed any of these tales.

My friend, who lives near me in the valley, tends sheep and he had lost 2 in recent days. There was no blood found but there were large dog tracks in the mud by the lake edge. We decided to wait out the night and search if we started to hear sounds again.

The time was around 11:00 PM when we started to here the grunts coming from below my property. It is a swampy area with a spring. We both carried shotguns hoping to find the varmint. We both thought it was probably a wild dog or maned wolf though we had never seen anything over the years we had lived here.

As we walked closer to the swamp, something stood up over the weeds. It was hard to see but we both described it as a large wolf man and over 2 meters high. It stood like a man but had a wolf head and upper body. We were both shocked at this sight. I was able to fire a shot as it ran off but I was unsuccessful. But just a few minutes later we heard the grunts again as it become louder and closer. This creature charged on all fours out of the weeds towards me. It got very close but stopped and turned when my friend shot behind it. It was so close that he shot away so I would not be struck. It ran towards the valley.

We tried to find this creature for weeks but never heard it again. Some of the local people think we witnessed a werewolf. I will never question the legends in the future.

Do you have any idea what we saw? The local authorities refuse to search for it though I feel it may have left the area. Marcos

NOTE: There are werewolf legends throughout Brazil but very few sightings. The most recent on record is a follows:



São Paulo, Feb 13, 2009: Woman claims to have been attacked by ‘werewolf’

According to the victim’s account, the creature looked like a big dog. Police are looking for a suspect that may have used a costume to attack the girl.

The inhabitants of São Sepé, Rio Grande do Sul, [Brazil] have one more reason to fear Friday the 13th. Besides the bad luck and the strange happenings during the day, a ‘werewolf’ is supposedly at large. One of the possible victims, a 20-year-old, recorded her complaint in the police.

According to the police, Kelly Martins Becker claims to have been attacked in the night of January 28 by an animal that looked like a big dog, that was standing on its back feet and walked as if it were a man. She made a sketch of the creature.

According to the complaint, the creature scratched the face and arms of the victim. The police informed that Kelly underwent medical examination, where the wounds were confirmed. Officers also claim they will investigate if someone is using a werewolf costume to scare people. No suspect was arrested until Friday.

AROUND THE COUNTRY

Cases similar to the one from São Sepé were recorded. In the rural area of Tauá, Ceará, locals asked for police help in July 2008, scared with sightings of an individual “half man and half wolf” that was stealing sheep and breaking into houses.

At the time, the police investigated the case, suspecting that a gang was using costumes to scare the locals and commit the crimes. The case, called ‘the midnight mystery’, then became a joke in the city.

In April 2008, some inhabitants of Santana do Livramento, Rio Grande do Sul, also had their moments of terror with the attacks of the ‘Man in the Black Cape’. With no solid evidence about the creature’s sightings, the police archived the records as folklore.” - AP

I also ran across the following reference:

When hunting for a werewolf it is important to remember that your biggest clues will come through your suspects personalities. Becoming a werewolf is not transparent, no matter how the victim tries to hide it. The tainted, sub-human blood greatly alters the subject's own mind and personality, even physical appearence. Therefore, look for symptoms in your human suspects that include increasing violence, increasing aggression, unprovoked rages, insomnia, restlessness, and other bizarre behavior. Unfortunately, over time these symptoms can be brought under control, so do not rely on them exclusively. A good example of this comes from a case reported by the ancient priesthood society, Manos Del Sol, of Brazil. A rash of werewolf killings there was tracked to a high ranking officer in the army. The society became aware of the man mainly through rumors of his violent behavior and changed personality. The case was successfully resolved with the man's capture.

The above reference was probably a case of Lycanthropic Disorder, a mental condition in which the subject (called a Lycanthrope) believes that he or she is a werewolf. The subject does not actually change shape, but is nevertheless capable of being as dangerous as an actual werewolf. Most cases of supposed werewolfry are really the works of Lycanthropic Disorder victims.

I'm not sure what Marcos and his friend encountered but I do believe this was not the results of a simple mental condition...Lon

Werewolves: Mysteries, Legends, and Unexplained Phenomena

The Flying Cow: Exploring the Psychic World of Brazil

Folktales of the Amazon