http://ipraudio.interlochen.org/Dogman%20-%20Web%20Version%20.mp3
25 years ago, Traverse City radio station WTCM was looking to punk its listeners on April Fool's Day. So, the station's production director Steve Cook invented The Legend of the Dogman. Cook expected to air the track a couple of times and then shelve it.
But he got a shocking response.
People began coming out of the woodwork with claims of having seen a creature that looks very much like a dog-man. On the very day he first aired it, he got call from a man who told a story about going fishing when he was a boy. A pack of dogs began walking toward him.
Cook says, "As they continued to get closer, he fired a shot into the air. And he said that all of those dogs scattered except for one. And that dog was a large black dog that stood up on its hind legs and stared at him. And he described this dog as intelligent and with blue eyes. He'd never seen a black dog with blue eyes before."
And, according to Cook, hundreds of people have made such claims through the years.
Trick or Treat
Today, it's a tradition for WTCM to play Cook's song around every Halloween. One of the people listening to one of those first airings in 1987 was Traverse City filmmaker Rich Brauer.
Brauer says, "I didn't think it was a joke. It's kind of like one of those 'War of the Worlds' things where some smart-aleck is messin' with ya' and creates this total fantasy deal but you're not really sure."
According to Brauer, he's always searching his memory bank for good movie ideas. So, cut to Halloween of 2010.
Brauer says, "I heard it on the radio again for the 150th time and it was just like, huh? I started realizing I had something here."
The Plot Thickens
Brauer's film is about a Benzie County couple who start finding things missing. They blame their nephew and his friend but discover something much more sinister. People wind up being gored by something that's not exactly human and not exactly an animal. In one scene, a woman (played by Kimberly Norris Guerrero) tells a man (played by Larry Joe Campbell) that her dog died after getting two large, strange gashes.
Campbell: My nephew's friend was just attacked out in the woods. Sounds like it might be the same kind of deal."
Guerrero: "Is he all right?"
Campbell: "The doctors are caring for him."
Guerrero: "Well, your nephew's friend - did he see what it was?"
Campbell: "I asked him the same question and, uh, when it got down to it, uh, they said it looked like a big dog that stood on its hind legs. Sounds crazy, huh?"
Believe It Or Not
Steve Cook is a bit of a skeptic. He thinks the people who have claimed to see the Dogman have seensomething out there. Brauer is a little more cynical.
Brauer says, "You know, it's a little like having a friend who saw a UFO. You know, they tell you they saw a UFO and you kinda go, 'Yeah, well, you know, I know, okay. Yeah, hey, want to go get some dinner?"
"Dogman" will be premiered at Traverse City's State Theatre on Wednesday, December 14.