Dewayo

In 1944, West Middleton, Frederick County, Maryland, reported “frightful screams.” Subsequent investigation into the source allegedly found strange footprints.

In 1965, a man going by “John Becker” said he went to investigate a strange noise and came face to face with a creature known locally as the Dewayo. He claimed the beast came toward him on its hind legs and attacked. He fought back until the monster ran into the woods. He said the creature was as big as a bear, with long black hair, a bushy tail, and growled like a dog.

In the summer of 1966, someone called “Jim A” claimed to have sighted the Dewayo near Gambrill State Park. He said the dark brown, shaggy creature made a horrid scream when approached and backed away from him. It was the size of a deer, with a strange gait from the legs sticking out sideways from its body, so it moved “spider-like”.

In the Autumn of 1976, it was seen again on Route 77 in Fredrick County when it ran in front of a car. The drivers described as large and wolf-like, with dark fur, though they said it had striped barring on the lower half of its body.

The final “official” report came from two park rangers in 1978 near Cunningham Falls, where they encountered a “large hairy creature running on two legs.”

These might be the only official reports of the Dewayo (or Dwayyo), but legends of the creature are thought to have originated with the Pennsylvanian Dutch. That makes it very likely that the story is descended from the Hexenwolf of Germanic folklore.

Whether real or not, the legend of a 6-foot-tall, bipedal, dark-furred wolf-like creature lurking in the wilds of Maryland persists to this day.