IT’S LIGHTS OUT IF THE BEAST RETURNS..!
‘We turned in time to see a huge, dark mass clear our 12ft fence’
IN a small German village called Wittlich there sits a shrine where a candle burns continuously.
And there’s a reason why locals keep the flame alive – because legend tells that if it should ever go out, a ravenous WEREWOLF will return to slaughter them all, one by one…
For most of us, the word ‘ werewolf ’ brings to mind nothing more than Hollywood movies and spine- tingling thrills.
But for the residents of Wittlich this beast is a harsh reality, as they’re convinced there really is a ravenous critter that roams the dark forests of the Rhineland- Palatinate district in which it sits, close to the Luxembourg and Belgium border.
And the half- man, half- wolf creature was brought sharply into focus in 1988 when, at the height of the Cold War, it was witnessed and documented by scores of American air force personnel, who saw it rise up on its rear legs before jumping over a 12ft high metal fence.
They’d been stationed at Morbach munitions site, part of the Hahn Airforce Base, which had been chosen as a key location if it ever came to preventing the Soviets’ march west.
Of course, the squaddies had all heard tales of the village’s supposed werewolf, but laughed it off as an amusing joke.
Alarms
But when the alarms warned of a breach in the perimeter fence one cold, gloomy evening, they ventured out into the shadowy forests with some trepidation.
All of the eyewitnesses who saw what happened next have wished to remain anonymous, but they’re absolutely certain of what they saw.
One recently- retired USAF staff sergeant stationed in the area recently broke his silence to the US- based author and researcher Lon Strickler.
He told Strickler: “When we first came on duty at night, my patrols would do a sweep of their assigned sectors. As I was in the security trailer reading the previous shift’s logs, one of my foot patrols found three dead deer within one of the wooded areas – their throats damaged and their entrails and hind quarters eaten, along with what appeared to be their internal organs.
“We did have wild boar in the area, and these were a small barking deer species, but this still seemed unusual.
“We placed a call to the local ‘ Forest Meister’ so that he could remove the deer carcasses. But as the patrols rolled in we heard a low level, but loud, growl or howl coming from the direction of our only alarmed structures to the west of our location.”
According to his unidentified source, the howling continued until the trees resonated with a blood- curdling echo.
The staff sergeant added: “It sounded like it was within our fence line. I called the entry control point to see if they had permitted any K- 9 patrols in the area. They said, ‘ no’ and also reported the howling. And I remember one of the guys asking,
‘ What if it’s the werewolf?’
“We all kind of giggled but then it howled again, this time from the centre of the site. This howl was unreal. It vibrated your insides… it’s hard to describe.”
At this point, the troops still expected to find a large wild hog – animals common to the area – which had breached the fence.
They were issued with night vision scopes and urged to track it.
Screaming
But the witness explained: “One of the mounted patrol vehicles had made contact and was pursuing a large, dark canine. We ran in a circular route to try to outflank whatever it was they were chasing and then we heard screaming.
“We turned in time to see a huge, dark mass clear our 12ft fence! It quickly faded from our perimeter lighting, into the darkness.
“I asked for the area lighting to be turned off, walked further up a small hill and switched on my night scope. Since the magnification was weak, I really didn’t expect to see anything.
“But then I saw it… it was leaned up against a tree looking at us on its hind legs, breathing heavily. Then it turned and faded into the trees.
“Only one other patrol leader saw it. I asked the K- 9 unit to foot patrol the fence but the dog had retreated to his kennel and would not come out.”
Statements were eventually taken by chief of staff, but the troops who’d witnessed this apparent shape shifter were told to omit any mention of a ‘ werewolf’ – instead stating “that a wild animal had killed some deer in the wooded area behind the ammo building”.
However, not everyone believes the ‘ werewolf’ theory, despite the local curse dating back centuries.
Some reckon the animal to be nothing more than an enormous wild hog – a gigantic hairy pig described as “dark brown, stinky, hairy, big and could easily be mistaken as some sort of supernatural beast”.
But others are adamant about what occurred and are cautioning others who venture into the area to heed local warnings.
Our whistle- blower added: “It really happened. It wasn’t some story to scare the rookies. Was it a werewolf? Was it an endangered European Wolf? Was it a coincidence that the beast was out that night of a full moon? You decide. As for me… I’ll say this – the above statement is true to the best of my knowledge.”
Another sighting, posted online by a user called ‘ Shane’, is even spookier.
He recalls: “While I was stationed there I saw something in the bomb dump that looked like a cross between a bull dog and a monkey... and it did NOT like us shining the lights of the VW 6- pack truck on it.
“It was hairless and muscular and it bared its teeth at us.”