Yorkshire werewolf hunter
A werewolf panic in Nigeria, a Yorkshireman haunted by a dogfaced monster and some literary lycanthropy from the USA
TERROR IN NIGERIA
In mid-June Nigeria was seized by a werewolf panic after a video allegedly taken in the southeast of the country showing a highly detailed bloodied corpse of a werewolf, resembling the one from American Werewolf in London, went viral. In a voiceover in the local language, Hausa, a man could be heard claiming that the military had killed it during an operation codenamed “Whirl Stroke”.
Social media swiftly spread the video and story round Nigeria, sounding the alarm and warning locals to remain vigilant. Almost as quickly, though, it was debunked by BOOM, an Indian fact-checking site, that did a reverse image search on stills from the video and found that it was actually a clip from a Portuguese horror short called Lobisomem Morto a Tiro (“Werewolf Shot to Death”), with the werewolf itself being the work of freelance special effects sculptor Joseph-Rob Cobasky. Cobasky had previously posted a photo online of himself posing with the same werewolf while working on the film in November 2020. This prompted the Nigerian military to circulate a warning stating “Di Press Release and video making rounds on social media of one mysterious beast wit human body Killed by troops of operation whirl stroke na Fake” and telling people to disregard the video. ngnews.com, 20 Jun; bbc.com/pidgin, 21 Jun; Boomlive.in, 21 Jun 2021.
WEREWOLF HUNTER
In April, Yorkshireman Colin Keelty, 54, talked to the Sunday People about his quest to track down werewolves after he encountered what he believes to be one in Hatfield, South Yorkshire, under a full Moon in October 1990. “I could see something running in the distance,” he said. “It was too big to be a fox. Initially I thought it was a cow or a deer until I got closer and it stood up. It was too big to be a dog.” In those pre-smartphone days, he was unable to take a picture of the creature, but he shared a drawing of what he saw, showing a dog-faced beast crossing a stile on two legs.
As a result of his experience, Colin has spent much of the last 30 years trying to prove the existence of werewolves, and even had a second encounter in September 2015 in Hornsea – once more under a full Moon. He didn’t directly see the creature this time but said that he could hear thuds and found the whole experience terrifying. “I shouted out ‘hello! I then ran for my life as I had a horrible feeling,” he said. This time the werewolf left a trace, a three-fingered handprint on his car window, although Colin has now lost the photo that he took of it. Undeterred, he continues to seek werewolves and collects sightings that he says come in from all across the UK, with 12 arriving this year alone. Jemma Waller reported encountering one in Halsham, East Yorkshire, when driving with two friends in 2016. She said: “It looked like a big dog, probably bigger than my car, but it had a human face.”
“All these people can’t be lying,” said Colin. “Something incredible is out there and I am going to find it”. S. People, 11 Apr 2021.
STEINBECK’S FORGOTTEN WEREWOLF NOVEL
In May, Professor Gavin Jones, a specialist in American literature at Stanford University, called for the publication of Murder at Full Moon, an unseen werewolf novel by John Steinbeck, best known for the classic Grapes of Wrath. Steinbeck wrote three novels that were turned down for publication and never made it into print. Two were destroyed by Steinbeck, but the 233-page typescript of Murder at Full Moon has survived unseen in the archives of the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas in Austin. Very different from the novels for which Steinbeck became known, Murder at Full Moon takes place in a fictional Californian coastal town gripped by fear as gruesome murders take place whenever there is a full Moon, leading investigators to fear that a werewolf has emerged from the local marshes. “There would be a huge public interest in a totally unknown werewolf novel by one of the best-known, most read American writers of the 20th century,” said Professor Jones. Observer, 22 May 2021.