"Would You Believe?" - The Wolf Woman of Alabama

On April 8, 1971, the Mobile, Alabama, Press-Register carried this story - "Is 'Wolf Woman' Sulking Around The City? Various Area Persons Claim Seeing Creature:"

"Does a 'wolf woman' exist in Mobile?
"Listening to as many as 50 phone calls the Press Register has received, day and night, in approximately a week, you wonder if perhaps there isn't something out there.
"According to dozens of frightened residents along Davis Avenue and in Plateau, a strange creature, a half woman and half wolf, has been making nightly rounds of the Port City. Reportedly, the apparition first appeared near Davis Avenue about one week ago.
"'It was like a woman and wolf, pretty and hairy.' said one worried witness.
"'My daddy saw it down in a marsh and it chased him home,' reported a teen-ager, who added, 'Now, my mommy keeps all the doors and windows locked.'
"'The top half was a woman and the bottom was a wolf,' explained another viewer. 'It doesn't seem natural,' he added.
"Apparently the fears are real, regardless of the status of the phantom or whatever. One usually unflappable teen-ager said with a straight face that he does not go out on the streets at night now.
"One woman said she understood the creature had escaped from a circus sideshow.
"Mobile police refused official comment on the reports. However, it was unofficially indicated that an investigation has been launched into ascertaining exactly what the situation is.
"Paris had its Hunchback of Notre Dame. Maybe Mobile has its Wolf Woman of Davis Avenue.
"On the other hand, many years ago Mobile had its Monster of Fisher's Alley. To terrified residents of the area it was reported in, it assumed proportions of up to the size of Tyrannosaurus Rex and never smaller than a full-grown puma.
"The monster turned out to be an otter, harmless to everything but fish.
"It rather blows the mind to consider what the Wolf Woman may turn out to be."
The story also included the following sketch of what witnesses said they had been seeing, with the caption:


"SAY IT AINT SO, SAM - Could this be what Mobile's mysterious 'Wolf Woman' looks like? From various descriptions of the night creature phone to the Press Register during the past week, the above drawing was created. Reportedly, none of the callers who volunteered descriptive information on the 'Wolf Woman' had personally seen it, but have close friends or relatives who had. The apparition evidently frequents the Davis Avenue and Plateau areas after nightfall. (Mobile Register Artist's Conception.)"
What was the Wolf Woman of Davis Avenue? Was the whole thing a hoax? Or, was there really something that looked half-human and half-wolf roaming around Mobile? That we don't know.

Could these reports be related, in any way, to Dogman reports and other sightings of canine-like monsters from around the United States? That we don't know either.

Either way, it at least makes a good news story.  

News story on the Wolf Woman, Mobile, Alabama
Press-Register, April 8, 1971

Many thanks to Brian and Terrie Seech of the Center for Cryptozoological Studies and Center for Unexplained Events for supplying this and many more old cryptid accounts to help with my research and writing of my next book...


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