Old Stinker! Witchy Wednesday Werewolf article.
The Old Stinker!
By the light of the full moon
The howling begins.
Run if you must for all your sins.
The Old Stinker is on your trail.
No matter how hard to no avail.
A claw, a bite and down you go.
You may have run but you're much too slow!
By Kat Hazelton 2024
'Old Stinker!'
I have always been fascinated by cryptozoology and in particular stories of creatures that have reportedly been seen roaming the countryside of the British Isles. In particular I do find the stories of wild devil dogs particularly interesting! There are many dog like beasts stories across the UK, for example there is the Barghest a devil dog in North Yorkshire, The Demon of Tidworth, The Black Dog of Winchester, Padfoot of Wakefield and the Black Shuck which resides in the East Anglian region of England. Some of these and others I promised to do future articles on. 😊
Devil Dogs!
Often described as large dog like creatures with canine teeth, long sharp claws, piercing red eyes, and dishevelled black hair! Stories of these beast are often similar with reports of these Devil dog stalking and physically attacking cattle and people! There are also stories that just a look from one of these red eyed demon dogs could cause sudden death!
Scholars theorise that these stories of devilish dogs are so grounded into our history that they have been the inspiration for modern literature such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's most famous of Sherlock's stories 'The Hound of the Baskerville's'. The novel was serialized in The Strand Magazine (1901–02) and was published in book form in 1902. The Holmes story is set in the ghostly moors of Baskerville Hall and the nearby Grimpen Mire. The story, as reported by Watson in his journal, tells of murders, local superstitions and the terrifying real encounter of the giant hell hound!
Whilst research further in the Black Dog stories I came cross a number of more 'Wolf like' stories. One of these is about a creature called 'Old Stinker' a giant werewolf or wild dog like man that roamed the Yorkshire Wolds. Depending on various sources this beast goes back to the 10th century if not possibly back to the Viking invasion and center around the Wolds of Yorkshire especially Hull and Beverley. Probably originally based on reports of real wolves that actually lived and hunted in packs in the countryside until their extinction around the 1500's.
This 'werewolf' like creature is reportedly around eight foot in height, with disheveled black or dark haired and burning red eyes! Similar to the Black Dog stories some report him as aggressive and wolflike running on all fours, others that he is part wolf part man who can stand upright with a human face. Even though the reports slightly vary the one thing that is constant is that his breath smells hence his nickname 'Old Stinker'!
Most of the reported sightings of 'Old Stinker' seem to quietly fade away after the 18th Century and for a while it looked like 'Old Stinker' would just become another fabled creature from our distance past! But this werewolf like creature has made a return!
In the 1960's a truck driver whist driving down a quiet road in Yorkshire reported seeing what he first thought were red lights by the side of a road. When he slowed down to get a better look at the lights a huge wolf like creature attacked the windshield of his truck! And being unsuccessful then disappeared into the darkness. The driver realised that what he thought where light were red eyes.
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In 2015 reports of this seemingly same werewolf like creature were spotted again in the Yorkshire area by several people including one lady who had a terrifying encounter at Barmston Drain!
The woman who sighted the potential werewolf in December told the Express 'It was stood upright one moment. The next it was down on all fours running like a dog. I was terrified. It vaulted 30 foot over to the other side and vanished up the embankment and over a wall into some allotments.'
She said that it both ran on all two legs and on all fours, as if with the qualities of both human and wolf!
Here are links to some of the real online news reports on 'old Stinker' also known now as 'The Beast of Barmston Drain! There is even one involving Alice Cooper who took an interest in these sightings. I will keep an eye on this story in case this Beast appears again! If so I promise to do further updates................
Please note these are links to real new paper articles which may contain descriptions, content and images unsuitable for Children.
On a lighter note!!!!
Back soon ........ remember to pop by on Wednesday for my Witchy Wednesday articles!
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Some folklore stories and articles about History can be quite scary and disturbing and may have some adult content. So I would always advise visiting, reading and viewing any links before showing or reading to younger children.
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