Devil Dog Road

I went on vacation last month, a driving trip. I saw a lot of cool things, and I’m still mining the trip for fodder here and on our sister sites, vanmpires.com and zombies.org. I’m trying to space it out for the sake of variety. Not everyone might enjoy a full week or two of my vacation stories.

Driving along Interstate 40 in central Arizona, I spotted a road sign marking the exit for “Devil Dog Road.” I was intrigued. There’s a story there, I said to myself, and made a mental note to investigate. Perhaps there were sightings in the area of a “hellhound” in ages past? Or even a werewolf-like entity, something akin to the Beast of Bray Road in Wisconsin or the Michigan Dogman? A more prosaic explanation was offered to me later: that the road was named after the US Marine Corps. I did some Internet sleuthing, though, and was able to find nothing regarding the origins of the name. No one seems to know. I was right, though, about there being a story there.

Devil Dog Road had its own cult leader, albeit a minor one. Back in the 1920s, Olive Goddard, jeeringly referred to as “Dr. God” and “the Prophetess,” fascinated by the Pentecostal movement, deciphered the glossolalia of one old woman by recording it: creepily, the woman was speaking in perfect English–only BACKWARDS. This led Goddard to the conclusion that God Himself is moving backwards through time. She founded the Palindromic Church of God, and preached her sermons backwards. The name of Devil Dog Road, however, preceded Goddard. Where, then, did it come from?

By The Evil Cheezman

WAYNE MILLER is the owner and creative director of EVIL CHEEZ PRODUCTIONS (www.evilcheezproductions.blogspot.com, www.facebook.com/evilcheezproductions), specializing in theatrical performances and haunted attractions. He has written, produced and directed (and occasionally acted in) over a dozen plays, most of them in the Horror and Crime genres. His first novel, THE CONFESSIONS OF SAINT CHRISTOPHER: WEREWOLF, is available for purchase at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/734763 MORTUI VELOCES SUNT!

2 comments

  1. WELL, I THOUGHT THAT THEY HAD NAMED THAT ROAD LIKE THAT BECAUSE SOME EVIL CREATURE WAS THERE, AND I SAY THAT BECAUSE ON A TRIP FROM CALIFORNIA TO TEXAS, IN THAT AREA OF EVIL DOG ​​RD. I SAW A BEING LIKE A DOG. BUT IT WAS A BEING… I STOP TO SLEEP BUT WHEN I SEE IT I LEFT THERE TERRIFIED…. AND THAT’S WHY I WAS SEARCHING ONLINE WHY THEY CALLED THAT ROAD LIKE THAT…

  2. I also heard a story by two different people about seeing a big beast with glowing red eyes and horns. It was reported to be very big. The body was like a wolf or dog big furry beast. The first person said they saw it near flagstaff in Coconino National Forest, near an old Native American burial ground. The second person said they were chased by it while driving outside of Phoenix. It bumped in the back of there truck and there dogs started going crazy. They saw a big creature with red eyes chasing them. I drove past the devil dog rd today and thought maybe it had a story behind it that’s why I searched. I do believe there are things out there.

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