While exploring old werewolf myths and legends I came across one chronicled by S.E. Schlosser, the author of Spooky Michigan, and was instantly enticed. The old Michigan legend tells the tale of a lovely woman and her werewolf admirer. Being a Michigander myself, I couldn’t resist sharing.
Once upon a time…
There was a beautiful young woman who was engaged to a soldier. This lovely lady caught the eye of a wicked woodsman who had sold his soul for the ability to turn himself into a wolf at will. One day he waited for the woman while she was walking home and confronted her, begging her to elope with him. The lady refused, rejecting his love and calling out to her fiancé to save her from the wolf’s advances.
The woman’s cries were heard by her soldier, who had come searching for her when she was late returning to her parent’s home. The soldier drove the woodsman off, threatening him with terrible consequences if he ever approached his love again.
The furious woodsman lay low for a few days, waiting for his chance to strike. His moment came on the young woman’s wedding day. She was dancing happily at her wedding reception with a group of her friends when the woodsman, in the form of a wolf, pounced upon her and dragged her away with him.
The enraged groom gave chase, but the wolf and his bride had disappeared into the thick forest and were not seen again. For many days, the hysterical soldier and his friends, armed with silver bullets, scoured the woods, searching for the maiden and her evil captor. Once the soldier thought he saw the wolf and shot at it. Upon closer inspection, he found a piece of a wolf’s tail lying upon the ground. But the wolf to which it belonged was nowhere in sight.
After months of searching, the soldier’s friends begged him to let the girl go and get on with living. But he was half-mad with grief and refused to give up on her. Then later, on that very day, he found the cave where the werewolf lived. Within it lay the preserved body of his young wife. She had refused the werewolf’s advances to the very end, and had died for it. After his murderous anger had passed, the werewolf had lovingly laid the body of the girl he had loved and had killed into a wooden coffin, where she would be safe, then he came to visit her grave every day. Lying in wait for him, the soldier shot the werewolf multiple times as he entered the cave, chasing him down until the crazed and dying werewolf leapt into the lake and disappeared. The soldier sat by the lake with his gun, staring into the rippling waters for hours on end as the catfish ate the bloody bits of the wolf that were floating on the surface of the water.
When his friends found him, the young man’s mind was gone. He rambled insanely about a werewolf that had been eaten by a catfish. Eventually he led them to his bride’s coffin, before slipping into a deep madness. He died days later, and was buried beside his bride in a little glen where they had planned to build their home. Their grave is long forgotten, and the place where it stands is covered with daisies in the spring. According to legends, the people of the area refuse to eat catfish to this day.
– Moonlight
About the Author
Moonlight (aka Amanda) loves to write about, read about and learn about everything pertaining to werewolves and other supernatural beasties. She writes for top genre sites like Vampires.com and Werewolves.com. You will most likely find her huddled over a book of folklore with coffee in hand. You can stalk her via her Twitter.
I love my states werewolf stuff.