In the summer of 1998, in Ashland, Ohio, I was working at a radio station (a different station than my Haunted Radio Station story). I had spent some time hanging out with some people I knew from the station and had ahead of me, an hour long drive home.
It was night. The radio station sat on the top of the small Ohio mountain. All around were trees as far as the eye could see, but at night all you could see was what the security light illuminated. As a friend and I stood in the parking lot talking, we saw a dog like thing, the size of a German Shepard, waking toward us form the woods. We both saw it and became rather frightened. "You see that?" one of us said. "Yes." "That's not a dog." "No". It was not the welcoming look of a domesticated dog. This was a wild animal that got its food hunting. It was thin, with long legs, and a white, kind of grey coat. The hair on the ears was long, the hair on its cheeks or jowls were long too. I have looked at pictures of coyotes which do live in Ohio, but this was not a coyote or a dog. It kept its head low and was looking right at us as it stood at the edge of the parking lot and stopped, staring. When a dog looks at you, they have a happy look, or a frightened look, this was not that look. I'm not sure how to describe it. Maybe it thought we were going to feed it, or maybe it thought we were dinner? My friend and I spent a short silent moment looking at this thing and we decided to get in my vehicle. In the car we watched at the animal looked a few moments more at us and then slowly went back into the woods. It was a long time before we got out of the car.
I really don't know what it was. It was ugly thought and big. It was not a wolf or a coyote. I wonder if it was a mix of a coyote and a stray dog. It was not an animal with mange. Rabies, maybe. I'm sure it was not a werewolf. I don't believe in them. I made a kind of sketch that I have tried to improve with Photoshop. It's not a great drawing and it looks too human, but it's still pretty close to what I saw.
I have known people, when I use to go to West Virgina as a child, that had the neighborhood pet-dog. It was usually large and friendly and just kind of walked around the winding roads, being fed by the local population. Someone would take it to gets its shots and tags, but it had free reign and didn't really bother anyone. They were usually very nice animals. I wonder if this thing was the offspring of a community pet and a canine wild of some-kind. Was someone keeping exotic animals? Whatever it was, it did not seem very friendly.
NOTE: After doing so research, I have discovered that what I saw was most likely a wolf. Physically it looked like a wolf and this only confirms it. This article is from the Associated Press from May 4th 2011. Just 4 days before I wrote this article.
Gray wolves state control
"The Obama administration on Wednesday moved to lift Endangered Species Act protections for 5,500 gray wolves in the Northern Rockies and Great Lakes, drawing the line on the predators' rapid expansion over the last two decades."
"The Great Lakes proposal also includes portions of North and South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, although government biologist Laura Ragan said no wolves permanently reside in those states." (Emphasis added)
In other words; "there are no wolves here, but if you see one, shoot it!"
For a picture of the mystery animal and more strange stories, please visit my blog, Mark Turner's Mysterious World.