December 3, 2007
In the summer of 2006, during the investigation of the “dead animal on the Turner road,” which was blamed for the killings and injuries to dogs and livestock in central Maine for the last decade, an interesting piece of evidence turned up missing. It was the mystery creature’s skull (above). Having the skull would have clearly told us the animal was a dog, without going through all the DNA testing.
Now the skull has surfaced again for television.
The carcass that Mark LaFlamme and I examined (below) only a few days after its discovery was headless.
But we knew the skull was still around, kept as a trophy, as we were told so by the woman who found the body. This skull was not brought forth for anyone to examine during the initial investigations. Why?
The discoverer joked she wanted to sell it on eBay. Instead, it appears, she just kept it for some good television appearances. 🙂
The beast is back …
Mystery. Drama. That really ugly photo of a dead animal.
The Turner beast is back.
And it’s coming to a TV near you.
“MonsterQuest,” a 13-week documentary series that delves into the evidence surrounding Bigfoot, Birdzilla and other legendary monsters, will profile the Turner beast – and the international hysteria that fueled the mystery – in an episode called “Mutant Canines.” The show will air Wednesday [December 5, 2007] on the History Channel.
The series was created by Whitewolf Entertainment, a Minnesota-based production company. Producer Doug Hajicek learned about the Turner beast after the Sun Journal ran a story about a strange animal found dead beside some Turner powerlines in August 2006.
Many people thought the grotesque body was that of a mystery beast believed to have killed dogs in Greene and Wales, a long-rumored creature with glowing eyes, a chilling cry and the features of a wolverine, hyena and Tasmanian devil.
News of the beast, as well as photographs of the body, spread fast and far, appearing on TV news broadcasts, cryptozoology Web sites and news pages.
Hajicek read about it on the Internet and grabbed the case for his mutant canine episode.
“It is an interesting story because a lot of people don’t realize it’s not really unique, what’s going on in Maine. It’s happening all over,” Hajicek said.
Although Sun Journal-sponsored DNA tests ultimately confirmed the body was that of a dog – not, as many believed, a Chupacabra[s], werewolf, extraterrestrial or mythological bogeyman from American Indian folklore – Whitewolf Entertainment came to Maine last winter to film a segment on the Turner beast maelstrom and the local legend that fed it.
It helped that there was a body.
“Turner is the hub of the (Mutant Canines) show. The reason is it’s one of the cases we can apply science to, and that’s why it’s important,” Hajicek said.
During the weeklong shoot in Turner, crews talked with area believers, skeptics and scientists. Sun Journal reporter Mark LaFlamme, who wrote the Turner beast stories, and Animal Control Officer Wendell Strout were also interviewed.
“I simply told them it was nothing more than a dog,” Strout said. “That’s what I’ve been saying from the beginning: It was a dog.”
LaFlamme and Strout were also filmed lugging bait and trudging through the woods in an attempt to trap a real mutant canine for the show.
“I wasn’t worried so much about encountering the beast out there in the deep dark woods,” LaFlamme said. “I was mostly concerned about getting mauled by a descending vulture or something attracted to my buckets of beast bait.”
So did MonsterQuest find the mutant canine responsible for the local legend? Hajicek is mum.
“You’ll have to watch the show,” he said.
The Turner beast’s History Channel debut hasn’t escaped the attention of at least one Lewiston business. Mulligan’s Indoor Golf & Pub will show the Mutant Canines episode on all nine of its big screen HD TVs.
MonsterQuest airs at 10 p.m. Wednesday on the History Channel. by Lindsay Tice , Staff Writer, Lewiston Sun Journal, Lewiston, Maine
Goofy as the Maine Mutant by Peter Loh.
It will be interesting to see if “MonsterQuest” got it, as far as the Turner Beast goes.
As one of the investigators in this case, who was interviewed for this program, I know the early critics of examining the Turner dog still don’t understand the reality behind the media hype. There was an actual terrorizing series of events due to a real cryptid that was or is still out there.
But this division was unclear to some people.
The way it broke down involved two different situations happening concurrently:
(1) An unknown animal (a cryptid) in the central Maine woods (outward from Greene) has been killing and injuring livestock and domestic pets for the last decade or more. It may be a mystery canid, but seems more akin to a mystery felid (a black panther or eastern cougar).
(2) The Turner beast, despite the media hype, was found and incorrectly labeled by a few locals. It was obviously, from the beginning, nothing more than a dog was killed beside Rt. 4.
Unfortunately, the worldwide media mixed up the two. Let’s hope “MonsterQuest” gets the story right. They may.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Filed under Artifacts, Breaking News, Chupacabras, Cryptid Canids, Cryptomundo Exclusive, Cryptotourism, CryptoZoo News, Cryptozoologists, Cryptozoology, Evidence, Eyewitness Accounts, Folklore, Forensic Science, Media Appearances, Mystery Cats, Pop Culture, Television