Michigan Dogman
An upright, dog-headed creature of Michigan folklore, made famous by an April Fools' Day song on a Traverse City radio station in 1987.
Meaning
On 1 April 1987 WTCM-FM in Traverse City played "The Legend", a spoken-word song by Steve Cook, one of its staff, about a doglike creature that walks upright like a man. It was an April Fools' joke, and the song claims a century of sightings in Michigan (Cadillac News; HuffPost). Later that day the station began getting calls from people who said they had seen one (HuffPost).
Was the dogman made up for the song?
Cook has said he had never heard of anything called the dogman before he wrote it. By 2012 he had received about 500 reports of encounters (HuffPost), and the song has raised thousands of dollars for animal rescue charities (WWMT).
See also
Beast of Bray Road, Kraken, Sea serpent, Loch Ness Monster, Champ (Lake Champlain monster), Bigfoot (Sasquatch).
Sources
- How the Dogman 'Legend' was born (Cadillac News), Cadillac News, Cadillac News
- Michigan Dogman, Mysterious Upright Canine Creature, Haunts State's Backwoods (HuffPost), HuffPost Detroit, HuffPost
- MICHIGAN MONSTERS: Dogman legend continues to howl across state (WWMT), WWMT News Channel 3, Kalamazoo, WWMT
Last reviewed September 28, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research