FIELD FILE · DWAYYODOGMAN & CANINELOCAL LEGEND
Dwayyo
Also known as Dewayo, Maryland Wolfman
An upright, wolf-like beast from Frederick County, Maryland – born in a 1965 newspaper story and remembered as the Snallygaster’s mortal enemy.
The Dwayyo is Frederick County’s other monster: a shaggy, wolf-headed creature said to stand on its hind legs like a man and to prowl the forests of Catoctin Mountain above the city of Frederick. In modern retellings it is the sworn enemy of the winged Snallygaster, and the two are said to have fought since the earliest days of settlement in the Middletown Valley.
Its documented history, however, begins much later. On November 27, 1965, the Frederick News-Post reported that a local man named John (or Jack) Becker had battled a large, bushy-tailed animal near his home – variously placed on “Fern Rock Road” or near the woods of Gambrill State Park – and had reported the attack to the state police, calling the creature a “Dwayyo.” Over the following weeks the paper printed more tips: a woman who heard one howling in the mountains, a man who claimed to have a baby Dwayyo in his basement.
The story unraveled almost as quickly as it spread. State police could find no Fern Rock Road and no man named Becker, and when city police checked the basement report, the homeowner denied ever calling. Students at Frederick Community College organized a monster hunt that drew dozens of sign-ups, but nobody showed up on the night. On December 10, 1965, reporter George May wrote a tongue-in-cheek wrap-up noting that someone had bought a county dog license for an animal of unknown breed named “Dwayyo,” owner John Becker. After that, the newspaper trail went cold.
The name survived anyway. Later books and websites have added sightings from the 1960s and 1970s around Gambrill State Park, Thurmont and Cunningham Falls, often collected secondhand, and some writers connect the Dwayyo to older German and Pennsylvania Dutch tales of wolf-like witches. Folklore researchers note that it fits a wider pattern of upright “dogman” reports across the eastern United States – and that, unlike the Snallygaster, it carries no dark social history, which may be why storytellers cast it as the hero of their rivalry.
- Type
- Dogman & canine
- Status
- Local legend
- First reported
- 1965
- Best-known location
- Catoctin Mountain and Gambrill State Park, Frederick County, Maryland
- Also called
- Dewayo, Maryland Wolfman
- Reported in
- Maryland
What witnesses describe
About six feet tall when standing, with dark, shaggy fur covering the whole body, a wolf- or dog-like head and nose, a long bushy tail and powerful hind legs. It is said to rear up and walk upright, using its forelegs like arms, and to growl like an angry dog.
Where and when it’s seen
The wooded ridges of Catoctin Mountain in Frederick County, especially around Gambrill State Park, with later reports near Thurmont and Cunningham Falls. Encounters are usually described at dusk or night.
Notable sightings
- November 27, 1965The Becker report Near Gambrill State Park, Frederick County, Maryland
The Frederick News-Post reported that a man named Becker had fought off a bear-sized, long-haired creature with a bushy tail that reared up on its hind legs, and had reported it to state police as a “Dwayyo.” Police later could not find the man or the road named in the story.
- December 10, 1965The hunt that never happened Frederick, Maryland
After a student-organized Dwayyo hunt drew dozens of sign-ups but no actual hunters, reporter George May described joking sightings around town and a dog license issued for a “Dwayyo.” Newspaper coverage of the creature ended soon afterward.
What could explain it?
- The 1965 story shows strong signs of a prank: the witness and his street could not be found, and later reports were denied or treated as jokes by the press.
- Black bears live on Catoctin Mountain and can stand on their hind legs, which may explain upright, shaggy shapes glimpsed at dusk.
- Large dogs, coyotes or foxes seen in poor light can appear bigger and stranger than they are.
- Later “historical” sightings largely come from secondhand collections and may have been shaped by the 1965 story and by modern dogman lore.
Legend, culture and tourism
The Dwayyo is a staple of Frederick County Halloween storytelling and is usually paired with the Snallygaster, sometimes as its rival and sometimes, in a newer twist, as a creature hatched from a Snallygaster egg. Local authors and podcasts revisit it each October, and it is often cited as an early example of the American “dogman” motif.
Places to visit
The forested Catoctin Mountain park named in the 1965 story, with overlooks and hiking trails.
A popular waterfall park on Catoctin Mountain where later Dwayyo stories are set.
Where it’s reported
Dwayyo in the news
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Sources
First published · Updated
