The Dwayyo


What is 6 feet tall, has feet like a dog, a big bushy tail, and is black? George May asked this question in an article he wrote for The News, a Frederick, Maryland newspaper, on November 29, 1965. The answer to May’s question: a Dwayyo.

The first mention of the Dwayyo seems to have taken place in the 1940s in Frederick County. The Dwayyo became a household name in November 1965 in what was more likely than not a hoax. John Becker contacted an area newspaper and claimed he was attacked by a Dwayyo in his backyard. Unfortunately, the story is full of holes. The paper sent the report to the police who tried to follow up with Becker. According to Sergeant Clyde B. Tucker, Becker could not be located for questioning. Furthermore, the address that he provided did not exist.18

Though the Becker story had every indication of being a pure fabrication, that didn’t stop the Dwayyo from bursting onto the scene in Frederick County. Hunters were seeing it; people were hearing it; reports were rolling in.

A Jefferson area woman called state police on December 7, 1965 and reported a dog-shaped animal chasing her cows.  The mysterious animal was brownish, about the size of a calf, and something she had never seen before. The officer who went to investigate found nothing.19

A Frederick newspaper received a letter from four University of Maryland students who claimed that they had spotted four Dwayyos on campus. After conducting research on the Dwayyo, the students—perhaps tongue-in-cheek—concluded it was a cross between a “Dway” and a “Yo.” According to the students, the Dway is a creature that inhabits the Upper Amazon. The Yo, they claimed, originated in China, but migrated to the West Coast of the United States in the remote past by way of the Bering Land Bridge. The students went further: Long ago, the Yo and the Dway intermarried and formed a new species, the Dwayosapientherapsida australopitecus rexus.20

A hunt for the Dwayyo was scheduled for December 8, 1965, in which 50–100 students from Frederick Community College were signed-up to participate. The hunt was scheduled for 5:00pm at Frederick County High School, but it turned out to be “a complete flop.” Apparently, the hunters did not show up. Whether it was out of fear or because students had too many classes scheduled, as one student suggested, is unclear.21What is certain, is that the proposed hunt failed to locate, capture, or kill a Dwayyo.

The bulk of Dwayyo reports took place in the mid-1960s, but sporadic reports lingered. Near Cunningham Falls State Park, a Dwayyo was spotted in 1976. In 1978, park rangers saw a large hairy creature similar to previous reports near Cunningham Falls.

Today, Dwayyo reports seem to have given way to “dogman” sightings—upright canines 6–8 feet tall. Maybe, that is really what the Dwayyo was—a dogman. But that is a topic for another day…

For more stories such as this, consider reading my latest book Detours Into the Paranormal: Atlantic City Road Trip.

Notes:

18. George May, “Mysterious Dwayyo on Loose in County,” The News(Frederick, MD), November 29, 1965.

19. George May, “Dwayyo Hunt Tonight,” The News(Frederick, MD), December 8, 1965.

20. Ibid.

21. George May, “Dwayyo Hunt Flops,” The News(Frederick, MD), December 9, 1965.

 

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