Letter In The Attic (standard:fantasy, 2116 words)
Author: Alpha43	Added: Apr 22 2005	Views/Reads: 3528/2309	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
In northern Michigan there is a very strong belief in the Dogman theory, a part wolf/dog and a part man beast that only appears in the seventh year of every decade. I used to be a non-beleivera...

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three brothers, the Goodwin’s. “They owned about 640 acres and timbered 
off three sections of leased land. They also had a small camp west of 
Sigma and somewhat south. (Close to us in Lodi) 

“The brothers hired logging crews in summer, they owned good pulling
horses, they trapped and logged the swamps in winter, and were 
considered prosperous for loggers. 

“The three brothers were all in their thirties and bachelors, although
the youngest brother was said to be engaged to Bella Law, from 
Kalkaska. The oldest brother was called "Tud" and was a huge man who 
had won every fight he had ever been in. Most men took one look at him 
and begged off. The middle brother was Cyrus, a good-sized man, who was 
said to have all the brains and a good business sense. The youngest 
brother, Dingus, was thought to be slow, was nearly as big as Tud, and 
was the best looking of the bunch. 

“The brothers each had their own shanties at Sharon, with a common
kitchen and dining building that they ran their logging business from. 
They had a garden, root cellar, sawmill, sauna, crew quarters, and 
barns at Sharon. 

“They had one big house and few outbuildings at their Sigma (Lodi) camp
and they owned shore property on East Lake. (Next to Uncle Ferdy) 

“In the spring of 1907, Cyrus, somewhat of a loner, told his brothers
that he was going to Kalkaska to order replacement gear and seeds. He 
would be staying at the Sigma camp while waiting for the supplies. “If 
he had time, he was going to check cattle prices and he might be 
bringing back a couple calves to the main camp in about two weeks. 

“When Cyrus had not returned in over three weeks, Tud and Dingus set out
to Kalkaska to find him. When they got to Sigma, they saw that Cyrus 
had been there, the place was opened up and some of his gear was lying 
around the lodge, but no Cyrus. 

“Once in Kalkaska, they learned that Cyrus had indeed been to the feed
store, put in his seed and supply order, and had even ordered three 
calves from Carlton Avery. 

“All the gear was in, but Cyrus had never returned to collect it. He had
paid for and taken the cattle, but that was over two weeks ago. 

“They checked with the sheriff, the barkeep at the Kal-Ho bar, and the
Postmaster. They all said they had seen Cyrus, but not for a couple of 
weeks. The bartender said Cyrus had been in the pub several times a 
while back, and once he was reading a telegram, he looked worried, and 
was drinking pretty heavily. 

“Tud located the Western Union man, only to be told that Cyrus did
receive a telegram, but it was against Company policy to disclose the 
contents of any messages. Tud took the wire service man behind the 
livery and with some very persuading comments, he soon learned that 
Tud’s message consisted of just one word; "Seventh". The key man said 
he had no recall on where or who the message came from. 

“The brothers went back to Sigma and after checking the place more
closely, they did find some small cattle tracks in the barn and stalls, 
but they were not fresh. They also found fresh dog or wolf tracks 
around the outhouse and these tracks were very large. Later, Dingus 
told one of their crew that the dog tracks were as big as a pie tin. 

“The closest neighbor, Ferm Turipseed, was half a mile away, and the
brothers stopped to see if Ferm had seen Cyrus. 

Ferms wife said she noticed chimney smoke one quiet morning, but nobody
there had actually seen Cyrus. Tud asked about wolves and Ferm said 
that he had lost two sheep to something, but had never found even a 
patch of wool, just huge tracks. He said it was strange because it did 
not appear to be a pack of wolves, just a single animal with the 
biggest paw tracks he’d ever seen. 

“They had no choice but to pay for the supplies ordered by Cyrus and
head back to Sharon. They never gave up on their brother, and finally 
received some information about him and the calves, coning in late 
August. 

“Nifty Groner had a wagon with a blacksmith shop mounted on it and he
traveled around grinding axes, sharpening knives, and repairing plows. 
“Nifty always stopped at the brothers’ camp each fall. He told Tud and 
Dingus that someone found three calf heads on the north shore of East 
Lake. No hair, no meat, no innards, just pure white skulls, one 
partially buried. 

“Dingus told Tud that he was going up to Lodi to check this out. He
would probably stay a few days, visit Bella Law, and order winter 
supplies. Tud knew they both could not be gone now, but told Dingus to 
positively be back in one week. He never returned. 

“When Tud got to their Sigma camp in mid-September, he found that Dingus
had been there all right, in fact he found one of the calf heads 
setting on the woodbox. Pure white bone, no meat, no hair, and hundreds 
of deep dents in it, like a bear had tried to bite through the skull. 

He also found a "Western Union " envelope dated August 30, with Dingus'
name on it, no message, just the envelope. The envelope was covered 
with scribbles in Dingus’s hand, a bunch of the number “7’s” and there 
were three empty Red-Eye bottles on the table. 

“Townsfolk said they had seen Dingus, and Bella Law said he had stopped
by on a Thursday afternoon to ask her to the dance on Friday night. He 
never showed up. 

“Back in Sigma, Tud found no dog or wolf tracks. He settled in for the
night to make the trek back to Sharon the next day. The horses woke Tud 
up in the middle of the night and he ran out to the barn to find one of 
the team dead and the second horse with several cuts way up on his 
rump, over six foot high. There were fresh claw marks on the stall 
header and the hay loft, well over eight-foot above the floor. 

“The dead horse was missing half of its entrails. Over thirty-five
pounds of organs must have been eaten. There was no mess anywhere else, 
they had not been dragged away, the organs were just gone. In the blood 
and gore were dog tracks as big as horse hoofs. 

“Tud was forced to leave the wagon, slowly walking the injured horse
back to Sharon over the next two days. In just one season the Goodwin 
boys were reduced from three to one, Tud. 

“Now my dear, the next spring when the logging crews showed up at the
main camp, Tud was nowhere to be found. The place still had most of a 
winter’s supply of wood and it looked like nobody had been there for 
months. 

Tud was gone, never to be seen again. They found a half-eaten shoe, some
bone shards, and a lot of huge dog tracks. Tud’s briar pipe bowl was 
found broken by the woodpile and not far away they found his watch 
chain. 

“The sheriff said he had no clue what was going on, declared Tud legally
dead of unknown causes, but kept one item for possible future evidence. 
A telegram dated December 24, that simply said ‘Seventh’.” 

Grandpa then mentioned that it would be a good idea to leave the old
henhouse empty this year. Next year, if he was home, they might fix it 
up a little more secure. He also asked Grandma to not take any walks 
out that way by herself, and could she keep their dog “Shep” close to 
the barnyard? 

The letter closed with expressions of love and grandpas thoughts about
his dearly beloved. 

We sat there for a while and I noticed that nobody had eaten his or her
sandwich or soup. Lynn was speaking in nearly a whisper, and he looked 
gray. One by one, we picked up our plates, rinsed them, and placed them 
in the sink. Nobody uttered a word. I suspect that like myself, 
everyone had plenty to contemplate while we finished work on the 
homestead. 

Many times in the past, all of our family had joked about the Dogman
tales, and had openly laughed at the song. From now on I know I will 
listen when told of mutilations during any seventh year of a decade, 
but more importantly, I hope I never, for any reason, receive a 
one-word telegram. 


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