By JODEE TAYLOR
TRAVERSE CITY -- The Dogman is getting yet another 15 minutes of fame.
The legendary creature, created as an April Fool's joke by a couple of local DJs, is the subject of the season finale of "MonsterQuest." The spooky beast has been renamed "The Wolfman" for Hollywood purposes. The show airs Wednesday, 9 p.m., on the History channel.
"It's supposed to tie in with the recent 'Wolfman' movie," said Steve Cook, now production director at WTCM and co-conspirator with morning host Jack O'Malley on the original song in 1987.
"I think they thought the movie would be bigger than it is," he said.
The Dogman took on a life of its own after the song was played on the air. There were sightings and stories and even grainy Super 8 footage.
"I've gotten an abject lesson on how folkore is created," Cook said. "It's way beyond me."
A producer for "MonsterQuest," Frank Haney, came up twice with a crew last fall to interview Cook. The crew spent three or four nights in a swamp by Luther.
The swamp was the site of one of the "encounters" shortly after the song came out, Cook said. A shack was torn up and all that was found were giant dog prints.
"We found some interesting things but I can't reveal them," Haney said. "The show does solve a few mysteries." He said it rained for most of the time they were in Luther, which "makes for a grumpy crew." Animals don't move in the rain, either, he said, but the weather cleared at the end of the stay and they got what they needed, he said.
Haney said there are some terrific re-enactments in the episode and the detective work involved makes it different from other "MonsterQuest" shows.
The TV show will also "expose the truth" behind "The Gable Film," the grainy Super-8 footage that shows "a hairy creature running on all fours toward the camera in an apparent attack," producers said.
For more about the Dogman, go to www.michigan-dogman.com.
