A WEEKLY SPOOKY FIELD GUIDEGERMANTOWN, OHIOLOCAL LEGEND / LIVING HISTORY
BUTTER STREET
MONSTER

SOMETHING STRANGE IN SOUTHWEST OHIO

A quiet road.
A story that
won’t die.

Meet the Butter Street Monster: the hairy, upright creature of Germantown folklore, somewhere between Bigfoot, a werewolf, and the story your neighbors swear is true.

Follow the newspaper trailWatch the stories

Reported encounters. Changing descriptions. One unforgettable name.

I believe in the Butter Street Monster shirt artwork: a snarling upright creature beneath a full moon, illustrated by Rachael Redolfi
THE LEGEND, ILLUSTRATED BY RACHAEL REDOLFI

01 / THE LOCAL LEGEND

Every town has a story.
This one has claws.

In October 1972, the Middletown Journal reported a strange encounter on Butter Street, between Carlisle and Germantown. Witnesses described a dark, hairy figure moving on two legs. In the local folklore that followed, the creature became known as the Butter Street Monster. Some descriptions sound like Bigfoot. Others sound closer to a wolf standing upright.

A BFRO investigation published in 2009 explicitly mentions the Butter Street Monster as a local wolf-like legend. That documents the story’s circulation; it doesn’t establish what anyone actually saw.

Read the BFRO report

02 / THE NEWSPAPER TRAIL

Before the comments,
there were the clippings.

Follow the reports, the descriptions, and the local history behind the legend.

Original newspaper clipping: A Werewolf in Carlisle Field?, by Dorothy Damele, Middletown Journal, October 30, 1972, page 1
THE ORIGINAL REPORT · SELECT THE CLIPPING TO ENLARGE

MIDDLETOWN JOURNAL · OCTOBER 30, 1972 · PAGE 1

“A Werewolf in Carlisle Field?”

Reported by Dorothy Damele

A missing license plate brought a Carlisle couple to Butter Street one moonlit night. According to this front-page report, they saw a dark figure moving on two legs, then crouching close to the ground.

Other local witnesses described a hairy face and body, bright eyes in the car lights, and snarling or hissing sounds. The article also records ordinary explanations offered at the time: an animal or a practical joke.

The report names Butter Street, between Carlisle and Germantown. It calls the creature a werewolf; it does not use the later name “Butter Street Monster.” The encounter’s exact date is not given.

View the original newspaper page

NEARBY STORIES · BEFORE THE 1972 REPORT

Werewolf talk was already in the papers.

These Middletown reports document a separate 1965 scare. They provide regional context; neither establishes a connection to the Butter Street encounter.

Werewolf Gets Away, Middletown Journal, August 18, 1965, page 15

AUGUST 18, 1965 · PAGE 15

“Werewolf Gets Away”

A First Avenue resident reported a strange, howling figure that disappeared into a nearby cemetery. Police checked twice and found nothing.

Read the source page
Monster report excerpt · Select to see the original layout

AUGUST 22, 1965 · PAGE 4

“No Monsters Safe Here”

The follow-up records cemetery crowds, an unverified claim about an escaped circus ape, and a ghost hunter sent home by police. It also recalls monster scares near Franklin, Morrow, and Gratis.

Read the source page

03 / WEEKLY SPOOKY ON YOUTUBE

The story keeps moving.

More from Weekly Spooky

04 / ADD TO THE STORY

What did you hear
about Butter Street?

Remember the stories? Have an old clipping or a family account? Help us piece together the history of the Butter Street Monster.

Tell us when and where you heard it, and whether it happened to you or was passed along. Even a small detail can give us a new lead.

Have a scan or photograph? Email it to WeeklySpooky@gmail.com.

Your message goes to Weekly Spooky. Submissions are reviewed and won’t appear on this site automatically. Web3Forms handles email delivery.

Butter Street Monster shirt design by Rachael Redolfi

05 / FOR THE BELIEVERS

Wear the legend.

“I believe in the Butter Street Monster.”

Germantown’s local legend, brought to life in an original illustration by Rachael Redolfi.

T-SHIRT · STORE LINK COMING SOON