Hey folks...well, once again we're traveling down the proverbial 'rabbit hole' (that's nothing new around here).

I recently received a report that referenced a supernatural event that has me scratching my head. First I must asked...are there really humans who can transform themselves into 'werewolves' or any other animal-like being?

We are familiar with the 'Skinwalker' scenario, where an a native American witch shape-shifts into an animal-like being and creates havoc with certain individuals living on a reservation. Could a similar transformation be possible through other supernatural means?

I recently received the following information...which began with this message:

I don't really know where else to go with my story. I warn you if you are a purely rational person you will have a hard time believing this. Anyway, here is my story.

Before we start, let me state that I'm a bit befuddled by this account. I've read many hard-to-believe claims in the past, but for some reason this particular narrative strikes a nerve. I have consulted with a few other colleagues, including my friend Stan Gordon. The area in which this event occurred has been known for odd activity for many years. In fact, Stan mentioned an intense 'werewolf' scare (though, later found to be a hoax) that took place in the general area back when he was in high school.

Anyway...here's what I received:

So there is this guy, he's twenty-something, and he lives in my hometown of West Newton, PA. Now I am not friends or even acquaintances with him, but you can say we have mutual friends. They were talking about him being a werewolf, but they were somewhere between joking around and being serious. I don't know, but what I do know is that I was really into the paranormal and had a lot of free time on my hands. I never really believed in a lot of it though...until I met this kid. He just gave me a weird feeling. So I thought, "I have nothing interesting to do so let me investigate this." That's exactly what I did.

To start the investigation, I followed him home from work on November 13th 2016. The reason I chose that certain date is because I didn't want to drag this on. That night was going to be a full moon. I know, cliché. I got my friend (who wants nothing to do with this report) and we went across the street from this guy's house around 4:00 pm. He left his house and headed up the road. Eventually he ended up going into the woods on the east side of town. We followed from a distance the whole time. We got to the woods and hid in a ditch.

Around 5:30 pm he started doing the strangest thing; he started removing his clothes. To be honest we were mouthing, What the F**k the whole time. He then started to place his clothes into a plastic bag and pulled out a weird-looking belt. It was made of fur or hair, I don't know. Then around 6:00 pm it happened. The unbelievable happened. His body began to twist and contort in very unnatural ways. He then began to groan in pain. I get sick describing what happens next, so I'll leave that part up to your imagination. Then the worst possible scenario played out. He saw us! Well not him, 'It', the wolf, saw us!

I made my friend run back towards town. I was having a panic attack. So, in self defense, I pulled out a couple of my grandmothers silver spoons from her collection (I went back and got them a week or so later) and threw a couple at him and held the rest up in his direction. He still persevered and began running towards me. So I booked it out of there, but it only took a couple seconds for him to catch up. He lunged onto me and slashed at my arm with his claws. With my other hand (In which I was still holding the silver spoons) I pressed the silver as hard as I could onto his body. He whimpered and ran away.

Long story short: I made it out of the woods, my friend had already called the police, and she lied when they asked if I had tried to harm myself. She said I had, which was probably for the best. I will NEVER leave my house at night-time or around a full moon again.

The email was sent as anonymous and I have not received any further information. I sent a request for further evidence, but received nothing. There was an attempt to contact the local police, but no one has returned the call. Is this a hoax? Maybe...but I'm going to keep an open mind until I hear otherwise.

Like I stated earlier, odd activity is not a stranger in the West Newton, PA area. Stan stated to me today:

That is the area where there has been a long history of Bigfoot encounters going back to the late 1960's. Back around 1966, the locals were seeing a 7-8 feet tall white hairy Bigfoot creature that was known as the "Lowber Monster." Lowber is a community very close by. There have been numerous other encounters around there for years.

Here is a two previous reports from Stan Gordon:

April 17, 2016 - During the evening, a woman was driving on a rural road near West Newton when she noticed ahead of her, a tall dark figure emerge from the right side and move up on the road just as she was approaching the area. She slowed down and looked at a 7 foot tall creature covered with long brownish-red hair. The witness noticed that the arms were very long and skinny, and that the creature had large red eyes that were glowing in the dark. The witness, who had no interest or belief in Bigfoot, became very frightened and left the area very quickly.
And another earlier encounter:

Bigfoot Sighting Reported Near West Newton, PA - May 17, 2014

On May 19, 2014, I received a report of a possible Bigfoot encounter from Westmoreland County. During my first interview with the witness the next day, I learned that the man and his teenaged daughter were driving on Route 201 towards West Newton on the evening of May 17, 2014, when something strange occurred. It was after 11 PM as they were driving down the rural road that the father who was driving the vehicle caught a glimpse of something off to the right side of the road.

At a distance of about 15-20 feet away, the man saw what appeared to be a person crouched down on the roadside. It suddenly rose up from the ground and began to walk onto the roadway in the path of the vehicle. The driver had to swerve slightly into the left lane to avoid hitting the dark figure. His daughter responded at the same time, “Did you see that dad?”

What they observed was a tall man-like creature, which appeared to be covered in black fur from head to toe. As it crossed the road, they could see its arms swinging. No odd sounds or smells were reported during the observation. The feature that stood out to both observers was the glowing eyes of the creature. The man remembered that the glowing eyes were bright white with a bluish tint, while the daughter remembered they were more of a greenish color.

The man watched the figure in the rear view mirror as they continued down the road. The creature was standing in the roadway looking toward the car. The driver said he could still see the glowing eyes of the creature, but they didn’t appear to be as bright at that time. The father was curious and told his daughter he was going to turn around to try to see the creature again. His daughter was frightened by the experience and told him to keep going, that she didn’t want to go back.

On June 1, 2014, Eric Altman, Director of the Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society and I were able to meet with the father and look over the location where the encounter had taken place. There had been a lot of rain in the area and no tracks were found. The witness was credible and Eric and I were familiar with the general area since there had been a history of other Bigfoot reports near there over the years.

I noticed many years ago while investigating that many Bigfoot sightings and UFO encounters quite often seem to occur in the vicinity of energy sources. It was noticed that a series of high tension power transmission towers were located close by. The high tension wires actually crossed over the road near where the creature encounter occurred.

In another report, though brief, a group of friends were on their way to a camp out in June of 2013 on the shore of the Youghiogheny River near West Newton, PA:

"Me and my friends were walking on the top of an old dam in the woods just outside of West Newton, PA in Westmoreland County when we heard strange growling noises coming from the base of the dam. We looked down to see what we had originally thought to be a man with black clothes on, but, upon closer inspection with a pair of binoculars was, in fact, a wolf-like creature walking upright going to get a drink from a pool of water. We quickly ran away and had to take a longer, alternate route back into town."

Like many of the accounts I post on 'Phantoms & Monsters,' it's up to the reader to determine if the story passes the smell test. I can only report what I read or hear...though I may offer an opinion on occasion. Hopefully, in this case, more pertinent information surfaces. Lon