What ‘strange animal’ did Leo Dees encounter in April 1948?

North American river otter. 

Everyone enjoys a good mystery, and I stumbled upon one such local mystery the other day while looking through some old Monroe Journals.

On the front page of the April 22, 1948 edition of The Journal, editor Bill Stewart asked readers to help identify a “strange animal” found in northwest Monroe County. Under the headline, “Identify This Animal And You’re Expert,” Stewart explained that Franklin farmer Leo Dees was puzzled by an unusual critter he found in a swamp near the Alabama River, about 2-1/2 miles north of the Franklin community. Dees told the newspaper that he’d been out turkey hunting on Sat., April 10, when he came up a dead animal that weighed about 40 pounds.

Dees said this bizarre creature had a head shaped like a bear, sharp teeth, extremely coarse and stiff hair with feet like a dog, except it had regular toenails, not claws. Its color was a mixture of brown and red, and the animal had a 15-inch-long bushy tail. The animal’s eyes were located far back on the side of its head, which formed a perfectly straight line with the tip of its nose. Dees also noted that he found two dead hogs lying nearby and that “signs of a tremendous struggle were evident.”

During the past week, I’ve asked several outdoorsmen about what this animal could have been, and I also put the description on Facebook to see if anyone there had a good answer. Several folks asked if I had a photo of the animal, but unfortunately the newspaper did not include a picture of the creature. More than likely, Dees had no camera with him when he came upon the animal.

Several people said that the animal could have been some type of dog while others said that it may have been a coyote. Dickey Andress noted that the animal was the right size and color, and had the right type of hair and tail, to have been a coyote. Coyotes are common in Monroe County today, but they were more rare in the 1940s.

Wade Barfield, who is widely known for his champion retriever “Ace,” said the animal may have been a domestic dog that somehow had been crossbred with a jackal. Another outdoorsman suggested that the animal was a wolverine that had somehow made its way into our area.

Monroeville attorney Will Coxwell suggested that the animal may have been a North American river otter. These mammals are found throughout North America, including in Alabama waterways. They commonly grow over 30 pounds and have been known to attack dogs, which could explain the deaths of the two hogs that Dees found.

Others jokingly said that the animal was the legendary Chupacabra, which name literally means “goat-sucker” in Spanish. These creatures have been reported throughout the United States and Mexico and are said to attack and drink the blood of livestock, including goats. Reports of these strange creatures date back to 1995, well after the sighting by Dees in 1948.

Thomas Earl McKenzie said the animal found by Dees sounds like the same kind of animal that his father killed in 1984. He described it as a “nasty thing,” and said that they sent it to Auburn University, where experts there were unable to identify it. He said that the animal had been eating his father’s calves on Drewry Road.

In the end, I believe the Leo Dees in the story to have been Arthur Leo Dees, who would have been 45 years old in April 1948. He would eventually pass away at the age of 70 in 1973, and he is buried in the Springhill First Baptist Church Cemetery in Franklin. It’s my understanding that he has many descendants still living in Monroe County today.