Coal-Region Werewolf

The Line Mountain werewolf is an old Pennsylvania tale centering on a young girl, twelve-year old May Paul, and a protective—and monstrous—hermit. In the mid-19th century, May Paul, a shepherdess, would take her family's sheep to graze near Schwaben Creek in Northumberland County. An old, unkempt hermit began watching her silently from a distance. May found him to be a gentle presence and felt strangely protected by him. Unlike the other flocks in the area, her family's sheep were never harmed by the roving wolves of Line Mountain, as the wolf packs seemed to flee in fear whenever the hermit appeared. The townspeople gossiped that the odd hermit was in actuality a werewolf responsible for the recent attacks on their livestock.

This peaceful protection ended one night when a neighboring farmer, disturbed by a commotion, shot a large gray wolf near his barn. The wolf escaped into the woods, but a trail of blood was left behind. The next morning, the farmer followed the trail, which led directly to the hermit's cabin. There, he found the old man dead from a gunshot wound, confirming the villagers' darkest suspicions. Devastated, May was the only one who refused to believe her kind friend was a monster. Though he was gone, a large gray wolf soon took his place, watching over May and her flock from the same distance as the hermit once did. The attacks on her family's livestock ceased completely, while other farms continued to suffer. After May's death decades later, the old gray wolf was reportedly seen for the last time.💀