Runaway Hit
"The Legend" suddenly was a hot property. Record stores and radio stations across the country began calling the station, requesting copies. A large record company offered to record and promote the song. Steve Cook faced a decision: release "The Legend" on a national scale, or keep it local and manageable. He chose the latter. The music and lyrics were copyrighted by Mindstage Productions, Cook's marketing and advertising company.
Ron Rose Studios produced another thousand copies in August, and they sold out in a few weeks. The original price of the cassette tape was $3.00. A second shipment of one thousand copies arrived in September, and were nearly depleted by Christmas.
In the fall of '87 WTCM held an art contest, allowing amateur artists the opportunity to submit works depicting what they thought the dogman looked like. There were over 100 entries. Some were exceptional, but by far the most dramatic and chilling was this 11 by 17 charcoal sketch done by Brian Rosinski. The picture is even more remarkable when one considers Rosinski was just 23 years old at the time, and had never had a formal art lesson in his life. His winning drawing was the result of pure natural talent.
Since the song was never intended to be a marketable vehicle, Cook made the decision early that any profits derived from its sale would be donated to charity. The first recipient was Traverse City's Cherryland Humane Society, reflecting Cook's deep love of animals. In the fall of '87, Cook and WTCM donated $2,500.00 to the CHS, with which they drilled a new water well, and remodeled the adult dog facility with new floor tile and pens. Through the year 2000 “The Legend” sold over five thousand copies, resulting in significant additional donations to the CHS.
In 2001 Cook was introduced to Brian Manley, founder of AC Paw, a no-kill animal rescue program that specializes in lost causes. AC Paw takes in animals that have been injured, abused, or neglected; or that have simply used up their time in the traditional facilities and are about to be euthanized. They rehabilitate these animals through a unique foster care network, and finally place them in loving homes. Cook was so impressed with the program, he shifted donation of “Legend” profits to AC Paw.
But we're getting ahead of our story – because in 1992, there was Elkhorn.
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The Beast of Bray Road
Elkhorn, Wisconsin is a sleepy little town in the southeastern part of the state, just northwest of Chicago. In the early 90s, Linda Godfrey, a reporter for the local newspaper, began to hear tales of a strange creature that residents had been seeing for years. The reports came from credible sources, and sightings seemed to be concentrated along a country lane named Bray Road just outside of town. People told of seeing an upright-walking, hairy creature that resembled both a man and a dog.
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Like any good reporter, Godfrey was skeptical. She began writing tongue-in-cheek articles about the creature, which she dubbed, "The Beast of Bray Road." The more she dug into the story and talked to people however, she became convinced that something very odd was going on in Elkhorn. Some people refused to talk with her, or spoke anonymously, fearing ridicule; but it was clear they all believed that what they had seen was a living, breathing animal unlike anything they had seen before. Gradually, Godfrey's articles took on a more serious tone.
The Bray Road story soon became national news, and Godfrey became the spokesperson and lightning rod. Her years of research into werewolves and similar creatures made her an authority on the subject, and she was interviewed on scores of radio and television programs across the country. The Fox Network came to Elkhorn and produced a segment for the show "Sightings."
In the midst of this, someone sent Steve Cook a clipping from the Elkhorn newspaper, and he contacted Godfrey. She had never heard of "The Legend," and when Cook played the song over the phone, she gasped. "That could have been written about us," she said. "That's the Bray Road beast!"
Godfrey has since cast aside all doubt about the existence of such animals, and has literally built a career as an authority in the science of Cryptozoology. She wrote a remarkable book appropriately titled "The Beast of Bray Road," of which chapter seven is devoted entirely to the Legend of the Michigan Dogman. Since then, Godfrey completed a followup book entitled "Hunting the American Werewolf," as well as "Weird Wisconsin" and "Weird Michigan."
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The Legacy of "The Legend"
With each new sighting of the dogman, whether in Michigan or Wisconsin, interest in "The Legend" has grown. While it's never been formally distributed for airplay on other radio stations, it's been heard on scores of stations across the midwest, particularly in Detroit, Chicago, and Cleveland. It's also been heard on WSM in Nashville, as well as stations in New York and Florida. Many young adults grew up hearing it, and remember it as scaring them witless - in a fun way. Now they play it for their own kids. Hundreds of people with cottages or camps in Northern Michigan purchase copies of the song to "entertain" guests. The song is mostly heard around Halloween now, confirming Jack O'Malley's first impressions of its value. The station sells about 500 copies a year of "The Legend '97." The other versions of the song have been retired, but will be brought back for "The Legend Collectors Edition" CD - set for release in 2007.
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So, what keeps this simple poem over music such a huge hit? Steve Cook attributes several factors. "Obviously, the sightings stir people's imaginations, and there are a number of reports that come in to this day." But more importantly, Cook believes it is the bloodless nature of the song that makes it so appealing. "Stephen King wrote in Danse Macbre that the most fearful things are the monsters behind the door or under the bed that you don't see. That's how it is with 'The Legend.' The dogman is never portrayed as actively violent. He's never killed anything in a predatory way. When the song speaks about the farmer 'slumped over his plow with dog tracks all around,' it's left to the listener's imagination what happened. The same way with the four horse team that 'died of fright.' The dogman didn't kill them - the fear of him did."
Some people have been critical of the song's reference to a church door being clawed by a dogman in 1957, believing it suggests some sort of satanic connection. Nothing could be further from the truth, says Cook. "In that verse, the primary point is the dogman's size. To make him stand 7 foot 4, I needed a tall door. Who has taller doors than churches?"
Morning show host Jack O'Malley summed up the legacy of "The Legend" best when he said, "It's gone beyond just a song on the radio. It's become part of the local folklore; woven into the very fabric of this region." O'Malley speculates that decades from now, the story will still be passed down from generation to generation around campfires, lake cottages, and hunting cabins; but it won't be portrayed as just a legend; it will be very, very real.
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The Evolution of "The Legend"
In all, there have been five versions of the song recorded. The fifth and final version is now completed, and is the title track for the 20th Anniversary Collector's Edition CD/DVD set. It features a new music track, and an additional verse that will send shivers down the spine of listeners like no previous version has.
Here's a chronological list of all versions of "The Legend":
- The original - April 1987
- This version was produced in March of 1987, and aired between April 1 and June 15th of that year. The master tape of this version was destroyed, and the only copy remaining is a single fragile and brittle reel-to-reel tape. This tape is in secure storage, and will be brought out only to create a digital version for the Collector's Edition Cd in 2007.
- The Legend - Summer version
- This much improved version was produced after the Luther attack. It is markedly slower in tempo, with richer instrumentation, and a few minor changes in the lyrics. This version was used on the air from July of 1987 through October of 1996.
- The Legend II - The Sigma Story
- The Legend '97
- With the 10th anniversary of the song approaching, "Legend" fans were clamoring for an updated version of the song. In late 1996, Steve Cook wrote a final verse about the Luther attack, went back into the studio with a brand new digital keyboard, and produced what many think is the best version of the song to date. It was released on April 1, 1997, and has been played on the air from that date until the present. This was the first version offered on compact disc format.
- The Legend 2007
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