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The great white wolf, frequently referred to as and conflated with the waheela,[1] was a cryptid giant dog reported from Canada's Nahanni Valley and Alaska, described as an enormous, robustly-built white wolf. It was reported by Frank Graves, a friend of Ivan T. Sanderson.[2][3]
Based on Graves' sighting, Sanderson speculated that the animal could have been a living bear-dog, a group of prehistoric carnivores in the family Amphicyonidae.[4] In 2018, however, Graves stated that the animal had been a Mackenzie timber wolf (Canis lupus occidentalis), a large Canadian subspecies of grey wolf.[5]
Description[]
The great white wolf was described as much larger and more robust than a normal wolf, with a broader head, shorter legs (though its front legs are longer than its hind legs[4]), a thicker tail, and smaller ears. Its toes are heavily splayed, possibly giving it a flat-footed gait, like that of a bear. Its fur is very long and shaggy, and may be thick enough to protect it from bullets.[2] Its tracks are 8'' across.[4]
Indians of the Nahanni Valley described them as solitary scavengers which are "aloof from humans" (while also supposedly blaming them for a number of human deaths).[4] The Nahanni Valley Indians also said they were rarer than wolves and spent most of the year in the northern tundra regions, coming south in the winter. However, in the Nahanni Valley and "certain other valleys to the west", they remained all year round.[2]
Sightings[]
Undated[]
Native Americans of the Nahanni Valley, known as the "Valley of the Headless Men" due to a number of unexplained deaths of prospectors and travellers, whose bodies were found without their heads, claim that the great white wolf is responsible for these killings.[2]
Tex Zeigler, a cameraman and film director, gathered information on a great white wolf while visiting Alaska.[2] Either Zeigler or another of Sanderson's friends visiting Alaska also claimed to have seen "huge, solitary, white wolves deep in the arctic wilderness".[5]
~1940s or 1950s[]
Frank Graves relayed to Ivan T. Sanderson that, during the 1940's or 1950's, he had encountered this cryptid, which he called "the grand-daddy of all wolves", in the Nahanni Valley.[6] As recounted in Graves' letter to Sanderson:[5][7]
| “ | An enormous white thing that I at first thought must be a Polar bear sort of wandered out of the trees. It wasn’t a bear; it looked more like a gigantic dog. It stood straight up on rather long legs, more like a dog or a wolf. I had seen plenty of wolves and some of them are enormous enough up there; but this thing was twenty times the size of any wolf I had ever heard of. By a sort of reflex action I fired at it- and it was less than twenty paces away and only partly screened by little bushes. I hit it with two barrels of ball-shot. It didn’t even jump, but turned away from me and just walked back into the forest. I reloaded and fired again, and I know I hit it in the rear, but it just kept on walking.
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Notes and references[]
- ↑ Arment, Chad (2010) Varmints: Mystery Carnivores of North America, Coachwhip Publications, ISBN 978-1616460198
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Shuker, Karl P. N. (2016) Still In Search Of Prehistoric Survivors: The Creatures That Time Forgot?, Coachwhip Publications, ISBN 978-1616463908
- ↑ Legend of the Waheela (2020)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Eberhart, George M. (2002) Mysterious Creatures: A Guide to Cryptozoology, ABC-CLIO, Inc., ISBN 1576072835
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Interview With A Cryptid Hunter (2018)
- ↑ Sanderson, Ivan T., "The Dire Wolf", Pursuit, no. 28 (October 1974)
- ↑ Graves, Frank "Valley Without a Head," Ivan Terence Sanderson Papers; online at diglib.amphilsoc.org [Accessed 1 August 2020]