SAN ANTONIO – Converse is not the first place you think of when you hear about monster sightings.
But before it was heavily developed, the small town city of Converse was merely scrubland and arid planes.
Such lonesome country often holds secrets, and the area that is now Converse is no exception.
Here is the story of the converse werewolf by author Michael Mayes:
In the mid to late 1800s, a rancher moved on to a plot of land near what is now converse.
The man was a rugged sort who had grown up in true pioneer fashion.
Some versions of the tale suggest he was a military combat veteran, who moved to the area to put the horrors of the Civil War behind him.
This man had a son who was something of a disappointment to him.
The lad was frail and bookish and preferred studying to wrangling and hunting.
This frustrated the old rancher to no end, and he decided to make a man out of the boy.
The rancher decided to send the boy out hunting. He hoped that the boy would take a liking to the sport and that after making his first kill, would prefer the more manly activity over studying and reading.
The old man put a long rifle in the boy's hands and instructed him to go hunt and shoot a deer. The family needed meat.
He directed the boy to hunt a heavily wooded area along the creek called skull crossing.
The boy was reluctant at first and resisted, but one way or another, he was finally coerced into going.
The old rancher watched with high hopes as his son trekked away from the homestead towards the woods.
The old man would soon be disappointed, however, as his son returned a few hours later empty handed.
When chastised for returning without any game, the boy told his father that he left the area out of fear, as he had spotted, and been stalked by, a monster resembling a werewolf.
The father immediately dismissed this wild story and cajoled his son into returning to the area to finish his hunt. The boy did not want to go but his father left him no choice.
Trembling and fearful, the boy trudged back out to the ominously named area of skull crossing. Little did the old rancher know it would be the last time he would see his son alive.
Hours passed and darkness began to fall.
The old man, the story goes, began to worry and have second thoughts about sending his inexperienced son out into the woods alone.
While he hoped the reason the boy had not returned was that he had yet to make a kill, he began to have a sinking feeling deep in his gut that something was wrong.
Deciding not to wait any longer, the rancher rounded up some neighbors and they made their way toward the wooded area near skull crossing in search of the boy
What they found upon arriving there is the stuff of nightmares.
The search party happened upon a monstrous, hirsute creature hunched over the body of the rancher’s son.
The beast was in the act of ravenously devouring the boy when discovered. he men got off a few shots at the monster but it bounded away at lightning speed. The “werewolf,” as it was dubbed, was described as standing between 8-9 feet tall and covered in dark hair or fur.
Members of the search party described it as being some kind of unholy combination between a wolf and a man.
The old rancher was, understandably, devastated by the death of his boy. he blamed himself for not believing his son’s story and believed he sent him to his doom by forcing him to return to skull crossing to complete his hunt.
Some versions of the tale say that the rancher died shortly thereafter. Some versions say he became reclusive, refused to eat, and wasted away.
Others say that he committed suicide by setting fire to his own home and burned up. Either way, it was a sad end all the way around.
The story of the Converse Werewolf is slowly fading away. Did a young boy really die? Did a grief-struck and guilt-ridden father join his son in death soon after? The truth has been buried along with the early residents of Bexar County, and maybe it’s best that it stays there.
This rendition of the Converse werewolf was written by author Michael Mayes of Texas Cryptid Hunter.