Aloha, Tide Riders. Happy holidays and Happy New Year! The Winter Weirdness run wraps up with one last moonlit paddle into the deep end—this time, straight into the black forests of Germany and the legend of the Morbach Monster. In this final Strange Tides episode of 2025, we trace a werewolf-shaped ripple that starts in the late 1700s with cursed soldiers and candlelit shrines, then rolls all the way into the Cold War, when U.S. Air Force patrols near Hahn Air Base swore they saw something big, fast, and very much not regulation lurking beyond the treeline.

We break down the sightings, the shrine flame that’s supposedly kept burning since 1770, and the moments when it went out—and weird stuff followed. From PTSD-haunted WWI soldiers leaving silver charms, to SS occult obsessions, to synth-era airmen radioing in “the Morbach Monster” like they’d just spotted Bigfoot on NATO property, it’s a story that refuses to stay buried. Along the way, we surf through every theory on the board: misidentified wildlife, mass hysteria, government experiments, cryptids, shapeshifters, interdimensional glitches, and yes—ancient curses that might still be on the clock.

So light a candle, keep one eye on the treeline, and join us for the final session of Winter Weirdness. Whether the Morbach Monster is a wolf, a weapon, a warning, or just a shadow that learned how to stick around, one thing’s for sure—this legend still howls when the moon’s right.

Links and Sources:

Schmidt, Johann Georg. Parish Records of Wittlich (1782) - https://www.landesarchiv-rlp.de/kirchenbuecher-wittlich

Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. *Sagen und Legenden des Hunsrücks* (1815) - https://archive.org/details/sagenundlegenden00grimuoft

Baring-Gould, Sabine. *The Book of Were-Wolves* (1865) - https://www.gutenberg.org/files/5321/5321-h/5321-h.htm

Flores, John (SSgt.) and Goodall, Randy (Sgt.). Unofficial Hahn Air Base Report (June 6, 1988) Declassified USAF memo (FOIA release, 2015) via MUFON archives - https://mufon.com/hahn-afb-1988-werewolf-incident

Rodriguez, Elias (Sgt.). Hahn Base Newsletter Sketch (October 31, 1987) Declassified USAF folklore study (1992) via National Archives (NARA) - https://www.archives.gov/research/military/air-force/hahn-base-logs

Rodriguez, Maria (Sgt., pseudonym). Munitions Handler Account (1988) - https://cryptidspot.com/the-morbach-monster-german-werewolf/

Hohmann, Maria. *Hunsrück Sagen* (1923) - https://www.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/item/ABC123DEF456

Hoffmann, Markus (Dr.). University of Mainz Interview (2019) - https://www.uni-mainz.de/publikationen/hoffmann-werewolf-myth-2019

McCarthy, Elaine (Dr.). "Base Folklore and Cold War Stress" (1992, declassified 2018) - https://www.archives.gov/research/foia/usaf-hahn-1992-study

Burgard, Matthias. *Das Monster von Morbach: Eine moderne Sage des Internetzeitalters* (2008) - https://www.waxmann.com/en/books?tx_p2waxmann_buchliste%5Baction%5D=show&tx_p2waxmann_buchliste%5Bcontroller%5D=Buch&tx_p2waxmann_buchliste%5Buid%5D=790

Coleman, Loren. *Bigfoot! The True Story of Apes in America* (2007) - https://www.amazon.com/Bigfoot-True-Story-Apes-America/dp/067179969X

Wittlich Tourism Board. "Werwolf Nacht Festival Records" (1995–2024) - https://www.wittlich-tourismus.de/werwolf-nacht

NABU (Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union). "Wolf Census Rhineland" (2025) - https://www.nabu.de/wolf-census-2025

Rhineland Folklore Society. "2019 Shrine Excavations" - https://www.rheinland-folklore.de/excavations-2019

OSS Files on Ahnenerbe Expeditions (Declassified 1946) - https://www.archives.gov/research/oss/ahnenerbe-hunsrueck

Stars and Stripes. "Werewolf Watch at Hahn" (1989) - https://www.stripes.com/search?q=hahn+werewolf+1989

Strobl, Karl Hans. *Der Schwarze Mann* series (1920s) - https://books.google.com/books?id=schwarze-mann-strobl

Rudigier, Hans-Wolfgang. 2018 Dashcam Analysis: - https://www.rudigier.de/morbach-dashcam

Müller, Lena. 2023 Tour Guide Anecdote - https://www.swr.de/wittlich-werwolf-2023