turner – Loren Coleman poked at the animal remains with plastic bags protecting his hands. There was not much left of the carcass, but there were clues here and there.

“The skull is gone. The haunches and all the internal organs, too. The only fleshy parts left are the paws,” said the veteran cryptozoologist. “It’s got some extra claws that I find interesting.

“They’re sticking up like the horns of a devil. I’ll be looking into that.”

Coleman was the only expert on the scene Wednesday as the controversy over the unidentified animal reached levels bordering on hysteria.

His early opinion: That the beast was possibly a chow, a breed of dog, that had turned feral.

Media outlets from as far away as Germany contacted Coleman or the Sun Journal throughout the day, looking for more information on the creature found in Turner over the weekend.

The story was picked up by national news organizations and a host of Internet sites as word about the strange creature spread throughout the day.

It was the continuing topic of discussion in corner stores and coffee shops, as residents debated whether the animal is a mere dog or some mysterious, unknown species.

“It’s crazy. Everybody’s talking about it. We sold out of newspapers by 9 this morning,” said Debi Bodwell, who was at work at Schrep’s Corner Store in Turner. “Everybody is mad because the game wardens haven’t come out to take a look at it.”

It was near Bodwell’s backyard Saturday that the dead animal was discovered. She and her neighbors believe it had been hit by a car while chasing Bodwell’s cat.

“I didn’t know the story would be this big,” said Michelle O’Donnell, whose photographs of the animal were picked up by several organizations. “My phone has been ringing off the hook.”

O’Donnell, who came face-to-face with the animal a little over a week ago when it was still alive, said she had learned Wednesday that several neighbors were missing pet cats.

Later Wednesday night, O’Donnell said she had been interviewed by reporters all along the eastern seaboard, including CBS News out of New York. O’Donnell was interviewed in a live broadcast about her encounter with the beast. The strongest message she wanted to get out was to those people who still believe the mystery animal is a dog:

“It’s not,” she said.

Across the region Wednesday, people argued about just what was found in the woods off Route 4. A common household dog, said many of them. A goat-sheep hybrid, said others. Still others weighed in that the creature may have been a Tasmanian Devil, a dingo, a mutant wolf or coyote.

One person offered that the animal may have mutated after roaming near a toxic waste dump. At least one person suggested the creature may be extraterrestrial in origin. Others insist that there is an unknown breed of animal roaming the Maine woods from the southern part of the state to the northern woods.

In areas like Greene, Leeds, New Gloucester, Wales, Sabattus, Lewiston and Auburn, stories about a strange, dog-killing animal have persisted for more than a decade. It has been blamed for killing a Doberman, mauling a Rottweiler and spooking people from town to town.

Coleman is no stranger to the the rise of interest surrounding the sighting of an unfamiliar creature. He has spent this summer so far investigating reports of Bigfoot in South Dakota, and rumors of a Yeti-like creature in Malaysia. Considered the leading cryptozoologist in the world, his job is to lend his opinions and expertise in matters of such mystery.

“What we need,” he said, “is a DNA sample.”

Along the powerlines near Route 4 on Wednesday, Coleman had little to work with. The carcass had been picked clean by birds and other animals four days after it was killed.

“Here’s a shoulder blade. Something like this won’t have much DNA in it,” he said, poking at bones and body parts with a long ruler. “I imagine something dragged the skull away for later. In the woods, something dead like this gets eaten very quickly.”

Still, he came away with a paw and other body parts to be examined later. Another paw was taken by the Sun Journal, which was exploring the possibility of having DNA tests done on its own.

By Wednesday night, Coleman was not ready to weigh in on exactly what the creature in Turner might be. He was, however, developing some educated guesses.

“I think this dead animal is a chow or chow-mix, a relatively small dog, that was feral, which is unusual for that area,” he said. “Nevertheless, this interesting body probably has nothing to do with the local killings, and it is highly doubtful the real ‘mystery beast.'”

Sheila Rousseau of Auburn, who posted comments about the mystery animal in a blog, had her own theory: perhaps the animal that was killed in Turner over the weekend died as a result of a run-in with the real mystery creature, which still remains a phantom.

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