Something in the Tree Line: One Texas Ranch, Generations of History and the Dogman Stories That Inspired a Book

Most Texas ranch stories involve cattle, coyotes, fence repairs, and that one gate that somebody swears they closed but somehow ended up open again. But on one family ranch near Drop Creek the stories take a different turn.

We’re talking about enormous canine-like figures, creatures that reportedly stand on two legs, and encounters that have left one Texas author convinced there’s more going on in those woods than meets the eye.

Meet Ullrson Demori, author of *Welcome to Weird Sh*t, Texas: A True Account from Dogman Ranch*. His family has roots in the area dating back to the 1800s, and he’s spent most of his life on the ranch. It’s a place tied to generations of family memories, but according to Demori, some of those memories come with a few more questions than answers.

And no, this isn’t a story about a neighbor’s oversized German shepherd getting loose.

When the Family History Gets Hairy

Demori’s connection to the land goes back generations. This isn’t a property he stumbled across while looking for a spooky place to investigate. It’s home, and he says the unusual encounters began long before he ever considered putting them into a book.

Over the years, Demori says he’s seen large, canine-looking figures moving through the property, including one he describes as standing upright and walking on two legs. In one account, he says he fired at a figure that continued moving away. In another, he recalls seeing a massive shape across a field at dusk, when the fading light made an already unsettling sight even harder to make sense of.

Then there’s Clifford.

That’s the name Demori gives one particular figure he believes he encountered more than once. He describes Clifford as having a damaged nose and says he recognized the creature from an earlier encounter.

Now, most of us would be perfectly happy to identify a strange noise in the backyard as a raccoon and call it a night. Demori’s accounts, however, involve something considerably larger and, in his view, far less ordinary.

Not Exactly the Kind of Neighbor You Wave At

The creatures Demori describes don’t simply appear, run off, and disappear into the woods like a startled deer. At least, that’s not how he says these encounters unfolded.

He describes figures that watch from the tree line, move around people, and seem to pay attention to what’s happening around them. Some of their movements, he believes, appear deliberate rather than random.

That’s part of what makes his stories so unsettling. It’s one thing to think you spotted something strange in the woods. It’s another to believe that whatever you saw was watching you, too.

Of course, stories of upright canine creatures have been told in different parts of the country for years. The term Dogman is commonly used in cryptid folklore to describe a creature with canine features and a human-like, upright stance. Whether these reports describe an unknown animal, a misidentified sighting, or something else entirely remains an open question.

Demori shares his own interpretation through the encounters he recounts in his book. The experiences are his personal accounts, not independently verified evidence, but they’re the reason he decided to document what he says happened rather than let the stories fade away.

From the Ranch to the Pages

*Welcome to Weird Sh*t, Texas: A True Account from Dogman Ranch* follows Demori’s experiences growing up on the property, spending time away, and eventually returning to the land that had been part of his life for so long.

The book focuses on his reported encounters with Dogman-like creatures and the patterns he believes he’s noticed over the years. Rather than presenting the stories as campfire entertainment, Demori describes the book as a record of what he says he experienced firsthand.

The ranch’s exact location is being kept private, but its history stretches back generations. For Demori, these aren’t just tales about something strange in the woods. They’re connected to a place and a family history that long predate the book.

And while we can’t promise you’ll look at the tree line the same way after reading his accounts, we can offer one practical suggestion: If something enormous stands up on two legs in your pasture after dark, you might want to leave the investigating to somebody else.

Just saying.

Curious Enough to Read More?

If tales of Texas mysteries, unexplained encounters, and things that might be lurking just beyond the tree line are your kind of reading, Demori’s book may be worth a look.

** *Welcome to Weird Sh*t, Texas: A True Account from Dogman Ranch* by Ullrson Demori**

• Read the book: Find it on Amazon
• Want a signed copy? Limited signed copies are available at The Texas Patina in Justin. Check with the shop for current availability.
• Follow the author: Find Ullrson Demori on his official social media accounts under his author name.

One thing’s for sure: North Texas has plenty of stories worth telling. Some come with old photographs and dusty records. Others come with a few unexplained shadows, a whole lot of questions, and a name like Dogman Ranch.

And around here, we do like a good story. Just maybe read this one with the porch light on.