By Tracy Ouellette
SLN Staff
A few months back, when Korbin Wenzel was visiting his grandma, Sue Thome, when he noticed a copy of the East Troy newspaper with a photo and story about the Beast of Bray Road.
Being a very curious 4-year-old who likes monsters and scary things, Korbin asked his grandma what she was looking at.
“He was totally intrigued with the article,” Thome said in an email. “I found the old book by Linda Godfrey that I purchased back in 2003. He became obsessed; his mom even had to take him out to Bray Road where he thought he could spot him.”
His mom, Kelly Thome, said Korbin was intent on seeing the Beast for himself, so she loaded him up in the car and they took a drive to the area where it has often spotted, not far from their East Troy home.
“He really wanted to go out there, so I took him,” Kelly Thome said. “It was daylight, of course, and he was all disappointed because he didn’t see the Beast.”
Korbin has a theory as to why.
“The Beast, he’s very sneaky, so we can’t see him,” Korbin said. “The Beast wants me to take a picture of him, but we didn’t see him when we went there. I think he hides in the morning and maybe doesn’t come outside when we come.”
“He likes monsters and spooky stuff in books and pictures,” his mom said. “But when he’s out and about, he sometimes gets a little scared, but he still wanted to go.”
Trick or treat!
While Korbin may not have spotted the Beast in his travels, on Halloween people in East Troy caught a glimpse of something similar.
Korbin’s newfound fascination with the local legend prompted him to ask for a Beast of Bray Road costume for Halloween and grandma was only too happy to accommodate him.
“I found a mask and sewed up a fur outfit,” Sue Thome said.
“She’s pretty crafty,” Kelly Thome said. “He had the mask and whole suit and hands too, but it was hard, with the claws, for him to hold the trick-or-treat bag, he couldn’t grasp with them. So, he didn’t wear them much.”
Kelly said Korbin’s desire to have the costume didn’t wane over the ensuing months.
“I asked him several times before Halloween if he still wanted to be the Beast and he always did,” she said.
A couple of hours before trick or treat was set to start, Kelly said someone pointed out that people might not know who he was supposed to be so she created a Bray Road road sign for him to carry.
“Without the sign, he probably would have been just another monster,” Kelly said. “One woman said, ‘Oh, I get it!’ once she saw the sign.”
She said trick or treat was a huge success, complete with a large haul of candy.
“With everything going on, I think everyone was so happy,” Kelly said. “It was something you could do and socially distance and he would have been really disappointed if they had canceled it.”
Korbin even won the East Troy Area Chamber of Commerce’s Halloween costume contest this year.
“I saw this photo pop up on my Instagram feed on Halloween and instantly fell in love with this creative costume choice,” Chamber Executive Director Vanessa Lenz said. “Others must have felt the same way, as I had it sent to me via various channels over the weekend.
“We are always big fans of keeping it local, but this little boy gets bonus-points for going all out to bring the Beast of Bray Road legend to life,” Lenz continued.
Korbin, who is a 4K student in the East Troy School District, said he’s still on the lookout for the Beast.
“Once he gets something in his head, it sticks there for a while,” his mom said.
