The legend of "Dog Boy" begins in Quitman, Arkansas, a quaint community in north-central Arkansas. Quitman is known as one of the oldest communities in the state and served as a trade route between Memphis, Tennessee, and Arkansas's state capital of Little Rock. Most people believe that Quitman's history as being one of Arkansas's oldest towns serves as the reason behind most of the town's unexplained occurrences.
One of the most famous Quitman urban legends is the legend of "Dog Boy." The house at 65 Mulberry Street in Quitman, Arkansas was built in the early 1890s. The home was the former residence of Benjamin Jackson, a soldier who served in World War II, and his family, but the most infamous owners of the home were the Bettis Family. Floyd and Alline Bettis, a well-liked couple in the community, were known as "good" and "down-to-earth" people according to the people who knew them well. They moved into the home and planned to start a family, and in 1954, the couple got their wish. Alline gave birth to a son, Gerald Floyd Bettis.
Gerald Floyd Bettis did not seem like he belonged to the Bettis couple. He was known around the community as "rude, cruel, and a brat," the complete opposite of the modest, happy home he was raised in. The neighbors noticed something very strange about Gerald.. his strange habit of collecting neighborhood dogs and cats. What's so strange about this? The neighbors claimed they could hear the howls and screams of the animals as Gerald was known to torture them in the home. His scary "hobby" earned him the name around the town of "Dog Boy."
Gerald continued growing his collection, and it was said that he continued to add on to his childhood home as he got older to make room for more animals. He stayed in the home with his parents, even into their elderly years. It was said that Gerald was around 300 pounds and 6'4" in his adult years, and he towered over his frail, elderly parents. Neighbors said that they would rarely see his parents, Floyd and Alline, and members of the community had heard from Gerald's parents that they spent all of their time locked up on the top floor of the home. This was not the only report of abuse and neglect from Gerald's parents. His mother had told members of the community that her and her husband had waited for Gerald to cook them food, and Gerald fed them whenever he felt like it. It seemed as though Gerald was growing old of torturing the neighborhood animals so he had decided to begin torturing and abusing his own parents.
Shortly after the reported abuse, Gerald's father Floyd passed away in 1981. Some people say that he had died from an illness and old age, but some people have heard that Floyd died from a broken neck after an "accidental" fall down the stairs in the home. Alline was removed from the home and placed in protective custody following the reports of abuse suffered at the hands of her son, Gerald.
Gerald Floyd Bettis was arrested in the late 1980s because of his mother Alline's accusation of abuse and the discovery of marijuana growing in the home. According to town records, Gerald died of an apparent overdose in May of 1988 at the age of 34. After the passing of his mother in 1995, the home was taken over by a woman named Reba Carter. His home would later be sold to Tony Weaver in an estate sale.