I’ve read many stories about shapeshifters and I enjoyed watching films related to those characters. However, I honestly do not believe in the existence of any of them. I personally believe that shapeshifters are no more than legends and fictions.
But in other aspect, it is quite interesting as all people around the world were talking about this hairy creature, the stories told were almost identical. The name might be different locally as you have written, but they all refer back to the same entity. It keeps people wondered if these beings were actually exist or not. However for me, unless I see one with my own eyes, I remain skeptical.
I think the stories spread quickly and people start to "see" them. For centuries, people saw angels and devils and witches also. More recently, people saw aliens. At least some of it is coming from peoples' culture and projecting what they expect to see.
You’ve got a point there, some people see what they expect and want to see. Alientology is an interesting topic, it is a worldwide phenomenon like the shapeshifters story. All of those stories about abduction, crop circles, UFO, USO and spaceship crash are fascinating. I believe we are not alone, human have discovered thousands of exoplanets in the past decades, so it is weird to think that we are the only civilization in the universe, but my opinion is they have yet to visit us, we will find them first in our solar system, most probably in microbial forms.