The incident began when a fur trapper name Gabriel Allens stumbled into Hayward with a deep gash on his arm. According to the town doctor, Jonathan Wilkes, who treated Allens, the fur trapper spoke of "a soul who wandered like a man possessed, his skin as gray as stone, his eyes fixed in a lifeless stare". Allens then tried to "approach the wretch" then the wretch "let out a hideous moan and bit the trapper on his right forearm. Little is known about how the infestation spread from this first victim to the other members of the town.