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00:00:00It was a quiet night for two lovers looking to get away.
00:00:26A full moon had risen, giving light to their hideaway on a deserted back road.
00:00:33They were all alone, just like they wanted it.
00:00:37But before these enamored youngsters got too ahead of themselves, something interrupted their night.
00:00:42Despite her wishes, he gets out to see what could have made the sound, leaving her alone in the car.
00:00:59As the minutes tick slowly by, she begins to wonder what could be keeping him for so long.
00:01:04As she turned around to see what had happened, she could hear the steps of whatever it was approaching.
00:01:23As it stepped into the light, she couldn't believe the horror she saw there.
00:01:27But then, looking down, she saw the worst thing of all.
00:01:34For as long as there have been humans, there have been stories.
00:01:56Stories meant to make sense of the chaos of the world and give meaning to some of its worst elements.
00:02:08Gods and heroes arise from these tales, giving character to the weather, the trees, and even our deepest desires.
00:02:18Few of these stories persist to this day, science having replaced the old gods.
00:02:29Yet even still, anomalies bleed through the fabric of our modern narratives.
00:02:36Bigfoot, Dogman, the Chupacabra, these creatures that haunt our nightmares come and go as they please,
00:02:44seemingly with no explanation as either flesh and blood, or something else.
00:02:56There are few stories that capture the imagination, like that of the Goatman.
00:03:02With the upper body of a man and the head of a goat,
00:03:06the creature stalks the halls of American folklore, lurking on dark back roads,
00:03:11waiting to attack hapless victims who venture down lovers' lanes.
00:03:18So prolific are his deeds,
00:03:21that the Goatman has been seen in virtually every state,
00:03:25waiting for his chance to strike from his hiding place,
00:03:28leaving a bloody mess in his wake.
00:03:32The half-man, half-goat beast has many alleged origin stories,
00:03:40but none more encompassing than that of the Goatman of Prince George's County, Maryland.
00:03:46The Maryland Goatman is a figure that was first discovered, quote-unquote, in the 1970s,
00:03:55I want to say 1971, when a reporter ran across a paper that had been filed with the Maryland Folklore Archive
00:04:04that talked about a Goatman figure that occupied an area around Prince's County, Maryland.
00:04:12You know, the different iterations of the Goatman itself, its origins and so forth,
00:04:22were pretty varied, but essentially you had a Goatman in that area
00:04:26that had been blamed for the death and dismemberment of dogs,
00:04:31would often terrorize couples that had been parked in a lover's lane type area,
00:04:37and over time, different origin stories were proposed for this creature.
00:04:45The most popular revolves around a place known as the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center,
00:04:50which is a facility about 10 miles from Fletchertown Road,
00:04:53where allegedly they do different types of experimentation and development
00:04:58of new types of livestock breeds, different types of cows and pigs and so forth.
00:05:03And so there's a story that there was a mad scientist there
00:05:05who was either experimenting with combining human and goat DNA,
00:05:10or there was some type of horrible accident
00:05:13to which this scientist actually evolved into one of these goat-like creatures.
00:05:19The Maryland Goatman is an interesting case
00:05:23because it's one of those Goatman urban legend stories
00:05:27that has a variety of explanations for it.
00:05:30You know, most of these Goatman stories have some kind of myth
00:05:33that seems to be at the root of them,
00:05:36trying to explain where they came from and how they got started.
00:05:38And the Maryland Goatman is one that has different explanations
00:05:41depending on who you ask and what the version of the story is.
00:05:45And that, to me, is what sticks out about this case the most
00:05:47because you have the version where it was a circus sideshow attraction
00:05:51that escaped from its confinement.
00:05:53In some versions, after lightning struck its cage,
00:05:55there's the theory that it could be the result of a goat farmer
00:05:59crossbreeding with one of his own goats.
00:06:04The really interesting version to me is that
00:06:07a Dr. Stephen Fletcher was experimenting with the DNA
00:06:11of an assistant along with goats,
00:06:15and there was a terrible accident that caused him to be transformed
00:06:20into this human-goat hybrid creature
00:06:24that has since terrorized the locals
00:06:27around Feltzville and Bowie, Maryland.
00:06:31The interesting thing about this one is that the USDA
00:06:34actually had to make a public statement saying
00:06:36this is factually not true
00:06:38because the rumors had spread so far
00:06:40and the story had picked up so much traction.
00:06:42Though clouded in various science fiction origin stories,
00:06:52to residents of Bowie,
00:06:54the Maryland Goatman was very real.
00:06:57Just one week following the initial article
00:07:00breaking the story of the Goatman,
00:07:02three teens heard strange noises
00:07:04coming from the woods near their homes.
00:07:07One even reported seeing the animal,
00:07:09describing it as six feet tall,
00:07:12covered in hair,
00:07:14and standing on two legs.
00:07:16It made a high-pitched sound.
00:07:19The following morning,
00:07:21they discovered their puppy was missing.
00:07:24After searching,
00:07:25they found her body near some railroad tracks
00:07:28with the head laying a few yards away.
00:07:34The story spread like wildfire,
00:07:36and soon teens all over Prince George's County
00:07:40were traveling to Fletchertown Road
00:07:42in an attempt to have an encounter
00:07:44with the Goatman of Bowie.
00:07:47So great was the pandemonium throughout the county.
00:07:51The story began to grow outside the state,
00:07:54and soon everyone knew of the Maryland Goatman.
00:07:58As the story spread,
00:08:00people attributed more and more incidents
00:08:02to the goat-like entity.
00:08:04There's a young couple in Maryland
00:08:06who were recently married,
00:08:08and they were driving home late one night,
00:08:10and they had a flat tire.
00:08:13So the husband steps out,
00:08:16tells the wife,
00:08:17please wait here,
00:08:18I'm just going to go get a tire,
00:08:19get help,
00:08:19I'll be right back.
00:08:21Hours go by,
00:08:23and nothing.
00:08:25Next thing you know,
00:08:26she leans out of the window
00:08:28and sees a seven-foot-tall goat man
00:08:30standing on the car,
00:08:31bent over,
00:08:32and staring down into the window.
00:08:35She rolls up the window,
00:08:36terrified,
00:08:36starts screaming,
00:08:37and just eventually,
00:08:39the goat man walks away.
00:08:41She passes out,
00:08:42out of exhaustion and fear.
00:08:45Wakes up the next morning,
00:08:46still no husband,
00:08:47but it's daylight out,
00:08:48so she decides that she's going to go for a walk
00:08:50and see if she can track down her husband.
00:08:53She got about 40 feet away from the car
00:08:55and found the remains of her husband.
00:08:58Head had been completely ripped off.
00:09:01Most of the limbs were severely mingled.
00:09:05I've tried really, really hard
00:09:06to dig up irrefutable proof on this,
00:09:10yet to be able to find any actual police reports on this.
00:09:14And this is a troublesome part
00:09:15when it comes to goat man,
00:09:16is there's a lot of stories,
00:09:19but they're usually told from person to person.
00:09:23There's not really a whole lot of actual documentation on it.
00:09:26The presence of goat man's stories,
00:09:29like the one previously shared,
00:09:32do not exist in a vacuum.
00:09:35Commonly referred to as lover's lane stories,
00:09:38these tales take place in areas
00:09:41where people go to be intimate with each other
00:09:44in a semi-public setting,
00:09:46and there is certainly no shortage of them.
00:09:49I think it's usually some remote parking spot
00:09:52on the outskirts of town,
00:09:55down by the railroad tracks under the bridge,
00:09:57someplace where they can have
00:09:58a limited amount of privacy.
00:10:00Also, where, of course,
00:10:01people go to drink and tell stories.
00:10:03The most famous legends
00:10:08of the size of the goat man legend
00:10:09is the dead boyfriend legend,
00:10:12where, of course,
00:10:13the teenage couple are, you know,
00:10:17getting intimate in a car.
00:10:19There's a noise.
00:10:19The boyfriend goes out to investigate,
00:10:22and he doesn't come back.
00:10:24The girlfriend goes to check what happened,
00:10:26and he's usually hung from a tree limb above the car.
00:10:30And then, of course,
00:10:30there's the hook man legend
00:10:32as the other famous Lover's Lane legend.
00:10:35A couple parked out on a Lover's Lane.
00:10:37The radio is still on,
00:10:39and there's a special bulletin
00:10:42that's made about an escaped convict
00:10:44who is menacing the neighborhood
00:10:46in which this couple finds themselves.
00:10:48And about the same time,
00:10:51there's a loud scratching
00:10:52that's heard on the side of the vehicle.
00:10:56Typically, if the guy's driving,
00:10:59then the gal is in the other seat,
00:11:01and it's on her side of the car.
00:11:03And some detail that comes through on the radio
00:11:05is that the escaped convict in question
00:11:07has one hook for a hand.
00:11:10And this is all too much for both of them.
00:11:12They freak out and drive away
00:11:14at a fast rate of speed.
00:11:16Getting back to her home
00:11:18where she's safely deposited
00:11:21back in the friendly confines,
00:11:23but assuming that he's at least somewhat of a gentleman,
00:11:26he comes around to the other side of the car
00:11:28to open it for her.
00:11:29And there, hanging on the handle of the car door
00:11:32is a disembodied hook.
00:11:34So making it that the sound that they heard
00:11:39was evidently this escaped convict
00:11:41scratching at the car trying to get in.
00:11:44I think we have to consider the possibility
00:11:46that we sometimes have kind of a confluence
00:11:49of different types of urban legends
00:11:51or campfire tales that come together,
00:11:53particularly in rural areas,
00:11:56and particularly in these remote lovers lane areas
00:11:58where teenagers go and park at night,
00:12:00where they like to kind of spook each other
00:12:02and tell stories.
00:12:03So at some point, you know,
00:12:05the goat man and the serial killer, the hook,
00:12:08you know, those ideas kind of converged.
00:12:12Folklorists actually call him a lover's lane monster
00:12:15because his legends exist almost exclusively
00:12:18in places like this where teenagers
00:12:20or someone of the like gather.
00:12:25There's a lot of sightings that happen
00:12:27in locations that aren't like this
00:12:29where there's no goat man legend,
00:12:31but people say they see creatures like it.
00:12:34So I think a lot of the locations
00:12:36where he's near railroad tracks or bridges
00:12:39could just be the more sensational
00:12:42folklorish type stories.
00:12:45The fact that goat man's associated
00:12:46with lovers lane areas, I think,
00:12:49speaks to his sort of folkloric role
00:12:53as a kind of agent of judgment.
00:12:55And you see this playing out in a variety of ways,
00:13:00like in the case of the poplick monster
00:13:02and the trestle.
00:13:04He's an agent of judgment in the sense
00:13:06that he's punishing you for bad decision making, right?
00:13:10It's a bad idea to climb out
00:13:13on this active train trestle
00:13:14when you could get run down by a freight train
00:13:18that you can't possibly escape.
00:13:19Well, in the case of a lover's lane,
00:13:32it's not quite the same thing,
00:13:34but you are very much capable
00:13:36of poor decision making out there
00:13:39in lover's lane.
00:13:40Maybe a couple drinks in
00:13:42and you're out there with your loved one
00:13:46and, you know, one thing leads to another.
00:13:48And here comes the goat man
00:13:50to kind of be that agent of judgment
00:13:52to say, hey, kids, you know, break it up
00:13:55unless you want some unintended consequences
00:13:58to deal with.
00:14:00Here, let me pound on your car hood
00:14:02to make sure that you get out of here in time.
00:14:04So I think he does play that function.
00:14:08If a person is entertaining goat man
00:14:10as sort of an actual flesh and blood cryptid,
00:14:13then there's also the added dimension
00:14:15that most lover's lanes are remote.
00:14:18You're going out there
00:14:19because you don't want to be bothered
00:14:20in the first place.
00:14:22So where are you going to seek out?
00:14:23Well, it's not going to be a populated area.
00:14:25It's going to be a lover's lane,
00:14:27a darkened area
00:14:28and a place near the woods
00:14:31that you hope is not detectable.
00:14:34And those are often those liminal areas
00:14:36that are also associated
00:14:38with all manner of cryptid sightings.
00:14:45The goat man is not always relegated
00:14:48to the lover's lane, however.
00:14:51Traveling from the East Coast,
00:14:52another goat man legend emerges,
00:14:55this time in the sun-baked hills of California.
00:14:58So the billiwack ranch is a former dairy farm
00:15:07that's located in Santa Paula, California.
00:15:10It is home to supposedly the billiwack monster,
00:15:14a humanoid-looking creature
00:15:16that has goat man-like features,
00:15:19giant horns,
00:15:20and is reported to even carry around a club.
00:15:22It's violent in nature,
00:15:24tends to attack people that come across it,
00:15:27and the cryptid story of this
00:15:30is a little bit more mysterious
00:15:31than what you typically get
00:15:32in most original cryptid stories.
00:15:35It has numerous parallels
00:15:37to the goat man of Maryland.
00:15:41And what I mean is that
00:15:43Ventura, California
00:15:45is the basic area involving billiwack.
00:15:49There's a billiwack farms
00:15:50that became established at that time
00:15:53that it wasn't immediately evident,
00:15:55but as time elapsed
00:15:57and people sort of dug into the history
00:15:59of this location, that facility,
00:16:01there appeared to have been possible CIA ties
00:16:05to at least the person
00:16:07who was instrumental in founding the farm site.
00:16:11So August Rubel is an interesting guy.
00:16:13He's a pretty smart guy.
00:16:15One of the things that comes up about him pretty often
00:16:17is that he's from Europe.
00:16:19He's Swiss.
00:16:20You know, so this is a guy
00:16:22that majored in chemical engineering.
00:16:24This is something that's going to come up
00:16:25in the billiwack monster story,
00:16:27but he also has apparent ties to the OSS,
00:16:31which is a precursor to the CIA.
00:16:34It stands for the Office of Strategic Services.
00:16:36So this is an interesting guy.
00:16:38He has government ties,
00:16:40chemical engineering ties,
00:16:41and now he's associated with
00:16:43what is supposedly a humanoid monster
00:16:46that roamed around his ranch.
00:16:51Now the original story involves August Rubel
00:16:54and with his chemical engineering background
00:16:57was trying to manufacture a super soldier
00:16:59using goat DNA
00:17:01and building an undestructible force
00:17:04that can be utilized in World War II.
00:17:08That's story A.
00:17:10Story B is that Rubel
00:17:12was more of almost like a James Bond type of character
00:17:15where he went off during World War II
00:17:18and rounded up Nazi scientists
00:17:20that Hitler was utilizing
00:17:21to build his own version of a super soldier.
00:17:25And he rounded those guys up,
00:17:27brought them back to Santa Paula
00:17:28to the billiwack ranch
00:17:30and utilized their knowledge
00:17:32to build the billiwack monster.
00:17:35And at some point the monster escaped,
00:17:40killing many of the scientists
00:17:42and now runs free in the Aliso Canyon
00:17:46near the billiwack ranch.
00:17:53And so what you had were a couple scattered tales
00:17:56of a goat man type figure being seen
00:17:59in one case by hikers
00:18:01who felt that they were being trailed
00:18:02by a half-man, half-goat figure.
00:18:06And so that traces back to this idea
00:18:09of a kind of a pseudo-scientific origin
00:18:13for the goat man
00:18:14that is in that regard
00:18:15that I see the parallels
00:18:17between Ventura, California, and Maryland
00:18:20as far as origins go.
00:18:22It's one of the oldest ones
00:18:26that I've seen reported in newspapers.
00:18:27I think it goes back to the 50s.
00:18:30A lot of the goat man stories
00:18:31cropped up in the 70s,
00:18:33at least in papers.
00:18:34They may have been talked about by locals
00:18:36many, many, many decades before that.
00:18:39The oldest sighting I could find
00:18:40dates back to 1912.
00:18:42Seen by a herd of cowboys
00:18:45wandering the Aliso Canyon area,
00:18:48there wasn't much more to it.
00:18:49But finding the actual cited sources
00:18:52to that story
00:18:54were a little tough to find.
00:18:55I couldn't really do it.
00:18:56It was a lot of just sort of
00:18:57copy and paste, copy and paste,
00:18:59which is pretty common in this era
00:19:01with the internet.
00:19:03So that would actually predate
00:19:05August Rubell even purchasing
00:19:07the Billiwack Ranch,
00:19:09setting up his dairy farm infrastructure.
00:19:12And that would actually more suggest
00:19:14to the Billiwack Monster
00:19:15predating any of these
00:19:17World War II ties.
00:19:19Both the story of the goat man of Bowie
00:19:25and the beast of Billiwack
00:19:27feature genetic experimentation
00:19:29as explanations for their origins.
00:19:33But few people would give
00:19:34that theory any merit.
00:19:36As far as these stories
00:19:38about genetic experimentation
00:19:40at an agricultural center
00:19:41and, you know,
00:19:43half man, half goat being created,
00:19:44my first question
00:19:46as a critical thinker
00:19:47would be, why?
00:19:48You know, what would be
00:19:49the advantage of creating
00:19:51a half man, half goat?
00:19:52And I think it almost,
00:19:53it seems to draw off
00:19:55of a very famous story
00:19:57called The Island of Dr. Moreau
00:19:58by H.G. Wells,
00:20:00the great sci-fi writer.
00:20:01And in that particular story,
00:20:03there's a mad scientist
00:20:04on an island,
00:20:04and he's experimenting
00:20:05with splicing human genes
00:20:07with animal genes.
00:20:08And, in fact,
00:20:09one of the creatures
00:20:10was a half man, half goat.
00:20:12So I think that idea,
00:20:13that seed was kind of planted
00:20:15deep in our unconscious minds.
00:20:17And, you know,
00:20:17that may have had
00:20:18an influence as well.
00:20:22Genetic experimentation
00:20:23is something I don't
00:20:24know enough about
00:20:25to say that, yeah,
00:20:27that makes sense to me.
00:20:28I do know,
00:20:29just very loosely
00:20:30and anecdotally,
00:20:31that scientists
00:20:32have attempted to cross
00:20:33human and primate DNA,
00:20:35and that they were not
00:20:36successful in doing so.
00:20:37So if they were somehow
00:20:39able to cross goat
00:20:40and human DNA,
00:20:42that would speak to a level
00:20:43of technological sophistication
00:20:45that is beyond me,
00:20:48certainly,
00:20:48and I think is beyond
00:20:49our present scientific capability.
00:20:53So I think that concept
00:20:54of combining humans
00:20:56with other animals
00:20:57through scientific experimentation
00:20:58is very interesting to people.
00:21:00It's got kind of this
00:21:00cool sci-fi quality.
00:21:03But in terms of how genetics
00:21:04actually works
00:21:05and ultimately motivates
00:21:07and why someone
00:21:09would do something like that,
00:21:11I think it's a big problem.
00:21:14Although no power-crazed scientist
00:21:16may have created
00:21:17a human goat chimera,
00:21:20there are other versions
00:21:21of the goat man
00:21:22that may offer
00:21:23different explanations
00:21:24for the mysterious
00:21:25creature's origins.
00:21:27Good evening, Fort Worth.
00:21:29We interrupt our regular programming
00:21:31to bring you an extraordinary report
00:21:33from Lake Worth.
00:21:34In an unprecedented event last night
00:21:36on July 10, 1969,
00:21:39several residents claim
00:21:40to have witnessed a creature
00:21:41dubbed the Lake Worth monster.
00:21:43Reports describe the beast
00:21:45as a half-man, half-goat hybrid,
00:21:47standing over seven feet tall
00:21:49with fur, scales, and large horns.
00:21:52Witnesses, including teenagers
00:21:53who were at the lake,
00:21:54say the monster
00:21:55leaped onto a car,
00:21:56denning its roof
00:21:57before vanishing
00:21:58into the dark.
00:22:01The original encounter
00:22:03with the Lake Worth goat man
00:22:05occurred in July of 1969
00:22:07when two couples
00:22:08were parked
00:22:08at the Greer Island
00:22:10Nature Center one night,
00:22:11and they claimed
00:22:11that this creature
00:22:12actually jumped out of a tree
00:22:13onto the roof of their car,
00:22:15attempted to abduct
00:22:16one of the women,
00:22:17and ended up scratching their car.
00:22:19And they were so terrified
00:22:20that they immediately
00:22:21drove to the sheriff's office
00:22:22and reported their encounter.
00:22:24The next night,
00:22:25there were 40 people
00:22:27out searching for the monster.
00:22:29And allegedly,
00:22:31in front of about 30
00:22:32or 40 eyewitnesses,
00:22:33this creature appeared
00:22:34on a bluff,
00:22:35picked up a spare tire,
00:22:36and hurled it at the crowd,
00:22:37and it bounced about 500 feet.
00:22:40Now, what's interesting
00:22:41is that the creature
00:22:42was described
00:22:42as being a white color.
00:22:44But the initial description,
00:22:46the two couples said
00:22:47that it was a scaly goat man,
00:22:49whatever that means.
00:22:50And so, ultimately,
00:22:51it became known
00:22:52as the goat man.
00:22:53But then later on,
00:22:54people said it had more
00:22:55of like a gorilla-like look to it.
00:22:57Strange thing
00:22:58about the tire-throwing incident
00:22:59with regard to the Lake Worth monster
00:23:01is the fact
00:23:02that it evidently happened
00:23:04with so many eyewitnesses involved.
00:23:07Between 40 and 50 people,
00:23:09evidently,
00:23:10were at the rim of this pit.
00:23:12But all the stories
00:23:14in the paper
00:23:15and in Clark's book
00:23:16report that the creature
00:23:17threw this tire
00:23:19500 feet
00:23:21at a rate of speed
00:23:23that caused everyone
00:23:25to immediately scatter
00:23:26and leave the vicinity
00:23:27because they would have been killed
00:23:29had it hit them.
00:23:32With such a dramatic entrance
00:23:34for the Lake Worth goat man
00:23:36and with so many witnesses,
00:23:38law enforcement felt pressure
00:23:40to provide answers.
00:23:41When law enforcement's brought
00:23:47into the picture,
00:23:48which is relatively right away,
00:23:50I mean,
00:23:51the first stories
00:23:52that were filed
00:23:53that appeared
00:23:54in the local newspaper
00:23:55were within a couple days
00:23:57of each other.
00:24:05The law enforcement
00:24:06took the stance
00:24:08that it was
00:24:08that it was an escaped bobcat,
00:24:11that a bobcat
00:24:11had been released
00:24:12into the wild
00:24:13by their owner
00:24:14and had taken up residence
00:24:16in the Greer Island area
00:24:17and was in the habit
00:24:20of going up into trees
00:24:22and dropping down
00:24:23onto unassuming people,
00:24:25especially seemed
00:24:26to like landing on cars
00:24:27for whatever reason
00:24:28and then scratching them up.
00:24:30That was their explanation
00:24:31to many of these sightings.
00:24:33The newspapers
00:24:36didn't seem interested
00:24:37in following up
00:24:39on the story
00:24:39beyond the incredible
00:24:41tire-throwing incident
00:24:42and many people
00:24:43were content
00:24:44to explain it all away
00:24:45as the work of pranksters.
00:24:48And that would have been
00:24:49the end
00:24:49of the Lake Worth monster saga
00:24:51if it weren't
00:24:53for Sally Ann Clark.
00:24:55After reading
00:24:56about the incidents
00:24:57in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
00:24:59Clark made her way
00:25:00to Greer Island
00:25:01to investigate
00:25:02for herself.
00:25:04Armed with a camera
00:25:05and a cassette tape recorder,
00:25:07Clark proceeded
00:25:08to interview dozens
00:25:09of witnesses
00:25:10who claimed
00:25:10to have encountered
00:25:11the beast.
00:25:13She then compiled
00:25:14the information
00:25:15along with her own observations
00:25:17into a self-published book
00:25:19titled
00:25:20The Lake Worth Monster
00:25:21of Greer Island,
00:25:22Fort Worth, Texas,
00:25:24which was released
00:25:25in September 1969.
00:25:30All I can tell you
00:25:31about Sally Ann Clark
00:25:32is what she reveals
00:25:33in her book.
00:25:35And so she is
00:25:37a self-described
00:25:38private investigator
00:25:39and freelance writer.
00:25:42And what else she was doing
00:25:43beyond that,
00:25:44I have no idea.
00:25:46But that is the angle
00:25:48that she takes
00:25:48in her book.
00:25:49And it's a very
00:25:50interesting read.
00:25:51she goes around
00:25:53in the book
00:25:54describing
00:25:55her sort of
00:25:57random driving
00:25:58from one location
00:25:59to another,
00:26:00especially in the vicinity
00:26:01of Greer Island,
00:26:03collecting reports
00:26:04from individuals,
00:26:05some of which are
00:26:06extremely dramatic stories.
00:26:08In one case,
00:26:08she,
00:26:09in the flow of the book,
00:26:10talks about meeting
00:26:11this young
00:26:12eight,
00:26:13nine-year-old boy
00:26:14on Greer Island,
00:26:16getting a report
00:26:16from him
00:26:17that the
00:26:18Lake Worth monster
00:26:19had killed
00:26:20his cousin.
00:26:22In detail,
00:26:23she goes into
00:26:23this story
00:26:24about the
00:26:25Lake Worth monster
00:26:26swinging through
00:26:27the trees
00:26:28with his cousin
00:26:29in his arms
00:26:30and then
00:26:30throwing them,
00:26:32throwing his cousin
00:26:32at a car,
00:26:33effectively killing him.
00:26:34and that same boy
00:26:37that she had talked
00:26:38to falls asleep
00:26:39on a rock.
00:26:40She wonders,
00:26:40what do I do
00:26:41with this kid
00:26:42because it's not
00:26:42her child?
00:26:44And that as she's
00:26:45wondering what to do,
00:26:46she hears the sounds
00:26:46of the Lake Worth monster
00:26:48approaching her.
00:26:49She climbs up
00:26:50in a tree
00:26:50and watches
00:26:51as the Lake Worth monster
00:26:54approaches this boy
00:26:55who's still asleep
00:26:56and it scratches
00:26:57the child's cheek
00:26:58and then wakes up,
00:27:01sees the monster
00:27:02and calls out
00:27:04to Sally Ann
00:27:05who's up in the tree,
00:27:07lady, lady,
00:27:08I'm seeing the monster
00:27:09that I told you about.
00:27:11And then after
00:27:12that whole incident
00:27:13wraps up,
00:27:14she goes to the diner
00:27:15and has a piece of pie.
00:27:17It's very bizarre
00:27:18and to this day
00:27:20I don't really know
00:27:21how to take
00:27:22that bit of writing
00:27:23because she presents
00:27:25it as factual,
00:27:27take it or leave it,
00:27:28and it's sort of
00:27:29gonzo journalism
00:27:31before that,
00:27:32that phrase
00:27:33was even coined,
00:27:34I think.
00:27:35After Sally Ann Clark's
00:27:37venture into the case,
00:27:38another notable researcher
00:27:40dug into the monster
00:27:41of Lake Worth's story,
00:27:43Ken Gerhardt.
00:27:44I first investigated
00:27:45the Lake Worth goat man
00:27:46about 20 years ago,
00:27:482004,
00:27:49along with another researcher
00:27:50named Nick Redfern.
00:27:52We went to the Greer Island
00:27:53Nature Center,
00:27:54we found the bluff,
00:27:56the area where it supposedly
00:27:57threw a tire
00:27:58at this crowd of people,
00:27:59and then we went on
00:28:00onto Greer Island itself,
00:28:01which was said to be
00:28:02the haunt of this goat man
00:28:04creature.
00:28:05And we did find
00:28:06a weird teepee-like structure,
00:28:09we found a large impression
00:28:10on the ground nearby
00:28:11where something had been
00:28:12laying down,
00:28:12and we also found
00:28:13the remains of a fish
00:28:14that had been half eaten.
00:28:16So since that time,
00:28:17I've been to that particular
00:28:18location a few different times,
00:28:20looked around,
00:28:21I haven't found
00:28:22any significant evidence,
00:28:23and in fact,
00:28:25I spoke to some
00:28:26of the park rangers there
00:28:27and asked them
00:28:28about the monster legend,
00:28:29and they kind of
00:28:30tried to brush it off
00:28:31and say that it was
00:28:31probably a hoax,
00:28:33maybe someone dressed up
00:28:34in a costume and so forth,
00:28:35but, you know,
00:28:36it's worth noting
00:28:36that there were a lot
00:28:37of people that claimed
00:28:38to have seen this creature.
00:28:39But the Lake Worth monster
00:28:41is very,
00:28:42is described always
00:28:43in very aggressive terms.
00:28:45Beating people
00:28:46against the side
00:28:46of their cars,
00:28:48a one ex-military person
00:28:50that Clark allegedly spoke to
00:28:53who made a big deal
00:28:54out of the fact
00:28:55that he had purchased
00:28:57this convertible,
00:28:58he was very proud of it,
00:29:00he mentions it
00:29:00a number of times,
00:29:01was driving around
00:29:02out on Greer Island
00:29:03before all these
00:29:04other reports hit,
00:29:05and he saw the monster
00:29:07bludgeoning this guy
00:29:09against the side
00:29:10of his car,
00:29:11almost apparently to death.
00:29:13And he said,
00:29:14I had far too much
00:29:16to drink at the time,
00:29:17but I sobered up
00:29:17on my way back to town
00:29:19because I was going 180,
00:29:20putting this car to it,
00:29:22you know,
00:29:22taking it to its limits.
00:29:39I myself have done
00:29:43extensive research
00:29:44into the story
00:29:45of the Lake Worth monster,
00:29:46even finding witnesses
00:29:48who are only just now
00:29:49talking about their experiences.
00:29:52My own book,
00:29:53The Lake Worth Monster,
00:29:55The True Story
00:29:56of the Greer Island Goatman,
00:29:58delves both into
00:29:59the history of the case
00:30:00and the legacy
00:30:01it has built
00:30:02around my hometown
00:30:03of Fort Worth.
00:30:04But the answers
00:30:06as to what the creature
00:30:07is or was
00:30:09remains a mystery.
00:30:12One theory, however,
00:30:14presents itself
00:30:14most prominently
00:30:15in another encounter
00:30:17with the monster.
00:30:18The last alleged sighting
00:30:20occurred in November
00:30:21of 1969
00:30:22when a guy named
00:30:23Charles Buchanan
00:30:24was parked
00:30:25alongside Lake Worth
00:30:26and he claimed
00:30:27the creature climbed up
00:30:28in the bed
00:30:28of his pickup truck
00:30:29and stole a bag
00:30:30of fried chicken
00:30:31and then jumped
00:30:32in the lake
00:30:32and swam away.
00:30:34Before Buchanan
00:30:35left the scene,
00:30:36he spotted something
00:30:37on the ground.
00:30:39A footprint
00:30:40that resembled
00:30:41that of a human
00:30:41yet it was
00:30:4318 inches long.
00:30:46Cryptid enthusiasts
00:30:47would be quick
00:30:48to point out
00:30:49that a giant
00:30:50human-shaped footprint
00:30:51might belong
00:30:52to something like
00:30:53a Sasquatch
00:30:54rather than
00:30:55a goat-like creature
00:30:56and indeed
00:30:57there seems to be
00:30:59a lot of Sasquatch
00:31:00activity in the
00:31:01areas surrounding
00:31:02Lake Worth.
00:31:05In the 1960s,
00:31:07newspapers reported
00:31:08run-ins with
00:31:09ape-like creatures
00:31:10in the areas
00:31:11surrounding Fort Worth.
00:31:13Encounters with
00:31:14so-called
00:31:15wild men,
00:31:16large,
00:31:17man-like figures
00:31:18covered in hair,
00:31:19were confrontational
00:31:21in nature
00:31:21with the wild man
00:31:23growling,
00:31:24yelling,
00:31:24or throwing rocks
00:31:25at the eyewitnesses.
00:31:26While Sasquatch
00:31:29aren't typically
00:31:30described as being
00:31:31covered in dark hair,
00:31:33some reports,
00:31:34especially those
00:31:36in the northern
00:31:36United States,
00:31:38describe Sasquatch
00:31:39with white hair,
00:31:41matching the
00:31:41description of the
00:31:42Lake Worth monster
00:31:43more closely.
00:31:44But the Lake Worth monster
00:31:48is not the only
00:31:49goat-man story
00:31:50to be closely
00:31:51associated with
00:31:52Sasquatch reports.
00:31:54In 1957,
00:31:56a week-long panic
00:31:57gripped the town
00:31:58of Upper Marlboro,
00:31:59Maryland,
00:32:00when over 200 people
00:32:02claimed to have
00:32:02encountered
00:32:03a large,
00:32:04bipedal ape
00:32:05that was quickly
00:32:06dubbed
00:32:07the Abominable Phantom.
00:32:09Local authorities
00:32:10searched the woods
00:32:11of Prince George's County
00:32:12but found no sign
00:32:14of the alleged creature.
00:32:16All of this
00:32:17occurring a little
00:32:18less than a decade
00:32:19and a half
00:32:20before the goat-man
00:32:21of Bowie
00:32:21made his debut.
00:32:24So you can imagine
00:32:25a lot of this stuff
00:32:26is about perspective
00:32:27and interpretation.
00:32:29If somebody's out
00:32:29in the woods
00:32:30where they heard
00:32:30there was a goat-man
00:32:31and they see a big,
00:32:33hairy, man-like creature
00:32:34running through the woods,
00:32:36well,
00:32:36then that's a goat-man.
00:32:37You know,
00:32:38people aren't thinking
00:32:38Bigfoot at that point.
00:32:40They've already had
00:32:41kind of their perspective
00:32:42colored to some extent.
00:32:46If we're open
00:32:47to the idea
00:32:48of Sasquatch's existence,
00:32:49which I know
00:32:49many people are,
00:32:51then the idea
00:32:53that Sasquatch
00:32:54could be seen
00:32:54and then mistaken
00:32:55for something else
00:32:56could explain
00:32:58any number
00:32:58of supernatural
00:32:59or cryptozoological encounters
00:33:01because many
00:33:01of these sightings
00:33:02take place
00:33:02from a distance.
00:33:03They're very fleeting.
00:33:04You know,
00:33:05they're often
00:33:05taking place at night.
00:33:06They're in very
00:33:07frantic situations.
00:33:08So if Sasquatch
00:33:10is out there,
00:33:10which I tend
00:33:11to think
00:33:11there's a pretty
00:33:12good chance
00:33:12that it is,
00:33:13I think that's
00:33:14certainly a possibility.
00:33:15What's striking
00:33:16about these descriptions,
00:33:17though,
00:33:17when we're talking
00:33:18about the goat-man motif
00:33:19is this recurring
00:33:20idea of it having horns.
00:33:22And Sasquatch,
00:33:24if we're going
00:33:24on the assumption
00:33:25that it's a primate,
00:33:26primates generally
00:33:27don't have horns.
00:33:28So that's kind of
00:33:29where we run
00:33:29into some difficulty.
00:33:31As a cryptozoologist,
00:33:32first I have to
00:33:33consider the fact
00:33:34that something
00:33:35like a half-man,
00:33:36half-goat,
00:33:37an anthropomorphic creature
00:33:39is a zoological
00:33:40impossibility.
00:33:43The two lineages
00:33:44that led to us,
00:33:45Homo sapiens
00:33:46and Arteodactyls
00:33:49or hoofed animals
00:33:49like goats,
00:33:50the last common ancestor
00:33:52we shared
00:33:53was about 65 million
00:33:54years ago
00:33:55or something.
00:33:56So we're talking
00:33:57about two distinct
00:33:58lineages that went
00:33:58in opposite directions
00:34:00that evolved over
00:34:01a long period of time
00:34:02and therefore
00:34:03could not converge again.
00:34:05So it's a biological
00:34:06impossibility
00:34:07which almost implies
00:34:08either more
00:34:09of a supernatural origin
00:34:10or there are some people
00:34:12that talk about
00:34:13diabolical genetic experiments
00:34:15where nefarious
00:34:17government agencies
00:34:18or laboratories
00:34:19are trying to splice
00:34:21human and goat DNA.
00:34:22Now, admittedly,
00:34:23that type of knowledge
00:34:25is kind of beyond
00:34:26my understanding
00:34:27so I don't know
00:34:28if that can actually
00:34:28be achieved or not
00:34:29but it's worth noting
00:34:31that throughout history
00:34:33there have been weird
00:34:34genetic anomalies
00:34:35in humans.
00:34:36For example,
00:34:37there have been humans
00:34:37born with tails.
00:34:39It's very, very rare
00:34:40but it does happen
00:34:41and it's called
00:34:42an atavism.
00:34:43An atavism is when
00:34:44a human displays
00:34:45an ancient physical trait
00:34:47that's locked
00:34:48into our deep
00:34:49in our genetic code
00:34:50from a long, long time ago
00:34:52and there are also humans
00:34:54that have horns
00:34:55believe it or not.
00:34:56They're called cutaneous horns
00:34:57and it's actually
00:34:59a strange type of tumor
00:35:00that grows on people
00:35:01and oftentimes
00:35:02on their foreheads
00:35:03strangely enough
00:35:04and it looks just
00:35:05like a horn.
00:35:06There's a woman in China
00:35:07known as the unicorn woman
00:35:08that has one of these
00:35:09horn-like structures
00:35:10so you can imagine
00:35:12throughout history
00:35:13if there were humans
00:35:14with horns
00:35:15or humans with tails
00:35:16as rare as that was
00:35:17how that might apply
00:35:19or spawn some of these
00:35:20goat man legends.
00:35:24While misinterpreted
00:35:25Sasquatch sightings
00:35:27may explain away
00:35:28some of the goat man's sightings
00:35:29it does not explain
00:35:31the description of horns
00:35:33which are so characteristic
00:35:35of these creatures.
00:35:37A biological answer
00:35:38doesn't seem likely either
00:35:40leaving few rational possibilities
00:35:43to explain the creature's origins.
00:35:46One of these possibilities
00:35:48leads to a much darker side
00:35:50of the phenomenon
00:35:51one that also shines a light
00:35:53on the darkest parts
00:35:55of humanity
00:35:56and it lies only
00:35:5730 miles away
00:35:59from Lake Worth.
00:36:01The goat man
00:36:02of the old Alton Bridge
00:36:04is one that I find
00:36:05fascinating
00:36:07because of its roots
00:36:08in local folklore
00:36:11having to do with
00:36:12a bridge that connected
00:36:14a couple communities
00:36:15essentially in
00:36:16north-central Texas.
00:36:17The story is that
00:36:19there was an
00:36:19African-American goat farmer
00:36:21in the area
00:36:21who was very successful
00:36:23he was doing very well
00:36:24making a big name
00:36:25for himself
00:36:25his name was
00:36:27purported to be
00:36:28Oscar Washburn
00:36:29is how the story goes.
00:36:31Had become fairly successful
00:36:33in being a goat herd
00:36:35and selling goat products
00:36:37in the area
00:36:38and in fact advertising
00:36:40his wares
00:36:41by hanging a sign
00:36:43on the Alton Bridge
00:36:45that said this way
00:36:46to the goat man
00:36:47and it was his form
00:36:48of advertising.
00:36:50Evidently the local KKK
00:36:52didn't like that too much
00:36:54and hated the idea
00:36:56of a successful black man
00:36:58peddling his wares
00:36:59so they held a
00:37:01clandestine town council meeting
00:37:03where they outlawed
00:37:04the type of advertising
00:37:06that he had placed
00:37:07on the bridge
00:37:08and then went out
00:37:10to accost him
00:37:12and accuse him
00:37:13and try to throw him
00:37:15in jail for this crime
00:37:17that he was now committing.
00:37:18They formed a noose
00:37:20and they were going
00:37:21to lynch him
00:37:21off of the side
00:37:22of the bridge
00:37:23and when they did that
00:37:24and here's where
00:37:25many variations occur
00:37:27either that
00:37:28they went through
00:37:31with the lynching
00:37:32only to find
00:37:33that his body
00:37:34was missing
00:37:34or that his head
00:37:36had become separated
00:37:37from the body
00:37:38and depending on
00:37:39what version you hear
00:37:41but they then go back
00:37:43from that
00:37:43apparently unsuccessful
00:37:46attempt to kill him
00:37:47or it was successful
00:37:48and they buried the body
00:37:50and told everyone
00:37:51they couldn't find the body
00:37:52but evidently
00:37:53they murdered
00:37:54the entire
00:37:55Washburn family
00:37:56after that.
00:37:57and as a result
00:38:04of this horrific event
00:38:06this half-man
00:38:07half-goat entity
00:38:08is now purported
00:38:09to haunt
00:38:10the old Alton Bridge
00:38:11and people go out there
00:38:12and they do ghost investigations
00:38:14they go out there at night
00:38:15they take EM readings
00:38:16and things
00:38:17sometimes they get results
00:38:18sometimes they don't
00:38:19but this is one of those stories
00:38:20that's associated more
00:38:22with the darker side
00:38:23of this legend
00:38:24it's not so much
00:38:25just a monster sighting
00:38:26it talks about
00:38:28some of the worst parts
00:38:29of humanity
00:38:30and looks at some
00:38:30of the darkest places
00:38:31in our history
00:38:32as the backdrop
00:38:33for this story
00:38:34so unlike some of these
00:38:35other goat man legends
00:38:36where oh it was a
00:38:37government experiment
00:38:38or a man crossbred
00:38:40with goats
00:38:41you know it's
00:38:42grounded a lot more
00:38:43in reality
00:38:45in a very dark way
00:38:46there's some real weight
00:38:47to the story
00:38:48because if that
00:38:49actually did happen
00:38:50to Oscar Washburn
00:38:52then there is
00:38:53some sort of justice
00:38:55you know that seems
00:38:56to be much needed
00:38:58and to me
00:39:00this is one of the
00:39:01telltale signs
00:39:02of the goat man
00:39:03in many of these cases
00:39:05where he appears
00:39:06as a kind of
00:39:07avenger
00:39:09or an agent
00:39:10of judgment
00:39:11the apparent difference
00:39:12between the goat man
00:39:14of Old Alton Bridge
00:39:15and other goat man cases
00:39:17previously discussed
00:39:18is its brutal origin story
00:39:21no longer is the goat man
00:39:23a result of an experiment
00:39:25gone wrong
00:39:26or a misidentified Sasquatch
00:39:28it has now been transformed
00:39:31into a spirit of vengeance
00:39:32to right the wrongs
00:39:34that the living have suffered
00:39:36at this bridge
00:39:37the old Alton Bridge
00:39:47is one of the things
00:39:48that makes
00:39:49the Lake Worth monster
00:39:50so interesting
00:39:51because you have
00:39:52two goat man stories
00:39:53or legends
00:39:54or sightings
00:39:55that are really
00:39:56only about 35 miles apart
00:39:57in a straight line
00:39:58the Alton Bridge
00:39:59is a little bit south
00:40:00of the Dallas-Fort Worth area
00:40:02and it's this old
00:40:03iron trellis bridge
00:40:04that was constructed
00:40:05in 1884
00:40:06and for a long time
00:40:07it was a main thoroughfare
00:40:08it was used by
00:40:09you know
00:40:10people on foot
00:40:11horses, cars
00:40:12until it was finally
00:40:12shut down
00:40:13and they installed
00:40:14a new bridge
00:40:14and moved the road
00:40:15over a little bit
00:40:16the bridge is still there
00:40:18you can visit it
00:40:19you can walk on it
00:40:20it's a popular tourist draw
00:40:21and there's already
00:40:23a lot of paranormal folklore
00:40:25associated with
00:40:26these old iron bridges
00:40:27you know
00:40:28iron itself
00:40:28has a lot of lore
00:40:30and stories
00:40:31and mythology
00:40:32attached to it
00:40:33bridges are considered
00:40:34places of cross
00:40:35crossing over
00:40:35liminal areas
00:40:37water is considered
00:40:38to be a very
00:40:39spiritual supernatural thing
00:40:41in a lot of belief systems
00:40:42so these old iron bridges
00:40:44for a lot of people
00:40:44kind of represent
00:40:45intersections of high strangeness
00:40:47and when people
00:40:48investigate these places
00:40:49or they just visit them
00:40:50they very frequently
00:40:51come away talking
00:40:52about ghosts
00:40:53hearing voices
00:40:54there's this idea
00:40:55in the world
00:40:57of high strangeness
00:40:58in the paranormal
00:40:58of strange things
00:41:00existing in liminal spaces
00:41:02liminal in this sense
00:41:03refers to like
00:41:04a threshold
00:41:05a place that really
00:41:07nothing has any sort
00:41:08of dominion over
00:41:09so in this sense
00:41:10things can kind of
00:41:11exist there
00:41:12it's not really a place
00:41:13that has a beginning
00:41:15or an ending
00:41:16it's just a place
00:41:17that's going somewhere
00:41:18it sort of exists
00:41:19in this transient state
00:41:21so the idea
00:41:22of a paranormal entity
00:41:23sort of finding a home
00:41:24there
00:41:25kind of lends some credence
00:41:27now you get other ideas
00:41:30of like Hecate
00:41:31the goddess
00:41:32she's the ruler
00:41:33of the crossroads
00:41:34you have a lot of stories
00:41:35of crossroads
00:41:36being associated
00:41:37with the paranormal
00:41:38kind of lends
00:41:39into the idea
00:41:40of bridges
00:41:41and train tracks too
00:41:42deals going down there
00:41:44entities existing
00:41:45so I think that
00:41:46could kind of
00:41:47play into the idea
00:41:49of why things exist
00:41:50near these transient
00:41:52liminal places
00:41:53crybaby bridges
00:41:54is a term
00:41:55I'm hearing more lately
00:41:56but people will report
00:41:57hearing babies crying
00:41:58which is something
00:41:59we know John Keel
00:42:00was talking about
00:42:01you know
00:42:01back in the 60s
00:42:02and the 70s
00:42:02that's something
00:42:03that's been in our minds
00:42:04for a while
00:42:04but a lot of this stuff
00:42:06seems to intersect
00:42:06with these iron bridges
00:42:07crybaby bridges
00:42:09or crybaby lands
00:42:11for that matter
00:42:11seem to be a phenomenon
00:42:12that you can find
00:42:13in almost every state
00:42:14every state's got one
00:42:16so the basic premise
00:42:17of the crybaby bridge
00:42:19is more often than not
00:42:21the bridge becomes haunted
00:42:22because of a terrible
00:42:23accident that happened there
00:42:24people end up dying
00:42:25and then years later
00:42:26activity will start
00:42:27to be reported on there
00:42:28now in particular
00:42:30when it comes to crybabies
00:42:31this often means that
00:42:32there was a death of a child
00:42:34or several children
00:42:35there's an interesting one
00:42:37in North Carolina
00:42:38that originally was considered
00:42:40to be kind of
00:42:41a lover's lane bridge
00:42:42but has since become
00:42:43a crybaby bridge
00:42:45apparently what happened here
00:42:48is there was a school bus
00:42:51that ended up veering off
00:42:52of this bridge
00:42:53and all of the children
00:42:54and the driver died
00:42:55fast forward several
00:42:56decades later
00:42:57this bridge has now
00:42:58been remade
00:42:59and another road
00:43:00has been put on side of it
00:43:01so the bridge is just
00:43:01kind of abandoned
00:43:02and this becomes a very
00:43:03popular spot for teenagers
00:43:05to go run off and make out
00:43:06in the middle of the evening
00:43:07and it wasn't too far
00:43:09after this little bridge
00:43:11became a private hiding spot
00:43:12for teenagers
00:43:13that most kids
00:43:15who went out there
00:43:16started to report
00:43:16hearing children crying
00:43:18and handprints
00:43:19appearing on the windows
00:43:20there's always been
00:43:30a link with supernatural
00:43:31creatures and bridges
00:43:33of various
00:43:34from various cultures
00:43:36you know trolls
00:43:37are supposed to live
00:43:38under bridges
00:43:38you know spirits
00:43:40can't cross water
00:43:41things like that
00:43:42if he is a supernatural
00:43:44creature
00:43:45allegedly running water
00:43:46can provide energy
00:43:49for things to manifest
00:43:50so it might be easier
00:43:52for something like
00:43:52Goatman
00:43:53if he is
00:43:53something
00:43:55akin to a spirit
00:43:57that needs energy
00:43:57to appear
00:43:58a bridge would be
00:43:59a good location
00:44:00for him to do that
00:44:01and there's often
00:44:03supernatural
00:44:04and paranormal aspects
00:44:07and stories
00:44:08of many bridges around
00:44:09such as Emily's bridge
00:44:11in Stowe, Vermont
00:44:12where there was
00:44:13a tragic story
00:44:14of a bride-to-be
00:44:15who ended her life
00:44:17around this bridge
00:44:18as she was stood up
00:44:19at the altar
00:44:20and there are many stories
00:44:21like that elsewhere as well
00:44:23there's all sorts
00:44:25of haunted bridges
00:44:26all over the world
00:44:27we have a couple
00:44:28in Texas
00:44:29we have another
00:44:30human-animal hybrid
00:44:31the Donkey Lady Bridge
00:44:33in San Antonio
00:44:34down on Old Apple White Road
00:44:35and that's a very similar story
00:44:37to some of these
00:44:37Goatman legends
00:44:38where someone was killed
00:44:40and somehow they were
00:44:41fused with this animal
00:44:42and now they haunt this area
00:44:44and it's a tradition
00:44:45or was for a long time
00:44:46in San Antonio
00:44:47for people to drive
00:44:48out there at night
00:44:49and park their car
00:44:49go poke around in the woods
00:44:51and there are a lot of stories
00:44:52if you look around online
00:44:53of people hearing something
00:44:54or seeing something
00:44:55in the woods
00:44:56so it's a recurring motif
00:44:58that we see in our culture
00:45:00something that pops up
00:45:01all over the place
00:45:01I honestly not sure
00:45:04if there's really
00:45:05a paranormal
00:45:06connotation
00:45:07to these Goatmen
00:45:08being seen
00:45:09in specific areas
00:45:10around bridges
00:45:10and railroad tracks
00:45:12I tend to think
00:45:13it's more of a
00:45:15cultural phenomenon
00:45:16in terms of
00:45:17you know
00:45:17the old legends
00:45:18of European trolls
00:45:19living under bridges
00:45:20and some of those stories
00:45:22as far as railroad tracks go
00:45:24I think
00:45:25it's interesting
00:45:26to point out that
00:45:27you know
00:45:27I grew up next
00:45:28to some railroad tracks
00:45:29kind of in a rural area
00:45:31and there's almost
00:45:32something spooky
00:45:33particularly as a young person
00:45:35you know
00:45:35when you go out
00:45:36to these areas
00:45:37these lovers lane areas
00:45:38if you will
00:45:39where these Goatmen
00:45:40have been described
00:45:40you know
00:45:42there's something
00:45:42kind of spooky
00:45:43about railroad tracks
00:45:44particularly
00:45:45when you're walking
00:45:46along a long line
00:45:47of railroad tracks
00:45:48next to a forested area
00:45:49I don't know
00:45:51it's quite an interesting question
00:45:53you know
00:45:53one could derive
00:45:54the idea
00:45:55that there's some type
00:45:56of energetic force
00:45:58or something
00:45:58that conjures up
00:46:00these Goatman images
00:46:01when you're in these
00:46:01specific types
00:46:02of locations
00:46:03the stories of Goatman
00:46:08seem more paranormal
00:46:09in nature
00:46:10but why?
00:46:13I think it's kind of
00:46:13hard to pinpoint
00:46:15a Goatman entity
00:46:16existing as a
00:46:18biological creature
00:46:19there's nothing
00:46:19in the fossil record
00:46:20that suggests
00:46:22a Goatman could exist
00:46:23unlike a Bigfoot
00:46:24you have Gigantopithecus
00:46:26things like that
00:46:27that we have evidence
00:46:28of something like this
00:46:29can actually
00:46:30biologically walk around
00:46:31and exist
00:46:32Goatman on the other hand
00:46:33not so much
00:46:34however
00:46:35if you tie in the idea
00:46:36of the supernatural
00:46:37paranormal
00:46:38and these things
00:46:40existing without
00:46:41any rhyme or reason
00:46:42but through
00:46:43sort of fantastical means
00:46:44I think something
00:46:46like that can exist
00:46:47maybe it's phasing
00:46:48in and out of reality
00:46:49or is some sort
00:46:50of ancient deity
00:46:52that kind of
00:46:53pops into existence
00:46:54I think that may be
00:46:57more of what's
00:46:58going on here
00:46:58I don't think
00:47:01a half man
00:47:02half goat
00:47:03makes any sense
00:47:04in the biological
00:47:05kingdom
00:47:05based on my
00:47:06limited zoological
00:47:08knowledge
00:47:08and unlike a lot
00:47:09of other
00:47:10human animal
00:47:11chimeric beings
00:47:13that we see
00:47:13in folklore
00:47:14and mythology
00:47:14and even in the
00:47:16modern cryptozoological
00:47:17lexicon
00:47:17Goatman is generally
00:47:19described as distinctly
00:47:20being half human
00:47:22half goat
00:47:23as having this
00:47:24goat head
00:47:25on a very distinctly
00:47:26human body
00:47:27that doesn't really
00:47:29make sense
00:47:29so if it's not
00:47:30a hoax
00:47:31a hallucination
00:47:32just an urban legend
00:47:33if it's something
00:47:34that actually exists
00:47:35in the form
00:47:36that we're perceiving it
00:47:37you could make the argument
00:47:39that it would have
00:47:40to be something
00:47:41supernatural
00:47:41something from
00:47:42outside the veil
00:47:43if you like
00:47:44returning to the
00:47:47beast of billiwack
00:47:48we see that the
00:47:50paranormal aspect
00:47:51of the goat man
00:47:52legend is not far
00:47:53from the more
00:47:54commonly touted
00:47:55origin stories
00:47:56liso canyon
00:47:58is also home
00:47:59to what some
00:48:00spanish speakers
00:48:01call the chivo man
00:48:02a goat man
00:48:04like entity
00:48:04with supernatural roots
00:48:06so the chivo man
00:48:08and the billiwack
00:48:09monster
00:48:09they're essentially
00:48:11one and the same
00:48:12the only difference
00:48:13there is the chivo man
00:48:14kind of has more
00:48:15roots in Mexico
00:48:17and Central America
00:48:19as the Y chivo creature
00:48:22which is essentially
00:48:23a goat man
00:48:24like creature
00:48:25that is human
00:48:26it's a
00:48:27it's a brujo
00:48:28a witch
00:48:29that
00:48:29a male witch
00:48:30that utilizes
00:48:32witchcraft
00:48:33to turn himself
00:48:34into
00:48:35a goat man
00:48:36like creature
00:48:37or other sort of
00:48:38humanoid looking
00:48:39entities
00:48:40and one of the
00:48:41interesting things
00:48:42about that
00:48:43if you were to
00:48:45tie in witchcraft
00:48:47into
00:48:48the idea
00:48:49of the billiwack monster
00:48:51the billiwack monster
00:48:52is located in
00:48:54the billiwack ranch
00:48:56but that was originally
00:48:57in
00:48:58the aliso canyon area
00:49:01that's
00:49:01what the entire area
00:49:03surrounding billiwack ranch
00:49:04is
00:49:05now aliso
00:49:06means
00:49:07alder
00:49:08in english
00:49:09so alder tree
00:49:11if you look into
00:49:12elemental magic
00:49:14the alder tree
00:49:15is
00:49:16associated with
00:49:18being a
00:49:19gateway
00:49:19for the
00:49:21fairy folk
00:49:21the fey people
00:49:22it's supposedly
00:49:24it's utilized
00:49:24as a portal
00:49:25to go from
00:49:26one realm
00:49:27to the next
00:49:28so if you were to
00:49:29add in the idea
00:49:31of
00:49:31witchcraft
00:49:32into the idea
00:49:33of
00:49:34this
00:49:34billiwack monster
00:49:36creature
00:49:36now you can see
00:49:38why a creature
00:49:39can sort of
00:49:40pop in
00:49:41and phase in
00:49:41and out
00:49:42of existence
00:49:43and not really
00:49:44have any sort of
00:49:45biological
00:49:46precedent
00:49:48for existing
00:49:49and
00:49:49the aliso canyon
00:49:51area acting
00:49:51somewhat as a
00:49:52window area
00:49:53a hot spot
00:49:54for anomalous
00:49:55activity to exist
00:49:56when considering
00:50:04the possibility
00:50:05of the goat man
00:50:06being something
00:50:07otherworldly
00:50:08the floodgates
00:50:10are open
00:50:10to a plethora
00:50:11of explanations
00:50:12Nathan Couch
00:50:15author of the book
00:50:16goat man
00:50:17flesh or folklore
00:50:18offers one of the
00:50:19most interesting
00:50:20and unique
00:50:21takes on
00:50:22what the goat man
00:50:23may be
00:50:23we discussed
00:50:27like could he be
00:50:28a zoological
00:50:29creature
00:50:29I think it's
00:50:30an impossibility
00:50:31and the fact
00:50:32and of course
00:50:33I said earlier
00:50:34that he has
00:50:34a lot of
00:50:35supernatural
00:50:35traits
00:50:36and skills
00:50:37in these stories
00:50:38and in these
00:50:38sightings
00:50:39I think if he
00:50:41does exist
00:50:42he'd have to be
00:50:43something
00:50:44supernatural
00:50:45something that
00:50:46hasn't been
00:50:47explained by
00:50:47science yet
00:50:48I think he'd
00:50:48have to be
00:50:49like a nature
00:50:50spirit of some
00:50:51type
00:50:51I don't really
00:50:53necessarily
00:50:54mean a spirit
00:50:55isn't like
00:50:55a ghost
00:50:56or human spirit
00:50:57but you know
00:50:58pagan religions
00:50:59worship nature
00:50:59spirits like
00:51:00the fae
00:51:02fairies
00:51:02are nature
00:51:03spirits
00:51:04all these
00:51:05things like
00:51:05gnomes
00:51:06trolls
00:51:06things of that
00:51:08nature
00:51:08they're all
00:51:09these supernatural
00:51:09creatures that
00:51:10exist in nature
00:51:11that aren't
00:51:12human
00:51:12they have some
00:51:13sort of
00:51:14supernatural
00:51:15or divine
00:51:15quality to them
00:51:16goat man
00:51:17looks a lot
00:51:18like the god
00:51:19pan
00:51:19from Greek
00:51:21mythology
00:51:21he's a half
00:51:22man half
00:51:23half built
00:51:23creature
00:51:24pan was
00:51:25the god
00:51:25of the wild
00:51:26he was very
00:51:27connected to
00:51:28nature
00:51:28very symbolic
00:51:29of humankind's
00:51:30relationship with
00:51:31nature
00:51:31in the Greek
00:51:32pantheon
00:51:33and the term
00:51:34panic
00:51:34as in like
00:51:35extreme fear
00:51:36that we use
00:51:36today
00:51:37comes from
00:51:38pan's name
00:51:39that's the root
00:51:39term for that
00:51:40because pan
00:51:41when you're walking
00:51:42in the wilderness
00:51:42and you hear
00:51:43animals howling
00:51:44and the wind
00:51:45and the sounds
00:51:45of the wild
00:51:46that's said to be
00:51:47pan
00:51:47you know
00:51:48shouting at you
00:51:49or calling out
00:51:50into the night
00:51:50as you pass
00:51:51through his
00:51:51territory
00:51:51so when you
00:51:53look at the
00:51:54modern day
00:51:54and you have
00:51:55some of these
00:51:55more modern
00:51:56goat man
00:51:57encounters
00:51:58a lot of times
00:51:59they're accompanied
00:51:59by people saying
00:52:00I heard a wailing
00:52:01sound
00:52:01I heard this
00:52:02horrible scream
00:52:03this inhuman cry
00:52:04coming from the night
00:52:05so at the very least
00:52:06there's a tangential
00:52:07correlation
00:52:08not only in the
00:52:09physical resemblance
00:52:09between pan
00:52:10and the modern
00:52:12goat man
00:52:12if you want to
00:52:13call it that
00:52:13but also the way
00:52:14in which these
00:52:15things behave
00:52:15and the way in which
00:52:16they seem to
00:52:17approach people
00:52:17when they're in
00:52:18these wild
00:52:19and wooded
00:52:19places
00:52:19and there is
00:52:21an exact
00:52:21sighting in
00:52:22Dallas
00:52:23near White Rock
00:52:24Lake
00:52:24that I believe
00:52:25Nick Redford
00:52:26uncovered
00:52:26where a woman
00:52:28who's jogging
00:52:29around the lake
00:52:29felt like she
00:52:30was being watched
00:52:31she turned
00:52:32she saw this
00:52:32goat-like
00:52:33creature looking
00:52:34at her
00:52:35smirking
00:52:35it walked
00:52:36towards her
00:52:36a little bit
00:52:37and then
00:52:38there was a
00:52:39smell of
00:52:39sulfur
00:52:40he just
00:52:41disappeared
00:52:42in a flash
00:52:42after laughing
00:52:43at her
00:52:43and she said
00:52:44she felt like
00:52:45she was having
00:52:45a panic attack
00:52:46something that
00:52:47she had never
00:52:48felt before
00:52:49the parallels
00:52:51between the goat
00:52:52man and the
00:52:53satyrs of the
00:52:54ancient world
00:52:54are obvious
00:52:55on the surface
00:52:56half man
00:52:58half goat
00:52:59figures that
00:52:59live in the wild
00:53:00sometimes filling
00:53:02travelers with
00:53:03panic
00:53:03if they are
00:53:04unlucky enough
00:53:05to come upon
00:53:06one at night
00:53:07yet perhaps
00:53:10the connection
00:53:11is more than
00:53:12skin deep
00:53:12the correlation
00:53:14between goat
00:53:15man and
00:53:16satyrs or
00:53:17fawns really
00:53:18seems very
00:53:19very natural
00:53:20when you stop
00:53:21to think about
00:53:21the functions
00:53:22of those figures
00:53:24in mythology
00:53:25you know they
00:53:25were associated
00:53:27with virility
00:53:28fertility
00:53:29they were also
00:53:31associated with
00:53:32debauchery and
00:53:33wild parties
00:53:34and so it just
00:53:35seems like
00:53:36in the case of
00:53:36the lover's lane
00:53:37stories they're
00:53:38modern retellings
00:53:40of these sort
00:53:42of satinalias
00:53:44I mean that's
00:53:44where the phrase
00:53:46comes from in
00:53:47the first place
00:53:47is the satyr
00:53:48and the overlap
00:53:50between that
00:53:51and this pagan
00:53:52holiday festivities
00:53:53pan as well
00:53:56as far as a
00:53:57lowercase god
00:53:59is concerned
00:54:00was very much
00:54:01involved with
00:54:02these sort of
00:54:03tales and so
00:54:05there does seem
00:54:05to be again
00:54:06although in the
00:54:07modern tellings
00:54:08it's not so much
00:54:10encouraging the
00:54:11behavior as it
00:54:12is discouraging
00:54:13or talking about
00:54:14consequences
00:54:15exacting some
00:54:19sort of judgment
00:54:20in the case of
00:54:22Alton Bridge
00:54:23you know it's
00:54:23a folkloric
00:54:25agent of judgment
00:54:26in sort of
00:54:27a frontier justice
00:54:30some consequence
00:54:31must be levied
00:54:32upon those
00:54:33who are doing
00:54:34wrong
00:54:34so I do see
00:54:35that there is
00:54:36a way
00:54:37that those
00:54:37paradigms
00:54:38even though
00:54:39they morph
00:54:40slightly
00:54:41in function
00:54:42that seems
00:54:43to be a
00:54:44pattern
00:54:45that occupies
00:54:47the psyche
00:54:47of humankind
00:54:49for whatever
00:54:49reason
00:54:50there does
00:54:51seem to be
00:54:51a connection
00:54:53or correlation
00:54:53between
00:54:54some of this
00:54:55activity
00:54:55and the
00:54:56sexual energy
00:54:57of human beings
00:54:58and a prime
00:54:58example of that
00:54:59is you start
00:54:59talking about
00:55:00poltergeists
00:55:00these are often
00:55:01connected to
00:55:02young women
00:55:03who are just
00:55:03now beginning
00:55:04to come of age
00:55:05and all of a sudden
00:55:06this activity
00:55:06starts
00:55:07I think it might
00:55:08have something
00:55:09to do with
00:55:09the fact that
00:55:10around those
00:55:11times in a
00:55:13person's life
00:55:13chemicals in your
00:55:14brain start to
00:55:15shift
00:55:15and therefore
00:55:15your perception
00:55:16is going to
00:55:17shift
00:55:17and when that
00:55:19starts to happen
00:55:20there's a good
00:55:20possibility that
00:55:21you might be
00:55:22able to open
00:55:22yourself up
00:55:23to other channels
00:55:23and see different
00:55:24layers of reality
00:55:25and that's where
00:55:25I think a lot
00:55:26of this stuff
00:55:26comes from
00:55:27is layers of
00:55:28reality that's
00:55:29stacked on top
00:55:29of us
00:55:30and at the same
00:55:31time I also
00:55:32think that has
00:55:32something to do
00:55:33with human
00:55:34consciousness
00:55:34and the way
00:55:35that we
00:55:36remember things
00:55:37as far as
00:55:38history goes
00:55:38because satyrs
00:55:39they were very
00:55:40popular and very
00:55:41believed in
00:55:42during Greek times
00:55:42now fast forward
00:55:44to a time
00:55:45when spirituality
00:55:45is not necessarily
00:55:47part of our
00:55:48main sphere
00:55:49of existence
00:55:50but now we have
00:55:52all of these people
00:55:53who are starting
00:55:53to take an interest
00:55:54in it
00:55:54so now we're
00:55:55starting to see
00:55:55sightings of things
00:55:56like goat men
00:55:57dog men
00:55:57stranger cryptids
00:55:59that don't necessarily
00:56:01have the popularity
00:56:03of say Bigfoot
00:56:04or Loch Ness Monster
00:56:05but enough sightings
00:56:06in recent times
00:56:07have certainly
00:56:08made it a little
00:56:09bit more interesting
00:56:10you know you go
00:56:13through this
00:56:13continuum
00:56:14of natural
00:56:15explanations
00:56:16supernatural
00:56:16explanations
00:56:17scientific
00:56:18and you'd think
00:56:19that it would
00:56:20stop at that
00:56:20but it's kind of
00:56:21going back
00:56:22in the direction
00:56:22of the supernatural
00:56:23and dark
00:56:25even satanic
00:56:26direction
00:56:27and I think
00:56:28that's where
00:56:28this idea
00:56:30that is whispered
00:56:31about
00:56:32or talked about
00:56:33in very cautious
00:56:35ways
00:56:35is that somehow
00:56:36this thing could
00:56:37have been conjured
00:56:38in much the same
00:56:39way as like dogmen
00:56:41are talked about
00:56:41today
00:56:42and highly suggested
00:56:44like in the case
00:56:45of the Beast of Bray
00:56:46Road for example
00:56:47that some sort
00:56:48of occult activity
00:56:49could have
00:56:50intentionally
00:56:51or inadvertently
00:56:52brought this thing
00:56:54to life
00:56:55and how that works
00:56:57how long
00:56:58that it stays
00:56:59in our dimension
00:57:00are questions
00:57:02I'd rather not
00:57:03know the answers to
00:57:04but seem to be
00:57:05put forward
00:57:06as a possible
00:57:07explanation
00:57:07these nature spirits
00:57:10are not the only
00:57:11thing the goat man
00:57:12resembles
00:57:12with a goat like
00:57:14head and a man
00:57:15like body
00:57:16the goat man
00:57:17might as well
00:57:18be the devil
00:57:19himself
00:57:19I think
00:57:21what sets the goat
00:57:22man legend
00:57:23apart from other
00:57:24cryptids
00:57:24is the fact
00:57:26that our
00:57:26essential image
00:57:28of a half man
00:57:29half goat
00:57:30conjures up
00:57:31you know
00:57:32Satan
00:57:32demons
00:57:34the embodiment
00:57:35of ultimate evil
00:57:36and so
00:57:38in that respect
00:57:39the goat man
00:57:39is almost scarier
00:57:40than something
00:57:41like a big foot
00:57:42or a dog man
00:57:43or even a chupacabra
00:57:45because it
00:57:46is demonic
00:57:48in nature
00:57:48it is
00:57:49it's got
00:57:50paganistic qualities
00:57:51so it harkens
00:57:52back to that
00:57:53ancient
00:57:53form of evil
00:57:54something that
00:57:56evolved
00:57:57centuries ago
00:57:58something that's
00:57:59still around
00:58:00psychologically
00:58:01I think people
00:58:02are very very scared
00:58:03of the notion
00:58:03of something
00:58:04that looks like
00:58:05a half man
00:58:05half goat
00:58:06because
00:58:06it's demonic
00:58:08the quintessential image
00:58:10of the satanic goat
00:58:11like entity
00:58:12known as
00:58:12Baphomet
00:58:13stems from early
00:58:15occultist writers
00:58:16like
00:58:16Alephus Levi
00:58:17later
00:58:19later it became
00:58:19entwined with
00:58:20inverted pentagrams
00:58:22the lemma
00:58:26freemasons
00:58:28Aleister Crowley
00:58:29and the teachings
00:58:30of Anton LaVey
00:58:32both of whom
00:58:33associated the Baphomet
00:58:34with the god
00:58:35Pan
00:58:36what's more
00:58:39what's more
00:58:39is the sigil
00:58:40of Baphomet
00:58:41is the official
00:58:42insignia
00:58:43of the church
00:58:43of Satan
00:58:44in many ways
00:58:47equating the goat
00:58:49man with the devil
00:58:50is a natural
00:58:51thought process
00:58:52but not necessarily
00:58:54the most explanatory
00:58:55classically
00:58:58the devil
00:58:59is often portrayed
00:59:00as something
00:59:00very similar
00:59:01to a satyr
00:59:01you have
00:59:02the cloven hooves
00:59:03the rather muscular
00:59:04torso
00:59:04and then you have
00:59:05the head of the goat
00:59:06where that imagery
00:59:08actually comes from
00:59:08I cannot be sure
00:59:10but it has now
00:59:10made its way
00:59:11into the
00:59:13psychological aspect
00:59:14of how we perceive
00:59:16good and evil
00:59:17there's a whole stream
00:59:18of thought
00:59:18that goes into
00:59:19consideration of goat man
00:59:22as far as like
00:59:23occult
00:59:24where we'll just
00:59:24you know
00:59:25go right to
00:59:26Baphomet
00:59:26and Satan
00:59:27says you know
00:59:28why this
00:59:29right
00:59:29and I think
00:59:30part of this
00:59:31is related to ideas
00:59:32that correlate
00:59:33to the ability
00:59:36that evil has
00:59:38or does not have
00:59:39to make
00:59:39and create
00:59:40and this has been
00:59:42explored in the
00:59:43writings of
00:59:43C.S. Lewis
00:59:44and J.R.R. Tolkien
00:59:46and others
00:59:46but that
00:59:48Satan does not
00:59:49have the power
00:59:49to create things
00:59:50from nothing
00:59:51he can only take
00:59:52what's there
00:59:53and corrupt it
00:59:54and so
00:59:55here's where
00:59:56it really gets
00:59:57interesting
00:59:57is that the idea
00:59:58in some cases
01:00:00like the
01:00:01public monster
01:00:01for example
01:00:02early reports
01:00:03seem to break
01:00:04in the direction
01:00:05of a sheep man
01:00:06but later ones
01:00:07go in the direction
01:00:08of goat man
01:00:09and a correlation
01:00:11and a correlation
01:00:11here could
01:00:13potentially be
01:00:14that
01:00:15in the case
01:00:16of sheep
01:00:17when you think
01:00:18of a sheep
01:00:19you don't think
01:00:20of something
01:00:20malevolent
01:00:21you think
01:00:22of something
01:00:22innocent
01:00:22you think
01:00:23of something
01:00:23pure
01:00:24and taking
01:00:25this to
01:00:26scripture
01:00:27such as
01:00:28the Holy Bible
01:00:30you have
01:00:31the Son of God
01:00:33who is described
01:00:34in terms of
01:00:35the Lamb of God
01:00:37so you've got
01:00:38this symbol
01:00:39of purity
01:00:40and goodness
01:00:42what's a way
01:00:43to corrupt that
01:00:44well
01:00:45potentially
01:00:46take it in
01:00:47the direction
01:00:48of a goat
01:00:49which is
01:00:50less likable
01:00:52as a figure
01:00:53certainly one
01:00:54that we
01:00:54associate with
01:00:56things like
01:00:57eating trash
01:00:58and living off
01:01:00of that
01:01:00while a ram
01:01:02a sheep's ram
01:01:03can develop horns
01:01:04we don't think
01:01:05of a lamb
01:01:05as having
01:01:06that ability
01:01:07but a full grown goat
01:01:08has the horns
01:01:09and therefore
01:01:10seems more
01:01:11intimidating
01:01:12and will in fact
01:01:13resort to violence
01:01:15when that's
01:01:16seen as needed
01:01:17so I think
01:01:18that there may be
01:01:19some territory
01:01:21to explore there
01:01:22that a goat
01:01:23is a violent
01:01:25or corrupt
01:01:26form of an
01:01:27innocent little
01:01:28lamb
01:01:29and maybe
01:01:31somewhere along
01:01:31the way
01:01:32our expectation
01:01:34or perception
01:01:34of what
01:01:35half human
01:01:37half
01:01:38sheep
01:01:39then goat
01:01:40becomes
01:01:41is colored
01:01:42by that
01:02:02in they
01:02:15the way
01:02:16دم
01:02:18aus
01:02:19ee
01:02:19ee
01:02:20ee
01:02:23ee
01:02:23ee
01:02:25ee
01:02:26ee
01:02:27ee
01:02:27ee
01:02:29ee
01:02:30Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:03:00One of the most notable of all Goatman stories is that of the Popelick Monster of Kentucky.
01:03:07Some legends suggest that if one walks to the middle of the train trestle, the Goatman will appear on the other side.
01:03:15Others claim that the Goatman is the result of satanic rituals conducted in a nearby shack.
01:03:22Stories of the Popelick Monster are as varied as any that have already been discussed,
01:03:28but they also introduce new elements into the mythos of the Goatman.
01:03:33My name's David Domene. I'm a Louisville-based author and educator, a folklorist as well.
01:03:39And I've lived in Louisville since 1993, and one of the first urban legends I heard about
01:03:46was one that's said to be rooted here at the Popelick trestle.
01:03:51It's called the Goatman. Some call it the Monster of Popelick.
01:03:55This is an active trestle. We have early mentions of it in 1909 already,
01:04:00so we know this train track has run through here for at least 100 years.
01:04:07Interestingly enough, this is a case where initial very old reports seem to describe it as Sheepman instead of Goatman.
01:04:16And at some point that tilts in the direction of the goat instead of the sheep.
01:04:21There's some rather sort of highly bizarre stories having to do with origins.
01:04:26Supposedly there was this goat-like creature seen in the wilderness of Canada.
01:04:30And this circus owner named Silas Garner, who was somebody who I had not been able to prove ever existed,
01:04:37found out about the creature, hired someone to capture it, to put it in a sideshow.
01:04:42Supposedly by capturing this creature, he cursed himself.
01:04:45And on a stormy night as the train was traveling through Kentucky,
01:04:48the goat man's curse sort of caused the train to derail.
01:04:54And he escaped and now lives under the bridge at Popelick.
01:04:57Others say that there was a local farmer who was a little too friendly with his goats.
01:05:02He was breeding with them and that's one of the more interesting takes.
01:05:07Another far more even sinister origin story is having to do with a farmer who made goat sacrifices,
01:05:15hoping to gain some sort of satanic dark power.
01:05:19And he ends up becoming the goat man.
01:05:22It's very much an urban legend.
01:05:24You know, it's said that there's a half man, half goat kind of creature who lives under the trestles.
01:05:30And he's a siren type of being.
01:05:32He likes to attract unsuspecting visitors up to the tracks.
01:05:37Sometimes he mimics voices.
01:05:39Sometimes he acts like he's in distress.
01:05:42But for whatever reason, people are led up to the trestle.
01:05:46And many people don't realize this is still an active trestle several times a day.
01:05:51So there's an almost 800 foot span.
01:05:53And if you're caught up there where a train is coming through,
01:05:57there's really no place to go.
01:05:59All you can do is outrun the train, which most people can't.
01:06:02Or you have to jump over the side and dangle from one of the pieces of wood that juts out,
01:06:08which is kind of a hard task because it takes usually at least five minutes for a train to rumble overhead.
01:06:14That's when people often fall to their deaths or they're running and they stumble and they fall over the side
01:06:20because there's really no railing. It's just tracks up in the sky.
01:06:25One thing separating the Popelig monster from other Goatman stories are the very real deaths connected to the legend.
01:06:34As of 2019, at least 12 people have been injured while seeking the Goatman upon the Popelig trestle.
01:06:42There are some people that have actually gone out there to look for the Goatman and their lives have been tragically ended.
01:06:49As in the case of a couple who went up there around 2015 or 2016.
01:06:55And they were on the train trestle and a train started coming their way as there are 20 to 25 trains that actually go over this train trestle every day.
01:07:08The boyfriend managed to jump and hang on to a steel beam where the girlfriend met her tragic fate 90 feet below under the ground.
01:07:18J.C. Baum was a teenager I believe in 1988 and he was struck by the train and killed and presumably fell to his death off of the trestle.
01:07:35You know, those stories and they're matters of historic fact.
01:07:40People who have gone out on the tracks and have died because of it.
01:07:44So unlike a lot of these other stories where they kind of just add up to a bunch of fun sightings and a few, you know, spooky stories.
01:07:53This is one that actually has a tangible death toll attached to it.
01:07:58Some people have taken it to say that, oh, that means the Goatman is responsible for these deaths or the Goatman hypnotizes people and brings them into the woods.
01:08:06I tend to think some places are just very dangerous.
01:08:09And that's why people get hurt when they go out there and don't take the appropriate precautions when they go to places that they aren't supposed to go.
01:08:15But there's no separating this legend from this place and all of the tragic events that have gone on.
01:08:29The final key to the Goatman mystery is the influence of the media.
01:08:34In the age of information, where sensational news can and does influence the decisions of individuals, the proliferation of certain stories are bound to ignite the imaginations of people.
01:08:49A single newspaper article was all that it took to lure teenagers out to Fletchertown Road in search of the Goatman of Bowie.
01:08:58Even years later, when the story of Ginger the Dog was revealed to have been a hoax, the legend had grown well beyond the newsprint and was now part of modern folklore.
01:09:09Hundreds of people flocked to Lake Worth when the sensational sightings were mentioned on local television news.
01:09:16Deaths on the Poplik Trestle that were once seen as accidental were now shrouded in mystery due to the popularization of an urban legend through an independent film.
01:09:29In every major case of a Goatman, there lies a strong media backing to the legend.
01:09:35And with every legend tripper that seeks out the Goatman and has an experience either real or imagined, the mythos continues to grow.
01:09:46I think part of the reason why there's so many origin stories and such variants has in part to do with the explanatory power of things over time.
01:09:58And what I mean by that is 150, 200 years ago, you would have had sort of agrarian, naturalistic explanations for things, mundane sort of reasons that a goatman might appear.
01:10:13You know, in other words, a fleshly union between farmer and animal, as sickening as that is to sort of consider, that is one stream of explanatory story that was given about that.
01:10:28And then you start to bring in sort of folk religion, witchcraft and so forth, and now the devil and dark forces become to swirl into the story where if some sort of pact or agreement was made, then that would result, you know, a necessary consequence of making a deal with the devil is you have to pay a price that you don't expect.
01:10:51And certainly being forced into the form of goatman would qualify as one of those terrible prices to pay.
01:11:01And then with the rise of science as something that explains everything, you get into then stories having to do with breeding taking place normally in a secret facility where evidently DNA of some type could be spliced.
01:11:18And that sort of rules the creation, if you will, of a creature like goatman or sheepman, where you're moving away from a kind of spiritual religious overtone into the realm of a scientific reasonable explanation.
01:11:35Goatman is generally always, at least in the stories I've looked at, somehow intimately tied to human nature.
01:11:45Again, if we look at Pan and those early stories, that talks about how humankind interacted with the wild, how we viewed wild places and what we learned to fear.
01:11:53You know, it symbolizes this mashup of humanity and something wild.
01:11:57And again, a lot of cryptids do that.
01:11:59But these modern goatman stories, the origin stories are always, you know, racism, genetic experiments gone wrong, humans and animals intermixing, just bad things.
01:12:10A lot of cryptid stories, we get monsters that kind of represent humanity, they're upright, maybe they're hominids, bigfoot stories, but goatman reports seem to, again, just talk about the worst parts of humankind.
01:12:23Science gone wrong, racial prejudice, greed, violence.
01:12:27There's never anything positive in there.
01:12:29There's never anything that we look at and go, that makes me feel a little bit better about the world.
01:12:33Unlike with, you know, say, again, Bigfoot encounters or some other potentially unclassified animals, the Loch Ness Monster.
01:12:40You know, people have these encounters and it changes their life for the better.
01:12:43I don't think we've heard a story like that about Goatman.
01:12:46The locations where he's a known legend, like the trestle at Pope Lick.
01:12:53So you have those types of stories, which probably not even a morsel of truth in them.
01:13:00But you have sightings of creatures that very much could be in the realm of real experience.
01:13:08Like perhaps a lot of these sightings have nothing to do with the outlandish stories they've been given.
01:13:14And people are experiencing them and then people are attaching plot lines from movies and comic books and campfire stories to these sightings.
01:13:25I think there's so many different versions of Goatman just because it, again, sort of exists as this primordial fear that we have.
01:13:33This idea of fear of the woods, fear of the unknown, and the idea of going back again to Pan, the trickster god of the woods.
01:13:43It was essentially a Goatman entity that would lure you to your doom.
01:13:48Maybe that sort of memory, that genetic memory that we have of danger in the woods has been personified into the idea of this Goatman-like figure.
01:13:59That now that can exist all across the world, in every state, in every country, in every dark wooded area that we wander into.
01:14:09The idea of this Goatman waiting there to get us can exist and live and thrive and is probably experienced by numerous amounts of people.
01:14:18When considering the archetype of a Goatman, I think there are many different influences and we have to accept that many of our cryptids are actually examples of what I call composite identity.
01:14:31Meaning there's different influences sort of coming together to form this one specific archetype.
01:14:37And so, for example, the idea of a half man, half goat goes back a long time.
01:14:42In the 5th century BC, we find the first Greek interpretations of creatures known as satyrs, which are essentially forest beings that are often portrayed as having goat-like features, big ears, horns.
01:14:56So that particular idea has been around a very, very long time.
01:15:00And then that evolved over time.
01:15:02And I think, you know, those ancient Greek mythologies and legends were adapted by the Romans and the satyrs became the fauns.
01:15:11And then as Christianity took over, a lot of these old pagan ideas of things like satyrs were kind of pushed to the side.
01:15:19And then eventually, early interpretations of Satan or the devil began to resemble a half man, half goat.
01:15:27Almost as if Christianity was saying, OK, well, these old pagan ideas, you know, of goat man, you know, these are demons.
01:15:34These are these are the devil. And so, you know, the goat man is is therefore become an evil entity. Right.
01:15:41It's become kind of an embodiment of pure evil or or demonic activity.
01:15:47And furthermore, I think we have to acknowledge that a lot of urban legends and campfire tales actually migrate and evolve.
01:15:56And as different communities and areas kind of adapt these monster stories, they kind of put their own brand on it.
01:16:02There are always some similar themes or motifs in terms of, you know, it's out in the woods in a remote area or near an old spooky stone bridge.
01:16:14So the basic themes kind of remain the same.
01:16:18I think a good parallel example are these legends of giant catfish living under dams.
01:16:24And I've been to many places in the United States, Arizona, Georgia, Texas, where I've heard this recurring story about below a dam there are these car sized catfish that will swallow people and animals and things.
01:16:37And so, you know, you find these these similar legends in different places and it's almost as if they kind of migrated.
01:16:44Similarly, a lot of these goat man stories may have migrated from Europe, you know, with European immigrants that brought some of the old world stories and tall tales.
01:16:54And finally, you know, there's an aspect in terms of, you know, when you consider what occurs at Lovers Lane areas, OK, teenagers are lustful.
01:17:09They're looking to party, you know, so they're out there, they're drinking, they're doing things that their parents don't want them to do.
01:17:16And so it's almost like there's an unconscious connection here to ancient Greek mythology and the satyrs who were the original party animals.
01:17:26They were out with Dionysus, they were drinking wine, they were debaucherous chasing women.
01:17:31And so I think by associating the goat man legends with these remote Lovers Lane areas, it's almost like we're hearkening back to the earlier age of paganism and the types of debauchery that occur in places where people are not supposed to go.
01:17:51What sets the goat man legendarium apart from other cryptid stories is that I think it's hard to even consider it a cryptid.
01:18:00If we're taking sort of an old school approach to cryptozoology and saying that a cryptid is simply an animal that's gone undiscovered and uncatalogued, but it's out there waiting to be found.
01:18:14Goat man doesn't appear to be that kind of entity whatsoever.
01:18:19It doesn't seem to occupy a physical space, spiritual space, perhaps, or sort of a folkloric space.
01:18:27Yes, depending on what stories you're listening to, monsters associated with goat man legends have done things like kill people.
01:18:37But when you're asked to produce sort of even an obituary, you run into dead ends immediately.
01:18:46So I think the central issue is that goat man is like cryptids wedded with urban legend, wedded with folklore and stories that humans have been telling ever since they could tell stories.
01:19:02The goat man, it seems, is greater than the sum of all of its pieces.
01:19:10It is more than folklore.
01:19:12It is more than a cryptid.
01:19:14It is something that has seemingly existed alongside humankind for thousands of years and yet never physically existed.
01:19:24Perhaps it's the inexplicable nature of the goat man that keeps us coming back to that bridge after dark.
01:19:32Or stepping into the woods in hopes of adding our own experience to the legend, perpetuating the mystery well into the future.
01:19:44Before the decided that is world of comfort.
01:19:48Yourblood is never even nicer black than something that has been maintained
01:19:50Over the clouds of the ocean of the sea, развitated through remote and constancy and pre数樂ìden in theogr volumes of blazes of metal and recordings made 123ichthyPeline.
01:19:56The storefront that has created a completely different way around, Büchelsea, Dieu-L innovation and humankind.
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