The Goatman is a humanoid cryptid most commonly associated with Louisiana, Maryland and Texas. It is described as a seven foot tall hybrid creature; part man and part goat. Some claim it is a relative of the New Orleans evil chupacabra-like cryptid the Grunch. The urban legends often tell of it killing young couples in parked cars or scouring neighbourhoods killing family pets. There are also tales of it breaking into peoples' houses and raping its victims. And many attest from the areas that he haunts, it does not matter if you're a man or woman, he will overtake you and rape you none the less. When scared teenagers whisper about the Goatman, not all agree on the form he takes. Some say he was a man who kept goats and went mad after teenagers killed his flock, driven to seek revenge against any youngster. But perhaps the most titillating version traces the origin of the Goatman to the Beltsville Agricultural Research Centre, a sprawling USDA facility anchored by a big brick building appointed with white columns. In this version, a mad scientist is conducting experiments on a goat when something goes horribly wrong, turning him into a half man-half goat beast that is, naturally, hungry for blood.
He may not be as famous as his cryptid cousins Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster, but Goatman has a devoted following. The stories began surfacing a “long, long, long” time ago, according to Dr. Barry Pearson, a folklorist at the University of Maryland. (Which happens to be in Prince Georges County and is home to a Goatman archive.) The earliest sightings date back to 520 BCE as the Satyrs of Greek mythology, who held an almost identical role despite three thousand years having passed.
Waterford Sheepman[]
- Main article: Waterford Sheepman
Waterford Sheepman is an abominable creature that terrorized the small rural town of Waterford, Pennsylvania in the early 1970s. It lurked in farm fields, stalking the unwitting animal in a desire to tear it apart and feed on its flesh and blood. Hundreds of people witnessed this creature, it's also referred to as the Goatman.
Marylin knew of the Goatman legend as a teenager in the '70s; but along with the stories, she had also seen it with her own eyes on more than one occasion. “I lived on Baghdad Road and I saw this figure running across the dirt road at one point near the old sawmill.” She remembers that at the time there was much talk about the legend, with many people catching a glimpse of the creature darting across the road or into the brush along farm fields.
She had a second encounter with the monster when she was 17, “He was there that one night I drove home and right before I turned into my driveway, there he was, running across the road and into the woods.”
Maryland Goatman[]
- Main article: Maryland Goatman
According to legend, the Maryland Goatman is an axe-wielding, half-man, half-animal creature that was once a scientist who worked in the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center. The tale holds that he was experimenting on goats, the experiment went awry, and he began attacking cars with an axe, roaming the back roads of Beltsville, Maryland. A variation of the legend tells of the Goatman as an old hermit who lives in the woods, seen walking alone at night along Fletchertown Road.
Pope Lick Monster[]
- Main article: Pope Lick Monster
The Pope Lick Monster is a legendary part-man, part-goat and part-sheep creature reported to live beneath a Norfolk Southern Railroad trestle over Floyd's Fork Creek, in the Fisherville area of Louisville, Kentucky. In most accounts, the Pope Lick Monster (named after the Pope Lick Creek below the Pope Lick Train Trestle) appears as a human-goat hybrid with the grotesquely deformed body of a man. It has powerful, fur-covered goat legs, an alabaster-skinned face with an aquiline nose and wide set eyes. Short, sharp horns protrude from the forehead, nestled in long greasy hair that matches the colour of the fur on the legs.
Proctor Valley Monster[]
- Main article: Proctor Valley Monster
Said to be seven feet tall and a "deranged cow"; the Proctor Valley Monster provides numerous points of evidence for the Goatman's existence, including a footprint. The legend of the Proctor Valley Monster grew, and it is described as a 7-foot tall hairy humanoid like a Bigfoot, or sometimes a cow-like animal with its body parts in the wrong place. The Proctor Valley Monster is assumed to be responsible for the livestock mutilations that occur every now and then. The Bonita Museum in Chula Vista has a casting of a strange footprint alleged to be that of the monster. Almost identical to all goatman stories, the Proctor Valley Monster seems like a tale told around a campfire, just right for a Hollywood B-movie. A teenage couple go parking in the woods off Proctor Valley Road, in the South-east corner of San Diego County in California. The car won't start, or maybe they had a flat tire, and the boy gets out to investigate - but he doesn't come back. The girl stays inside, terrified because she hears scratching on the outside of the car. Police find her the next day, still hiding in the car. The boyfriend? He's dead, torn and bloody, dangling from a tree, while his hands brush the car, producing scratching noises. The story sometimes has mysterious huge footprints found nearby.
A local psychiatrist who once lived in Alpine quite seriously claims to have seen a Bigfoot-type creature in the hills near his house. The doctor has shied from publicity, saying he wants to write his own book on the events; but third-hand accounts say he described a 6- or 7-foot-tall, hairy creature accompanied by two similar critters. He made a plaster cast of a footprint 16 inches long and 8 inches wide. He also related many strange happenings and sounds around his home. Park rangers and other investigators could never confirm the sightings, but plenty of campers, area residents, and even a sheriff's deputy claim to have seen some large, hairy thing tromping the hills of Alpine. One investigator into Bigfoot phenomena notes that the nearby Viejas Indians have a legend of a similar creature that guards their burial grounds. Until the doctor writes his book, this is about all we'll know.