Monsters in America Cryptid Map Giveaway
Planning your next cryptid road trip? Win a set of Monsters in America maps so you can track down Mothman, the Hodag, or even the elusive Batsquatch.
What is goatman? Where did he come from? Is the goat man just an urban legend, or is it a real, flesh-and-blood creature? Explore disturbing legends and real life encounters from the Lake Worth Monster and Goatman Bridge in Texas to the belligerent beast lurking in back woods of Wisconsin to Louisville’s dangerous trestle where the Pope Lick Monster has actually claimed several lives.
What is Goatman?
Cult of Weird headquarters is positioned conveniently between two of Wisconsin’s most significant Goatman legends. It is something of a local rite of passage to tempt fate on one of these eerie back roads where the mysterious beast is said to dwell…and brutally slaughter anyone who wanders too far into the woods.
But it wasn’t until my friend and Cult contributor J. Nathan Couch began to uncover the details while researching his book Goatman: Flesh or Folklore? that I realized how truly strange and widespread the legends were. Goatman, it turns out, does not only lurk in our neck of the woods. There are stories of similar creatures all across the US, from the Goatman Bridge and Lake Worth Monster in Texas to the goatman in Maryland. In Louisville, the search for the Pope Lick Monster has killed at least four people.
So what exactly is this thing that terrorizes people around the country? Couch describes it as an obscure but blood-thirsty bit of folklore – a satyr-like half-human, half-goat creature that generally seems to mirror more familiar legends of a hook-handed killer brutalizing hapless teenagers on Lover’s Lane. He usually has hooves and goat legs, a human torso, and a bad temper.
According to one eyewitness Couch spoke to who had an encounter here in Wisconsin’s Kettle Moraine State Forest area, Goatman apparently also has the mouth of a sailor.
Art from the book Goatman: Flesh or Folklore? by J. Nathan Couch
Goatman Legends
It doesn’t sounds like Goatman is something you would actually want to encounter, but if you did, where would you have a good chance of finding him? Here are some great places to start.
- Pope Lick Monster in Louisville, Kentucky
- Lake Worth Monster in Texas
- Goatman’s Bridge in Denton, Texas
- Los Angeles National Forest Goatman
- White Rock Lake Goatman in Dallas, Texas
- Goatman of Bowie, Maryland
- Hogsback Road in Richfield, Wisconsin
- The Goatman of Nags Head Woods in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina
- Sheepsquatch in West Virginia
- S. Mill Road in Kewaskum, Wisconsin
Is there a goatman legend near you? Have you had a run-in with Goatman?
Flesh or Folklore?
As the foremost authority on Goatman, researcher and paranormal investigator J. Nathan Couch digs deep into the legends, sightings, and possible origins of the hoofed creature for his book Goatman: Flesh or Folklore? In this interview, he shares legends and eyewitness accounts of Goatman encounters that he gathered while researching the book.
Pope Lick Monster
The train trestle that runs high over Pope Lick Road in Louisville is known locally as the Trestle of Death. And for good reason: At least 4 people have died there searching for the Pope Lick Monster. According to the legend, this creature was a goatman captured in the wilds of Canada that became a popular circus freak show attraction. That is, until a storm caused the circus train to derail near Pope Lick, where the beast has lived ever since.
Goatman Bridge
The Old Alton Bridge in Denton County, Texas is better known as Goatman’s Bridge. Visitors to the legendary haunted bridge have reported ghostly figures, strange lights, growling sounds from the surrounding woods, and encounters with a half man, half goat creature. According to local legend, cars have been found abandoned near the bridge, their occupants never being found.
Goatman in Maryland
The goatman of Maryland is said to haunt the area around of Bowie, attacking couples in popular make out spots with an axe. It was also blamed for pet mutilations that occurred in the 1970s. The legend made the news again in 2016, when a man claimed to snap a photo of the goatman while golfing.
