History

Dive Into the Terrifying Legend of the Lake Worth Monster

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Tony Maples Photography

 

The Goat Man of the Lake. The Island Monster. What else would you name a 7-foot-plus tall being that could hurl car tires like they were mere child’s play toys and appear sailing from the treetops to land with full force on the hood of passing cars? So goes the legend of the Lake Worth Monster.

Dive Into the Terrifying Legend of the Lake Worth Monster

Photo: cryptidz.wikia.com

Enter Lake Worth, just west of Dallas and just east of Forth Worth. In the middle of the lake is a landmass known as Greer Island, where the monster was alleged to have roamed. The creature has also become known as “Fort Worth’s answer to Bigfoot.” Although stories and sightings of the creature had been common for a few years, attracting many young thrill seekers and skeptics, the first photograph didn’t surface until 1969.

According to Sallie Ann Clarke’s book The Lake Worth Monster of Greer Island, Fort Worth, Texas, the monster jumped on the hood of a man’s car. The man reported that he and two other men were out on the island looking for the creature. When the creature landed on the hood, the man said that he swerved his car wildly about the road, and the monster did not let go until the man crashed into a nearby tree.

The mysterious goatman

Photo: pexels.com

The witness, Jim Stephens, reported that he himself was 6’4’’ and the creature was easily much taller than him. Stephens claimed the monster was at least 7-feet tall, maybe taller. Many other eyewitnesses also claimed that monster is half-goat, half-man and is covered in both fur and scales.

Allan Plaster, the man who snapped the famous photo of the woolen beast, thinks he himself was mistaken about what he saw all of those years ago. According to Plaster, he thinks that what he witnessed was a hoax and he was most likely the victim of someone playing a prank.