Texan Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by bo ...

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

, the Lake Worth Monster is a

legendary creature A legendary creature (also mythical or mythological creature) is a type of fictional entity, typically a hybrid, that has not been proven and that is described in folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses ...

said to inhabit Lake Worth at the

Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge The Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge (FWNC&R) is a nature center located between Lakeside and Lake Worth, Texas within Fort Worth, Texas city limits. It consists of prairies, forests, and wetlands. The nature center offers a glimpse of what t ...

, just outside

Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

. The creature is often described as a "part-

man A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromo ...

, part-

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

" with scales and long clawed fingers.

History

Reports of sightings by local citizens of "a half-man, half-goat, with fur and scales" in July 1969 led to the belief that a mysterious creature lived in Lake Worth. Newspapers reported the alleged sightings, including one in which the monster landed on a man's car after jumping out of a tree, and another in which it threw an automobile tire at a group of people. Newspapers also published a photograph purportedly taken of the creature by Allen Plaster, and locals began driving out to the lake at night to get a look at it.Bills, E. R. ''Texas Obscurities: Stories of the Peculiar, Exceptional and Nefarious''. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2013. Local police investigated the claims, but found no evidence of the monster in the Lake Worth and Greer Island area. According to one reporter, the Goatman legend was spread via summer camp stories, where camp counselors told children to “listen carefully...and you’ll hear his cry on clear nights like tonight”. In a later interview, Allen Plaster commented on the photo, described as a man-sized "white furball", that he took while driving past the Nature Center in 1969. Plaster characterized the sighting as a prank, saying, “whatever it was, it wanted to be seen". Since reports of the monster ceased when school resumed, many suspected the incidents were pranks carried out by high school students. In 2005, a reporter at the received an anonymous letter from someone claiming to be one of three high school classmates who, in the summer of 1969, "decided to go out to Lake Worth and scare people" using a tinfoil mask. In 2009, magazine published a report about an unidentified man who said that he had been a perpetrator of the tire-throwing incident.

Cryptozoologist Cryptozoology is a pseudoscience and subculture that searches for and studies unknown, legendary, or extinct animals whose present existence is disputed or unsubstantiated, particularly those popular in folklore, such as Bigfoot, the Loch Ness ...

-blogger Craig Woolheater said he believes the Lake Worth monster is an "undiscovered, uncataloged primate species that walks on two legs".

Popular culture

Since 2009 (the 40th anniversary of the sightings), the

has held a Lake Worth Monster Bash each October. In 2019, the Fort Worth Water Department's H2OMG Podcast released a four part audio series on the legend of the Lake Worth Monster.

References

External links

Quest for the Lake Worth Monster Part I: Let the Quest Begin!
Fort Worth Water Department Podcast {{Urban legends Satyrs Texas folklore American legendary creatures

History

Popular culture

See also

References

External links