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Illustration by @dariaesste
There are so many variations on the story of the prince george’s county goatman that it is nearly impossible to keep them straight. For some, he is but a lonely, angry goat herder who went berserk after finding his beloved goats dead due to teens’ tampering. To others, he is in the same family as bigfoot–a mythical beast that roams the earth. In perhaps the most bizarre tale of them all, the goatman is the result of a ghastly experiment at the beltsville research agricultural center. The usda facility has actually been forced to deny that one.
The goatman terrorizes lovers, chases teens and decapitates dogs. He yells, squeals and, yes, makes goat noises. He’s made reported appearances all across the region. He has inspired fear and fascination for decades, but according to historian, author and mark opsasnick, the foremost expert on the maryland legend, there is a canonical goatman origin story. And it begins on fletchertown road in bowie.
The first media mention of the goatman came on october 27, 1971, in the bowie-based prince george’s county news. In the article, writer karen hosler took a deep dive into the university of maryland folklore archives. She mentions the goatman along with the ghosts and something called the boaman that also haunt the woods around fletchertown road. Two weeks later, hosler wrote another newspaper article with the headline “residents fear goatman lives: dog found decapitated in old bowie.” the article described the search of a family–the edwards–for their missing puppy named ginger. Days later, ginger was found near fletchtown road–dead and headless.
The article connected the deceased dog with the goatman, saying that a group of teenage girls (including the edwards’s 16-year-old daughter, april) had heard strange noises and seen a large creature on the night the dog had disappeared. It also reported that sightings of an “animal-like creature that walks on its hind legs” were increasing along fletchertown road.
On november 30, the goatman got its first introduction to a larger audience thanks to the washington post. An article headlined “a legendary figure haunts remote pr. George’s woods,” identifies the young men who found ginger: ray hayden, john hayden, and willie gheen. The prince george’s county police are also quoted in the piece saying that “the legend just gets passed on from generation to generation” and that they’ve been receiving more recent calls about goatman sightings.
Source: Kentucky Pope Lick Goatman & a Witch Real Horror Stories
39 Launches
Part of the Mystery collection
Published on August 22, 2022
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