Awesome or Off-Putting is a weekly delve into cryptozoology, ufology, aliens, medical marvels, scientific wonders, secret societies, government conspiracies, cults, ghosts, EVPs, myths, ancient artifacts, religion, strange facts, odd sightings or just the plain unexplainable.
This week: Cryptozoology/Odd Sightings
Encounters with a paranormal creature usually have one witness. Some kid is out in the wild hiking alone, then wham-o, the bitter stench of Bigfoot fills his nostrils in a face to face meet and greet. The better sightings will have two or more unwitting participants who eventually issue similar statements. The real good kind of paranormal encounter includes a sighting, a local radio broadcast of the sighting, droves of onlookers racing to the scene via automobiles and police running for their lives.
And so it is with the Lake Worth Monster.
Lake Worth is a Texas city with a population of 4,618, according to a 2000 survey. It's pretty typical in every sense of the word except one – it had the most incredible recorded monster sighting hecklerspray has come across in ages.
The monster made itself exceptionally newsworthy on July 10th 1969 when it apparently jumped over a car full of people. These are the first witnesses to describe the creature as:
"…half-man, half-goat with fur and scales…"
An interesting description, that – three animals, one of them apparently aquatic, all rolled into one. Of course we've seen the man-goat combo before, but the fish aspect is a brand new ingredient. News of this encounter leaked to the radio, which reported on it pretty quickly. Of course the story resulted in dozens of people flocking to the scene – and said flocking paid off.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram described the sighting the day it happened. According to a witness they interviewed:
"We were driving around trying to find it, when we heard it squalling. We heard it before we saw it. I saw it come across the road and I tried to take a picture of it but the flash didn't work. I took another picture but I don't know if I got anything because I was too busy rolling up my window. We watched him run up and down a bluff for a while and other cars arrived. There must have been 30 or 40 people watching him. Well, some of them thought they would get mean with the thing, but about that time, it got hold of a spare tire that had a rim in it and threw it at our cars. He threw it more than 500 feet and it was coming so fast that everyone took off. Everybody jumped back in their cars."
But common-folk weren't the only people to see the thing. Police were on scene as well – and so was a camera. A picture was taken of the thing, but we can't make heads or tails of it. It's up there on the left accompanying the article, take a look for yourself.
But picture or no picture, not everyone is convinced of the beastie's monster-ness. Some say it was a high school kid dressed in a gorilla suit that was for some reason fluffy, scaly and white. One person claims it was only a bobcat. We haven't seen a lot of bobcats good at the spare tire discus, but just the same, everyone is allowed their opinion.
Read More:
Police, Residents Observe But Can't Identify Monster – The Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Don says
Im from lake worth texas and i know who was on the top of the hill on july 10 1969 i was only 5 at the time but later on in years i met the sister of one of the boys that did it…it wasnt the one that had the kennel.there was a liquor store on the conner to the road that went down to greer island i ran around there when i was a kid…i stopped going there after a friend was killed there.well anyway the man that did it has pasted away now and the other one is still around there.they was good boys..i worked for there brother-in-law for years and i have heard the story lots of times but never read the news paper about it and i was thinking about and looked it up..i got more details on what happened that day…from them…the sister got the store when her dad died and ran it for years and later closed it.it was later opened up as a mexican restrant the name was manuals…later the place was knocked down and moved over for the new freeway…i have moved away from there 15 years ago..and to this day i still talk to the sister and her brother…i live in west virginia now and sometimes i miss the old home place…
Lake Fishing says
I think that only a big animal in the water that we never seen before.
Gene says
I was out there today and heard this not-so-incredible tale. What a bunch of crap. The area is quite beautiful and has much to offer the naturist and day hiker. The town could benefit from just the simple tourism of people visiting the place as an awesome nature center. I don’t think it does a wonderful place like that justice to have such an ignorant fairy tale running around in the news. They should cease with that stupid lie and just enjoy the incredible Texas flora and fauna that is what really makes the place interesting.
john says
Gene some people lie to get attention and they live on both sides of the fence. There was something going on at the lake in 69, the area around the lake back then was thick brush and woodland, the people who incounterd the creature were sincere in ther account of what happened. Once the news was out every hillbilly redneck in the Lake Worth area was out there claiming they were the goatman, the tire thing could be true someone probably did roll a tire down a cliff to scare people but that was after the fact. The investigation turned up some very interisting things besides the goatman’s hair and tracks. North Texas was a very interisting place to be in the late 60,s and 70’s if you knew were to look. Glad I experinced it, would not trade it for anything. Gene there is more out there than you can ever imagine. BEAM ME UP SCOTTY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mark says
I Live in Fort Worth, TX… About 3 mins away from Lake Worth, and no one talks about The Lake Worth Monster anymore. If there ever was one, they would of found it by now.. They’ve built houses and businesses around the lake now, with all that construction they would’ve seen something… It’s all B/S..