01-26-2009, 03:02 PM
By Nick Redfern
January 24, 2009
Since moving to the United States from jolly old England in the summer of 2001, I can most definitely say that Iââ¬â¢ve lived in some unusual places.
But without doubt the strangest of all was White Rock Lake, Dallas. A picturesque, large body of water, the lake looks like a friendly and inviting place. And, at first glance, it most certainly is.
Yet beneath its pleasant and innocent exterior lurks an absolute menagerie of monsters and mysterious beasts: tales abound of giant catfish seen swimming in its expansive waters. Lake Placid-style stories of marauding alligators or crocodiles in the area surface from time to time; and there is even a legend of a 30-foot-long snake supposedly seen slithering around the shores of White Rock Lake one particular summer in the late 1960s.
But without doubt the most notable resident monster of White Rock Lake is the ludicrously named Goat Man. Alligator Man would be cool, as would Shark Man, or even Snake Man. But Goat Manââ¬â¢s moniker most certainly is not cool - at all.
So the story goes, on several occasions in the 1970s and 1980s a distinctly odd creature was seen after sunset flitting in and out of the trees that surround the lake, and that was described as being man-like in form, around seven feet in height, but with Goat-style protrusions sticking out of its head, and hooves instead of feet.
The description of the animal was eerily like that of the fabled Satyrs of Greek and Roman legend. And, it must be noted that numerous other cultures had an awareness that such strange creatures were lurking among them ââ¬â and for milennia.
There was, for example, the demon goat-man Azazel, there was the goat-beast of the mountains that was feared by the herdsmen of Parnassus, and, of course, there was the god Pan.
The god of fields and forests, Pan dwelt in grottos, roamed both mountains and valleys, was a lover of music, and was widely feared. In times past, any form of overwhelming dread without a discernible cause was ascribed to Pan, and became known as a Panic terror.
Rob Riggs wrote briefly about the Goat Man sightings at White Rock Lake in the book Weird Texas; the details, however, were scant. But a far more substantial account was brought to my personal attention by a woman named Sandy Grace, who claimed to have seen the infamous Goat Man up close and personal midway through August 2001.
Grace had been jogging around the lake on the nine-mile-long trail at around 2.00 p.m. when, out of the trees, she told me, suddenly stepped the strangest looking ââ¬Åthingââ¬Â she had ever seen in her life.
Large, and covered from head to foot in thin, coarse brown hair and with two large horn-like protrusions sticking out of its head, the half-man-half-beast strode purposefully in her direction with a malevolent, sneering grin on its wide face.
Bizarrely, when it got within about fifteen feet of the terror-stricken Grace, the animal-man crouched on its four limbs and suddenly, and inexplicably, vanished in a bright flash of light. She was absolutely sure that it had not been a hallucination, but was equally sure that such a thing could not live within the confines of White Rock Lake ââ¬â or, for that matter, anywhere else on the face of the Earth.
Interestingly, Grace told me that about a minute or so before the Goat Man put in its brief-but-terrifying appearance, she was overcome by an intense feeling of fear ââ¬â albeit for no particular reason. She had never suffered from panic attacks (before or since); but figured that that was probably the best way to describe how she felt.
I thought to myself that it could also have been a classic description of a close encounter with Pan, the God of the Woods, centuries ago.
Is it only a coincidence that cultures all around the world in times past had legends and tales of such creatures inhabiting dark woods and forests, and that, today, people are still seeing them in similar locations? I conclude that it most certainly is not a coincidence. Something diabolical really is among us.
Notably, White Rock Lake is not the only place in Texas that is allegedly inhabited by such a Goat-like man (or a man-like Goat, depending on your own perspective), as I learned graphically in 2005. But that, as they say, is a story for another dayââ¬Â¦
http://www.mania.com/coming-goatman_article_112524.html
January 24, 2009
Since moving to the United States from jolly old England in the summer of 2001, I can most definitely say that Iââ¬â¢ve lived in some unusual places.
But without doubt the strangest of all was White Rock Lake, Dallas. A picturesque, large body of water, the lake looks like a friendly and inviting place. And, at first glance, it most certainly is.
Yet beneath its pleasant and innocent exterior lurks an absolute menagerie of monsters and mysterious beasts: tales abound of giant catfish seen swimming in its expansive waters. Lake Placid-style stories of marauding alligators or crocodiles in the area surface from time to time; and there is even a legend of a 30-foot-long snake supposedly seen slithering around the shores of White Rock Lake one particular summer in the late 1960s.
But without doubt the most notable resident monster of White Rock Lake is the ludicrously named Goat Man. Alligator Man would be cool, as would Shark Man, or even Snake Man. But Goat Manââ¬â¢s moniker most certainly is not cool - at all.
So the story goes, on several occasions in the 1970s and 1980s a distinctly odd creature was seen after sunset flitting in and out of the trees that surround the lake, and that was described as being man-like in form, around seven feet in height, but with Goat-style protrusions sticking out of its head, and hooves instead of feet.
The description of the animal was eerily like that of the fabled Satyrs of Greek and Roman legend. And, it must be noted that numerous other cultures had an awareness that such strange creatures were lurking among them ââ¬â and for milennia.
There was, for example, the demon goat-man Azazel, there was the goat-beast of the mountains that was feared by the herdsmen of Parnassus, and, of course, there was the god Pan.
The god of fields and forests, Pan dwelt in grottos, roamed both mountains and valleys, was a lover of music, and was widely feared. In times past, any form of overwhelming dread without a discernible cause was ascribed to Pan, and became known as a Panic terror.
Rob Riggs wrote briefly about the Goat Man sightings at White Rock Lake in the book Weird Texas; the details, however, were scant. But a far more substantial account was brought to my personal attention by a woman named Sandy Grace, who claimed to have seen the infamous Goat Man up close and personal midway through August 2001.
Grace had been jogging around the lake on the nine-mile-long trail at around 2.00 p.m. when, out of the trees, she told me, suddenly stepped the strangest looking ââ¬Åthingââ¬Â she had ever seen in her life.
Large, and covered from head to foot in thin, coarse brown hair and with two large horn-like protrusions sticking out of its head, the half-man-half-beast strode purposefully in her direction with a malevolent, sneering grin on its wide face.
Bizarrely, when it got within about fifteen feet of the terror-stricken Grace, the animal-man crouched on its four limbs and suddenly, and inexplicably, vanished in a bright flash of light. She was absolutely sure that it had not been a hallucination, but was equally sure that such a thing could not live within the confines of White Rock Lake ââ¬â or, for that matter, anywhere else on the face of the Earth.
Interestingly, Grace told me that about a minute or so before the Goat Man put in its brief-but-terrifying appearance, she was overcome by an intense feeling of fear ââ¬â albeit for no particular reason. She had never suffered from panic attacks (before or since); but figured that that was probably the best way to describe how she felt.
I thought to myself that it could also have been a classic description of a close encounter with Pan, the God of the Woods, centuries ago.
Is it only a coincidence that cultures all around the world in times past had legends and tales of such creatures inhabiting dark woods and forests, and that, today, people are still seeing them in similar locations? I conclude that it most certainly is not a coincidence. Something diabolical really is among us.
Notably, White Rock Lake is not the only place in Texas that is allegedly inhabited by such a Goat-like man (or a man-like Goat, depending on your own perspective), as I learned graphically in 2005. But that, as they say, is a story for another dayââ¬Â¦
http://www.mania.com/coming-goatman_article_112524.html