The Goatman of Maryland
On the back roads near a government farm laboratory in Maryland, teenagers told of a half-man, half-goat who walks the woods with an axe.
What was reported
In Prince George's County, Maryland, near the large Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, a legend grew up in the 1950s and 1960s about the Goatman: a hairy creature with a man's body and a goat's head and legs, who lurked along Fletchertown Road and in the woods nearby, carrying an axe.
One version says he was a scientist at the research centre whose experiment on goats went wrong. In the 1970s, local newspapers reported fresh sightings, and the Goatman became a fixture of local lore.
Explanations offered
Folklorists see the Goatman as a classic 'lovers' lane' legend, told by teenagers to scare each other on dark country roads. The nearby research centre gave the story a believable setting. Goatman legends have since spread to Texas, Kentucky and other states.
- When
- Told since the 1950s
- Where
- Prince George's County, Maryland, USA
- Witnesses
- Local teenagers, residents and newspapers
- Status
- Urban legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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