Maryland’s Goatman: Half Man, Half Goat, and Out for Blood

Posted by: Craig Woolheater on November 21st, 2013

goatman_illo

Prince Georges County is about 500 square miles of green fields dotted with suburbs, located just outside Washington D.C. in Maryland. Its less than a million inhabitants enjoy nature preserves, historic reenactments, an annual blues festival and a sparkling waterfront development on the Potomac. In other words, it’s fairly bucolic. And, of course, beneath the surface of every bucolic locale roils something dark and fierce. Meet the Goatman.

When scared teenagers whisper about Goatman, not all agree on the form he takes. Some say he was a man who kept goats and went mad after teenagers killed his flock, driven to seek revenge against any youngster. But perhaps the most titillating version traces the origin of Goatman to the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, a sprawling USDA facility anchored by a big brick building appointed with white columns. In this version, a mad scientist is conducting experiments on a goat when something goes horribly wrong, turning him into a half man-half goat beast that is, naturally, hungry for blood.

He may not be as famous as his cryptid cousins Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster, but Goatman has a devoted following. He’s inspired a horror movie called “Deadly Detour” (they went with the Goatman-as-human version due to budgetary constraints, according to director Mike O’Mahony) and a Halloween attraction. He’s paid lip-service in the classic coming-of-age movie “American Graffiti.” When editing the illustrated Fantagraphics tome “BEASTS!”, Jacob Covey said he received more Goatman entries than he could include.

The stories began surfacing a “long, long, long” time ago, according to Dr. Barry Pearson, a folklorist at the University of Maryland. (Which happens to be in Prince Georges County and is home to a Goatman archive.) But the stories really kick into high gear around the ’50s and ’60s, with the Goatman having his “heydey” in the ’70s.

According to Pearson, when it comes to folklore and urban legends (“I hate that term because these stories almost always take place somewhere out in the woods,”) there’s always a “keeper” who passes the story on from one generation to the next. In this case, the keepers are bored teenagers with time to kill who go on what folklorists calls “a legend trip” to ferret out the Goatman.

“You have to figure out what teenagers have going for them,” says Pearson. “Today they have the mobility of the automobile and rampant hormones so they’re always off to Lovers Lane.”

Goatman is also purported to frequent Lovers Lanes, although he’s typically mauling a teenager’s car with a rock or axe instead of pursuing romance. He’s also often spotted near Fletchertown Road and Lottsford Road in Prince Georges County. Both stretches were once winding and dark but are now bustling thoroughfares whizzing past malls and tidy two-story houses, not really the stuff of nightmares — unless one is especially sensitive to the homogenization of the American landscape.

Goatman may be all fun and games for Maryland teens, but there is one player in the story who is not amused. The Beltsville Agricultural Research Center.

“We just think it’s stupid,” says Kim Kaplan, spokesperson for the center. Maybe it’s sort of fun, just a little bit, to be part of a local legend?

“People really don’t even talk about him,” says Kaplan. “I mean its so silly, it’s not even something that’s joked about.”

Kaplan was also quick to poke holes in the Goatman story. “Don’t you think he would have retired by now?,” she asked. “Is his great-grandson a goatman? Is he collecting Social Security?”

Kaplan could not even recall when there were last goats at the center, although she surmised it had been “generations ago.” In fact the center is mostly devoted to records and genetics. They have, for instance, kept elaborate mathematical records pertaining to what bull sperm helps produce the best milk cows.

Even if the Goatman is not beloved by the center, he doesn’t seem to be going anywhere soon. As long as teenagers need an excuse to be alone in the woods together, Goatman lurks nearby, one in a long chain of sinister ruminants.

“Tell people to be careful,” Pearson says, offering a parting bit of sardonic advice, “ and don’t turn their back on the cute little goat.”

Read the entire article including photos here.

About Craig Woolheater
Co-founder of Cryptomundo in 2005. I have appeared in or contributed to the following TV programs, documentaries and films: OLN's Mysterious Encounters: "Caddo Critter", Southern Fried Bigfoot, Travel Channel's Weird Travels: "Bigfoot", History Channel's MonsterQuest: "Swamp Stalker", The Wild Man of the Navidad, Destination America's Monsters and Mysteries in America: Texas Terror - Lake Worth Monster, Animal Planet's Finding Bigfoot: Return to Boggy Creek and Beast of the Bayou.


4 Responses to “Maryland’s Goatman: Half Man, Half Goat, and Out for Blood”

  1. BryanandShannon Impey via Facebook responds:

    Is this story as violent as the Lake Worth Moster? I can’t tell from the article.

  2. DWA responds:

    Wow, and we who live here just thought we were part of the whole urban mess of greater Washington, DC. Indeed, many from here who don’t get outside much kind of look down their noses at “PG.”

    All kidding aside, go down south county and larger tracts of forest emerge, in which, well, if one denies something’s existence it will get along just fine down there. The cover, the farms and the livestock are there to serve as corridor between richer haunts, if nothing more.

    So who knows. I certainly keep my eyes peeled.

    (My daughters have acted at the Goatman Halloween show, which is quite the deal. Imagine a Disney-style “haunted ride” that you walk instead. Shoot, it’s even gotten a shiver out of me once or twice.)

  3. Goodfoot responds:

    Yep, DWA, I would never have guessed I’d hear PG Country described as “bucolic”. There are tracts of forest land, to be sure, but the bulk of the place is suburban sprawl, with malls and the obligatory strip malls and chain restaurants.

  4. PhotoExpert responds:

    DWA–Do you live near PG County? If so, I never knew that. If not, where exactly do you hang your hat now?

    Goodfoot–Having worked and played in PG County, i agree with you, “bucolic is not a word I would use to describe it.

    The Goatman, well, it is obviously an under-represented cryptid.

Sorry. Comments have been closed.

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