The Internet Is Losing Its Mind Over Alleged Sightings Of The Legendary Goatman

This year-old video, which hails from the the Strange Mysteries Channel on YouTube, details the history of the fabled Goatman. This hybrid creature has peppered popular culture since 1957 when it was first spotted in Maryland. I guess we could call this fella a cryptid, as he is presumably half-human and half-goat, but the video’s lead-in photo plays like a jokester who likes to hit the gym and enjoys fooling folks with goat-themed cosplay.

Regardless, the creature known colloquially as “The Pope Lick Monster” has recently (and allegedly) been spotted throughout Wisconsin, Texas, and Kentucky. That’s quite a stretch for a creature who would presumably be limited in gait as “a horned man with the cloven hooves of an ungulate.” His legends hold that he also possesses the strength to tear hikers apart with ease. Perhaps Goatman also moves with the ungodly speed of Looney Tunes’ Tasmanian Devil? Stranger things have happened.

These scattered sightings of the creature arrive not too long after the release of J. Nathan Couch’s book, Goatman: Flesh or Folklore? Couch, a Wisconsin-based ghost hunter, dug into the decades-deep history of the Goatman, who has frightened generations of teenagers who would otherwise hang freely in the woods for rampant makeout sessions. Well, maybe the Goatman did serve a purpose.

Still, what is this mysterious Goatman? He’s certainly not the guy who dressed up as a goat and lived among his imagined brethren in the Wasatch Mountains near Ogden, Utah. They found that dude in 2012, and his story trekked all over the mainstream news.

Goatman’s resurgence also follows swiftly behind October’s alleged Jersey Devil sightings, which — despite photo “evidence” to the contrary — was likely a hoax concocted by a Twitter user with too much free time. Like the Jersey Devil, no one really knows whether Goatman exists, but many have told his tale. Twitter is endlessly retweeting his news coverage, and a few people are freaking out.

https://twitter.com/sparegrimoire/status/670711832336797696

https://twitter.com/gaosniffle/status/667123113839173632

https://twitter.com/Tyler_Slaton/status/670637821900808192

J. Nathan Couch did not miss an opportunity to suggest buying his book. Can you blame him? Get that mad Amazon cash, man.

(Via Movie Pilot & Cult of Weird)