Lake Worth's Mysterious Creature

By M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
The summer of 1969 three couples had parked by a clearing on the shores of Lake Worth, Tarrant County, Texas. A favorite hangout place for the teenagers of the area, it changed on the night of July 9, when a beast straight out of a horror movie jumped on top of one of the automobiles. It tried to grab one of the girls through the open car window. The auto sped away before it could pull her out. 

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Greer Island c.2012

Dubbed the Lake Worth monster, the 7 ft. creature grabbed the headlines once police opened an investigation, based on the incident reported by the witnesses, who seemed genuinely scared.

One witness described it as having a "head like a man, ears like a goat, a back like a dragon, one horn and scales." Based on this description it was alternately known as Goat Man.

Monster fever brought not only onlookers and reporters, but hunters as well and the police found their hands full trying to keep peace.

On July 10, a group of people gathered at a clearing near the lake when the monster was sighted on a cliff. It picked up a tire with the rim attached and hurled it 500 feet. Sheriff's deputies who were among the crowd, did not wait to see what else it would do, and ran away with the rest of the onlookers.

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Jim Stephen's story of his encounter (Source - The Lake Worth Monster)

Reporter Jim Marrs wrote a story in September, 1969 when another sighting was made of the Lake Worth Monster. It had last been reported on July 11, but according to a witness it had never left the area.

The week before, six teenagers parked near Greer Island at a spot known as The Pit, saw it leap out of some trees and land only five feet away from them. 

According to Sallie Anne Clarke (1929-2009) who authored the book The Lake Worth Monster (1969) it had been sighted for at least 20 years. It was known to kill sheep, accost fisherman and had been seen eating fish. She claimed to have seen it four times after the summer of '69.

In October of 1969, a man named Allen Plaster took a picture of the Lake Worth Monster, which is the only evidence of the creature. Captured is a large creature with light-colored fur. Eventually Sallie Ann Clarke got the picture, which became part of her self-published book.

Throughout the summer many claimed to see it running through the landscape, and dead sheep were found. Police insisted it was either a bobcat or the work of a prankster. ​It was usually sighted between midnight and 4 a.m.

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Sallie Ann Clarke's book The Lake Worth Monster c.1969

Among the numerous people who claimed to see or hear the creature was Ft. Worth police sergeant A.J. Hudson, who witnessed when it threw a tire at their cars. He said Tarrant County sheriff's deputies who had scoffed at the ideas changed their mind when they heard it howl.

There were serious events taking place the summer of 1969. Troops were being withdrawn from Vietnam by President Nixon, Neil Armstrong would be the first man on the moon, and Mary Jo Kopechne would die under mysterious circumstances, when the vehicle she shared with Senator Edward Kennedy veered off a narrow, wooden bridge into Chappaquiddick Island pond.

Perhaps this is why the country was ready for a crazy story about a strange creature that howled piteously, and traipsed through the woods in the dead of night.

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