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LAIR OF THE BEASTS- Bigfoot & Bizarre Beasts
2008: A Year of Monsters. By Nick Redfern
December 27, 2008
Monster Maniac Nick Redfern, full-time monster-hunter and the author of four books on the subject: Three Men Seeking Monsters; Memoirs of a Monster Hunter; Man-Monkey; and his latest book: There’s something in the Woods.
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Well, as another year draws to a close, it’s fair to say that in monster-hunting circles, it has been a period of ups and downs.
From a positive perspective, there was the Center for Fortean Zoology’s ambitious expedition to the Caucasus Mountains in search of the Russian equivalent of the Abominable Snowman: the Almasty.
On the downside, of course, there was the notorious “Bigfoot Hoax” that sprung out of Georgia, and which even caught the mainstream media’s keen attention for a while.
And, several new reports of lake-monsters have surfaced from the depths in 2008 (quite literally, too), and which I’ll be telling you about in January.
For me personally, however, the most memorable event of 2008–in terms of monster-hunting, at least–occurred in late January.
On the evening of January 15, I gave a lecture on my Memoirs of a Monster Hunter book for the Texas-based Denton Area Paranormal Society, DAPS, organized and run by a man named Lance Oliver.
The lecture went very well, and during the course of the evening Lance happened to mention that he had undertaken investigations of a couple of local stories, legends and incidents of a monstrous nature that he felt might very well be of keen interest to me.
And indeed they were: one concerned repeated encounters of a classic Goat-Man-kind at an old bridge only a few miles from the lecture-hall; and the other involved a series of Bigfoot sightings at a large body of water nearby called Ray Roberts Lake.
For those unacquainted with the tales, the Goat-Man is a creature that has been sighted in countless U.S. states, and evokes imagery of the fabled Satyrs and Centaurs of ancient legend.
Needless to say, a first-hand trip to the locations in question was warranted. Thus it was that two weeks later, Lance and I headed off in search of the unknown.
As we arrived at the Old Alton Bridge–the alleged hang-out of the Goat-Man, and which was constructed back in 1884–Lance told me the story, or rather the stories, behind the legend.
One suggested that back in the 1960s occultists in the area had inadvertently opened a portal that allowed the unholy creature to enter our world unhindered. As a result, he continued, the hellish Goat-Man had now made its new home within the deep waters and thick woods that surrounded the old bridge.
The second story was even weirder.
According to legend, decades ago a local man killed his parents and was hung for the crime. At the moment of his death, so the tall-tale went at least, the man’s head was torn from his neck. As a result, his ghostly frame returned from the grave looking for a new head–which was duly acquired late one night from a wild goat that was unfortunately wandering around the Old Alton Bridge at the time.
Of course, this was surely nothing more than a wild tale spread by local teenagers and thrill-seekers. But, for me, it was yet another case to add to an ever-burgeoning series of files.
Next stop: Ray Roberts Lake–which, in times past, was the haunt of various Native American Indian tribes, including the Comanche, the Kiowa and the Tonkawa. It was at Ray Roberts Lake that, in May 1990, strange animalistic screams were heard late at night, and on more than one occasion a giant, hairy man-beast was seen on a large hill on the north-side of the lake.
As I have come to learn, in areas where Bigfoot has been seen on regular occasions, it is not uncommon to find what have become known in the world of monster-hunting as “Bigfoot Teepees.”
These curious structures are basically made of thick branches that look like they have quite literally been wrenched off trees and placed into pyramid-like formations. Some researchers have suggested they are made by the creatures as territorial markers; while others have postulated they might very well be connected to Bigfoot mating rituals.
A definitive answer to their construction still eludes us; however, I do not exaggerate when I say that the peak of the wooded hill was absolutely infested with such formations. To the left of us, to the right of us, in front of us and behind us: they were everywhere.
The whole place reeked of menace and high-strangeness; and I got a distinct and unsettling feeling that hidden eyes (and probably glowing red eyes, too…) were watching our every move. This was not a good place; not at all. But it was one that I would not forget as I sought to add to my ever-burgeoning data-base of material.
Without doubt, 2009 will see me returning to those darkened woods in search of whatever may roam there…
Nick Redfern is a full-time monster-hunter and the author of four books on the subject: Three Men Seeking Monsters; Memoirs of a Monster Hunter; Man-Monkey; and his latest book: There’s something in the Woods.
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Here in Maryland, we also have a goat-man, but his origin is that he was a scientist working with goats in the 1950's when one day he went crazy, covered himself with the hide of a goat, took an axe and ran out into the woods of Prince Georges county. to this day there are sightings of him and he is blamed for killing a number people's dogs.