Couples say they saw a Lake Worth monster 40 years ago

By CHRIS VAUGHN

cvaughn@star-telegram.com

Greer Island, a small patch of land close to where the West Fork of the Trinity River flows into Lake Worth, is heavily shaded by tall oaks, cedar elms and cottonwoods.

One of the quietest spots in Fort Worth, the island is home to egrets and owls, perhaps an alligator or two.

And maybe, just maybe, the Lake Worth Monster.

The Lake Worth Monster — aka Goat-Man — hasn’t been seen regularly at the Fort Worth Nature Center since a very memorable summer 40 years ago when all of Texas seemed to buzz with the news that a hairy, scaly 7-foot man-goat-beast was terrorizing the good citizens of Tarrant County.

"Every so often, it will come up in conversation," said Suzanne Tuttle, manager of the Nature Center. "Somebody will say, 'I remember when that happened.’ "

Perhaps the monster moved on to less-populated environs, and maybe it’s dead by now, his bones to be discovered decades later by a lucky anthropologist.

Or, as more people actually suspect, the monster was really several creatures, all hoaxes carried out by enterprising and opportunistic mischief-makers from Brewer, Castleberry or North Side high school.

No one is exactly sure.

Mystery still cloaks the legend of the Lake Worth Monster and his tire-chucking, hair-raising appearance in July 1969.

Spreading terror

On the afternoon of July 10 that year, the Star-Telegram’s front page carried a headline above the fold — "Fishy Man-Goat Terrifies Couples Parked at Lake Worth."

Reporter Jim Marrs broke the story to the world.

"Six terrified residents told police early today they were attacked by a thing they described as being half-man, half-goat and covered with fur and scales.

"Four units of Fort Worth police and the residents searched in vain for the thing, which was reported seen at Lake Worth, near Greer Island."

John Reichart told police that the creature leapt from a tree and landed on his car, and he showed them an 18-inch scar down the side of his car as proof.

The police officer told Marrs that "we did make a serious investigation because those people were really scared."

The police also revealed that they had received reports in the past but had laughed them off.

The next night, the monster, in front of a couple of dozen witnesses, was said to have uttered a "pitiful cry" and hurled a tire from a bluff at them.

The police weren’t laughing anymore. Hundreds of amateur trackers descended on the area with all manner of Remingtons, Brownings and Colts.

"I’m not worried about the monster so much as all those people wandering around out there with guns," a police sergeant was quoted as saying in Marrs’ second-day story.

One of the curious who went to Lake Worth that summer was Sallie Ann Clarke, an aspiring writer and private investigator who dropped everything to interview people for what would become her quick-draw and slightly tongue-in-cheek book, The Lake Worth Monster of Greer Island, self-published in September ’69.

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