Lake Worth Monster

Photo by Allen Plaster (1969)

Origins:

It all began during the summer of 1969, at Lake Worth, just outside of Fort Worth, Texas. Per a July 10, 1969 article ("Fishy Man-Goat Terrifies Couples Parked at Lake Worth Police Suspect Pranksters") in The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, written by Jim Marrs:

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.

The six residents were parked near the island.

'We've had reports about this thing for about two months,' a police dispatcher said this morning, "but we've always laughed them off as pranks."

This time, however, police apparently believe the six were frightened by someone or something.

Police said John Reichert of 920 S. Henderson told this story:

Reichart, along with his wife and two other couples, was parked at Lake Worth about midnight when someone or something leaped from a nearby tree and landed on their car.

The thing was described as being covered with fur and scales and being "part man and part goat."

Reichart said the thing tried to grab his wife but he drove off before it could touch her.

Returning to the scene with police, Reichert pointed out where the attack took place, but no sign of the thing could be found.

Reichert showed officers an 18-inch scratch down the side of his car which he said the thing made with its claw-like hands.

"We made a serious investigation," said patrolman James S. McGee, "because these people were really scared."

However, McGee said the couples probably were the victims of pranksters, who either threw a dummy on the car or dressed someone in an ape costume.

"That's a dangerous way to pull a prank," added McGee. "Someone is liable to get themselves shot."

The following day brought forth two new articles, also from the The Fort Worth Star-Telegram, written by Jim Marrs. The first (("Police, Residents Observe But Can't Identify Monster"):

It's been called the "Lake Worth Monster," a half-man, half-goat thing with fur and scales, a "manny-goat," and a satyr. Police believe it is a prank. A naturalist believes it is a bobcat. Twenty or 30 residents don't know what it is, but do know it scared the bejabbers out of them.

The "Monster" first made the headlines yesterday after a car-load of six residents reported a half-man, half-goat with fur and scales jumped their car at Lake Worth near Greer Island.

The Lake Worth monster was reported to have struck again early today, and police are now getting worried that someone is going to get hurt.

"I'm not worried about the monster so much as all those people wandering around out there with guns," said Sgt. A. J. Hudson, who investigated today's reported sighting.

Police said yesterday they believe the "thing" may be someone in an ape costume, or someone throwing an animal hide at cars, as a prank.

If so, he is an athletic someone. Witnesses today said the thing threw an automobile tire and wheel 500 feet. (Police said they had received reports before, but laughed them off.)

And the second ("Satyr-Day Outing Next?"):

Witnesses Watch 'Monster' Cavort
Today's reports began coming in after midnight.

Soon after the incident, a local radio station broadcast the story and carloads of curiosity seekers descended on Lake Worth. One of these, Jack E. Harris of 5537 Terrace Trail, gave this account of the night:

"We were driving around trying to find it, when we heard it squalling. We heard it before we saw it."

"I saw it come across the road and I tried to take a picture of it but the flash didn't work."

"I took another picture but I don't know if I got anything because I was too busy rolling up my window."

"We watched him run up and down a bluff for a while and other cars arrived. There must have been 30 or 40 people watching him."

"Well, some of them thought they would get mean with the thing, but about that time, it got hold of a spare tire that had a rim in it and threw it at our cars."

"He threw it more than 500 feet and it was coming so fast that everyone took off. Everybody jumped back in their cars."

"Earlier there were some sheriffs deputies there asking us about it and one of them was sorta laughing like he didn't believe it."

"But then that thing howled and I think it stood his hair on end. He decided it wasn't so funny anymore."

"Those sheriff's men weren't any braver than we were - they ran to get in their car."

Witnesses agreed that the thing was "big, hairy and white looking."

Harris said the thing "walks like a man but didn't look like a man."

"He was whitish-gray and hairy," he said, "and I might have been scared but he looked like he was 7 feet tall and must have weighed about 300 pounds."

Harris described the thing as emitting a "pitiful cry - like something was hurting him. But it sure didn't sound human," said Harris.

Fort Worth police aided in the search for the monster, but were unable to find anything.

"Everyone rushed out there to hunt the monster," said Hudson, and a lot of them said thay saw it looking in the dark."

"But if people keep going out there with guns, some poor kid is going to get shot," warned Hudson. "If they want protection, they should stay at home."

The "Monster" was first reported yesterday morning when six persons in a car were startled by something they described as being half-man, half-goat with fur and scales.

While this, and the subsequent nation-wide reporting, brought a glut of Bigfoot enthusiasts, it was a local man that snapped the single photograph of the creature, though he harbored doubts on it truly being a monster at all. Again, from a The Fort Worth Star-Telegram article ("‘A little bit of mystery’: Lake Worth Monster, other cryptids to be explored on nature show"), written by Harriet Ramos:

A Fort Worth man, Allen Plaster, spotted a large white shape in the tall grass near Greer Island around 1:35 a.m. on Nov. 19, 1969. He took a photo with his Polaroid camera. Years later Plaster said he thought the creature he photographed was just somebody playing a prank

From a The Fort Worth Star-Telegram opinion piece ("Fort Worth Bigfoot or ‘Lake Worth Monster?’ Truth is blurry"), written by Bud Kennedy:

In 2006, when [Allen's] 1969 photo emerged on hobbyist websites and in a San Antonio museum exhibit, he said the idea of a real monster is “silly.”

“When we drove by, it stood up,” he said. “Whatever it was, it wanted to be seen. That was a prank. That was somebody out there waiting for people to drive by. I don’t think an animal would have acted that way.”

He went on: “I don’t know what gets in people’s heads.”

[...]

Ever since 1969, different residents have claimed the “monster” was their prank.

Further sightings would largely taper off after the summer ended and (as one article glibly said) the school year began, though the lore continues to be molded to today.

Though something of interest, the Lake Worth Monster was actually the second Fort Worth Monster, whose original 1947 appearances might just hold the key to the 1969 summer sightings! The first Lake Worth Monster was a sea serpent as opposed to a goat-y Bigfoot. As explained in (once more) a The Fort Worth Star-Telegram article ("1969: The moon landing, UFOs—and the Lake Worth Monster"), written by Bud Kennedy:

Newly digitized Star-Telegram archives show that in December 1968, front-page columnist George Dolan wrote jokingly about the 1947 sighting.

“A man who used to run a boat works on Lake Worth mentioned the other day that he can understand people thinking they see flying saucers,” Dolan wrote, referring to the UFO sightings of that paranoid, Cold War-wary era.

“Remember the ‘Lake Worth monster’?”

Seven months before sightings began anew, Dolan retold the 1947 prank where workers at the boat works rigged an inner tube with a pulley and trotline to make it bob up and down in the water.

“The excitement went on for days,” Dolan wrote, before it was revealed as a prank.

“People didn’t believe it,” Dolan quoted the storyteller. “Some of them might still think there’s a monster in Lake Worth.”

Further detailed in a Dallas Morning News obituary ("Rites Set Thursday for Thurman Rench"):

While working as marina manager, Rench created the monster -- using a tire and two large green buttons from his wife's button box -- to scare away three elderly women who fished at the marina daily, blocking boats from docking, said his wife, Rosemary Rench.

The story of the monster in Lake Worth was publicized nationwide, and that year people from around the country came to the town to see what it really was.