The Legend Behind the Goatman of Prince George's County

An urban legend, shrouded in mystery, has plagued Prince George’s County since the 1970s.  The story of a half-man, half-goat is being brought up once again due the disputed location of this so called urban legend.  Sightings in a bizarre house behind St. Mark the Evangelist School in Hyattsville, and under
“Cry Baby” Bridge in Bowie, and now recently in College Park are reporting unknown creatures and devilish screams.  

For the last three decades an unknown house has sat in a forest behind a middle school, St. Mark the Evangelist.  Rumors had started to spread like wildfire that a goat-man hybrid was seen in and around the house. Some claim to have found bones in his house and commonly reported knives, saws, and leftover
food.  Due to construction plans his house has since disappeared but the legend still lives on in the hearts of all the students who attended St. Mark the Evangelist. 

A member of the Class of ’08 of St. Mark the Evangelist, and now a senior at DeMatha Catholic, Nathan Smith says, “Ever since I started at St. Marks I’ve heard stories of a ‘Goatman’ in our own backyard.  During recess, kids would dare each other to hop the fence and go into his house.  No kids would ever do it, but as we grew up the Goatman turned into kind of a joke.  It could be real or it could be all an elaborate hoax.”

Some rumors surfaced that told of a doctor who worked at the United States Department of Agricultural Research Center in Beltsville Maryland.  It is said that he performed an experiment using animal and human DNA where something went horribly wrong and created what we know today as the Goatman.  No one knows what became of the crazy doctor or his unnatural creation but some say that the Goatman is still lurking in woods waiting for his next victim. It is reported that the doctor confessed to creating the Goatman by crossing the DNA of a goat and his assistant William Lottsford in an experiment and now the
assistant is on a rampage for revenge.

Others say the Goatman lurks around a bridge in Bowie, named Governor Bridge, but nicknamed “Cry Baby” Bridge.  The Goatman’s preferred targets are couples who dare enter his bridge. Supposedly if you park under the bridge after dusk you might hear the shrill screaming of a crying baby or even the braying of a goat. Even more unlikely, you may even see the Goatman himself. The Goatman has also been seen to jump on cars and attack the drivers, kill pets, break into houses in search for food, and capture civilians in the woods. 

In the 1980’s a string of brutal murders in a forest were investigated and now recent sightings are popping up again. In Northern Prince George’s County, there are a couple reports of a man running through the back of St. Marks, and eerie sounds that could only come from a goat compliment the sightings.  After hearing about the Goatman, be careful when walking alone – you just may be his next victim.