I live in Carroll Country Maryland which is north-west of Baltimore. I was sent an article this afternoon about a Bigfoot-like creature from Sykesville from the Carroll County times that discusses the creature and talks about Destination America’s show Monsters and Mysteries in America will be airing a story of the bigfoot creature on Friday at 10 pm.
Although I believe these creatures are real I do not agree with the “monster” label. Many have said bigfoot or sasquatches could be multi-demensional beings. But I’m far from being an expert on the subject.
Here is an excerpt from that article:
“The story of the bigfoot-like creature known as the Sykesville Monster will be featured on Destination America’s “Monsters and Mysteries in America” airing at 10 p.m. Friday.
Although creature tales were a campfire staple prior to the 1970s, bigfoot beasts — also known as sasquatches — became a national sensation during the decade. Dozens of feature films and documentaries about the creature were released along with innumerable bigfoot appearances in TV shows and specials.
In Sykesville, a rash of sightings reported in 1973 led to a creature hunt that included police, a game warden, zoo officials and professional paranormal investigators. A plaster cast was taken of a footprint 13 inches long that zoo officials said could have been made by a sandal.
Although no other proof was ever offered to support the existence of the monster, Main Street Director Ivy Wells, who also leads the Sykesville Ghosts and Legends tours at Halloween, said townspeople took the creature very seriously. After a sighting close to South Branch Park, police restricted access to that side of town, she said.
“The whole town was basically quarantined,” Wells said.
She said no official records of the bigfoot-related investigations that took place from 1973 to 1981 could be found, although police involvement was well-documented by Carroll County Times reporters, other media and eyewitness accounts. Some have speculated the missing records indicate a cover-up of additional information the government had about the creature that was not available to the public.
The last sighting
Former Sykesville resident Lon Strickler was allegedly the last person to file a police report involving the Sykesville Monster, according to Wells. Strickler’s story will be featured in the “Monsters and Mysteries in America” episode.
In a telephone interview this week, Strickler said he was fly-fishing on the Patapsco River May 9, 1981, about a mile downstream of downtown, when the creature was flushed out of the brush on the opposite bank by a stray dog.
Strickler said the monster stood up to 8 feet tall and was covered in dark, matted hair everywhere except his face and the pads of his feet.
“It was making a ticking sound,” said Strickler, which he took to be the sound of the creature clicking his teeth together.
The creature had a strong, musky scent that Strickler said he smelled from about 25 yards away before the creature fled into the woods.
“He kind of looked like a Neanderthal,” except for the thick pelt of dark brown hair, Strickler said. “He was definitely male. I could see his genitalia.”
Strickler went to a nearby bar to call police, he said, and by the time he returned to the site minutes later, a state police cruiser was already there. He was ordered to leave immediately, he said, but he returned an hour later.
“The place was crawling with people” upon his return, Strickler said.
He said he tried to get more information and called news media about the incident the following day, but no one would talk to him.
“I was always amazed at how quickly the police got there,” Strickler said. “There was some type of cover-up.”
He said the incident led him to investigate the Sykesville Monster on his own and write a book about his research and his encounter. These days he runs the website www.phantomsandmonsters.com and hosts a weekly radio show about strange phenomena.
The children of Monster Town
Growing up in bigfoot territory was an unforgettable experience for many. Upon hearing about the upcoming television show, people who grew up in Sykesville recalled the days of their youth spent scaring each other with tales of the creature or attempting to track him to his lair. But, the dark of night brought on fears of a more sinister creature.
Tom Boone lives in Pennsylvania now, but he grew up in a farmhouse on Klee Mill Road. About age 10, he said he was awakened one night by a loud noise that he thought could have been the monster.
“I can still hear it in my mind, what it sounded like,” he said. “I’ve never heard anything like it since. We lived in the country all our lives and I know what bobcats and dogs and cats sound like. Nothing ever made a roaring noise like that.”
He described a whirring sound so loud it was as if it was put through an amplifier. The sound continued near the house and then moved behind the church next door and into the woods, he said. Boone said he could hear it breaking limbs and branches as it crashed through the woods.
State police came after his mother called and stayed in the church parking lot throughout the night, he said.
“For years when I told people about it I got goose bumps,” Boone said. “It was creepy.”
Larry Bennett, of New Windsor, spent his 1980s childhood in Sykesville. He agreed that the nights could be terrifying. He grew up on Gaither Road and often fished with his friends in the Patapsco River.
“We never saw anything, but we heard things crashing in the woods and we ran away,” he said.
During the day, the gang of boys enjoyed the river and the woods together. Sometimes, one in the group might sneak away and cause a ruckus with monkey sounds, he said.
It was an ideal setting under the sun. However, said Bennett, none of the boys was tempted to stay out after dark.
“It’s funny, hometown stuff, but it kind of stuck with us,” he said. “I still don’t want to go out there after dark.”
Shelley Colson Ostrum said she also experienced some nighttime chills related to the monster, especially when her brother tried to scare her; but what she remembers most about the creature is a treasured childhood memory.
“How many kids get to go hunting for bigfoot with their parents?” she said.
She grew up on Snowdens Run Road, and her parents took her and her brother walking down the railroad tracks on weekends. They challenged the kids to find the monster’s footprints.
“My kids look at me like I’m crazy when I tell them I used to look for bigfoot with my parents,” Ostrum said. “I’m so looking forward to that show.”
Read more at the link provided below:
I was also sent this story below about a Chupacabra that was caught in Prince George County Maryland recently with a video of this creature in a cage. You can see the story and video here: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/video/chupacabra-caught-in-maryland-14325368
Here is another story about the legendary “Goatman” of Maryland.
Here is a link and clip from this story:
http://beforeitsnews.com/strange/2012/08/the-maryland-goatman-legend-2442516.html
“The Maryland Goatman is described as a hybrid creature; part man and part goat. According to those who claim to have seen it, the legs and feet resemble that of a goat, the upper body of a man with a horned head, and a body partially covered by fur. A height is generally described at 7-8 feet and a weight at 300-350 pounds. Below are a few of the documented sightings:
June 1963 – Huntington, MD – A young couple were waling on Zug Road when they observed a peculiar creature staring at them from the edge of the woods. The woman described it as a “tall, ragged animal with human-like features.”
April 1971 – Huntington, MD – A farmer near Fletchertown Road reported seeing a large, man-like creature eating the remains of a pig. When the farmer approached the scene, the creature ran off.
September 1976 – Woodmore, MD – A landscaper at the Woodmore Country Club finds unidentified remains on the golf course, near Lottsford Road. While attempting to dispose of them, he hears a low growl. As he looks up, and observes a large, unknown animal.
October 1985 – Glenn Dale, MD – Police respond to a report of teenagers making noise at the old Glenn Dale Hospital site. While investigating, the officer hears unknown sounds, but is unable to locate the source.
August 1990 – Hyattsville, MD – During a birthday party at McGruder Park, a boy runs into the woods after a ball. Moments later, he screams. When adults arrive, they find him visibly shaken. The boy tells his mother, “It was the dark thing with the red eyes who stands in the corner of my room at night.”
May 1998 – Bowie, MD – A group of teenagers are hanging out near a local bridge when they notice something moving in the weeds nearby. Two of the teens go to investigate and describe seeing a tall, human-like animal running into the forest.
July 2007 – Glenarden, MD – A camera crew for WRC-TV (Washington, DC) is on location to cover a local golf tournament when they notice a strange animal moving in the trees nearby. The cameraman manages to capture a few seconds of video before the animal disappears.
“The Piscataway native people believed a magical creature in the same area in Maryland had the ability to shape-shift into various animals forms. This was noted and written in 1666 by a Jesuit priest, in which the illustration of a Bigfoot-like creature standing on two legs appeared in the document.
The sightings began in 1957 when a young couple were parked alone a lonely country road (Zug Road) when they suddenly heard something banging on the hood of their car. Looking up they were startled to see a goat-like humanoid staring at them, waving what looked like a axe. The creature instantly turned and dashed into the surrounding woods. There were several more rumored sightings over years.
Then in the Summer of 1962, the Goatman was accused of killing fourteen people, including twelve children and two accompanying adults, who had been hiking too close to its apparent lair. The survivors, who, not surprisingly, remained anonymous, claimed that the Goatman violently hacked it’s victims with an axe, while uttering horrid screams. According to the account, when the local authorities arrived on the scene all that was left in the carnage were half-eaten limbs and a bloody trail leading to an ominous looking cave. BTW, the Prince Georges County and Maryland State Police have no written record of this incident. It was obviously a ruse and urban legend.
Then in 1970 a woman heard her pet dog barking wildly outside, peering through a window she saw the shadowy figure of the creature moving about where the dog was tied up. Being too afraid to go outside in the dark she decided to remain in the house. The next morning she discovered that the dog had been decapitated.
In the November 10, 1971 edition of the Prince George’s County News the headline on the front page declared “Residents Fear Goatman Lives: Dog Found Decapitated in Old Bowie” with a photo of the remains of the mutilated pet. The canine belonged to April Edwards and had disappeared after she and friends had reported hearing strange noises in their yard on the night of November 3, 1971. When they went to investigate they saw a large creature moving in the dark. The article also stated that reports of an “animal-like creature that walks on its hind legs” had been seen by other residents in the area.
The Prince George’s County News coverage of the Goatman ended with one last front-page story on November 24, 1971. It focused on Mrs. Evelyn Johnson, who lived on Fletchertown Road, and mentioned the trouble and harassment she and other neighbors received from Goatman hunters. This included an incident where the road was blocked off by two cars and one truckload of people who claimed they had the creature trapped. Mrs. Johnson had to call the police in order to drive home.
So what are the actual origins of the Maryland Goatman? Some reports involve escaped mental patients and others satanic rituals…but the most popular legend is that the Goatman is the unfortunate result of an experiment involving one Dr. Stephen Fletcher that went horribly wrong at his U.S. Department of Agriculture laboratory in Beltsville. The doctor confessed to creating the Goatman by crossing the DNA of a goat and his assistant William Lottsford, but the experiment went terribly awry and the result was the genetic nightmare. It’s obviously a manufactured tale, but there are many people who claim that this scenario is valid.
Many of these Goatman sightings and reports closely correlate to Bigfoot sightings that have been generated in the same general area of Maryland for generations, including the numerous property attacks by the Sykesville Monster in the early 1970′s. Bigfoot related sightings continue throughout Maryland and the surrounding states. In my opinion, the Goatman is simply an urban legend though, a Bigfoot or any other cryptid hominid with an axe would be a life altering event.”
I’ve always had a fascination with creatures and stories like these. Here is another link I received about many legends of creatures from around Maryland and some in nearby Pennsylvania. http://masksofmesingw.blogspot.com/2010/01/weird-creatures-of-maryland.html.
Weird creatures of Maryland
Eggheads: These creatures were seen by Dan Long in October 1973 near Westover (Somerset County). Long was in the Pocomoke Forest with some friends when he claimed that he saw a number of glowing white humanoids with large egg-shaped heads near the Perdue Farms facility.
