Texas

1Lake Worth Monster On the record

Humanoid · Lake Worth / Greer Island, Fort Worth, Tarrant County · first reported July 1969 · also called Goatman of Lake Worth, Greer Island Goatman

In the summer of 1969, people around Lake Worth on the edge of Fort Worth started telling police and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about a creature near Greer Island. Witnesses called it part man and part goat, with fur, scales and long clawed fingers. Stories spread fast: it was said to have dropped from a tree onto a car, and later to have hurled a tire at a crowd of onlookers. Police searched and found nothing. Photographer Allen Plaster took a picture that seemed to show a pale, shaggy figure. Decades later two people came forward claiming parts of the scare were teenage pranks, one involving a tinfoil mask. The legend lives on at the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge, which hosts a yearly Lake Worth Monster Bash.

• July 1969On the record Several people reported to police that a creature had jumped onto their car near the lake. The Star-Telegram ran the story and crowds of curious locals began driving out to Greer Island at night hoping to see it. Source: en.wikipedia.org
• 1969On the record During the excitement a group of watchers said the creature threw a car tire at them from a bluff. Searches by police turned up no animal and no hard evidence. Source: en.wikipedia.org
• 1969On the record Allen Plaster photographed what looked like a large, light-colored furry shape in the brush. Believers point to the photo as the best evidence; skeptics say it could be anything, including a costume. Source: en.wikipedia.org
• 2005 and 2009Proven hoax An anonymous letter to the Star-Telegram claimed three high school students staged the scare with a tinfoil mask. In 2009 a Fort Worth, Texas magazine story quoted an unnamed man who said he was behind the tire-throwing. Neither claim names the people involved. Source: en.wikipedia.org

Visiting: Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge; Lake Worth Monster Bash each October.

2Big Bird of the Rio Grande Valley On the record

Winged · Raymondville, Brownsville, Harlingen and South Texas · first reported Dec 1975 - Jan 1976 · also called Big Bird, Texas pterodactyl

Over the winter of 1975-76 a cluster of reports came out of the Rio Grande Valley about a huge flying creature. Witnesses described something as tall as a person with leathery, featherless skin, bat-like wings spanning ten feet or more, and glowing red eyes. Some compared it to a pteranodon from picture books. The wave included a rancher's mutilated goat near Raymondville, a man in Raymondville who said he was attacked in his yard, and sightings in Brownsville. In February 1976 three teachers south of San Antonio reported a giant bird gliding over their cars. Skeptics suggest large herons, pelicans or vultures seen in poor light, amplified by news coverage; witnesses insisted it was nothing they knew.

• Jan 14, 1976On the record Armando Grimaldo of Raymondville said a creature about six feet tall with a ten-to-twelve-foot wingspan grabbed at him from above. He described dark leathery skin and big red eyes. The story ran in the local press. Source: cryptomundo.com
• January 1976On the record In Brownsville, Alverico Guajardo reported that something slammed into his mobile home. He said he saw wings folded around its shoulders and bright red eyes before it left. Source: cryptomundo.com
• January 1976On the record Sisters Libby and Deany Ford of Brownsville described a big black bird as tall as they were, with a bat-like face. Looking through books afterward, they picked out a pteranodon as the closest match. Source: cryptomundo.com
• Feb 24, 1976On the record Three schoolteachers driving south of San Antonio said an enormous bird with a 15-to-20-foot span passed low over them. The San Antonio Light reported the sighting two days later. Source: cryptomundo.com

3La Lechuza Told story

Winged · South Texas and northern Mexico; Robstown, Nueces County · first reported traditional · also called the owl witch, El Pajaro Gigante (Robstown 1975)

La Lechuza is a Mexican and Mexican-American legend told across South Texas: a woman who becomes a giant owl, often with a human face. In many versions she was an outsider the town distrusted, sometimes falsely blamed for a child's disappearance, who returns through a pact with the devil to take revenge. Families tell it to keep children indoors after dark and to warn men walking home late. Signs of her are said to be rustling wings, a whistle or cry, and glowing eyes in a tree. Folklorist Rachel Gonzalez-Martin of UT Austin describes it as both a cautionary tale and a revenge story. In 1975 a burst of giant-bird reports around Robstown, Banquete and Alice became known as El Pajaro Gigante.

• 1975On the record People in and around Robstown, near Corpus Christi, reported a huge bird attacking or chasing them on county roads. Descriptions ran from two to six feet tall, some with a human face. The scare spread to Banquete and Alice, and locals soon treated it with humor as well as fear. Source: texasstandard.org
• traditionalTold story The common telling: a lone man walking home at night hears wings above him and sees glowing eyes in a tree. The owl-woman follows him, and only prayer or reaching home saves him. Source: texasstandard.org

4Houston Batman On the record

Winged · East Third Street, Houston Heights, Harris County · first reported June 1953 · also called Houston Bat Man

On a hot June night in 1953, three neighbors sitting outside on East Third Street in Houston said they saw a man-shaped figure on a pecan tree branch. Hilda Walker, 14-year-old Judy Meyer and Howard Phillips described it as about six and a half feet tall, with bat-like wings and snug gray or black clothing, glowing with a dim yellow light. They said it swayed for around half a minute, then vanished, followed by a loud swoosh. Walker filed a police report the next morning. The street was later swallowed by Interstate 10. Writers note the witnesses did not frame it as a comic-book character but as something eerie. A 1990s rooftop report near Bellaire is sometimes linked to it.

• June 1953On the record Walker, Meyer and Phillips said a winged man stood on a pecan branch in a pale yellow glow, then disappeared. Walker reported it to police the next day. Source: kut.org
• 1990sTold story Workers at a Houston-area theater reportedly saw a huge helmeted figure crouched on a roof. Cryptozoologist Ken Gerhard heard the account through an acquaintance. Source: kut.org

5Hairy Man of Round Rock Told story

Humanoid · Hairy Man Road, Round Rock, Williamson County · first reported 19th century (legend) · also called Hairy Man Road ghost

Round Rock has a road named for its local monster. The legend says a boy was left behind in the 1800s when settlers fled rising creek water. He grew up wild in the woods along the creek, long-haired and shaggy, frightening travelers. Accounts of his end differ: trampled by horses as he spooked a wagon train, caught in a vine while swinging, or drowned in a flood. All agree his body was never found and that something still haunts the road. Local historian Gwen King says drivers with their windows down may hear howling and screaming. Residents still report glimpses of a large dark figure. The town embraces him with the Hairy Man Festival each fall at Cat Hollow Park.

• modernOn the record Resident Katerina Morrow told KUT she saw a large dark figure while driving home along the road at night. Source: kut.org
• traditionalTold story The core story: a lost settler boy lived alone in the creek bottoms, became a hairy wild man, and died there. Night drivers are said to hear him wailing. Source: folklore.usc.edu

Visiting: Hairy Man Festival, Cat Hollow Park, Round Rock, each October (chili, costume and 'hairiest man' contests).

6Donkey Lady Told story

Humanoid · Old Applewhite Bridge, Elm Creek, south San Antonio, Bexar County · first reported 1950s or earlier · also called Donkey Lady of Elm Creek

San Antonio's Donkey Lady is said to haunt Elm Creek at the old Applewhite Bridge on the city's far south side. The story has several versions. In one, a woman was horribly burned in a fire set by her husband and left with hoof-like hands and a donkey-like face. In another, she drowned with her donkey and their spirits merged. Either way, she is said to go after anyone crossing the creek at night. Visitors report a figure with a donkey's face, the sound of hooves, and hoof-shaped dents on their cars. The legend goes back at least to the 1950s. The bridge area is now part of a trail system and is closed to cars near the old crossing.

• modernTold story Visitors describe hearing rushing hooves at the bridge, seeing a figure with an animal face, and finding marks like hoofprints on parked cars. Source: atlasobscura.com

Visiting: Bridge area on W Jett Rd is reached by public trails; trails close at sunset.

7Lobo Girl of Devil's River Told story

Humanoid · Devil's River and San Felipe Springs, near Del Rio, Val Verde County · first reported 1845 · also called Wolf Girl of Devil's River

A West Texas frontier tale says a girl was raised by wolves. The story begins around 1835, when trapper John Dent's wife Mollie died giving birth alone in a storm near the Devil's River while he went for help. The baby was never found, though wolf tracks were seen around the cabin. Ten years later, a boy near San Felipe Springs said he saw a long-haired girl running with wolves. More reports followed, including a woman who said she saw a girl eating a goat with the pack. Vaqueros reportedly captured the wild girl, who escaped and was seen once more years later. Folklorists treat it as a frontier legend; the core text comes from a 1930s Texas Folklore Society collection.

• 1845Told story A boy at San Felipe Springs reported seeing a naked, long-haired girl attacking goats alongside wolves. Source: brian-haughton.com
• 1846Told story A woman said she saw a girl and two wolves feeding on a goat. Riders went out, found the girl and roped her, but she later got away. Source: brian-haughton.com

Visiting: Devil's River State Natural Area is the nearest public land (permits and reservations required).

8Marfa Lights On the record

Lights · US 90 east of Marfa, Presidio County · first reported 1883 · also called Marfa ghost lights

East of Marfa in far West Texas, people have watched unexplained lights on the horizon toward the Chinati Mountains for well over a century. The first account usually cited is cowhand Robert Reed Ellison's in 1883, who wondered if he was seeing Apache campfires. Watchers describe glowing balls that drift, split, merge, blink out and reappear. The state built a viewing area on US 90 about nine miles east of town. Studies point elsewhere: a 2004 UT Dallas student project traced many lights to headlights on US 67, and a 2008 Texas State spectroscopy study found most were car lights or small fires. Believers say some lights still don't fit.

• 1883Told story Robert Reed Ellison, driving cattle through Paisano Pass, saw a flickering light and thought it might be a campfire. His account is the earliest usually quoted. Source: en.wikipedia.org
• 2004On the record Physics students from UT Dallas watched for four nights and concluded that lights to the southwest could reliably be matched to cars on US 67 between Marfa and Presidio. Source: en.wikipedia.org

Visiting: Marfa Lights Viewing Area on US 90 east of Marfa, open every night.

9Goatman of Old Alton Bridge Told story

Humanoid · Old Alton Bridge, Denton / Copper Canyon, Denton County · first reported legend set in 1938 · also called Goatman's Bridge

The 1884 iron truss bridge between Denton and Copper Canyon is better known as Goatman's Bridge. Local legend tells of a Black goat farmer, called the Goatman by neighbors, who was attacked on the bridge by Klansmen in 1938; in the story the noose came up empty and his family was then killed. Folklore says if you cross at night without headlights, or knock on the bridge, the Goatman will appear. Visitors report shadowy figures, lights in the woods, being touched or grabbed, and rocks thrown from the dark. Cars stopped using the bridge in 2001, and it now links two public trails. It has been featured on Ghost Adventures and BuzzFeed Unsolved.

• modernTold story Visitors describe ghostly shapes, strange lights, and the feeling of being grabbed or pelted with stones while on the bridge after dark. Source: en.wikipedia.org

Visiting: Pedestrian bridge linking the Elm Fork and Pilot Knoll hiking and equestrian trails.

10Wild Man of the Big Thicket Told story

Ape-like · Big Thicket, around Sour Lake and Saratoga, Hardin County · first reported before the 1950s · also called Old Mossy Back, Booger, Swamp Beast

Long before 'Bigfoot' became a household word in the late 1950s, people in the dense Big Thicket of Southeast Texas talked about a hairy wild man in the woods. Locals called it the Booger, the Swamp Beast or Old Mossy Back. Researcher and former Kountze News reporter Rob Riggs, who grew up in Sour Lake, has collected these stories for decades and wrote In the Big Thicket: On the Trail of the Wild Man (2001). Accounts he gathered include a girl chased from a cemetery by a giant ape and a couple on a local lovers' lane who said something leapt onto their hood. Today the area is a regular stop for Bigfoot researchers. See the main Bigfoot dossier.

Full story: Bigfoot →

• undatedTold story A couple parked on a back road known as Ghost Road said a huge hairy creature jumped on the hood of their car; the man reportedly fired through the windshield. Source: houstoniamag.com
• undatedTold story A teenage girl told of being chased from a cemetery by a giant ape-like animal. Source: houstoniamag.com

Visiting: Big Thicket National Preserve is open to the public.

11Texas Chupacabra On the record

Beast · Cuero, DeWitt County, and South-Central Texas · first reported 2000s · also called Cuero chupacabra, blue dogs

Texas is the heart of the 'hairless dog' version of the chupacabra. In 2007 Phylis Canion of Cuero kept the head of a bluish, nearly hairless animal found near her ranch and called it a chupacabra; Texas State University biologists ran DNA and found it was a coyote. See the main Chupacabra dossier.

Full story: Chupacabra →

• Summer 2007On the record Three hairless canid bodies turned up near Cuero over a few days. DNA tested by Texas State's Mike Forstner matched coyote; the hair loss was likely caused by disease. Source: nbcnews.com

12Bigfoot in Texas Investigated report

Ape-like · East Texas Pineywoods · also called Wooly Booger

East Texas has a steady stream of hairy-giant reports, locally nicknamed the Wooly Booger, from the Pineywoods around Nacogdoches and Tyler. See the main Bigfoot dossier.

Full story: Bigfoot →