“The thing appeared to be standing upright on two legs like a person yet looked like it could be some kind of animal or beast. It was covered in wild, white hair with what looked like horns or some kind of protrusions on its head. Some parts of it glimmered like scales of a fish.”

— Lyle Blackburn, from his latest book, "Lake Worth Monster: The True Story of the Greer Island Goatman"

Description:

On the night of July 10, 1969, John Reichart was fishing near Greer Island on the shores of Lake Worth, about ten miles from Fort Worth, Texas, while his wife Linda sat in their car reading a book. Moments after John finally hooked a large catfish, he heard his wife screaming in terror and turned to see something moving around on top of the car. As he raced to help, this thing was now on the ground and next to the passenger window, appearing to try to get at Linda. John instinctively lunged at this creature, shoving it away from the car while getting a good look at it. He described it as massive and standing on two legs, horns on its head, covered with white hair and what seemed like shiny fish scales; some kind of human-animal hybrid he said was "half man, half goat." The Reicharts weren't the only witnesses to this scary scuffle as two other couples parked nearby also saw the entire horrifying incident. Almost forty people claimed to have seen the same beast the next night, with sightings continuing for months afterward, generating news coverage and a police investigation. Our friend, author, musician, and intrepid cryptid hunter, Lyle Blackburn, once again deftly and comprehensively investigates one of the strangest and most disturbing creature encounters in Texas and U.S. history in his latest book, Lake Worth Monster: The True Story of the Greer Island Goatman. Please join us as we welcome Lyle to discuss the particulars of a brute so bizarre it makes a plain old Bigfoot seem ordinary by comparison.

Reference Links:

Click here to purchase “The Lake Worth Monster” by Lyle Blackburn and his other fun offerings at lyleblackburn.com!

Depiction of the creature seen by John Reichart - Based on a lost drawing by John Reichart - (art by Jonathan Dodd with direction from John’s son, Aric Reichart). Image use courtesy of Lyle Blackburn.

Location:

Greer Island at Lake Worth, Texas, where John and Linda Reichart, along with two other couples, encountered the Lake Worth Monster, July 10, 1969.

Suggested Listening:

Detective Perspective

Derrick Levasseur is the host of Detective Perspective, and he’s a licensed private investigator and former police detective with 19 years of investigative experience. Derrick has worked undercover with the FBI, the DEA, ATF, and the Secret Service, and he’ll be covering a new unsolved case each week. At the end of the episode he’ll give his perspective on the case as far as where it currently stands and what can be done to move it forward. He’ll also provide contact information for the individuals or organizations directly connected to the investigation so that if you have information, you can contact them and maybe help solve a case or if you would like to support the victim’s family. Detective Perspective covers both recent and older unsolved cases, and Derrick focuses on investigations that have not been covered extensively. Derrick presents fact-based storytelling with his personal and professional experiences mixed in throughout the episode, and then he’ll give his “detective perspective” at the end. The episodes are just 30-50 minutes so they’re great for your lunch break or commute, and there’s one case per episode, one episode per week, but will include multiple cases if they’re connected. Listen to Detective Perspective every Monday on all podcast platforms or watch on YouTube every Tuesday.

Click here to listen to Lyle Blackburn's "Monstro Bizarro" podcast

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CREDITS:

Episode 296: The Lake Worth Monster with Lyle Blackburn. Produced by Scott Philbrook & Forrest Burgess. Audio Editing by Sarah Vorhees Wendel of VW Sound. Music and Sound Design by Allen Carrescia. Tess Pfeifle, Producer and Lead Researcher. Ed Voccola, Technical Producer. Research Support from The Astonishing Research Corps, or "A.R.C." for short. Copyright 2024 Astonishing Legends Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Ep 296: The Lake Worth Monster with Lyle Blackburn