Travel Thursdays!
Join us every Thursday as we take you on a journey to spooky places we’ve been to or had fun researching!
Today we’re going to Louisville, Kentucky. Specifically, the Fisherville neighborhood. Quaint, quiet and unassuming. One would never expect it was home to a part goat, part sheep, part man. The Pope Lick Monster, often referred to as the Goat Man, resides beneath a railroad trestle bridge that runs over the Pope Lick Creek. We visited the bridge during our last outing to Louisville. We were planning on just going home but Shawna brought up the idea. “Hey, why don’t we go Cryptid scouting?” (I say scouting now but at the time it was Cryptid hunting. We don’t hurt Cryptids in our house.)
The trestle bridge has become a bit of a hot spot for legend tripping. There have been a number of reported deaths and accidents stemming from the bridge, often attributed to the Goat Man. There is a massive misconception that the bridge the Goat Man lives under is abandoned. It is in actuality still a vital part of Louisville’s infrastructure. Heavy freight trains still use the railway daily. We aren’t here to argue the possibility that anyone was killed by the Pope Lick Monster, but it seems far more likely that a freight train or the attempt to get out of the way of said train is what caused a good number of the fatalities/accidents.
At the time of our visit at the bridge no freight trains came through. It was daytime, so the ambient noise of traffic going by could be heard, otherwise it was relatively quiet. It was a nice day with a bit of an overcast, so no real bright sunlight. We stood under the bridge for a while basking in our first taste of chasing a Cryptid. The feeling of being in a place that could hold clues to the existence of something otherworldly was a rush to be honest. You could see evidence all-around of others that came before us. Fences pulled to the side as a means of entrance, spray paint cans and the graffiti they made, hoodies and jackets left behind and forgotten. It all added to the ambiance. Did these people find him? Did they fall victim to him? Did they make it home to their families and other loved ones? All questions we wish we had answers to.
There are several urban legends that exist about the creature's origins and the methods it uses to claim its victims. I’m only going to list what I believe to be the most plausible. Some hold that the monster is a human-goat hybrid, and that it was a circus performer (I refuse to use the other word.) who vowed revenge after being mistreated. The most believable version of this one states that the monster escaped after a train derailed on the trestle. Another legend commonly told by locals of the area claims that the monster is really the twisted reincarnation of a farmer who sacrificed goats in exchange for Satanic powers.
There are a few different accounts of the way the creature dispatches his victims. In some he uses either hypnosis or voice mimicry to lure trespassers onto the trestle to meet their death before an oncoming train. (While we were under the bridge we did hear music close by. Make of that what you will.) Other versions claim the monster jumps down from the trestle onto the roofs of cars passing beneath it. More depressing legends tell that it attacks its victims with a blood-stained axe and that the very sight of the creature is so unsettling that those who see it while walking across the high trestle are driven to take their own loves by leaping off.
All of these are just stories. I believe that there is something living under that bridge. Do I believe it’s a bloodthirsty monster? The simple answer is no. I believe that there is someone misunderstood. Someone that is the subject of ghost stories that blame him for many deaths and accidents that could be attributed to a lack of common sense. I believe that much like other Crypids and creatures, there are people that hunt them for fun and invade their homes. If someone came into your home uninvited, what would you do? Approach with kindness and curiosity instead of running in and acting foolishly and maybe you might be met in kind. Now, having said all that, I could be wrong. This is all opinion. Maybe there is a monster that just wants to kill? I don’t know. No one knows for sure. These are all legends after all.
Our Thursday updates are going to bring you to places that often have Cryptids and hauntings attached to them. That isn’t us telling you to go and look for these things yourself. Attempt them at your own risk, but only after you understand the risks. Accidents can always happen, as you read above here. Be brave. Be curious. Just don’t be stupid.
(It should go without saying but just in case, do not climb the bridge! Leave sleeping Goat Men lie.)