Pope Lick Monster

Infobox Paranormalcreatures
Creature_Name = Pope Lick Monster


Image_Caption = Pope Lick Trestle, the reputed home of the Pope Lick Monster
Grouping = Cryptid
Sub_Grouping = Therianthrope
AKA =
Country = United States
Region = Louisville, Kentucky
Habitat =
First_Reported = late 1940scite web |url=http://www.unknown-creatures.com/pope-lick-monster.html |title=The Pope Lick Monster |accessdate=2008-07-18 |work= |publisher= |date= ]
Last_Sighted =
Status = Local legendThe Pope Lick Monster is a half-man and half-goatcite encyclopedia |last=Kleber |first=John E |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Louisville |title=Pope Lick Monster |edition=1 |year=2000 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky ] or half-sheepcite news |last=Tangonan |first=Shannon |title=Man, 19, dies after falling from trestle |work=The Courier-Journal |date=2000-11-07 |url=http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2000/0011/07/001107obit_jewell.html |accessdate=2007-01-20 ] cryptid reported to live beneath a Norfolk Southern Railway trestle over Pope Lick Creek, in the Fisherville area of Louisville, Kentucky.

Urban legend

Numerous urban legends exist about the creature's origins and the methods it employs to claim its victims. According to some accounts, the creature uses either hypnosis or voice mimicry to lure trespassers onto the trestle to meet their death before an oncoming train. Other stories claim the monster jumps down from the trestle onto the roofs of cars passing beneath it.cite journal
last = Moore, Roger E.
first =
authorlink =
coauthors =
title = Myths
journal = Dragon
volume = XXI, No. 4
issue = #125
pages = 3, 72
publisher = TSR, Inc.
location = Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
date = September 1987
url =
format =
issn =
accessdate = 2008-07-18 ] Yet other legends tell that it attacks its victims with a blood-stained axe. It has also been said that the very sight of the creature is so unsettling that those who see it while walking across the trestle are driven to leap off.cite web |url=http://www.louisvilleghs.com/LGHS_MASTER/SUB/Legends/Pope%20Lick/The%20Legend%20of%20Pope%20Lick.htm |title=Louisville Ghost Hunters Expores "The Legend of Pope Lick!" |accessdate=2008-07-18 |work= |publisher= |date= ]

Other legends explain the creature's origins, including that it is a human goat hybrid, and that it was a circus freak who vowed revenge after being mistreated. In one version, the creature escaped after a train derailed on the trestle. Another version claims that the monster is really the twisted reincarnated form of a farmer who sacrificed goats in exchange for Satanic powers.

The legends have turned the area into a site for legend tripping. There have been a number of deaths and accidents at the trestle since its construction, despite the presence of an 8 foot (2.4 m) fence to keep thrill-seekers out.

Media

The monster was the subject of a 1988 film by Ron Schildknecht called "The Legend of the Pope Lick Monster".

References

ee also

*Cryptozoology
*History of Louisville, Kentucky
*The Maryland Goatman

External links

* [http://www.louisvilleghs.com/LGHS_MASTER/SUB/Legends/Pope%20Lick/The%20Legend%20of%20Pope%20Lick.htm Louisville Ghost Hunters Society: Pope Lick Goatman]