I've never particularly thought of Marylanders as being fanciful in the least. They are warm, loving, family-oriented, and hard workers, but not typically a story-telling lot. So, when they have issues with some unusual cryptids, it makes me sit up and take notice.
There are certain cryptids that give one shivers. For me, it's always been Reptoids and Dogman, but hey there's one with an interesting description certain to produce chills - the Sykesville Monster.
This being was seen in the Sykesville, Maryland area in the 1972-1973 time frame at first. It was reported by a trucker who said it looked 7-8 feet tall and dark brown in color. In an interesting and lucid observation, it was caked in mud from the waist down. It had been sitting, got up and turned and rushed off after realizing it was being observed. It was seen by multiple witnesses into the neighboring towns of Woodstock and Marriottsville.
In a rush to understand authorities referred to it as a prowler and some speculated it was an escaped mental patient. Quite a prowler and patient. The plaster cast taken from the footprint showed it to be 13 inches long and 7 inches wide.
Although Sykesville Monster had a limited sighting period, it left a puzzling impression on those who witnessed it.
Now, in the Beltsville, Maryland area there was a legend born that sounded much like Fairfax, Virginia's Bunnyman legend. Reported as a half man/half goat creature wielding an axe and a hermit in the woods, the Goatman has been an avid legend that won't die.
This legend has so many forms that it's hard to pin down. Some says it as a man who herded goats who was angry at the death of the goats, others believe him to be a troubled hermit and yet others believe him to be a killer cryptid that is part man/part goat.
If it sounds like goat man should be a movie - oh, it was - "Deadly Detour"
The Sykesville Monster has a much more lucid and clear description and a fair amount of witnesses who described a similar being. The Goatman doesn't seem to know what it is exactly. It's sensational, but doesn't seem to have any logical basis. So far as the Sykesville Monster, it sounds like a classic Bigfoot with the height, smell, and dark brown hair all over.
As I recently drove through the western portion of Maryland from Morgantown, West Virginia to Hagerstown and then on to Gettysburg, I could not stop thinking that it was a very Sasquatch ideal region. I would not be surprised that there is a fair population. So far as Goatmen, there doesn't seem to be any other cryptid to compare it with, so for now, I will reserve final judgment.
