Something monstrous is lurking among the singing cicadas and rustling reeds on the shoreline of the West Fork of the Trinity River.

First spotted 45 years ago this month, the creature has been known to throw tires and scare teenagers.

Real or imagined, the thing appeared to be “part man and part goat” with scales and long clawed fingers, witnesses claimed. It made the pages of the daily newspapers and whipped Tarrant County into a monster-hunting frenzy in the summer of 1969.

They called it the “Lake Worth Monster.”

Even today, stories of the monster, also known as “Goatman,” can be heard around campfires in North Texas. Researchers have made documentaries and written books. Lakewood Brewing Co. even decided to pay respect with a limited-release Goatman beer.

Michelle Villafranca, Natural Resource Specialist, at the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge, photographed Thursday July 3, 2014 with the center's Goatman costume. (Ron Baselice/The Dallas Morning News)

“The stories are enduring. The lore is enduring,” said Michelle Villafranca, a natural resource specialist at the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge.

Villafranca organizes a Lake Worth Monster Bash at the nature center in October to celebrate the monster (this year’s bash is scheduled for Oct. 4). Along with being in charge of land management at the park, she’s become the go-to collector of all things monstrous.

On the windowsill of her office is an empty bottle of Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale. She has a book written about the Lake Worth Monster filed on her bookshelf right next to her field guides of local mammals.

“We have alligator sighting report forms; we don’t have any Goatman sighting forms. Maybe we should start,” Villafranca said. “After all, he is North Central Texas fauna.”

Summer of ’69

The summer of 1969 was hot and humid in Tarrant County.

Back then, the area near Greer Island wasn’t gated off like it is now. Teenagers would go down Shoreline Road around the lake to be alone and enjoy the freedom of summer nights.

On July 9, a group of three couples was parked by a clearing. Around midnight, a beast leapt onto their car from the trees above. The monster tried to grab one woman, but they sped off before it could take her away, the witnesses said.

THE LAKE WORTH MONSTER ACCORDING TO LEGEND, the Lake Worth Monster lives on the shores of the West Fork of the Trinity River. It can swim, climb trees and eats fish and chickens. It is seven feet tall and has un-human strength. Some reports say it has horns sprouting from its head, giving the monster the moniker of Goatman. This is the only known photograph of the alleged monster, taken in 1969. (Courtesy photo)

“We’ve had reports about this thing for about two months,” a police dispatcher told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, “but we’ve always laughed them off as pranks.”

But an 18-inch gash in the car’s side and the terrified nature of the witnesses led police to open a full investigation. It appeared in the newspapers the next day, and the area was immediately caught in monster-fever.

Truckloads of men with guns headed toward Greer Island to hunt the thing. Spectators came out in droves to try to catch a glimpse of it. Reporters swarmed in, and police tried to keep the peace.

Rick Pratt, director of the Greer Island Nature Center at the time, remembers folks coming out with wine, whiskey and beer to have a good time and hunt for the creature.

“Here was a Sasquatch, our very own,” Pratt said. “It was a party, what the hell, let’s go.”

On the night of July 10, a few dozen people were at a clearing known for dumping near the lake when the monster made another appearance. It appeared on a cliff, looked angry, and threw a tire 500 feet. Everyone, including a group of sheriff’s deputies, ran away in fear.