This piece was written for Samuel Taylor Photography. See more great stuff at his website, www.samueltaylorphoto.com and Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/samueltaylorphoto/

My retelling of the infamous Goatman Story featured on CreepyPasta. Another version also exists on Reddit in this thread. I chose to revise this story with slight tweeks, similar to the oral tradition of the folklore/ghost story/legend genre. This is the scariest thing I’ve ever read and I wanted to share it with you. It should be noted that while my telling of this story is fiction, it is one of hundreds from around the world that have similar details and accounts from all different cultures, landscapes, and backgrounds that have been passed down and carried on generation after generation. When something is perpetuated across the globe, I can’t help but think there must be some truth at the core of the tale.

My body feels good in the water. It feels strong there. It feels like power. Certain power.

Writing about feeling powerful in this body, using this body to be athletic, isn’t special. It isn’t special except that I am a woman. I am a curvy woman. I do not look particularly muscular. I do not look particularly strong. I actually look and feel, when I’m being touched, soft. Soft.

I’ve been a swimmer as long as I can remember. I’ve been in water my whole life. I was raised on, bathed in, and left to wander the banks of the Tygart River.