Being a professional paranormal investigator can be dangerous. Being an amateur paranormal investigator can be deadly. A couple searching for the Goatman better known as the Pope Lick Monster found out how deadly it can be when the woman was killed by a train on a trestle over Pope Lick Creek in Louisville, Kentucky, while searching for the Goatman who purportedly lives beneath it. Has the curse of the Pope Lick Monster struck again?

A depiction of the Goatman known as the Pope Lick Monster

The train belongs to Norfolk Southern Railway but the stories of the creature haunting the trestle in Jefferson County follows many tracks. Some in this farming area say the half-man, half-goat is the offspring of a lonely perverted farmer. Others believe it’s the cursed resurrection of another farmer who sacrificed goats to Satan in hopes of immortality. The most interesting one involves an 1800s circus train carrying a mysterious Goatman captured in Canada for a freak show. The train was hit by lightning while crossing the Louisville trestle, killing all but the creature who haunts the trestle along with a silent ghost train.

A view of the underside of the trestle where the monster is said to hide

Alleged victims of the Pope Lick Monster are said to be hypnotized into crossing the trestle where they are either hit by a train (the trestle is well-used, contrary to rumors it’s abandoned) or jump in panic to their deaths. A short film made in 1988 called The Legend of the Pope Lick Monster expanded the notoriety of the Goatman and, while tales of deaths and sightings are many, actual reports are few. There was one in 2000 of a 19-year-old man falling from the trestle. The local deputy coroner, Jack Arnold, says he’s investigated a few train deaths ranging from suicides to a homeless man asleep on the tracks.

Police warnings don’t keep monster seekers away

There there’s the latest death on the trestle. Local media reports that Roquel Bain and her unnamed boyfriend were searching for the Goatman on April 23rd when a Norfolk Southern Railway appeared, giving them no time to run to the end. Roquel was struck and knocked off the trestle, plunging to her death. The boyfriend managed to hang from the side where he was later rescued. The deputy coroner said this was the first time he’s been called in on a death related to the monster.

Is this verifiable evidence of the existence of the Pope Lick Monster and its curse? There has been no statement to date from the boyfriend. However, one young woman is dead and a train engineer and crew will be haunted by the memory of this tragedy.

Being an amateur paranormal investigator can be deadly.