I've mentioned before that the community that I grew up in is east of Houston and very blue collar. It really had more of a "small-town" feel about it, atleast it did when I was growing up...it's changed quite a bit. Anyway, with all small towns there are myths and legends...I've decided to let you in on two of ours.
1. The one-legged hooker
Yes, legend has it, that there was a "lady of the evening" that only had one leg. Because I-10 cut Channelview in half, we had a truck stop right on the city line and it backed up to the ever glamorous, Market Street. Now, I would venture to say this woman was not an upscale call-girl, but more of a lot lizard. Growing up, I was told that "Nice young ladies don't hang out on Market Street." So, I avoided that side of the freeway like the plague...because I was a nice girl. But I always wanted to drive down Market Street to see if I could catch a glimpse of this poor woman, hobbling down the street on crutches, with only one leg, looking for a "date." That my friends, is the stuff legends are made of!
2. The Goat Man and Satanists
Right on the other side of our little town, there was a street called Van Road and strange things happened there. The myth was that you shouldn't go down Van Road in the middle of the night because the "Goat Man," who was half man half goat, would see you, chase you and try to kill you. The other myth was that Van Road was were a group a Satanists would go and do sacrifices. Either way, I wanted NOTHING to do with Van Road. My fear of this street was so great that a couple of years ago, I found out that one of my customers was on Van Road and when the salesperson asked me if I wanted to meet the person I talked to a regular basis, I politely declined. Even if it was in the light of day, I wanted nothing to do with the Goat Man or the evil Satanists. EFF THAT!!!
Until next time...
Single Girl
Friday, February 15, 2008
Myths & Legends
Posted by Amanda at 9:04 AM
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25 comments:
Ok...I grew up in your same town and we were only a year apart. How is it I NEVER heard of the Goat Man of Van Rd. Where the heck is Van Rd? HOWEVER, I did hear of the One-legged Hooker of Market St. She was a legend of sorts...hehe.
Do you remember an old lady in a trenchcoat that use to walk down Dell Dale every morning. I swear that woman walked down that street at the same time everyday on my way to school from junior high to high school. And she never aged!
HOW HAVE YOU NEVER HEARD OF GOAT MAN??? I don't remember when the first time I heard the tale of the half man, half goat...but oh yeah, I heard about it.
Van Road is all the way down at the end of Sheldon Road.
I don't remember the lady in the trenchcoat, I didn't live in that direction. Do you remember the old lady that always wore red, walked up and down Sheldon Road, and would preach to people? Did you know she died back, I want to say, in November?
You know, we are painting a beautiful picture of our hometown for anyone else reading this that doesn't have a clue where Channelview is.
I saw someone from The 'View posted a bulletin regarding the woman in read who preached up and down Sheldon dying. How bizarre! I vaguely remember her, but I do recall seeing her.
You are right...people probably think we're cornfields shy of living like the kids on "Children of the Corn" with all the oddities/satanic stories/preaching vagabonds that came out of our town.
There was a guy on my side of town who would power walk on Hwy 6 almost every afternoon for like 2 years.
Not completely abnormal, except that he had a full plastic neck brace...the sort that covers half your chest, and he carried a giant walkie talkie with him.
I always wondered...'Why the walkie talkie?'
I mean...who exactly is he talking to, and what are they talking about?
I grew up in channelview too. I almost went down Van road once!! I moved to Channelview in 73 when I was 6 months old...way before Woodforest was 2 lanes on both sides. We believed that the goat man could travel from Van Road all the way to the woods used to be where sterling green is today. I knew the lady in red too..well she would go to our local hang out before school and try to preach to us. I had heard that she died awhile back too.
I grew up in channelview and my dad use to tell me about the goat man and the saitnis group that use to live on van road. I never did belive my dad untill he took my to van road one night at 2:00 a.m. I didnt see nothing until we were coming back home we saw something in the road ahead of us it looked like it had hooves for feet and horse like legs and a goat shaped head and small beady eyes and then it took off back into the woods and we never been back to van road agian. now I now I belive my dad now.
I grew up in northshore, always talked to people who had a brother, uncle,cousin. ..etc who had to run from the goatman. never a first person sighting. I graduated from northshore in 1985. guess some urban legends never die.
My father used to hang out down on Van Road, he told me about the legend. He never seen the Goat man, and was never chased after. Also, he did tell me, there is a grave yard though, at the very end where Van road Dead ended. I myself, don't believe in these legends, because, we've debunked most of them. Most of these legends, and myths are that they mess with the peoples head to get them to believe it, and then their eyes play tricks on them, to make them think they seen it. No doubt about the one legged Hooker, I believe the Lady in Red, and The Lady in Trench coat.
Tell me about this grave yard that was at the dead end of Van Road.
The legend of the Goat man is very true and there is a very late 1800's cemetery at the dead end of Van Rd. If you don't beleive in it go out there after midnight and see for yourself. You will cross and old swampy area and the the fun begins.
I left Channelview in 1984 and I and many of my friends used to go there about once a year for my whole life just to get the $hit scared out of us. We also went in the daytime to get a different perspective and nothing ever happened in the daytime.
This is so weird, I was telling my wife today about the time I went to van rd. With two army buddys in 1977 we left there so fast after we where scared out of our mind. We don't know what it was but we sure didn't stick around to find out. If you dont believe in this sort of things thats ok but I know there is something there!
Any questions contact me at
sammygallegos@live.com
I grew up in channelview and lived on DellDale str. and Market str.
As a teenager I worked at Hellan's maltnburger and I rememeber all three.The preaching woman, one legged lady of the night and Goatman.
I was dared to walk down Van road after DARK! I did it now I didn't see anything but I remember goose bumps rose up on me and a chill came over me. but that is what legends are mad of.
I am a satanist east sider and I've never heard of this Van Road story. I still live in Channelview. I'll have to check it out. Thanks for the heads up.
My parents would scare me half to death with that half man half goat crap....Lol they even had 1 of their friends go in the forest and chase us 1 night
Yes the lady in red did die.....She would always soak her feet in alcohol or hydrogen peroxide at subway on sheldon.....& My mom would always give me a dollar or 2 to give to her....She was sweet.
I also grew up in the CE King area....And I had some friends that were indeed into things like that..The Old goatman legend...I did go down Van rd. One night it was about 2:30 to 3 a.m. and for that early in the morning going there was an old man walking down the road...now we was in a pick up truck there was five of us in total...I was one of the three in the bed of the truck....the driver or our little expedition was gutsy enough to stop and ask if he needed assistance...the old man tried to give us something that was in a paper bag that appeared to be dripping with some sort of thick viscous fluid (maybe blood?)still to this day I don't know what was in that bag, hell for all I know it could have been a water balloon...Needless to say I will avoid this stretch of road as if my life depended on it.....
I went to the end of Goatman Road one night with a group of friends. We went onto the property in the back, and got lost. We couldn't find the trail that lead back to the street, and spent two hours walking around out there. No Goatman, but this was the late 90's, so maybe he moved on to somewhere else.
A few friends and I made several trips down Van rd. This was back in the mid 70's. One night the chain link fence at the dead end was shredded. One night we could see a glowing light out in the middle of the swamp. And last but not least we left in somewhat of a hurry as we were being shot at... We all were from Galena Park. lot of strange things in that part of town Wallaceville rd, Van rd, Penn City rd
Yeah I lived at the end of van road. I never saw a grave yard, only a swamp.
You got shot at once out there? Gotta get those numbers up.
We all knew bout the goat man.
From Northshore and my friends and I spent many dark scary nights on Vann Road.
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