THE M-FILES MARYLAND’S MOST AMAZING MYSTERIES Chessie the Elusive Chesapeake Bay Monster Sightings of the 40-foot sea serpent known as the Chesapeake Bay Monster date back to 1846. Legend has it the creature has the power to bring a boat to the bottom, but Chessie seems to prefer posing for the occasional tourist photo to terrorizing sailors. The Goatman of Beltsville A tale of science pushed too far, the Goatman is a hairy hermit who roams the backroads of Beltsville. A scientist whose work joining his own DNA with that of a goat proved to be a ba-a-a-d idea. The Snallygaster, Dragon of Western Maryland The legend of the Snallygaster dates back to the 1730s, but in 1909, a series of sightings of the soaring behemoth caught the attention of big-game hunting president Theodore Roosevelt—and the Smithsonian Institution even put out a bounty on the beast. You’ll definitely get your screams in. The Sykesville Monster The hunt for the legendary mon-ster spiked in 1973 when an abun-dance of sightings of a large, shag-gy man-monster terrorized the town of Sykesville. Eight-feet tall if he was an inch, yet so elusive, the beast left only a single clue: a massive footprint that experts said could have been made by a sandal. 144 / VISITMARYLAND.ORG
Maryland Official Visitors Guide 2022 Maryland Maryland Official Visitors Guide: Page 144
