This Paranormal Life - #330 The Pope Lick Monster - Invisible Circus Freak or Urban Legend?

Episode Date: August 29, 2023

If you go down to the woods today you're sure of a BIG surprise. Because at Pope Lick Creek if the cargo trains don't get you, the cannibal hybrid night beast will! Whilst sightings are few and far between, it's said that in this cursed corner of Louisville, Kentucky, a terrifying cryptid resides that can control your mind and, crucially, kill you with an axe. But are the long list of deaths associated with the creek due to the paranormal beast, or is it death by man-made causes? Time for Kit and Rory to investigate.LIVE TOUR - https://www.thisparanormallife.com/tourFollow us on Twitter, Instagram, and YouTubeJoin our Secret Society Facebook CommunitySupport us on Patreon.com/ThisParanormalLife to get access to weekly bonus episodes!Buy Official TPL Merch! - thisparanormallife.com/storeIntro music by www.purple-planet.comResearch by Amy GrisdaleEdited by Philip Shacklady Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What happens to werewolves under a blood moon? Why do dogs do that thing where they walk around in a little circle over and over before they lay down? Answers to these questions and more on this episode of This Paranormal Life! Hello! Hey! And welcome back to This Paranormal Life, the weekly comedy podcast where every Tuesday me, Kit Greer-Mulvena, and Rory Powers, who's sitting across from me, get into a different case and decide by the end of the episode whether it's truly paranormal or not.

How are you doing today, Rory? Does this answer your question, Kit? Wow. Oh, yeah. Unprofessional. We're recording this on a Friday, folks, which means spirits are high in the office. We're kicking back. We're having a few drinks we're going to investigate a paranormal creature and then we're going to decide at the

end whether or not we think we could fight it right yeah i want to check your language though because office brother we're in a studio you don't see me wearing a tip. Well, sometimes I do wear a tie. And we're not like weird uptight bosses. Well, sometimes we are because the staff don't put the file, the paper away in the right location and every time I sometimes have to pull them up and do a little one-to-one meeting. But I'm getting off track.

But this isn't an office, bud. This is paranormal headquarters. It's a cool studio. We're in London. We're here in a cool studio in London. Do you call the bat cave an office? No, you don't. Do you call

do you call do you call the strip club an office? Do you think Jeff Goldblum called the park Jurassic Island his office? No. And just like Jurassic Park, things go wrong here on the daily we kind of match that chaotic energy

things that evolution should have killed years and years ago thrive in this office aka me and Kit I don't think the events of Jurassic Park can be described as chaotic energy a lot of people died in a pretty chaotic fashion

and a lot of illegal genetic experiments took place so because you watch the movie, you have some fun. It's all pretty adventurous. But, you know, I don't think we come down hard enough on that as a society and say, never again. And it did happen again. What are we on now? Jurassic Park 5? I think the funny thing is if you watch Jurassic Park, you realize how much it wasn't the fault of the guy who made Jurassic Park.

How couldn't it be? So you're telling me you reanimate dinosaurs, and then a little bit later you have some, uh-oh, we had a little dinosaur accident. Brother, you brought back the dinosaurs. There would be no dinosaur accidents had you not done that. How could we have seen this coming? How could we have prevented this?

No, it's not his fault. It's not Colonel Sanders' fault that the dinosaurs went wild. It's the motherfucker who stole everything and shut down the electric fences. And that's how it all kicked off. Yeah, the Just Stop Oil or the Extinction Rebellion of Jurassic Park Universe. They went in trying to shut it down.

I mean, this is worryingly in the press. I don't want to get off topic, but did you see the other day that they've reanimated 40,000 year old worms? I did see this, right? Worms that have been frozen in permafrost for thousands of years. And I think immediately they started multiplying by themselves. Yeah, reproducing asexually, which is the worst thing that it could possibly do. You think you're pretty safe with a worm, right?

It's not going to bite you. It doesn't have a mouth. I think the most it can do is shit grass and eat grass. But if that thing starts dividing, growing little legs and teeth freeze it again the worms wake up and they're like all right quick multiply we don't know when another ice age is coming it could be any second hey look if you've been frozen for 40 000 years the first thing in your mind is probably going to be banging you don't know how long till you're

going to be frozen again you got to start hooking now. That's also a good explainer for what life is like during winter in the UK. As soon as the thaw comes in spring, you got to start banging until it sets in again come October. That is not what we are here to talk about today though, Rory, because we've got a massive paranormal case on our hands. It's a classic. It's a cryptid. This is old school This Paranormal Life vibes. Are you ready to dive in? Absolutely. We're going to get right into that after a couple of words from today's sponsors.

With a reminder that every episode of This Paranormal Life is available ad-free over at patreon.com forward slash This Paranormal Life. This Paranormal Life. It was Saturday, 23rd of April, 2016. And a young couple called Raquel and David had made the journey from Ohio to Louisville, Kentucky for a sightseeing trip like no other. Wow, 2016. Very recent case this morning. The good old days before COVID f***ed it all. Sure. People were walking around hand in hand,

coughing in each other's faces. Making out with strangers. Doing whatever they wanted. Holidaying to Wuhan, China. To the famous food markets of Wuhan without a care in the world. They weren't in town to check out. I licked a bat one day, just for fun,

at the London Zoo. Calm down, Ozzy Osbourne. We're not going to get into it, but no good can come from interfacing with bats on that level, because it's only happened twice in history. Once, when Ozzy Osbourne bit the head off a bat. Did that actually happen, and was that an urban legend?

That's real. That's not okay. Did he do it for a photo shoot or something? I feel like, is it on camera? I don't know, but it definitely happened. That's kind of f***ed up. I'm team bat on that one. I don't know.

I don't know what we're supposed to think, you know, because these guys sing about, you know, worshipping the devil and being into rock and roll. And we're all like, hell yeah, brother, I'll buy the album. it was great um and then as soon as they actually follow through and bite the head off a bat it's like whoa he's the bad guy well bats are kind of supposed to be on the side of the devil right they got little fangs creatures of the night they're spooky little guys they're supposed to be on your side you don't see ash ketchum biting the heads off pikachus You don't see Ash Ketchum biting the heads off Pikachus.

He's your little buddy. Right, but Ash Ketchum didn't release multiple albums saying he worships the devil. That he worships Mewtwo. As I say, these guys weren't in town to check out the local history or chow down on barbecue. They were there for paranormal purposes which as i learned last time i flew into jfk that is not an official answer to the question business or leisure there is no third option of paranormal i got taken out back and interrogated for three hours speaking of i don't know who invented that that joke first of uh not traveling for business or

leisure but traveling for business or leisure but traveling for business or pleasure um but i'm pretty sure i've answered that in like an online form i thought that was as soon as you said leisure i thought it was i was like he said it wrong i thought it was business or pleasure is it not it's definitely not are you sure business or pleasure i definitely thought it was. No, business or leisure is the question in the travel document. Business or pleasure is a new fun and steamy rom-com from novelist Rachel Lynn Solomon. Okay.

I think I did the same thing, though. I think it's so in our heads from movies and TV and stuff that I think I answered that on a forum one time. Business or leisure? Pleasure. Sorry, forum is all f***ed up, chief, because pleasure isn't an option. Like I say, these guys were there to check out the paranormal. They had tickets to spend the night at the Waverly Hills Sanatorium. The haunted old hospital we covered in a previous episode quite recently. But they weren't able to get in until 10pm. But luckily, there was more to do than just wait. The pair sat in a little diner in rural West Louisville planning out their movements

for the evening. Before going to the sanatorium, they decided to try and track down a local cryptid, rumours of which had been radiating across the country for decades. They pored over a crinkled old map of the area. There. Popelik Creek runs through here. The bridge where the monster hunts is right there. We're not technically allowed up there, so we'll have to wait until after dark. Even though this creature had national fame, it wasn't even known if the beast had ever really been seen,

let alone caught on camera. Raquel and David were... What? Raquel and David were... No, stop. Hold on. Excuse me. Go on. The beast exists in legends and stories and multiple encounters.

It's extremely famous. And yet it's never been seen. We don't know. Okay. I think start with a different creature because there's some that people say they have seen that still haven't been caught yet. So maybe don't go for the one that's never even been seen by human eyes. That's hard mode. That's rare. Well, we've got to start asking ourselves, why hasn't it been seen did anyone technically see medusa yes i think that's the whole point that's why the people were turned to stone right but if they were you know it's kind of interesting it's like if you get instantly turned

to stone as soon as you lay eyes on do you can you say you've seen her yeah you just said you get turned to stone when you lay eyes on her when you see her, so. Yeah, but like, you're dead, so you can't, so no one can say they've seen her. So. Move on.

I'm trying to. You're the one who's got problems very early in the story. Raquel and David were determined to be the ones to confirm

this thing's existence. Soon their names would be synonymous with the pope lick monster now is the creature itself named it's just that no one saw the creature from cloverfield until quite late in the movie so they saw it right but for a long time for a long time yeah i think you do see things pretty early on so they heard it as well yeah they did hear it like the pope lick monster i'm just you know like people were very scared of it and it actually tore down like skyscrapers and shit i seem to remember yeah it was it was really not that discreet uh is does the name pope lick come from the location? It does.

Or is this thing licking popes like a popsicle? To my knowledge, it is not. This thing is not hanging out with the late Pope John Paul III or whatever. It is related to, I think, either Pope Lick Creek or Pope Lick Road. Yeah, I think it's the creek. I think it's the creek came first. That makes sense, because God made the creeks. God didn't make the roads,

I think is the idea. Does that make sense? Was he licking them? I don't know if it does make a lot of sense. This is too many questions for this early in the show. Sorry, but like, oh, like, what does it look like? That is too much information.

That is classified, what it looks like. I'm hoping we'll get to that at some point in the future. Why is the road called what it is? I don't know. Why is London called London? I don't know.

I don't know. They pulled up in a secluded lay-by on Popelik Road. The rusty train trestle loomed over the country lane ahead of them and continued long into the horizon. The sight of the bridge alone was creepy, but knowing about the creature added an extra layer. Keep your wits about you. They say it likes to hunt beneath the bridge. We're in its territory now. The plan was to get through the high fence that kept the public from the active railway line and walk along it under cover

of darkness. It was a dangerous mission but to them worth the risk. They made it over the chain link fence and scaled the steep hill to the bridge. It was pitch black up there and quiet so they were certain they'd be able to hear any minuscule sound from the ground below. Holy shit! The pair froze, hardly believing their ears. Come on! We've got to follow whatever made that sound! Raquel and David slowly walked across the wooden slats, both armed with torches. They kept quiet with their thumbs on the switch.

If they heard a rustling in the bushes below, they're ready to light it up. What was that? It's just a deer. Maybe it's running away from the monster. That means it's heading this way! They crouched low, scanning for more movement. It was silent once again, but they were concentrating so hard they didn't feel the rumbling at first oh shit there's a train coming run they scrambled to the feet looked on the track to see a train charging towards them there was nowhere to go but off the side they had to hang over the edge of the train track until the train passed David clambered on the right side of the bridge and clung on for dear life. Once it was safely passed, David hauled himself back up onto the track.

Raquel, that was close. Raquel? Raquel was nowhere to be seen. Young Raquel tragically lost her life on the trail of the Popelik monster that night. But Raquel wasn't the first, nor would be the last, to die hunting the Popelik monster that night. But Raquel wasn't the first, nor would be the last, to die hunting the Popelik monster. They didn't even get to see it. But David doesn't know to this day whether it saw them.

I just, sorry, I don't want to like get us too distracted, like quite on. I don't want to treat this as like the first victim of the legendary beast they got hit by a train that they went down onto a train track at night and a train came

and then one of them was gone they didn't see or hear they actually didn't hear it i don't know if they did what they did they heard what sounded like the screeching of a train's brakes on metal tracks right before a train collided with someone apparently. I didn't say, I didn't say, I didn't say the public monster got anybody.

I'm saying they went to see the public monster. Yeah. Then they heard it. Okay. And as a completely well related, but unrelated to hunting

the public monster. Sure. Yes, tragically, one of them died. I'm just not leaving that out of respect. I'm just saying this is like me going to hunt Bigfoot at 3 a.m. on a busy highway. Yes. Without a flashlight and a blindfold on. And when I get hit by a car, I say, the beast must have found me.

What's your problem, Chief chief i'm just saying you've been attacking my case since second once why don't you just spit it out i'm just saying the first instance of this case of these two paranormal hunters just hasn't grabbed me so far i'm hearing legends of a creature i don't know a lot about and a story that involves not even seeing anything so yeah well i don't know if you heard the little bit at the start. No one's seen it. So hearing it. I'm hoping that changes. So hearing it.

I'm also worried that. Hearing it. You're telling a story about no one who's ever seen it. And this took place in 2016. That leaves very little runway for someone to have seen this thing. Hearing it is actually considered a great honor because

so few people have seen it. Maybe no one. This is an extremely tragic story but one that you will see in time is absolutely not unique in this investigation. Of course, we want to know firstly, what are we hunting? What

is the Popelik monster? The Popelik monster is said to live near the bridge on the Norfolk Southern Railway, which passes over Popelik Creek in Kentucky. Legends say it's a human-goat hybrid with a grotesquely deformed human body. Didn't see that one coming. It has muscular, furry goat legs like Satan himself. It has wide-set eyes, either side of a long nose on its pale face. But no one's ever seen it.

It has... People have got glimpses. Some people have seen it! Well, they've seen... You know, it's like... What?! You ever hear the story of, you know, the blind men describing an elephant?

No. Well, there's like three guys and they're all blind, completely blind. Okay. And they see an elephant. Well, they don't see it, but they meet an elephant. And they're like, this is crazy. I've always wanted to meet an elephant. Okay.

So one of them goes up and touches the trunk, and they're like, oh, it's like scaly and long like a snake. That's sick. And the other one touches, you get where I'm going with this. They all touch different bits, and then they all have three different descriptions. This is just like the Popelik monster. Someone gets a glimpse of this thing.

Bearing in mind they're running across railway wooden slats, so they barely can get a look at it. And one of them sees the furry goat legs. Another one sees the deformed human body. You're like, that example is just like the Pope Lick monster, because all three of those blind dudes died. The elephant absolutely destroyed them. Do you ever hear that story of the three blind guys

who touched an elephant? They had to shut down Cincinnati Zoo for two weeks. It was a crime scene. They were destroyed. I thought this was like a parable. No, no. No, this happened like Tuesday. It's so f***ing wild.

Do you ever see, that's an internet video classic, is man tries to convert tiger to Christianity. That's a video? Have you never seen it? That sounds like a metaphor. That even like the message of the Lord could convert a lion to the ways of peace. Right. You know?

Okay. We don't have time to watch the video, but here's the news article, NBCnews.com from 2004 showing Rory the article. Man tries to convert lions to Jesus, gets bitten. And then an image, which is a screenshot of the video a man leaped into a lion's den at taipei zoo on wednesday trying to convert the king of beasts to christianity right because christianity already has the king of men jesus so they're like all right now next up we need to get the king of beasts uh jesus will save you shouted the 46 year old man at two african lions he then shouted come bite me with both hands raised the large male bit him in his leg before the zoo workers drove it away

with water hoses it said that he's lucky they had already fed earlier that day yeah you know i haven't read the Bible start to finish, but I don't remember the parable where Jesus said, come bite me. Okay, getting back to the description of the Pope Lick monster. It also has short, sharp horns protruding from its temples, like the devil, and a mane of matted, greasy hair hanging from its shoulders.

Does that description sound anything like other creatures we've seen on this paranormal life? Some kind of combination between the goat man, one of our first investigations, and the donkey lady. That's a good point. I had done, potentially as well, some Wendigo vibes,

a kind of cursed, animalistic man. Yeah, not exactly breaking the mold here. A lot of your cliches for kind of cryptids, paranormal beasts, a satanic undertone combined with the animalistic side of a wild creature. Some stories describe the monster jumping down from the trestle onto passing cars on the road below. jumping down from the trestle onto passing cars on the road below. Its horns and claws are deadly enough as is, but some say the Popelik monster also carries an axe with which to bludgeon its victims to death. So just to clarify, this thing is jumping from car to car

like Morpheus in The Matrix Reloaded. Or Morbius. And yet no one has managed to catch a glimpse of him. You're taking it too literally. I said, I think I said something to the effect of, no one really knows if it's been seen for real. You're like, three blind guys touched him. They touched him real good.

He didn't like that. That's kind of what pissed him off. Yeah, and we call those the kentucky axe murders of 08 um yeah look david and raquel they all they knew was hey i've heard some crazy stuff there's some legends there's some stories on reddit and we don't know which ones are creepy passes and which ones are real you know know, my uncle's unk told him that his Jeep Patriot got crushed by a goat that looks suspiciously like Jon Bon Jovi with greasy hair down to its cankles.

Okay. You know, don't know if it's a creepy guy. Don't know if it's the public monster. But it should be said that that last bit actually bears extreme resemblance to the goat man yeah he had an axe the axe namely and in fact it turns out the goat man isn't that far away from here distance wise the goat man is associated with i had to look this up but prince george county maryland, about 600 miles away. To be honest, what seems to separate them most of all is their origin stories.

Rory, I know that you're going to remember where the Goatman came from, like the back of your hand, because you've dedicated years of your life to his research. Sure. He's like a brother to you. But some of our listeners might not remember this quite as clearly. The Goatman is believed to have once been a scientist working in an agricultural research centre. This does ring

a bell. He was experimenting on goats. Presumably trying to splice their DNA with weapons-grade plutonium or something. Right, similar to every Spider-Man villain ever. That does it? Uh... Oh, yeah.

I guess you're right. Yeah. They're like the Lizard Man or whatever the f*** is called. Lizard does it. To be fair, Green Goblin, I think he was just, he just made an evil gas. Yes, that's right. That kind of f***ed him up. Something went horribly wrong.

Ah! He was transformed into a horrible part goat abomination and started attacking cars outside the lab and other researchers before retreating into the woods that's the problem with uh splicing in some goat dna into the human body there there's really no percent that is socially acceptable right even five percent goat is just is gonna you up enough that that it's not normal you know like one hoof that's still too weird well you say that but then so i always get confused because scientists say that we are like 55 lettuce i don't think they do they absolutely absolutely do. You can Google it.

I think that's a man in a lab coat that lives in an alleyway. I'm literally looking it up right now. I'm reading an article from the India Times in 2018.

We share 99% of our DNA with lettuce. What does that even mean? What does that even mean? What's the 1%? You can't list what%? You can't list You can't claim

What the 99% is And say that's lettuce Without telling us what the 1% is Yeah And I don't want to hear The youth pastor explanation of That 1% That's the Holy Spirit

That's what turns you That's what separates you from the lettuce I refuse to believe I'm 1% away from being a f***ing vegetable. All right? I know I'm not the smartest guy in the world. All right? But I'm not a plant. It has to be more than 1%.

I refuse to believe it. It's 1%. This article has to be wrong because in the sentence before that, it says we share 99 of our genes with uh chimps and bonobos are they then part lettuce as well i don't know or you might think you're not 99 lettuce but i just think it's pretty interesting how you like water don't you sure you kind of need it to live yeah and actually, actually really like the sun too. Yeah. I think that's where the comparison stops. You can't grow. I hate those useless science facts where it's

like, Oh, did you know the human body is 60% water? No, it isn't. Look at me. Mother. No, it isn't. I think that one is true. No, it can't be. I refuse. I refuse to believe it. Like, if you asked me to produce water right now, I couldn't do it. I could spit a little. You can. You could piss. That's literally one of the only things humans can produce.

That isn't water. That's beer. This is a lot of claims from a guy who has two open beverages next to him as we speak, both of which are 99.9% water. There's no way. That Fanta is all chemicals. I do just want to quickly point out, what is it with people becoming human-animal hybrids, the Goatman, and namely the Lizardman, and them attacking cars?

Yeah. So his DNA got spliced, and the first thing he did was beeline to a car park and start beating the shit out of Chevrolets. I think the goat man did something similar because he didn't like teenagers having sex

in the woods. So he would go out and smash up some cars and things like that. I will say for the record, the lizard man, no part of his story included DNA splicing.

I think he was just a big lizard. Yeah. A lizard that got a bit The Lizard Man, no part of his story included DNA splicing. I think he was just a lizard, a big lizard. Yeah, a lizard that got a bit too big for his boots. But as I say, that is the story of the Goatman, which couldn't be more different to the lore of the Pope Lick Monster. Right. I'm going to tell you exactly where the Pope Lick monster came from right after a couple words from today's sponsors Some say that long ago a

Traveling carnival was roaming the country, but we're not talking about the kind with fun clowns and candy floss This was an old timey circus full of miserable animals and human exhibits that were forced on stage night after night and called freaks by the circus owners and their patrons. And one particular freak was at the very bottom of the hierarchy. There was a half-man, half-goat creature that resisted its cruel handlers and was the subject of regular beatings to try and get it to stay in line. One day, the circus was passing through Kentucky, cramming in as many shows as possible. They were raking in the bucks, but the freaks didn't see a penny of it. They were given mere scraps to eat. The, for lack of a better term, Goatman had finally reached his limit. for lack of a better term, Goatman, had finally reached his limit.

Dear God, it's loose! The beast is loose! He broke free of his binds and escaped into the night. Now that it was free, it had more than scraps to survive on, and it thrived, finding plenty of animals to hunt in the Kentucky wilderness, along with the occasional human. What do you think of that origin story? It's a pretty wild one. I mean, when did they say that this traveling freak show was kind of making the rounds? Redacted. Okay, because that wouldn't be my only problem in the story is then the implication would be that this creature has been around for quite some time if he's showing up in 2016 and still hopping from

car to car uh that is definitely not just something that is like a bit of a weird monster thing that's like a actual paranormal beast if it's that would mean it would have had to been alive for almost a hundred years well at least put it this way i haven't been to a traveling freak show but i have been to a circus uh that would be illegal today uh one of the sad ones with all the depressed animals um i definitely went to one of those as a kid. I think I did as well in Northern Ireland. Yeah. And you do see dodgy circuses sometimes, but I think most of that stuff's illegal now.

I mean, yeah, Travelling Freak Show was a bit much, but it might not have been that long ago. Yeah. I mean, I mean, I assume your illegal circus was just maybe they shouldn't have had an elephant.

Not like there was a f***ing little weasel man. They were whipping with a rope while he danced for peanuts. You're like, it was me. I was in the circus. I was the goat man that got freed. I was the weasel boy. It pays better than the paper round. I'll tell you that much.

No, there was no weasel man getting better than the paper round i'll tell you that much uh no there was no weasel man getting whipped to my knowledge uh so i don't know i don't know this isn't something uh that's original though of course we've seen this many times many other cases where we are faced with a pretty tough one of like is this a baby cryptid of the same species or is this the original one that started the whole story? Yeah. But this creature does seem like a bit like a one of one. It's not really a Bigfoot where there's probably more.

This seems like a freak of nature. Yeah. Well, as it happens, there are actually a couple of other potential origins. So if you don't like that one, there's a chance you might like one of the others. Okay. So why don't i tell you the other

legend origin stories and you tell me which you think is the most likely so origin number two is that this ungodly creature was originally a secret government project it was like 11 from stranger things or mewtwo until its power became too great and could no longer be contained. You know that it was just floating in a tub of goo. Unconscious. And then like an alarm started going off. And one of the scientists would run over to a computer saying some shit like. It can't be.

The system is saying that Experiment 87 is awake. It's impossible. It should be cryogenically tranquilized and then he sees its hooves twitch okay i need to shut this down god i need to shut this down its eyes open it telepathically smashes every bit of the laboratory and charges art uh hard cut to the military general from akira looking at a radar and he's monitoring its movements and he's like if it breaches the city, then lock down the whole state. Should we just go to conclusions, I think?

That's origin story number two. I'm just, hey, don't shoot the messenger. Don't shoot the messenger. Involves a mayor from Akira. I threw in a little bit of extra cinematic magic, but the short story is that it got loose and couldn't be recaptured. It's been living in the wilderness ever since.

If this was a government experiment into gene splicing to create, presumably, some sort of super soldier, why did they start with a goat? A creature which I think I've seen before eat its own shit. That's not a step up in human evolution. You ever seen those goats that can climb really steep mountains?

Yeah, but I've also seen the ones that when they get scared, they become paralyzed and fall over. Could be pretty useful on the battlefield. If people think you're dead. I just think start with, don't know a scorpion give give just a normal guy a poison tail he can kind of sting people with that was where uh duane the rock johnson's scorpion king came from from the mummy returns i think i think it was yeah well what i do know is scientists never shut up about how similar we are to not

lettuce but like pigs and stuff so maybe they're picking animals that are like very similar to us yeah but i guess even if the operation is a success what are you left with some pretty bad tasting sausages. Wow. Okay. Probably shouldn't have told you that one. You're quite hostile about origin story number two. But there is a third. And it is by far the most paranormal. And believe it or not, widely accepted in Pope Lick and the surrounding areas.

in Pope Lick and the surrounding areas. Locals believe that way back when, there was a farmer who began flirting with the paranormal and esoteric arts. Who hasn't? And before long, he had descended deep into the occult. He would perform ritual sacrifices of goats in order to gain satanic powers. But one day, when the man died, he was reincarnated as a twisted halfling condemned to roam the earth for eternity. Ooh, I like this one. Okay, you like that one better than the others? I think so, yeah. It's a little more colorful, a little spicy. I mean, it at least halfway explains the goat thing. Yeah. That the devil was like, in exchange for your earthly powers,

you will be doomed to be transformed into a goat halfling. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because that's the thing. There's always a little catch with him. He gives you a little something, but you're going to have to pay a pretty hefty price. That's why you've got to make sure it's worth it. If you're going to ask him for anything, make sure it's worth it if you're gonna ask him for anything make sure it's something really really good no i think that the moral of the story is he will always trick you so nothing could ever be worth it nothing would ever be worth

your like eternal soul yeah so think extra hard before you ask it no because like make sure it's something really good arguably the parable is that heaven is already here on earth and you should just enjoy your life here and live a good life in order to enjoy the afterlife and that just by talking to the devil at all is a trick but if you got a couple of goats you could afford to lose just and uh and some candles and some some little chalk circle on the floor you know just be careful. Just think about, for example, like... What are you thinking of?

If you're thinking like, hey, I want a PlayStation 4. Right. Think smarter. Ask for a PlayStation 5. Future-proof your wishes. If you're thinking, hey, I want to be able to backflip, Mr. Devil. No one... Maybe just say flip,

because then you can flip in any direction forward, backwards those kind of sideways ones that all the parkour guys do. You have a PS5. How do you think I got it? No... It was the first week

the PS5 dropped sold out everywhere. Rory is just black rings around his eyes just playing like NBA 2K in his living room. A PlayStation 5 arrives in front of me, but I immediately get goat hooves for hands. No!

Curse you, Satan! Imagine the devil offering you anything you want and you answer PS4. Not even the latest incarnation of the console. It's like, you know, I'm not a picky guy. I don't need the slim one with the extra hard drive. Just the regular. Here's what I would do, right? If I ever had to ask the devil for anything, I would ask for a gun that can kill the devil.

And then he has to make it. And then guess what, motherfucker? Give me everything I want. Yeah, that's right. I actually want a couple more wishes. I've got my fucking golden desert eagle in his mouth. So it's just a regular gun? That kills the devil!

Actually, give me everything. Give me everything you've got. All the pitchforks, all the lava lava jacuzzis i want it all i think that was how the devil was created i think you just swapped places with him would that make me bad or good if i shot the devil i think good right do i still get to go to heaven i just love the idea of the devil appearing in Rory's apartment and just hearing, you came to the wrong hood, mother****er. Rory's got like a wire on his neck. Give me everything, you little ****.

Yeah, I rewatched Aladdin not that long ago. Yeah. And I was pretty interested now watching it with my adult brain to understand the genie logic. We haven't talked too much about genies on this paranormal life, but, you know, it's good to get a refresher on the rules. Because the genie, he lays down pretty early on. He's like, yeah, look, obviously you can't ask for more wishes. Doesn't work that way.

But I forgot that part of the storyline is what you can do is you can use one of your wishes to set the genie free. Oh! Because Aladdin promises that he'll do that and then, spoiler, he doesn't.

The genie's like, all right, Rory, what's your first wish? I want a gun that kills genies. Then we'll see how many wishes you give me.

Then we might revisit that little conversation about wishes. And maybe you might be feeling a little more generous. He leaves. He flies off. Shit. I thought I kind of was at least guaranteed the first one. Genie's like, you know I'm not actually

trapped in that lamp. I'm so powerful. You can just keep me in a lamp. I can do whatever I want. A gun that can kill genies. You might change your mind, mother f***er. And then, of course, the one I totally forgot is at the end of the movie,

ya boy, the bad guy, he asks to be turned into a genie himself. You can do that? Yeah. Shit. But genies can't grant their own wishes, can they? I think they can pretty much do whatever they want because he was like Jafar, that's who it is. Aladdin tricks him. He goes, well, Jafar, you want to be the most powerful, right?

And he's like, mm-hmm. And then he's like, but a genie is even more powerful than you. And he's like, oh, shit. So I need to, oh, damn. All right, last wish, make me a genie. And then he becomes a genie is even more powerful than you and he's like oh shit so i need to oh damn all right last wish make me a genie and then he becomes a genie and then he makes himself like as big as a planet he starts throwing like countries around he's like oh this is crazy but then aladdin and aladdin goes give me a gun that kills genies and the pirate throws him a gun robin will Robin Williams chucks him an AK-47

and he lets fire into Jafar's ghostly belly. Close enough, Aladdin just picks up his lamp and then he's like, yeah, well, you might be powerful, but you still got to live in a lamp. And then he's like, no. Oh, I see, I see. Okay. I hadn't seen the movie in a long time.

So some pretty interesting rules. Okay. Yeah. We sometimes, I think paranormal rules could just be quite interesting. I feel like they usually turn up in spells or curses, things like that, you know? Yeah. Sometimes with ghosts or spirits or poltergeists, there's kind of rules around why places are haunted or how they're haunted.

The levels in which spirits can interfere with the human world. But there are rules in what you would assume is a rule-less world. What is sort of interesting is how deeply associated the Popelik monster is with this train track specifically. That seems to almost be its thing. Like if we thought the Popelik monster sounded a bit like the Goatman, well this is kind of the difference as the Popelik monster hangs out just right at this creek to the extent that there are also legends in this area of a ghost train which leads

some to think that the two may be connected. That because the Popelik monster lives around the track he might have caused the train to derail killing those aboard and dooming it to continue as a ghost train on this track forever is there so little evidence in today's case we have to rope a ghost train into it the thing is this is all very much possible because no it isn't part of this creature's lower is that it has the ability to control minds it said it has the ability to control minds. It said it has the ability to hypnotize its prey either with the power of its mind or

with its shrieking cry that compels any listener to seek it out. Well then it probably wasn't held captive in a traveling freak show for 20 years if it has the power to control minds. That is a good plot hole you'll find. Unless he was like kind of kinky 20 years if it has the power to control minds that

is a good plot hole you'll find unless he was like kind of kinky and a little into it I don't know why else would he stay and I'm afraid at the end of our episode I have to take it to a dark place because whilst it seems outrageous and ridiculous that this

beast would be able to you know lure people to it you you you know using his abilities you can understand why people have come to that conclusion because david and raquel from the start of our story like i said earlier are far from unique it is staggering the amount of people who have been injured or killed at this exact train track trying to find this monster. Because it's the train tracks at night! What are you talking about? But Rory, what I'm saying is, why the f*** were they on a train track? Isn't that where you said it lives? Right by the train tracks?

I'm basically saying, that's why people think this thing can lure people uh using its voice using uh telepathy or whatever because this is something i would argue we have never seen in a paranormal case before which is uh so many people being lured to their death going places that anyone in the right mind should know not to go to get a glimpse of this thing mean, we don't have time to go through them, but I mean, there's literally a list of like people, names, dates, and like roughly what happened. But another example would be there were people that were killed while playing Pokemon Go by trespassing, trying to catch digital monsters. I mean, is this not kind of the same thing? Everyone says, oh yeah, the creature comes out really late at night when it's dark and he hangs out on the high-speed electric railway.

Go check it out and don't tell anyone. You actually have to cross a few trespassing fences to get there. It's like, yeah, the mortality rate is going to be high for that. The same way if you're trying to find a ghost that haunts Chernobyl, the nuclear reactors. You're not going to have a good time. That's not really necessarily because of the ghost. Also, these people aren't getting axed, all right? They're presumably either falling off cliffs

or getting hit by trains. I can't say I've studied every case. I can't say I've studied every case. That would take a long time. Were some of them clawed to death by a circus freak i don't know that would that would i would have to check all these records it should be said at the end of this episode that uh just in case you were considering trying to find this monster yourselves uh for once we cannot endorse that and we will endorse anything we love the idea of

monster hunting trying to find this paranormal creature, but please, for the love of God, this list is long that I just showed Rory. A lot of people have been hurt or killed trying to track this thing down and playing and hanging out around this area. Which brings us to the end of our investigation into everything that's going on, the life and times of the Pope Lick Monster in Kentucky.

Rory, we have talked a little bit about where this thing is supposed to have come from or the three different places it may have come from, a little bit about what it might look like and its abilities and sadly what's happened to the people who've gone looking for it. Where is your head at today? Little is the right choice of words, Kit, I think, to sum up almost every aspect of this story.

Little information on it, little sightings, little arguments. Yeah, it's crazy. Almost no one has ever seen it. We don't even know if anyone's even ever seen it. I feel like we... Which is pretty mysterious. I don't... I feel like we're at the conclusions

and I literally know nothing about this thing. Except the fact it kind of looks like the goat man. You need to clean your ears out, bud. Are you even listening? And there's three stories of how it was created. It can control minds. And it's from a circus. Or a devil ritual.

Or a government lab. Okay. And between you and me, brother, it's basically the goat man. Just picture the goat man. For all intents and purposes, Or a devil ritual or a government lab. Okay. And between you and me, brother, it's basically the goat man. Just picture the goat man. For all intents and purposes, just think of the goat man. And there's kind of no reason why it does anything that it does. It's evil. All right, just evil.

Okay. I was hoping there would be maybe some photographic evidence, maybe some more contemporary sightings. Didn't you hear the bit where I said no one's even seen it? Well, that makes it a little hard to say yes to, doesn't it? You must know that. I'm really not seeing anything here today that even kind of breaks the mold. I mean, it's very similar to creatures we've investigated in the past,

but doesn't even necessarily have that backstory or that unique characteristic that could set it apart and push us into a world of believability. It's kind of like when someone says cryptid, like what an AI would just generate. All right, kind of human, kind of not. Comes from devil or experiment or something, lives in the woods at night and kills strangers. It's just kind of ticking all the boxes without really setting off in any unique areas. Which is easy to say when you are not inside your car,

the top of it is crushed beyond belief by an eight-foot goat man creature wielding an axe. Yeah, you are right. Where's that story? You are coming from a place of privilege that that has not happened to you. Where was that story today? Thank God.

Were there photographs of the cars, of the drivers? Did they get in touch? It's happened to multiple- I mean, you said an axe slammed into the top. Multiple people. Multiple people in the Kentucky area. They probably wanted to keep it quiet for insurance reasons. You know, to keep your insurance premium low you don't want to well i think make a claim if you can avoid it so you know and hey that's an act of god the insurance probably

doesn't doesn't even cover that happening i think until those people come out of the shadows and it's going to be a no from me to the company. God damn it. The standard is just too high. The standard to get a yes on this show is just like, I am just sweating over here. I'm breaking a sweat, bringing evidence, bringing stories, bringing crazy claims to the table.

And it's just like, it's just hard to get it across the line. So your conclusion then for this episode you obviously have to decide as well yeah yeah let's uh yeah

this week it's gonna be a zhnesh alright first time ever a nish and

that is that and we don't have to talk about it anymore um cool double no just to clarify if anyone had a problem with kit and that is that and we don't have to talk about it anymore cool double no just to clarify if anyone had a problem with Kit

hearing what his conclusion was god damn it hey I hope you've enjoyed this investigation into the Pope

like a monster if you're from Kentucky hopefully you've heard of it and that this one is near and dear to your heart I mean it's a bloody tragic story.

I mean, we normally don't like to cover stuff that involves such macabre details. But to be honest, usually the paranormal is quite a safe place for these kinds of stories. You can't keep calling this the paranormal. What you have, your final page of research is just a list of train deaths, essentially. It is a cryptid. It is a half man. He's made in a lab. He's like, he's crazy.

He's crazy. He's telepathic. And you're telling me it's not paranormal. This is one of our most dangerous cryptids yet. He can control trains with his mind. Yeah, he did. No, he can't. He did.

He derailed the train. Well, Rory might not think it's paranormal, but our listeners disagree. So thank you to Sam S., Andrew Michael, Joel and Nicky DeFrancesco for sending in that suggestion. Took me a little while to get round to it, but I hope you guys enjoyed that investigation.

I'm blocking your emails. Okay. You guys are on the block list for that one. You get one chance. We talked a lot about the Goatman on this episode. Yeah. And we've actually talked about him not that long ago. Wasn't it episode 300 that we went back

to the tale of the Goatman? It was not, Kit. We went back to talk tale of the Goatman? It was not Kit. We went back to talk about Bigfoot. Bigfoot? The man who punched Bigfoot. Oh. I knew it was one of our early investigations. I get it confused because Goatman was our first ever investigation.

Yes, but Bigfoot was the first one that came out? No, other way around. Technically Bigfoot was recorded first. Goatman is episode 001. So, now that I mention that No, other way around. Technically Bigfoot was recorded first. Goatman was episode 001. So now that I mention that actually, don't go back and listen to episode 001. No, but do go back and listen to the

episode that we recorded with Rainn Wilson from the US office as Terry Carnation where we actually went back to reinvestigate the Goatman with his axe. That was a great episode, really funny. One of the biggest guests we've ever had on the show, and it was a blast.

And we did talk about the Goatman a lot. So if you want to compare and contrast cryptids, that is the episode to listen to. And if you want to get more of This Paranormal Life, the usual place is patreon.com forward slash thisparanormallife. The patrons get it all baby they get uh of course the four main episodes that come out every month ad free uh in their personalized rss feed on their podcast app of choice they also get five more bonus episodes a month depending on what tier you're on we do weekly after parties behind the scenes of this paranormal life and full length bonus episodes

once a month where we dive into some of the craziest cases in TPL history. Do you know what else they got? Was pre-sale access to our upcoming world tour. Crazy. I guess they also get the evidence for cases now. It looks like we're excluding that from our public episodes and just giving that to the patrons, I guess.

So kind of evidence, first-hand testimonies. That's a cool idea. You know what you should start with? It's Shag Harbor. You should just go back in time. You should just start a little thread and just post it all just to be in the cold light of day. Just really go back and see what all the fuss was about.

Shag Harbor had probably some of the most convincing witness testimonies I've ever seen in my life before. And they were all public. Yeah, you're right. The aliens from Shag Harbor must have used telepathy or something to get me to say no, because, yeah, why would I have said no? As I say, our upcoming World Tour,

we are going to the USA. We are going around the UK in October. If you haven't seen already, head to thisparanormallife.com forward slash tour to see if we're coming to your city. But I'll tell you now, we're going to LA, Chicago, San Francisco, Somerville, New York City,

then in the UK, Belfast, Glasgow, Manchester, and London for our biggest live show ever. How would you like to see a traveling freak show where the freaks run the shit? Do they? Where the lunatics run the asylum. That's this paranormal life live. It's two hours on stage of me whipping Kit and Kit whipping me. We're both the freaks and the guys who own the freaks yeah both convinced

that the other is the freak so make sure and pick up your tickets to that to meet the rest of the paranormal commune uh in person and uh and yeah come see us for a first ever jaunt across the us something else those gorgeous patrons get too is a shout out if they're on the 20 or higher tier on patreon we're gonna get into those right now thank you so much to thomas brain thomas brain likes to clean the borderline obsessed with it anytime there's even a speck of dirt on a tabletop he's like ah let me just get that real quick. Wipes it all down. Is he carrying cleaning supplies with him? Always, 24-7. He's the kind of guy that is good to have, but not good to live with.

Because obviously, you know, if you just like put your beer down on the table or something, he's like, use a coaster. And sometimes he'll try and clean you off of the earth. If you kind of piss him off too many times, he'll try and like, he'll be like, get away! He'll kind of put like his hands around your neck. And yeah, he's a pretty intense guy. Die, germ!

He kind of says. Thanks to Gage Store. Come on down to Gage Store's Gage Store. We got gauges of every kind. Fuel gauges, temperature gauges, atmospheric gauges. every kind fuel gauges temperature gauges atmospheric gauges what about 12 gauges how'd you know come out back son this is where the real gauges are found I was just a joke gauge I don't know if we need any gauges

for the paranormal commune. A couple of radiation gauges, actually, would be pretty good. So we'll be in touch. Thanks to Joseph Maurer. Come on down to Joseph's Explosives. We got explosives of every kind. I think one of them went off in your face recently because you're stuttering a little bit.

My face is covered in soot. My hair is spiked up like in Looney Tunes. Yeah, these things are not stable. I've been complaining, making formal complaints to Joseph ever since I started working here, but he does not listen. And I get paid minimum wage,

so I don't even know what I'm doing here anymore. Yeah, stop smoking, I'll say. In the building, stop smoking. That's probably a good idea because you're setting off a lot of the bombs. Thanks lastly today to Danielle Burton. Don't press Danielle's Burtons. She will

snap. She will. She's a little bit like our friend Thomas. She doesn't need much pushing to kill to be honest. Right, you push her Burton, you'll be hurting. That's how the saying goes. You're a germ to her.

Just beware. Thank you so much, Danielle. Thank you, everyone else we've shouted out today. We will be back with more shout outs from next week. I feel like I've been talking for frigging ages. Why don't you wrap up today? Sure. No problem.

Anything else you want to say at the end of the podcast? No, I think we're good. Cool. Ah, shit. Sorry. Yeah, you've kind of been running the show. I've been like on autopilot

a little bit, I feel like. So, Jesus. It's no big deal. Just like, hope you enjoyed. See ya. Bye. Sorry, that was way too aggressive.

I was like trying to do something funny at the end. What the was that? I said, and like a high-pitched kind of voice. I've never heard you make that noise before. I'll just think of a cool outro phrase and then see. Don't. I would say keep it simple.

Slip and slide. Nah, nah, nah. Nah, something like that. You haven't even said the episode is over yet. Sorry. I'm just, I'm kind of panicking a little. So I last said, we'll be back with more shout outs next week. You can't just say slip and slide.

No. And do like a rock and roll. And if anything, we already have catchphrases. So if you wanted to say a say phrase there's several to choose from sure I'm just honestly not I'm running a blank here I'm running a complete I can end that's fine that's fine I could do it sure sure yeah yeah yeah go ahead so thank you so much for listening to this week's episode we'll of course be back what are you doing man you? You said you could finish.

Do you want me to do it or do you want me to finish it? All right, kid's had his chance. I'll take it here. Slip and slide. Let it ride. What? You were staring at me and I could see you mouthing what you wanted to say. Right.

The episode's over. Do you want me to just do it? The episode's over. Okay. Thank you for listening. Yeah. Slip and slide. Fine. Let it ride. Okay. The episode's over Do you want me to just do it? The episode's over Okay Thank you for listening Yeah Slip and slide Fine

Let it ride Okay Hot dogs at the BBQ I'll have a dozen Alright Thanks everyone It's kind of a cool way To go out

Hot dogs at the BBQ