Lake Worth Monster expert Clarke dies

Texan Sallie Ann Clarke, known as the authority on the legendary Lake Worth Monster, has died at the age of 80, one of her children said.

Clarke wrote a 1969 book about the Lake Worth Monster, a 7-foot-tall man-goat creature allegedly first seen near the Texas lake that year.

Clarke, who claimed to have seen the Lake Worth Monster on three occasions after penning her book, said in a 1989 interview that her experiences with the creature made her regret her book's tone.

"If I'd seen it before I wrote the book, the book would have been quite a lot different," she said. "It wouldn't have been semi-fiction. It would have been like a history."

Clarke's husband, Richard Lederer, said while some dismissed the Lake Worth Monster as a teenage prank, his wife remained a true believer.

"She offered a $5,000 reward for any person who could pass a polygraph that they were the monster," Lederer said.

The Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram reported Saturday that Clarke, who died of unspecified causes Tuesday following a long illness, is survived by Lederer, three children, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

www.upi.com

Related terms: book, children, texas