Since the beginning of this series, we at Phillyist have always attempted to unearth the most obscure and bizarre tales in relation to the state—not just your run-of-the-mill, middle-of-the-road regurgitations—and this week is no exception. What we have in store, although brief, is about as obscure as it gets. We bring you the true story of the spectral black goat!

Okay, so it's hardly nerve-shredding or spine-chilling, but it happened at an unnamed remote location in Philly who knows when, and it's one of those tales that seemed lost to the world until Neil Arnold dug it up one night like a set of old bones in a foggy graveyard...

The house in question was always haunted. Shadowy figures, moving objects, peculiar noises and lights flickering. The family often encountered various strange phenomena, but seemed comfortable with it, until the black goat appeared to the kids, who were so shaken by the experience at first that they could not tell anyone.

Later, the children of the house mentioned that whilst in the cellar they had seen an animal, a creature dark in color, which they had chased around the basement almost playfully. This happened on several occasions, but the parents were of the opinion that surely it must have been a rat, or a cat belonging to a neighbour, but no, the children swore that what they'd pursued was in fact a goat-like creature, which always eluded them and scampered away into the shadows.

Of course, like many ghostly tales, there is nothing more to know, no resolution or even an ending except to say that the family eventually moved on. Whether the spectre of the goat remained we'll never know, but it seems as though the creepy cellar was a place of limbo for the phantom.

Image Credit: Flickr user care_SMC