Westport 'Goatman': The Willie Aames Encounters

There are signs that someone or something is getting into the house. Soon after, a 'Goatman' is seen in the yard. Later, the beast is observed entering the young son's room. Was witchcraft responsible?
Willie Aames, star of “Charles In Charge” and over 50 other TV shows and movies, he had gotten a part on a long-running soap called “The Edge of Night”. This was sometime in 1983. He and his family decided to move from California to the east coast, where it was filmed. They found an inexpensive small beach-side cottage in Westport, Connecticut. It had a balcony overlooking the water, with woods in the backyard. Vicki Weatherman, his then wife, and his 3 year old son, Christopher, all settled into the home. Their son's room had a closet with some of the previous owner's things in it, so they left it alone. Right away, they started noticing things missing. Willie's keys went missing mysteriously. Two days later, he found them at the base of the backyard fence, as if somebody stood at the backstep and threw them there. A couple days later, Vicki's purse disappeared and they found it in the closet in their son's room. Also, they noticed that the closet door would never stay closed. No matter how many times they closed it, it was always open in the morning.

In the fall of 1983, they had a dinner party. Willie took the dishes and went into the kitchen alone to clean up. As he stood at the counter, he looked out the window and observed something standing by the tree line looking at the house. The creature stood on two legs, was hairy and had horns that came out of both sides of its head which came down and went up “almost in a 'W' shape.” It also had long sort of claw-like hands. As he turned to tell the guests, when he looked back, the creature was gone. Willie was so shocked that for weeks, he could not stop talking about it. He drew it and even told some people at work.

One night, during this time, he found himself waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of his son crying. When he tried to move, he found himself paralysed. He felt an incredible sense of panic and dread come over him. He eventually managed to crawl out of bed and to the door where, he looked down the hallway to his child's room. This is when he observed something leaning out of his son's room. It came out and stood in the hallway, blocking the light from the living room. It opened its eyes and stared at Willie who in turn stared back at it. Willie claims that he was petrified. It was the same horned creature he saw a few weeks earlier in the backyard and it was now standing in his home, right outside his child's bedroom. It turned and bolted into his son's room. Willie managed to crawl to his son's room and looked in but nothing was there. He noticed that the closet door was open again and this is when he began to suspect that the creature, whatever it was, was using that closet. He placed a chair in front of it. The next day, it was decided that they would move back to California. Willie decided to commute for the remainder of the year. The show finished its run for good in 1984. Since then, Willie has looked into folklore and demonology in an attempt to figure out what he saw. He got the sense that it was “of the earth” and believes that it might be a Tulpa as that area of Connecticut was famous for witchcraft and conjurings.

Curiously, not long after this, Willie's life seemed to spiral out of control. His battles with drugs and alcohol around this time are well documented. While he does not attribute his downward spiral to his encounter with the creature, it is interesting to think that it might have played a part in it. Willie claims that it was “poor life decisions” that brought him to where he was. At age 47, he turned things around by finding religion, getting sober and taking on a healthier lifestyle.

Sources:
-TV Show 'Famously Afraid' aka 'Haunted Encounters' - Season 1, Episode 5 - December 3, 2019
-today.com/news/willie-aames-wards-dem... (“Willie Aames wards off demons, armed robber” - Today Show)
-kansascitymag.com › a-picture-of-perserverance (“A Picture of Perserverance” - Kansas City Magazine)