We were associated years back with a construction project involving reconstruction of an earthen dam servicing Cash Lake, located just north of Bowie, Prince Georges County, MD. The small, fifty-six acre lake itself is sited more or less within the limits of the Patuxent (National Wildlife) Research Refuge. At the time it was (our understanding) that the Refuge was managed by the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Defense. As we recall, the road-side signage as you approached along Laurel-Bowie Rd (MD197) identified the site as 'Department of Agriculture Wildlife Research Center'. At that time the Refuge was going through transferral to oversight by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), who manage it to this day. The USFWS on site project rep, full of knowledge about the place, noted that the Refuge was originally part of the adjacent U.S. Army depot, Fort (George G.) Meade, now a border site to the northeast. Fort Meade was once the location of extensive military research and testing of chemical and biological weapons. Reconstruction of the dam was part of various restoration and improvements for converting the site to actual "wildlife refuge" status. It was also said to be an occasional (and classified) D.C. area fishing spot of then President George H.W. Bush, so renovation of the fishing dock was also in the plans. A few previous priority tasks throughout the overall property involved remediation of various integral "military-grade" contaminated waste sites.
We always wondered why the military (usually) situates all their chemical, biological, radiological etc. research and testing to locations of much ecological diversity and balance - as example reference Montauk NY>Plum Island>Lyme Connecticut>Lyme Disease. Or in the case of Bikini Atoll and the South Pacific, a tropical paradise. Seems that the more "passing thru" migratory fowl and ocean life the better. Open range nuclear devise testing, such as the low desert north of Las Vegas, Nevada, now housing the Desert National Wildlife Refuge (DNWR), seems prime real estate for these guys as well. Lots of bighorn sheep and desert wildlife there. Now all considered safe for wildlife, swimmers, hikers and people in general. A few residual, but unproven, tales of a strange sitings or occurrence here and there. Strange creatures. UFO's visiting the just up the road to the DNWR - Area 51. Enough to fill an hour of speculative TV fun and cinema frights. But (so far) no giant Japanese lizards nor mutant cannibal hillbillies lurking about.
The Patuxent Refuge was not without its own lore. We heard our share of a strange tale or two while working at the dam project. The majority came from a (local) USFWS site rep who replaced the regular vacationing (and Colorado residing) project manager for a week. He related tales of "mad experiments" occurring within the restricted laboratory involving hybrid animal concoctions. Fun stuff - but don't expect us to believe it. Although, his charge of research specimen dairy cows grazing the roadside pastures, each housing a "trap door" abdomen for sampling digestive content was fact (we can attest to hopping the fence to investigate that claim for ourself).
Further, albeit totally unexpected, assertion came from a local heavy-equipment subcontractor we frequently hired as needed for other projects. He resided just down the road, not more than a mile away and bordering the Refuge. Had lived there since birth. While working with him a short time later on an alternate project, we related a few of the Refuge tales to him. Kind of a rough, no bulls*t character, we expected a "Those guys are full of sh*t!" response. Instead, his eyes got big as tea saucers....
"Oh man... one evening when I was a kid a uniformed soldier came pounding late one evening at the front door. He was armed and serious. He pretty much ordered us the remain indoors. No explanation. This was occurring throughout the neighborhood. We were watching out the windows as several military vehicles circled the block, shining spotlights between homes and thru the woods. After about an hour a line of four or five vehicles passed the house, continued up the street, and then they were gone. Central to the contingent was a large, gated and tarped-over flat bed truck. A bit later, as the neighbors began to circulate, one guy who lived at the end of a side street cut-de-sac exclaimed that he saw them wrangling and loading some large, horse-resembling animal into the flat bed. Un-horse-like, it appeared to have horns like a small buck deer. said that it stood on all fours but constantly rose up on its hind legs to walk. Claimed it was creepy as f*k! A few days later, after repeatedly pressed for an explanation, a Refuge representative stated that a cow had breached the fenced pasture... that's all they would say."
"Huh.... well, OK"
There was no internet back then for second guess. Ya' just went with the assertion and moved on. Took it for what it was worth....
