Many people remember the malodorous Goatman riding through Chattooga County. There are many photographs of the Goatman on the internet, but this looks like one from his early days of "goatmania."
According to an online article from the Chattanooga Times Free Press, Charles "Ches" McCartney was born in 1901 in Iowa and was married three times. During the Great Depression, he got religion, hitched up his goats, and started spreading his message to prepare "to meet thy God."
Needless to say with all the heathens out there, he was often beat up. During one attack, his ribs were broken and two goats killed.
He left the road behind in 1978, but got the itch in 1985 to walk to California to meet the lady he wanted for wife number four, Morgan Fairchild. (I'm not making this up!) (Question: Was Rachel Welch unavailable?)
The Goatman died in 1998 in a Macon nursing home, no doubt of a broken heart. Shame on you, Morgan Fairchild!
If you have any pleasant or pungent recollections of the Goatman, let me know and I'll update this page.
Thanks to Mackie Carson for providing the photograph.
Copyright 2011 Greg W. McCollum. All rights reserved.