A chance encounter (or drive by) with the Goat Man
When I placed the negative on the light board, my mind immediately said, oh, that is the Goat Man photo. Now, I don’t know where the actual photo is off the top of my head. In an envelope on the table beside me, I am sure. I do not remember being privy to the details of my parents’ encounter with the Goat Man, but they must have at least shown me the photo and said that was who it was, because somehow I knew it was.
My knowledge of the Goat Man is only as good as the internet lore provides. He was not a half-man, half-goat creature. Rather, he was a man who traveled with goats. Small world. Charles “Ches” McCartney, aka The Goat Man, is from my husband’s home state of Iowa. Ches was born in the small town of Sigourney in 1901. In his teens, he ran off with the circus for a few years. He returned to help with the family farm, where he learned to use goats in agriculture. The McCartney family lost their farm during the Great Depression. Ches took a job with the Works Progress Administration, cutting timber. He was severely injured and mistaken for dead when a tree fell on him. A mortician was quite scared when Ches woke up in his office.
Over his life, Ches had several wives, each with children. He traveled from Iowa to the Southeastern States, dressed in goat-skin clothing and rarely, if ever, bathing or grooming. 15-30 goats pulled his cart, which was full of oddities he sold or traded as needed. His collection continued to grow as he traveled. People gathered to listen to him preach. He settled for a while in Florida and then in Georgia. The Goat Man, who claimed he had visited every state in the US except Hawaii, died in 1998 in Macon, GA.
I am just giving you the Reader’s Digest version of his life. His 1998 obituary in the New York Times offers an interesting overview of Ches’ very storied life. Really, go read it. A quick Amazon search turns up a 1994 book with photos and stories of encounters with the Goat Man, as well as a 2023 book by Anita W. Buice titled Anita and “The Goat Man,” which tells her story of meeting the mysterious Goat Man in 1963. There is a beautiful drawing of the Goat Man by Larry Martin on his website, larrykmartin.com. Ches obviously left lasting memories for those who came into contact with him.
Given the other negatives in the envelope, I’d say these photos were taken between 1954 and 1958, somewhere en route between Albemarle, NC, and Halifax, NC, or vice versa. One of the first things that stands out to me is that my parents thought to grab the camera while driving. It’s common today, but not so much back then. It appears they snapped a photo as they approached him and captured his silhouette after passing him.
Did you have any stories about the Goat Man?
