The Mysterious Goat-Man

In her Book “Best Yet Life and Lore of the Smokies,” Mrs. Bonnie Myers writes that many old –timers in the Smokies will recall seeing the traveling goat-man.

The Smoky Mountain area was just one stop on his long journey

Charles "Ches" McCartney, the legendary "Goat Man", was a wanderer, who spent over five decades roaming the highways and byways of the South, fueled by little more than simple wanderlust. Most of this time was spent in a goat-powered, scrap wood wagon covered with cooking utensils, dented signs, old furniture, rusty lanterns and whatever else he could find on the roadsides. “The Goat Man’s coming!” became a common refrain on radio stations and newspapers across the region. Traffic would back up for miles as curiosity seekers stopped to gawk at him. Some schools would even let out early so that the children could see this modern day pioneer.

At its height, the Goat Man’s junk-filled “goatvoy” consisted of two wagons pulled by a team of over thirty goats. The larger billies were hitched to the front of the wagon with homemade leather leads. Nannies were tied to the back with a couple of strong billies that served as the “brakes” on steep hills. The Goat Man also collected stray and neglected goats that he found during his travels, including a three-legged goat that rode in a special box on the front wagon. He referred to the goats as his “babies,” and called each of them by name as he walked beside them.

The Goat Man lead a very colorful life. At age 14, having a reputation as an eccentric, his left his hometown in Iowa for New York. There he married a Spanish maiden and became a target for her knife-tossing act for two years. In the 1930's McCartney hit the road with his wife and son. His wife later tired of the travels and returned home to Iowa while McCartney traveled on with his son, Gene.

The Goat Man claimed to have been ordained by the Pentecostal Church, and refused to travel on Sundays so that he could preach in a booming voice to the crowds gathered around his wagon. One of his tiny churches, the Free Thinking Christian Mission in Jeffersonville, Georgia, stood for several years until vandals burned it down. When I asked him about this, he sadly shook his head. “Takes all kind of people to make a world,” he said. “And I think we got ‘em, all right.”

For those hardy visitors who could stand the stench and the constantly bleating goats, the Goat Man would eagerly recount stories of his travels and offer opinions on his three favorite subjects: God, politics and women. He claimed that modern day preachers were only interested in the Almighty Dollar, and warned of upcoming race wars and economic depressions. He also tried to generate interest in a run for the Presidency on a third party ticket. By the late 1960s, he claimed to have been married three times, fathered children by each of his wives, and to have received over 25 additional marriage proposals. “The Good Lord gave me three wives, which proved to be three too many,” he would often say. “The Good Book says that there’ll be seven women for every man. Somebody can sure have my other four.”

If stories are true, he wrestled a bear, was nearly lynched by the Ku Klux Klan, was once thought dead and taken to the morgue, and got mugged in LA trying to see actress Morgan Fairchild.

In later years, the Goat Man retired to Eastview Nursing Home in Macon, Georgia. There he met Duane Branam who sang the song he wrote for him "The Legend". He also met Darryl Patton, the author of the book "America's Goat Man".

Gene McCartney, Ches' son, was murdered in 1998. He was found slain in the woods behind the bus that he called home. Only 5 months later, the Goat Man himself died in Eastview Nursing Home. He was believed to be 97, but was rumored to be as old as 120. No one really knows.

More than 65 friends and acquaintances gathered to bid him farewell.

In the Goat Man travels, eventually covered, by his count, some 100,000 miles and 49 of the 50 states. The only state he missed was Hawaii, due to logistical problems and his concern that, as he told an Alabama newspaper, the “goats might eat the grass skirts sight off the hula girls!”.

For more on the goatman, including a video of him and picture collection visit us online at www.valleyvoicenews.com, Or scan the “quilt square” located on the upper left hand corner of the front page.