A discussion with some fellow geocachers around a bonfire late at night broached upon many subjects one of which was mythical creatures, usually small in stature, sometimes malevolent, sometimes not. My contribution was the YaHoo who would leap out of the trees on the back of an unfortunate traveler and nibble his ears.My father and uncle would tell us stories of this creature as they had been told to them by one of the farm hands. Johnny told of his McAdoo (spelling unknown) who his father told about. I suspect these tales are Scots-Irish handed down through the years. An interesting artical was in the Atlanta Journal Sunday magazine, "Parade" about the Scotch or Scots-Irish and that tweaked my interest. Please give a short account of any similar stories passed down through your family on this subject and where its origins are if you know.
thnx
gw

I wonder if the farm hand got the term Yahoo from Jonathan Swift's book GULLIVER'S TRAVELS?

Re: Swift.
I specifically asked my Aunt(professor emeritus and family historian) that same question years ago and she reassured me that this person was not literate and was quite incensed that I would make such an extrapolation!

Come to think of it, when I did your virtual cache at the gorge, I read a thing at the intrepretive center about the little people who lived in the gorge according to indian folklore. Rip Van Winkle had an encounter with little people. Seems like Swift's little people were the Lilliputans and the yahoos were gross obnoxious people who were the enemies of the horses (Hoynonems ???, can't remember the spelling) phatbacks maybe?

That would be Houyhnhnms. The name can be pronounced Whin-hin-ems, as if 'whinny' were linked to the -nym element of, for example, 'synonym'

Maybe not Scots-Irish but the most feared creature in Northern Va. when I was growing up was the Bunny Man....and, of course, there's a geocache in his honor...The Bunny Man Cometh by Bigcall
Good Halloween stuff.

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Originally posted by nasty george:
...snip.... Rip Van Winkle had an encounter with little people. Seems like Swift's little people were the Lilliputans and the yahoos were gross obnoxious people who were the enemies of the horses (Hoynonems ???, can't remember the spelling) phatbacks maybe?

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Now you'v done it, George!

How about the Morlocks from Wells' "The Time Machine"? There were some scary guys!

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Originally posted by Trailerman:

quote:

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Originally posted by nasty george:
...snip.... Rip Van Winkle had an encounter with little people. Seems like Swift's little people were the Lilliputans and the yahoos were gross obnoxious people who were the enemies of the horses (Hoynonems ???, can't remember the spelling) phatbacks maybe?

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Now you'v done it, George!

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Yep - ya done it now! May the wrath of MocAdoo (South Louisiana - German descent) and the black pin prick of a phat.bak VooDoo Doll be upon you. Revenge will be sweet when you drink some of the 'special brew' that I left at your farmhouse.
Haaahaaahaaahaaahaaa!

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Bunny Man

A google search turned up a very scary story!
also
my wife has captured my picture from phat and is giving it to her mother for christmas.

Green Eyes at Chickamauga Battlefield
full story at:

http://www.prairieghosts.com/chick.html

Heard about this from the same friend that initially inpsired our "This Might Be Creepy" cache.

-copied-
But despite all of the tales and stories of strange activity, there is one legend of Chickamauga who remains the most famous of all, “Old Green Eyes”. This mysterious entity was given this colorful nickname by park visitors and rangers who have encountered him over the years. Who is he? Well, that’s a good question, because there happens to be two very different legends to explain his presence in the park.

The first story (which frankly doesn’t seem to match the creature’s appearance or behavior) claims that “Old Green Eyes” was a Confederate soldier who had his head blown off his body during the battle. When he was buried, all that could be found of him was his head as his body had been destroyed. The stories say that his spirit now roams the battlefield at night, moaning and searching for his missing body.

Visitors and staff members claim to have seen green, glowing eyes coming toward them in the darkness and have heard the sounds of a soldier moaning in despair. In the early 1970’s, two different and unrelated people had accidents near the same place in the park, wrecking their cars after reportedly seeing these glowing eyes.

The other legend of “Old Green Eyes” is apparently a much older one... and much more unnerving too. In this case, reliable witnesses have reported the creature to be, not a slain soldier, but a beast which barely even resembles a person. The story also states that “Old Green Eyes” was present at Chickamauga long before the Civil War. Some accounts also claim that the monster was seen moving among the dead at a place called Snodgrass Hill, after the battle was over.


Snodgrass Hill
The reports say that the creature is human-like, although he has glowing green eyes, waist-length, light-colored hair and huge, misshapen jaws from which fangs protrude. Obviously, he is not a pretty sight, nor a creature that you would want to meet in a secluded location in the dark.

Which is exactly where some people claim to have encountered him!

This is a picture that I took of Nasty George on the day I met him in 1881, in the hills of North Georgia. Nasty explained to me that a voo-doo woman had put a mo-joe on him, because he tried to "have his way" with her. See picture below.
Now, every year on Jan. 1st, he takes the form of a troll for one day. Poor George.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ejldixie,

Now THAT is a nasty, scary story.