July 1, 2025 • 10 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, JD Phillips (a.k.a. The Appalachian Storyteller) shares the true story of Ches McCartney—a man who traversed the United States in a ramshackle wagon drawn by, of all things, a herd of goats. His mission? To spread the word of God—and have a few adventures (and misadventures) along the way.
Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
And we returned to our American stories. Up next, we
have the story of Chess McCartney, otherwise known as the
goat Man, and you'll find out why shortly. You are
to tell the story is JD. Phillips, who runs the
great YouTube channel, The Appalachian Storyteller Take it away. JD.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Charles Chess McCartney was born on July sixth, nineteen oh
one in Sigourney, Iowa. Chess was your typical farm boy.
The sparsely populated town he grew up in meant that
there were more animals than people, and Chess spent his
days tending to him on the family farm. His favorite
(00:51):
animals were the large herd of goats that his father raised. However,
in nineteen fifteen, a traveling circus came to town, complete
with animals, freak shows, trick friders, and an assortment of curiosities.
And during one part of the show, a beautiful Spanish
knife thrower asked for a volunteer from the audience to
(01:14):
put a balloon on the top of their head so
she could throw razor sharp daggers at it. Taken by
her sheer beauty, Chess immediately threw his hand in the air,
and within a few moments he was tied to the
board with a balloon on his head. She flung two
(01:34):
knives at lightning speed through the air as the crowd
held their collective breath. Chess his eyes widened as he
caught a glimpse of the knives tumbling towards his head,
before hearing a large pop and the eruption of the
cheers from the audience. That's how it happened. At age
fourteen years old, Chess left its family farm and ran
(01:57):
away with the circus, becoming auitar for the Spanish beauty
and also becoming her lover. The two were married. Each
night the couple would visit some tavern or bar, where
Chess would take down the dark board and his wife
would throw twenty five razor sharp knives at his head.
(02:17):
After four years of tour in America, the Spanish vixen
retired so that she could raise a family. Yet Chess
was just eighteen years old. No, he wasn't ready to
settle down, so one night, as his beautiful wife slept,
he grabbed his clothes and left her forever. Chess McCartney
(02:38):
returned home to Iowa, where he worked in logging camps
through the roar in twenties and the nineteen thirties. He
eventually remarried twice more and even had a son. But
it was during the Great Depression that a tragic accident
took place. Chess was cut in timber deep in the
forest for the Works Progress administration when he cut a
(03:00):
tree that fell in an unexpected way, landing on top
of him. When the search party finally arrived, Day presumed
he was dead and took him to the local funeral home.
And as he was lying there on that cold metal table,
the mortician stuck the n bombing needle in Chess's neck,
(03:24):
and just then he suddenly sprang back to life. From
that moment on, Chess was a changed man. He dedicated
the rest of his life to telling anyone he met
how God had saved his life. So in nineteen thirty nine,
Chess set out to building a makeshift wagon. Here was
(03:45):
a homemade affair covered with tin, hold rubber, and tattered
dingy cloth, with ropes and broken harnesses tying it all
precariously together. Two or three kerosene lamps were tied around
the sides, with odd sigh reflectors tied together in clusters
around the sides, and a huge, dusty red flag attached
(04:06):
to it all. A peekan side disclosed a folding camp chair,
another wooden chest, a few utensils, and some bedding. As
for horsepower, well, Chess had tied up twelve goats to
the front and two spare goats trailing up the rear
of the wagon. His wife took one look at the thing,
and just like that, Chess was divorced. Thus free from
(04:30):
all the interference of women, Chess and his son set
out on the road, both dressed in goat skins. Indeed,
Chess was a sight to behold. His long, flowing beard
and rugged appearance made him look like a prophet straight
out of the Old Testament. The average traveling about three
to seven miles a day across America, traveling US highways
(04:53):
long before the Interstates and backing up traffic for miles.
Folks said that the goat man's smell would roll into
town long before he ever did. Wherever he went, he
drew attention. As his caravan approached town, news would quickly
spread the goat man is coming. Folks would line in
the streets to get a glimpse of him and Some
(05:13):
towns would even cancel school classes so children would miss
the big event. Once the goat Man arrived in town,
he would find an empty field on the outskirts to
let his goats graze. Then he would start a large
bonfire of tires that he had collected off the side
of the road, and of course, the black smoke would
(05:36):
attract a large crowd. Before long, people would start pouring
in and adults would pause their daily routines to see
this strange curiosity. News journalists were always on the scene
to capture his story, and once he had a good crowd,
the goat Man would spring into action, mounting his wagon
and launching into a passionate speech about the coming of
(05:58):
the Lord, urging everyone to repent of their sins and
trust in the Lord with all their heart. When asked
how he made a living, he would immediately pull out
a stack of postcards from his overalls that featured pictures
of him and his goats, and he would begin selling
number one dollar each Heck, for fifty cents, you could
(06:18):
even get your picture made with him. Between the postcards,
the pictures and selling scrap metal that he found along
the highway, or even donations, the goat Man managed to
purchase enough food to get by on During the nineteen forties,
as America faced rations on everything from food to gasoline,
(06:40):
the Goat Man crisscrossed America, and during the nineteen fifties
he visited Alaska, Canada, and went up and down the
eastern United States. Each winter, he would spend it in
Georgia or Florida, where it was warmer, before setting out
once again in the spring. Long before Forrest got up,
ever went for his long run, the Goat Man roamed
(07:03):
the highways in the byways of America, fueled by little
more than wonderlust. His fame and legend continued to grow,
and as might be expected, there were a number of
erroneous tales circulating about him. During World War Two, rumors
started that Chess was a Nazi spy who had a
short wave radio hidden in his wagon, and, as silly
(07:25):
as it sounds, a sheriff in Virginia searched that wagon
looking for the mystery radio. Others said that the goat
Man was actually a very wealthy man, with hordes of
money hidden in his wagon. Nonetheless, by nineteen sixty the
goat Man was fed up with the direction America was heading,
so he threw his hat into the ring to be
(07:45):
nominated for the President of the United States, even taking
his goat parade to Chicago to the Democratic National Convention.
He promised that if he was elected, he would quickly
produce government spending. The first thing he said he would do,
fire all the White House gardeners and replace them with
his goats, and he would place the Ten Commandments on
(08:06):
the wall in the Oval Office. Remarkably, the goat Man
traveled all across America from nineteen thirty nine to nineteen
eighty seven, nearly a half century. It's said that he
traveled over one hundred thousand miles to every state except Hawaii. However,
most of his travels centered around Appalachia. Even today, there
(08:28):
are scores of people from small towns in East Tennessee, Kentucky,
North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Virginia who remember when the
Goat Man came to their town preaching about the coming
of the Lord. The roads he traveled were not just
pathways through towns, but through the lives of those who
met him. For many, a glimpse of the Goat Man
(08:50):
was a cherished memory, a story to be told man
retold sadly, not everyone loved the goat man, and throughout
his travel, Chess McCartney encountered numerous adventures and misadventures, from
getting called in a snowstorm on Peabody Mountain, to narrowly
escape in a deadly brewery truck accident that killed eight
(09:12):
of his goats and sent him to the hospital, the
time he was mugged in Los Angeles trying to visit
actress Morgan Fairchild, and that time in Oklahoma when his
wagon was set on fire with Chess sleeping in it,
barely escaping death with half his beard burned off. Chess
finally came off the road for good in nineteen eighty seven.
(09:33):
He sold all his goats to Disney World, and then
he settled in Twigs County, Georgia, where he purchased a
few acres of land. At first he lived in a
small house that he had built that was just as
eclectic as a wagon that he roamed America with, but
alas it too was burned by someone. After that, he
lived in a school bus, and he even preached at
(09:56):
a nearby church called the Free Thinking Christian Mission. By
nineteen ninety, age had finally caught up with Old Chess.
Andy spent his final years as a local celebrity at
a nursing home in Macon, Georgia. The goat Man Chess
McCartney passed away at the age of ninety seven, leaving
behind a legacy that continues to captivate the imagination.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
And a special thanks to J. D. Phillips who runs
the great YouTube channel The Appalachian Storyteller And what a
story you just heard. Americana at its best, The story
of the goat Man. He's born again experience and what
he did with it, how he evangelized in a caravan
of one pulled by goats. Here on our American Stories.
And we returned to our American stories. Up next, we
have the story of Chess McCartney, otherwise known as the
goat Man, and you'll find out why shortly. You are
to tell the story is JD. Phillips, who runs the
great YouTube channel, The Appalachian Storyteller Take it away. JD.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Charles Chess McCartney was born on July sixth, nineteen oh
one in Sigourney, Iowa. Chess was your typical farm boy.
The sparsely populated town he grew up in meant that
there were more animals than people, and Chess spent his
days tending to him on the family farm. His favorite
(00:51):
animals were the large herd of goats that his father raised. However,
in nineteen fifteen, a traveling circus came to town, complete
with animals, freak shows, trick friders, and an assortment of curiosities.
And during one part of the show, a beautiful Spanish
knife thrower asked for a volunteer from the audience to
(01:14):
put a balloon on the top of their head so
she could throw razor sharp daggers at it. Taken by
her sheer beauty, Chess immediately threw his hand in the air,
and within a few moments he was tied to the
board with a balloon on his head. She flung two
(01:34):
knives at lightning speed through the air as the crowd
held their collective breath. Chess his eyes widened as he
caught a glimpse of the knives tumbling towards his head,
before hearing a large pop and the eruption of the
cheers from the audience. That's how it happened. At age
fourteen years old, Chess left its family farm and ran
(01:57):
away with the circus, becoming auitar for the Spanish beauty
and also becoming her lover. The two were married. Each
night the couple would visit some tavern or bar, where
Chess would take down the dark board and his wife
would throw twenty five razor sharp knives at his head.
(02:17):
After four years of tour in America, the Spanish vixen
retired so that she could raise a family. Yet Chess
was just eighteen years old. No, he wasn't ready to
settle down, so one night, as his beautiful wife slept,
he grabbed his clothes and left her forever. Chess McCartney
(02:38):
returned home to Iowa, where he worked in logging camps
through the roar in twenties and the nineteen thirties. He
eventually remarried twice more and even had a son. But
it was during the Great Depression that a tragic accident
took place. Chess was cut in timber deep in the
forest for the Works Progress administration when he cut a
(03:00):
tree that fell in an unexpected way, landing on top
of him. When the search party finally arrived, Day presumed
he was dead and took him to the local funeral home.
And as he was lying there on that cold metal table,
the mortician stuck the n bombing needle in Chess's neck,
(03:24):
and just then he suddenly sprang back to life. From
that moment on, Chess was a changed man. He dedicated
the rest of his life to telling anyone he met
how God had saved his life. So in nineteen thirty nine,
Chess set out to building a makeshift wagon. Here was
(03:45):
a homemade affair covered with tin, hold rubber, and tattered
dingy cloth, with ropes and broken harnesses tying it all
precariously together. Two or three kerosene lamps were tied around
the sides, with odd sigh reflectors tied together in clusters
around the sides, and a huge, dusty red flag attached
(04:06):
to it all. A peekan side disclosed a folding camp chair,
another wooden chest, a few utensils, and some bedding. As
for horsepower, well, Chess had tied up twelve goats to
the front and two spare goats trailing up the rear
of the wagon. His wife took one look at the thing,
and just like that, Chess was divorced. Thus free from
(04:30):
all the interference of women, Chess and his son set
out on the road, both dressed in goat skins. Indeed,
Chess was a sight to behold. His long, flowing beard
and rugged appearance made him look like a prophet straight
out of the Old Testament. The average traveling about three
to seven miles a day across America, traveling US highways
(04:53):
long before the Interstates and backing up traffic for miles.
Folks said that the goat man's smell would roll into
town long before he ever did. Wherever he went, he
drew attention. As his caravan approached town, news would quickly
spread the goat man is coming. Folks would line in
the streets to get a glimpse of him and Some
(05:13):
towns would even cancel school classes so children would miss
the big event. Once the goat Man arrived in town,
he would find an empty field on the outskirts to
let his goats graze. Then he would start a large
bonfire of tires that he had collected off the side
of the road, and of course, the black smoke would
(05:36):
attract a large crowd. Before long, people would start pouring
in and adults would pause their daily routines to see
this strange curiosity. News journalists were always on the scene
to capture his story, and once he had a good crowd,
the goat Man would spring into action, mounting his wagon
and launching into a passionate speech about the coming of
(05:58):
the Lord, urging everyone to repent of their sins and
trust in the Lord with all their heart. When asked
how he made a living, he would immediately pull out
a stack of postcards from his overalls that featured pictures
of him and his goats, and he would begin selling
number one dollar each Heck, for fifty cents, you could
(06:18):
even get your picture made with him. Between the postcards,
the pictures and selling scrap metal that he found along
the highway, or even donations, the goat Man managed to
purchase enough food to get by on During the nineteen forties,
as America faced rations on everything from food to gasoline,
(06:40):
the Goat Man crisscrossed America, and during the nineteen fifties
he visited Alaska, Canada, and went up and down the
eastern United States. Each winter, he would spend it in
Georgia or Florida, where it was warmer, before setting out
once again in the spring. Long before Forrest got up,
ever went for his long run, the Goat Man roamed
(07:03):
the highways in the byways of America, fueled by little
more than wonderlust. His fame and legend continued to grow,
and as might be expected, there were a number of
erroneous tales circulating about him. During World War Two, rumors
started that Chess was a Nazi spy who had a
short wave radio hidden in his wagon, and, as silly
(07:25):
as it sounds, a sheriff in Virginia searched that wagon
looking for the mystery radio. Others said that the goat
Man was actually a very wealthy man, with hordes of
money hidden in his wagon. Nonetheless, by nineteen sixty the
goat Man was fed up with the direction America was heading,
so he threw his hat into the ring to be
(07:45):
nominated for the President of the United States, even taking
his goat parade to Chicago to the Democratic National Convention.
He promised that if he was elected, he would quickly
produce government spending. The first thing he said he would do,
fire all the White House gardeners and replace them with
his goats, and he would place the Ten Commandments on
(08:06):
the wall in the Oval Office. Remarkably, the goat Man
traveled all across America from nineteen thirty nine to nineteen
eighty seven, nearly a half century. It's said that he
traveled over one hundred thousand miles to every state except Hawaii. However,
most of his travels centered around Appalachia. Even today, there
(08:28):
are scores of people from small towns in East Tennessee, Kentucky,
North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Virginia who remember when the
Goat Man came to their town preaching about the coming
of the Lord. The roads he traveled were not just
pathways through towns, but through the lives of those who
met him. For many, a glimpse of the Goat Man
(08:50):
was a cherished memory, a story to be told man
retold sadly, not everyone loved the goat man, and throughout
his travel, Chess McCartney encountered numerous adventures and misadventures, from
getting called in a snowstorm on Peabody Mountain, to narrowly
escape in a deadly brewery truck accident that killed eight
(09:12):
of his goats and sent him to the hospital, the
time he was mugged in Los Angeles trying to visit
actress Morgan Fairchild, and that time in Oklahoma when his
wagon was set on fire with Chess sleeping in it,
barely escaping death with half his beard burned off. Chess
finally came off the road for good in nineteen eighty seven.
(09:33):
He sold all his goats to Disney World, and then
he settled in Twigs County, Georgia, where he purchased a
few acres of land. At first he lived in a
small house that he had built that was just as
eclectic as a wagon that he roamed America with, but
alas it too was burned by someone. After that, he
lived in a school bus, and he even preached at
(09:56):
a nearby church called the Free Thinking Christian Mission. By
nineteen ninety, age had finally caught up with Old Chess.
Andy spent his final years as a local celebrity at
a nursing home in Macon, Georgia. The goat Man Chess
McCartney passed away at the age of ninety seven, leaving
behind a legacy that continues to captivate the imagination.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
And a special thanks to J. D. Phillips who runs
the great YouTube channel The Appalachian Storyteller And what a
story you just heard. Americana at its best, The story
of the goat Man. He's born again experience and what
he did with it, how he evangelized in a caravan
of one pulled by goats. Here on our American Stories.
Host
Lee Habeeb
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.