Growing up in a small town in the 1940's meant the frequent use of your imagination. Television where "everything" is seen and heard in high fidelity, stereo sound and high resolution video was just an idea whose time was far away. You listened to the radio, such as it was, and you listened to stories told by others. The listener painted the scenery by powers of imagination.
Carthage, Tennessee in the forty's was a unusual sleepy southern town. All the news was gleaned from the local papers, the radio and the Movietone News shorts shown at the Princess Theater. General George Patton's Third Army was there on maneuvers making preparations for war with the Germans. Our 1937 Chevrolet Touring Sedan was stolen by some of Patton's soldiers, making my family even more isolated from the surrounding world. No domestic automobiles were produced during the war so we walked until well after World War II ended.
It was in those days that the Beast of Carthage was abroad upon the land!
Carthage was/is a river town situated on the Cumberland. The town rests on the slopes centered between Battery Knob and a river bluff each being several hundred feet in height. Battery Knob occupies the north side of town. It was there in Civil War days that artillery batteries of the Union Army controlled Cumberland River traffic. The "Rebels" were ensconced along the river bluff on the opposite side of town and the river approximately one mile away. History says that the opposing forces fired at each other on occasion, however the strategic significance of Carthage was never relevant to the outcome of the Civil War. The ground works on Battery Knob were still evident where the field guns were situated just below the crest.
Battery Knob was a haunt of persons interested in rabbit hunting or walnut gathering or hunting red foxes with hounds. Other than those, no other worthwhile activities occurred up there until the Beast of Carthage appeared!
It all began in the summer of 1944. On the warm summer evenings most of the population of Carthage was outside on a porch or on an old quilt out on the lawn enjoying the night’s cool-off.
On a still, summer’s eve the Beast announced his presence! He howeled with a low, grating, growl followed by a series of fiendish, raucous moans. Thereafter there was an outright roar lasting several seconds! No one in the town could avoid hearing the howls and roars, and the town was all atwitter with speculation about the beast.
The tale of the Beast of Carthage was reported in The Carthage Courier, the Nashville Tennessean and The Nashville Banner. Even The Washington Post reported the phenomena. The Beast of Carthage was bringing notoriety to the sleepy, country village.
The Beast made his presence known every night for a while, then intermittently, but always on warm moist evenings when the night air was utterly still.
Everyone had forefathers who remembered the Panthers that roamed the woods. For those of us who have heard the scream of a Bobcat in the predawn dark can verify that there are few other sounds on Earth as terrifying!
Each growl lasted for two or three seconds. The low pitched moans lasted longer than the higher pitched screams. The concert of growls and moans would sometimes persist for many minutes carrying in the moist evening air. The screams and groans resounded and echoed off the surrounding hills and river bluffs. Most believed the Beast to be moving around the crest of Battery Knob.
Men who hunted all sorts of wild animals were expected to be less frightened than I, a five year old boy, but they were as big-eyed as everyone else when the beast roared. Each hair would attempt to stand straight in its follicle. I know one little boy who always watched his father’s eyes but reached for his mother’s arms.
All daytime conversations centered on the identity of the beast. Some thought it was probably a rogue bear. There was no consensus. As the summer twilight faded and evenings began to fall the whole town became quiet... Utterly quiet, awaiting the return of the Beast.
The beast moaned and growled for enough nights until enough wives had "encouraged" enough husbands to warrant action! Thus, a group of stalwart fellows herein known as the Heroes of Carthage was formed. Their mission: To seek out and end the reign of terror of the Beast.
Various townsfolk had mixed reactions to the scheme. To them it seemed less than prudent to have a bunch of excited, armed men traipsing around Battery Knob in pitch darkness. Knowing the roster of heroes also failed to assure this portion of the population of the impending success of the group.
The Butler Barber Shop was the gathering place for the stalwarts of Carthage in those days, and plans to take action were at long last, made. The action planned was to gather at the Butler house before dark with firearms of various descriptions, to go to nearby Battery Knob, find the hideous creature, and end the reign of terror. And so the Heroes of Carthage proceeded with their mission.
The heroes sallied forth, but alas, the first excursions were fruitless. Tensions mounted. The beast was heard at close range once on each foray, but the heroes could not make contact with the beast. The sound at close range was fearsome indeed, and it made the heroes quake in their boots! It was suspected that some had taken to fortifying their courage by the use of fermented spirits.
Finally an assault was secretly planned whereby the heroes would go out separately and execute the planned foray with great stealth and cunning. The heroes traveled to the base of the knob by secret routes, and proceeded upward without lights in silence. Finally the heroes came together to wait on an outcrop of limestone, sitting among wild blackberry briars, saw briars, cedar and hackberry scrub.
The night air was still except for whippoorwill calls and lonely screech owls. Soon the first roar of the beast blared on the nearby knob! The Heroes of Carthage were at first afraid, and some felt the urge for immediate flight down the knob through the brambles. But as with all groups, there were those with resolve, courage and perhaps a little inside information.
The plan was to spread out and approach from two sides in silence, but this became impossible due to the sanction against using lights. There were too many limbs being released to lash the wide-open eye of a following Hero. Various yelps and expletives were intoned as the heroes approached the roaring beast.
Suddenly the beast cut short his roars! The abrupt halt to the roaring was followed by pell-mell footfalls going away from the approaching heroes! The leader cried, "He's on the run: Let's go men!" The Heroes of Carthage charged and broke from the scrub brush into a small clearing where the fearsome beast had roared.
Before their eyes hung a mysterious contraption!
The Beast of Carthage was discovered to be a lard stand suspended between two trees on a length of plow line liberally coated with resin. The lard stand had a punctured lid and bottom with the plowline inserted through both. The hole in the lid and bottom fitted the plowline tightly so that when the lard stand slid along the rope it moaned and growled in the most fearsome manner! The Heroes of Carthage, were agog, amazed, and most of all relieved not to be staring into the fangs of a raging beast.
The Beast of Carthage had been found! Few were they that had the last laugh at the expense of the Heroes and the town of Carthage. But there were a few. It was a prank that all relished telling for many years to come.
