The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1909-04-07
STRANGE CRY IN
KENTUCKY HILLS
Sound Has Been Heard for
Many Years.
THE MYSTERY UNEXPLAINED
The Strange Cry Is Heard
During Still and Quiet
Evenings.

Frankfort, KY, April Bike the
ghostly hound of the Baskervilles,
which proved such a terror on the
lonely English moors until finally slain
by Sherlock Holmes, according to CO.
nan Doyle, there is a mysterious some
thing which has greatly agitated the
good people of the Switzer neighbor-
hood by its cries during the still
watches of the night. Unlike the giant
dog which proved such an enigma to
the great detective, this something is
not heard on cold or rainy or misty
nights but seems to come forth and
utter its cry when the evening is still
and quiet and when the moon rides
high in the heavens.
Many have heard the call which it
walls forth during the still watches
of the night, but no one has been
able yet to discover what this some
thing is that utters it. The call
sounds not unlike someone afar off
calling hogs, as "Poogie," long-drawn
out and with a wailin9 tremor seems
to be the nearest semblance to the
weird call which the mysterious some
thing utters.
Those who have heard the call say
that whatever it is that is making ii,
1t seems to occupy the territory be-
tween the farms of Dudley Baker, Jo-
seph Newman and Benjamin Hocken-
smith, but as these three places cover
a considerable stretch of land, no one
has been able to locate just where the
unearthly sound comes from. Some
claim to have heard the cry off and
on for 10 years, and many of the best
known residents of that section OF
the county testify to having heard 1t,
among them Berry Hockensmith, Hen
ny Hockensmith, jeff Hockensmith,
Joseph Newman, Mrs. Jennie Hart and
family, Charlie Hart, John Hart and
family and many others. All incline
to the opinion that the call sounds
like that of "Poogie," as II hogs were
being called from afar off. Everyone
is asking what can this mysterious
something be. No one believes that
it can be human, for the calling fire.
quently begins at o'clock in the eY-
ening and continues until > or J
o'clock in the morning.
Those who have cared to make any
sort of an investigation into the mat
terror brave men have hesitated
about venturing far from home on
nights ,ghen the blood-curdling cry was
floating over the darkened fields-be-
ieve that whatever this something is,
it must have escaped from some cir
Gus years ago-if it be wild animal
of some sort. Tales are told OF the
wanderings through Central Kentucky
years ago of some powerful animal
which got at large from a MENACE
RE and which was known far and wild
as the "dog eater" from the fact
that it made it's meals almost entire"
" off dogs in whatever vicinity 1t
happened to be. Few ever saw it,
as it prowled for its prey by night
fall. Long accounts of the marauder
were written in the papers at the time
Finally, emboldened by its immunity
from the terrorized people, the ami
NAL became holder and began to at
tack people. A large negro man had
to leave home on an errand one dark
night. He did not return, and the
next day in a lonely hollow his boots
were found, in which were his feet
and the stumps of his legs, and the
vicinity gave evidence that he had
been entirely devoured except this
portion by the mysterious dog eat
err" The people became aroused and
a systematic hunt was about to be,
made for the terror when suddenly 1t
disappeared and nothing was ever
heard of it again nor any clew found
as to its disappearance.