THE BELLED BUZZARD

THE BELLED BUZZARD

KIND HEARTS, FOR QUITE SOME TIME NOW, I HAVE BEEN COLLECTING STRANGE CREATURES.  SOME OF THEM ARE QUIRKY OR WHIMSICAL WHILE OTHERS ARE SPOOKY OR MAYBE EVEN TERRIFYING.  I HAVE OVER FORTY NOW AND ALL ARE EITHER APPALACHIAN "ORIGINALS," OR THEY ARE "VISITORS" WHO CAME WITH THE LUMBER CAMPS AND EITHER "ADAPTED" OR DIED OUT.  I THOUGHT I WOULD BEGIN WITH THE BELLED BUZZARD.  IN ADDITION, I RECENTLY MET A MARVELOUS ILLUSTRATOR NAMED MANDY NEWHAM WHO HAS AGREED TO ILLUSTRATE EACH "CRITTER," AND THE RED-EYED FELLOW ABOVE IS AN EXAMPLE OF HER WORK.

   THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF BELLED BUZZARD STORIES.  IN THE YEARS FOLLOWING THE CIVIL WAR, THIS "WINGED MESSENGER OF DEATH" RECEIVED NEWSPAPER COVERAGE WHEN HE ALLEGEDLY CAME TO SUMMONS A LOCAL JUDGE, A CIVIL WAR GENERAL OR A MINISTER.  GRIEVING FAMILIES REPORTED HEARING THE DOLEFUL BELL AS THE BUZZARD CAME TO REST ON THE ROOF ABOVE THEM.  SOME SCHOLARS OF APPALACHIAN FOLKLORE CLAIM THAT THE OMINOUS BIRD HAD A PERMANENT ROOST SOMEWHERE IN THE GREAT SMOKIES AND HIS GOINGS AND COMINGS WERE OCCASIONALLY REPORTED. HOWEVER, SOME TIME IN THE 1920'S, THE BELLED BUZZARD MIGRATED ... ABANDONED THE APPALACHIANS FOR THE OZARKS AND LATER, HE SHOWED UP IN GEORGIA.  IN LATER YEARS, HE BECAME EVEN MORE OMINOUS AND WAS THOUGHT TO BE AN INSTRUMENT OF JUSTICE FOR HE FOLLOWED UNPUNISHED MURDERERS UNTIL THEY CONFESSED THEIR CRIMES.