The Goat Man: How Ches McCartney Traveled America to Lead People to God
Our American Stories
iHeartPodcasts
4.6 • 817 Ratings
🗓️ 27 April 2026
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
On this episode of Our American Stories, for nearly fifty years, Ches McCartney, known as the Goat Man, traveled across America with a team of goats and a wagon carrying everything he owned. Moving from town to town, he became one of the most unusual figures many people would ever encounter.
But his mission was serious. McCartney believed he was called to share his faith, using his travels to reach people wherever they were.
Our regular contributor, J.D. Phillips, also known as “The Appalachian Storyteller,” shares the story of how Ches McCartney earned his nickname, crossed the country, and became a lasting part of American folklore.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.6 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:14.0 | And we return to our American stories. |
| 0:17.5 | Up next, we have the story of Chess McCartney, |
| 0:24.6 | otherwise known as the goat man. You'll find out why shortly. Here to tell the story is J.D. Phillips, who runs the great YouTube channel, |
| 0:30.8 | the Appalachian Storyteller. Take it away, J.D. |
| 0:34.3 | Charles Chess McCartney was born on July 6th, 1901 in Sigourney, J.D. Charles Chess McCartney was born on July 6, 1901 in Sigourney, Iowa. |
| 0:42.9 | Chess was your typical farm boy. The sparsely populated town he grew up in meant that there |
| 0:48.6 | were more animals than people, and Chess spent his days tending to him on the family farm. |
| 0:55.0 | His favorite animals were the large herd of goats that his father raised. |
| 1:00.0 | However, in 1915, a traveling circus came to town, complete with animals, freaked shows, tricked |
| 1:09.0 | riders, and an assortment of curiosities. |
| 1:11.6 | And during one part of the show, a beautiful Spanish knife thrower, asked for a volunteer |
| 1:17.6 | from the audience to put a balloon on the top of their head so she could throw razor-sharp |
| 1:22.6 | daggers at it. Taken by her sheer beauty, Chess immediately threw his hand in the air and within a few |
| 1:29.7 | moments, he was tied to the board with a balloon on his head. She flung two knives at lightning |
| 1:40.4 | speed through the air as the crowd held their collective breath. |
| 1:44.3 | Chess's eyes widened as he caught a glimpse of the knives, tumbling towards his head, |
| 1:51.7 | before hearing a large pop and the eruption of the cheers from the audience. |
| 1:56.6 | That's how it happened. |
| 1:57.8 | At age 14 years old, Chess left his family farm and ran away with the circus, becoming a target for the Spanish |
| 2:05.5 | beauty and also becoming her lover. |
... |
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