Podcast 83 – The Pigman of Northfield

One Response

1. 

   Turd Ferguson

   December 5, 2020

   Back in the summer of 85 we traveled to Northfield, VT from Belfast, ME in search of “The Pigman”. My Aunt used to tell us a story about a half man half pig that roamed the mountains of VT in the Devils Washbowl. She heard the story from a roommate in college that grew up in the area of Northfield. In the story my aunt told, it was pretty tame (to say the least) compared to what an old man (Old Man Johnson) told us when we arrived at the gates of the devils washbowl. As we were driving up a winding road that turned to dirt we saw an old man sitting in the shade of an old dilapidated barn on the side of the road. We stopped to ask him for directions to the devils Washbowl. He said that we were a long way from home and should probably go back from where we came. I asked him if he had ever heard of The Pigman and that we were investigating the story. We sat around and had small talk till he warmed up to us. He said he knew the Pigman before the devil claimed him and that his name was Sam Harris. The two most shocking things I remember about the story was the night he had dinner at the Harris house and what he and another friend he was hunting with witnessed at the Harris farm from a distance back in the late 40’s. The dinner story conjures up a spooky image of Sam Harris’s parents. As they sat at the table Sam’s father kept serving pork to Mrs. Harris as the pork piled up she continually stuffed it in her mouth and seemed to be laughing and choking at the same time. At a point she started to vomit out the sides of her mouth onto her plate as she stuffed more pork in at the same time. Mr. Harris continued to practically shovel it onto her plate to the point where old man Johnson who was just a young teenager at the time, ran out the house and ran all the way home. He never returned inside the house again and never ate pork again. The hunting story is even crazier than Hollywood horror. Johnson and a friend were setting out to hunt for the weekend and made their way up behind the Harris farm when they heard the loud horrifying squeals of a pig. As they looked down upon the farm they witnessed a naked Mr. Harris mounting a large pig stabbing it about the head while as it appeared having sex with it. Johnson said his friend became so infuriated that he drew down his rifle and lined his sites onto Harris. Johnson grabbed his gun away from his friend and they made out of the area and called the hunt off. Johnson said he and his friend had only spoke of that night but one time after and agreed to keep it to themselves. Old man Johnson said that not long after that Sam disappeared and that Mr. Harris had a heart attack one night when Sam apparently dragged pig organs up onto the porch of where he disappeared. A couple weeks later Mrs. Harris was eaten alive at the pig farm. Johnson seemed to stop in mid sentence and walk inside the barn leaving us all stunned at this story. As he walked away I asked him had he witnessed The Pigman in person, he just turned and pulled out his dentures and howled like a crazy man and then turned around again and walked into the darkness. This was the freakiest moment of our lives, we were terrified. I regret to say after the Johnson story; we turned around and drove back to Maine never to return. One of my buddies was convinced that Johnson was Sam Harris. It has been on my mind ever since and from time to time I think about calling up my old friends to return and spend the night in Devils Washbowl.

   Reply