Week 9 Legends & Lore Marker Program
In my work thus far with Vermont Folklife, I discovered the existence of the Pomeroy Foundation's National Legends & Lore marker program, which Vermont Folklife is in partnership with, creating the Vermont Legends & Lore marker program. After hearing about this, I thought immediately of my own hometown of Northfield, VT. Growing up in this area, I heard tales of our own local legend, the Northfield Pigman, and I thought that this marker program would be a great opportunity for Northfield to get a monument to our own folklore; so with some encouragement from the VTF archivist, Andy, I set out on this sort of side quest.
The Pigman of Northfield is a classic cryptid tale, said to be nearly 6 feet tall, covered in white hair, with the body of a man and the head of a pig; he stalks the woods around Northfield. In particular, the Pigman is said to reside near The Devil's Washbowl Rd. on the outskirts of town, where there was once a large operating pig farm. Over the years, many stories of encounters have cropped up, but to my knowledge, the most often recited is the one that recounts high school students who had snuck away from a dance to drink beer in a nearby sandpit. It was here the teens were charged by the mysterious creature. They ran back to town, petrified by what they had seen. This and other stories of Pigman are quintessential to the experience of being a Northfield local and have been a source of fascination for me since childhood.
The “Pigman Shrine”
The process for applying to the marker program can take a little time, but to get the ball rolling, I was able to set a meeting with the Northfield town manager to see if this sign is something the town would get behind. VT Folklife Archivist Andy and I went to the municipal building and sat down with the town manager to explain the ins and outs of the program. Thankfully, they were very excited about the prospect and on board for us to begin the application process on behalf of the town. I will be working this week to write a first draft of the text that may go on the sign someday. As you can see in the images of other markers to the left, the signs do not have much room on them, so there are strict character limits which require some creativity. My original draft may change quite a bit if our application is accepted and we move to the next stage of the process, and I will no longer be interning with VT Folklife when most of this comes about, but I’m ecstatic to have a hand in adding to the folklore and history of the town I was raised in.
P.S: Pictured to the left is a stump covered in trinkets located on the Devils Washbowl Rd. in Northfield, Vt. My partner and I have affectionately dubbed this stump “the pigman shrine.” Knowing my affinity for my hometown cryptid, he proposed to me at this very spot!
