COME-AT-A-BODIES.
WELCOME TRAVELERS OF THE HALLOW WOODS (March 21, 2025)— The come-at-a-body is a fearsome critter that possess a ferocity what stands in direct defiance to its actual ability to back it up. One wonders, “What manner of beast did early loggers model such a creature on?” A mighty bear? Perhaps a terrifying tiger or bore? Nay, rather—a Woodchuck.
That again is a woodchuck. W-O-O-D-C-H-U-C-K as if you needed me to spell it out. Yup, the come-at-a-body gaudily storms up on opponents who could just as easily stomp it into extinction as well as chop it in two.
The animal was notably reported by logger and author Henry H. Tryon in Fearsome Critters (1940) who relayed that the beast originated in the White Mountains of New Hamsphire. Tyron added that the creature, “Harmless, but surprising,” would rush up on its opponents and, only inches away, proceed to spit in a manner like a cat.1
However, Tryon would not be the last to tell of the strange animal. A certain Doug George, while attending a residential camp in his youth, just over an hour from the White Mountains, likewise came across the beast.
Camp Mowglis was founded with the support of The Jungle Book author Rudyard Kipling in 1903. Back in ’66, when Doug was knee high to a grasshopper, camp counselors would initiate and/or traumatize children by telling them of the, “Green EYED Comeatabody.” Counselors would partially obscure a flashlight's lens with a goosefoot maple leaf to mimic an eye. Still, most striking is the following statement made by George:
“As it was explained to us little Cubs, the last one in line was very vulnerable to ‘attack and/or mysterious disappearance.’”2
It would seem that the come-at-a-body would bedeviled campers who lagged far behind to some cruel end despite its diminutive stature. Interestingly, the green-eyed come-at-a-body does seem to be a long-standing tradition at Camp Mowglis as it is even referenced in a poem “Some Reminiscences Of Mt. Washington” attributed to “Mr. Icely” appearing in the 1931 issue of the Mowglis Howl wherein the stanza reads:
Of the counsellors one was bitten
By the fish invisible.
Mr. Erdmann now looks green-eyed
’Neath “Come-at-a-body’s“ thrall.3
Likewise, The New York Tribune, circa October 23, 1900, records that there actually existed a football team affectionately unified under the banner, “Comeatabodies.” The team took part in a scrub football series organized by Harvard University and comprised of players from its student body. The other teams in this series boasted such names as: Mug Hunters, Inanes, Missing Links, Pigskins, Peppinheimers, Shyster, Whistle B's and Quadequinas.4 Unfortunately, there is no information on the outcome of such games. One can only surmise that the Comeatabodies rushed valiantly onto the field and proceeded spitting with all ferocity in a manner not unlike a cat. To the team’s credit such a bold act would have been surprising but to the team’s detriment—harmless.
Until we meet again,
Lenwood S. Sharpe, Director
Lumberwoods, Unnatural History Museum
Parts Unknown, The Woods, U.S.A.
1 Tryon, Henry H. ”The Come-At-A-Body“ Fearsome Critters. Cornwall, NY: Idlewild, 1939. 9.
2 George, Doug. "Alumni Notes - Continued." Boys of Summer, The Mowglis Call Fall 2002: 17. Mowglis.org.
3 Icely. "Some Reminiscences Of Mt. Washington." Mowglis Howl, vol. XXV, 1931: 17. Mowglis.org.
4 "Football, The Havard Eleven Now Practically Chosen-Aiming for Team Work." The New York Tribune 23 Oct. 1900: 5. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress.
