Fitch Bits: Leather Man

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This post was originally shared as a Facebook and Instagram "DID YOU KNOW" post.

We share them weekly and you can get in on the fun by liking us at Facebook.com/TheNewSlightlyOddFitchburg and following us at Instagram.com/SlightlyOddFitchburg! Now onto the odd story!


DID YOU KNOW

that a man clad in rough, stiff leather used to walk a constant 365-mile circuit through western Connecticut and eastern New York?

Dubbed Leather Man, he was first spotted in 1857, walking between the Hudson and Connecticut rivers. He walked about ten miles a day and never stopped. It didn't matter how hot the summer sun was or how cold the winter, he walked all day, every day, completing his circuit every single year.

The leather he wore was handmade and barely fit for a human. He rarely spoke a word and never accepted any invitations for a place to sleep at night. He simply found a cave or built a shelter when it was time to sleep, then woke up and started walking again. The only things he carried with him were a walking stick and a French-language prayer book.

No one knows who he was or why he walked. They would simply see him walking into town at about the same time every single year and carry right on through.

Leather Man was found dead in a cave in 1889 and buried in a pauper's field at Sparta Cemetery in Ossining, New York. He would later be exhumed and moved to his own plot. Plans were made to study his DNA to identify him, but the decision was ultimately made against it to respect the privacy he had spent his whole life maintaining.

His leather suit was exhibited at a museum in New York, but sadly lost to a fire. Oh, and Pearl Jam made a song about him!


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About the Author

Ed Sweeney documents folklore, odd history, hauntings, and cryptid cases at SlightlyOddAmerica.com. He wrote Slightly Odd Fitchburg: The Odd and Haunted History of Central Massachusetts, is a content creator, and founder of the Slightly Odd Society

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