Highway Houdini: This Goat Is, Well, the G.O.A.T.
Photo: Houdini, the I65 Goat
Was that a big white goat you just saw next to the highway? If you’re driving down Interstate 65 in Kentucky, the answer is probably yes.
No kidding.
Houdini the goat can sometimes be spotted near Exit 81 in Sonora, south of Elizabethtown. One of his favorite spots is near a bridge that spans the Nolin River.
Houdini got his name from Kentucky State Police dispatcher Jodi Shacklette, who noticed that he came and went as he pleased, and sometimes vanished for long stretches of time.
Shacklette told The News-Enterprise that she gets calls about the elusive goat all the time from motorists concerned about his safety.
Authorities have tried to catch Houdini, but they’ve never been able to get their goat — instead, he’s gotten theirs.
“We would call animal control and state police,” construction worker Peggy Gross told WAVE 3 News. “Every time they’d come to get him, he’s gone.”
Houdini the goat can often be spotted along Interstate 65 in Kentucky.
Photo: Houdini, the I65 Goat
Nobody knows where Houdini came from, but he’s adopted the stretch of I-65 as his own. He makes sure to stay off the highway itself, refusing to be the scapegoat for any crashes.
“He’s smart, he won’t get in the road,” said Gross. “He’ll get up next to the road, but he won’t get in it or anything. He just stays under the bridge and goes back and forth.”
Houdini’s fame is rapidly spreading beyond Kentucky — no ifs, ands, or head-butts about it. Local teacher Tom Pitt runs a Facebook page dedicated to Houdini, where motorists from all over post photos of the goat in his interstate habitat.
So far, the page has collected more than 25,000 likes. Pitt has even begun using it to bring in donations for St. Baldrick’s Foundation, which funds childhood cancer research.
With his online notoriety going toward a good cause, it seems Houdini has found yet another way to stand out from the herd.
Sources: The News-Enterprise, WAVE 3 News
A longtime editor/writer and recently transplanted Hoosier, Caleb Cook lives in Xenia, Ohio. His favorite activities are reading and listening to music, although he occasionally emerges from the heap of books and vinyl records in his basement to stand blinking in the sunlight. Once fully acclimated to the outside world again, he can be observed hanging out with his wife, attempting a new recipe in the kitchen, attending movies, walking the dog, or wandering into a local brewery to inquire about what’s on tap. See more articles by Caleb.