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From: <>
Subject: [KYJacksonPurchase-L] Another Goat Story
Date: Sun, 2 May 1999 19:43:39 EDT

Here's another site I copied about the fainting goat. Diane
http://members.tripod.com/~FaintingGoatHeaven/History.htm
B & J's Fainting Field
The History of the Myotonic goats
Where did they come from?
That is by far the most common asked question and
the answer may forever remain one of life's true mysteries.
Before the early 1880's this breed has no history. It's almost
like they magically appeared.

Sometime during the early 1880's a stranger, John Tinsley,
appeared at the home of J. M. Porter in TN. He carried
nothing with him but the clothes on his back and a few animals.
These animals included a sacred cow (Zebu?) and four goats.
It was assumed, by his dress, he came from Nova Scotia or
somewhere within that region. He was also said to have worn
two hats with the possibility of the smaller one being a fez.

Mr. Porter invited the man to stay and he did so for
several months. During the duration of his stay the
Porters were never able to find out exactly where the
man had came from and many things about him mystified
them. It's said the thing that impressed them the most, was
not the man, but his goats. This was because the goats had
strange fits or fainting spells that neither they nor anyone else
in their area had seen before. One day, during Tinsleys stay at
the Porters, Dr. H. H. Mayberry, a neighbor of the Porters,
witnessed one of these incredible attacks. He then offered
the man $36 for his goats. The man refused to even
consider selling them but assured Mr. Mayberry that if he ever
decided to part with them he'd let Mr. Mayberry know.

About a month later Tinsley, his cow, and his goats
appeared at the home of Mr. Mayberry.
Tinsley said he would sell his goats and Mr. Mayberry
paid for them. He settled down at the home of Mr. Mayberry
and was put to work on his farm. It's said that not once did he
eat at his table and he always took his meals to the barn
where his sacred cow was kept.

After about three weeks the man and his sacred cow left
and went to Lick Creek in Maury County TN. Once there
he promptly married an older lady by the name of Barnhill.
That summer he raised an excellent crop of corn on her farm.
One night, shortly after the crop was in, and without warning
to his wife, he left with his sacred cow. He was never heard
from again and seemingly vanished as strangely as he appeared.

Mr. Mayberry raised a number of goats from those he
purchased from Tinsley. He sold them in various parts of
KY and TN. It's almost certain that the goats which were
raised and sold by Mr. Mayberry were the propagators of
all such goats in the entire country. If one believes
in magic the entire breed originated from four goats.
All of these goats were brought by a stranger, who no one
ever really knew, and at the time his goats seemed to be
as baffling as he was.

Early articles and studies about goats with myotonia are
few and far between. The first description of the breed was
made in an article in 1904 by George R. White and Joseph
Plaskett. They kept a pair, which were acquired from a
farm in Maury County TN, under observation for roughly six
months at the Nashville Veterinary Hospital. At that time they
estimated no more than 100 of these goats existed and thought
they represented a new breed. They gave excellent descriptions
of goats displaying myotonia and were even able to observe a kid,
which was born while the goats were under their care, have an
attack of rigidity within three hours after birth.

A brief note was published in 1908 by H. Dexler, who
became interested in the article by White and Plaskett.
After correspondence with some owners of myotonic goats
he stated that a farmer had imported a myotonic goat from
Canada. This led him to believe that the goats were
not entirely a local animal. Nothing more ever became of
this brief note.

In 1916 J. J. Hooper also published a brief note. In it he
stated that experiments were being undertaken to study
this unique behavior. Apparently and unfortunately the
experiments were interrupted before any observations were made.

The next publication of myotonic goats did not appear till
1930 when J. L. Lush described their history and the
behavior of a flock in TX. This Texas flock was brought
there to uphold the stories of a Texas farmer who's boyhood
home was in Tennessee.

In 1931 National Geographic magazine published an
article on Alabama and included an account of some
nervous goats owned by R. J. Goode. It was stated
that he had bred them for twelve years or more.

After 1933 the symptoms seen in myotonic goats were
linked to symptoms seen in humans.
Several, though sparse, studies have been done since
that time on the relationship of myotonia and how it
compares to symptoms seen in man. Myotonia in man
is referred to as Thomsen's disease.

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