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.
