There are many legends that exist all over the world. Heck, there are many of them right here in this country. Sometimes you have to wonder why they persist the way they do. Some legends are prolonged because children like to be scared by them, but others just seem to continue, almost for no reason that anyone can really discern. You expect legends in the old west and you get plenty of them. There are lost mines, indian warriors that are said to come back from the dead and even stories of buried fortunes. Some areas of this country are not areas where you would think that too many legends would come from. I have to classify Connecticut as one of them. The New England area does have its legends, but the people of New England are thought of as more sensible than most and this doesn't seem to mesh with some of those outrageous legends that are told. Because of this, a legend from that area is to be noted, the Old Leatherman is one such legend.

There is a story, a legend is more precise, of a very strange bum, vagrant, vagabond or whatever you would like to call him. His base of operations seemed to be all around Connecticut. He is said to have traveled in a circle that took in about 360 plus miles in the Connecticut area. He started making his roundabout trip in the early 1860s, but this date is debated and some say it started in the late 1850s. Supposedly he is still be doing it today. Hey, this guy must have found the fountain of youth! It is said that he traveled back and forth, between the Connecticut and Hudson Rivers. This really doesn't give us a clear picture of the area since the Connecticut River flows through Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine and the Hudson River flows through mostly through New York State and forms a boundary with New Jersey.

Leatherman got his name from wearing a handmade set of leather clothes. These clothes are said to have looked like he stitched them together himself. The guy is said to not be much of a talker and in fact, it is said that no one has actually heard him speak He makes only grunts and groans. Why would a legend be made up about a vagrant? It was precisely because of his schedule. You could count on the fact that he would arrive at your door every 34 days. Sounds strange doesn't it? One would think that someone became a vagrant so that he wouldn't have to keep schedules, but this guy is said to appear precisely on time like clock work. This makes the story strange and people like strange things, they tend to read more into something like this than actually exists.

It is said that the Old Leatherman would not sleep in anyone's home when invited. He preferred to sleep outdoors, sometimes in caves if there were any that were available. Some people felt very sorry for him and left him food. This was not too hard to do, since they all knew his schedule. It is said that Leatherman always appreciated what people did for him and would give them a gesture of thanks for the meals that they provided him. We know from the legend that he included New York State in his travels but only up to the Hudson River boundary. How famous was this guy? It is said that songs and stories were written about him in the 19th century and that he might have been one of the most famous people in Connecticut.

There are stories of people trying to imitate him in later times. Some dressed in leather and wandered the area. One thing about the Old Leatherman is that he not only appeared in the same place every 34 days, but he always traveled in a clockwise direction. Did this poor man suffer for some sort of mental compulsive disorder that caused him to do everything the same way for his entire life? Some say that not only did he always appear at the same interval, but about at the same time.

Some say that the Old Leatherman died in 1889. There is one time he got off schedule and it was near the end of his life, it was during the great blizzard of 1888. I guess we could excuse him for that. He still showed up, but it is said that it took him about 40 days for most of the circuit. Old Letherman gained a reputation for magic because he never was bothered by snakes and wild animals, especially in the caves in which he slept. As far as the snakes go, the leather clothing he wore was quite thick and heavy and it might have been that no snake could bite through it. The Old Leatherman must have looked like Robinson Crusoe himself in his crude leather outfit. It is said that he still roams the area today and if someone can figure out exactly where his schedule takes him, they will see a ghostly figure making his rounds between the Connecticut and Hudson Rivers every 34 days.