The mystery of the headless goats in the Chattahoochee River

[peachstatesleuth]

Hello all,

I'm an Atlanta-based content producer interested in further exploring a particularly grisly and perplexing case...

In recent years, Georgia’s Chattahoochee River has become an unusual dumping ground: hundreds of headless goats have been discovered floating in its murky waters. The source of the decapitated livestock remains a mystery, with theories ranging from folk religious rituals to drug cartel activity.

I invite you to read the New Yorker article by Charles Bethea on this topic. I'm collaborating with Charles, who's also based in Atlanta, to potentially expand upon his work to dive deeper into this mystery—and hopefully get to the bottom of it once and for all.

We would greatly appreciate any leads, insights, etc. on this case. Thank you.

 

[PromotedPawn]

Interesting read! I love goats so much. This is terrible! I wonder what's going on. Where are they getting so many goats from? Is there any way to trace the origin of the goats to find out who's buying them? I don't know much about Santeria but it seems like a lot of goats in a small area. That would be a lot of sacrifices. MOO. I'm off to the rabbit hole to see what more I can find.

 

[Knox]

That is the most bizarre thing ever. That many headless goats being dumped in the river? Someone needs to create a spreadsheet and begin tracking the numbers and dates to look for patterns.

Where breed are they? All different ages? Male and female? Dumped at all different times of day and night? Are they raising them somewhere I wonder? Have you talked to auction houses and breeders to see if someone is buying multiples on a regular basis? Have you thought about visiting hispanic markets to ask where they buy their meat?

I need to ponder this more, I’ll ask some of my guys at work what they think.

 

[nao]

Moo...would make more sense if it was goat heads being found. Maybe a disease ran thru a herd and owner culled them?...moo

 

[Knox]

Moo...would make more sense if it was goat heads being found. Maybe a disease ran thru a herd and owner culled them?...moo

But they are fresh and the dumping has been happening over a year. That would be a long culling period? Why not bury or burn?

The religious/ sacrificial purpose is the only thing that makes sense. Goat meat has value, why throw it in a river. I’m in California, we’ve been invited to many employee celebrations where chivo is served. It costs $250 for a whole goat. Most buy live and butcher themselves.

 

[Charlot123]

I would rather ask what do they do to the heads? Use them for rituals, as in Goya's paintings, or need their brains? BTW, scrapie (akin to mad cow disease) affects goats.

Scrapie - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Center for disease control has to be notified.

 

[Charlot123]

Here is a satanic ritual as depicted by Francisco Goya but it is lower on my list

Witches' Sabbath (Goya, 1798) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[nao]

Moo...cleaned skulls can be sold. Knowing the sex, age and breed of bodies, would be very useful information..moo

 

[no greed]

As frequently as the dumping is occurring at one location, I20 and the river overpass, why hasn’t a camera been installed?

 

[Inthedetails]

Interesting read! I love goats so much. This is terrible! I wonder what's going on. Where are they getting so many goats from? Is there any way to trace the origin of the goats to find out who's buying them? I don't know much about Santeria but it seems like a lot of goats in a small area. That would be a lot of sacrifices. MOO. I'm off to the rabbit hole to see what more I can find.

My first thought is Santeria too. I live in an area where it is practiced and odd things show up in specific places. I would look into significance of water with blood, perhaps specifically moving water as rivers flow. I know next to nothing about Santeria so those are just guesses.

jmo

 

[Inthedetails]

My first thought is Santeria too. I live in an area where it is practiced and odd things show up in specific places. I would look into significance of water with blood, perhaps specifically moving water as rivers flow. I know next to nothing about Santeria so those are just guesses.

jmo

Replying to myself.

I recall several years ago in my area there were animal tongues nailed to trees in parks. I don't recall what animal they came from, but IIRC, they were associated with silencing witnesses or perhaps warding against liars.

It could be the heads were used for parts like that? Again, just guessing.

One thing I notice are colored glass beads discreetly displayed in parks and cemeteries. So piles of glass might be some clues to look for if Santeria is being practiced with the goats.

Sorry I cannot read the link in the first post as it looks like it requires a subscription.

jmo

 

[tlcya]

I told Almonte about what was turning up in the Chattahoochee. He didn’t sound surprised. “I’m seeing more and more of the drug traffickers using Santería for protection over the last couple of years,” he said. “But that’s a lot of goats. That would mean they’re moving a lot of drugs along that highway.”

The Mystery of the Headless Goats in the Chattahoochee

Hundreds of decapitated goat carcasses have turned up in the river that runs through metro Atlanta. Are they evidence of animal sacrifice? Drug smuggling? Both?

www.newyorker.com

I do believe that Santeria and the above are the correct explanation for the goat carcasses being tossed into the river. It tracks for me.

 

[Charlot123]

All I can see is that if it continues, we are on the way to another zoonotic disease, and with mosquitoes in the country being on the rise, it may happen sooner than we think. Most pandemics start as zoonotic illnesses, and just because scrapies is not transmitted to humans today, it doesn't mean that it won't. Mad cow disease used to be bovine-confined for a long time. So was avian flu, or certain type of coronaviruses. I hope that no one swims in that river or uses it for the water supply. To find out the culprit and mainly, stop it is easier than deal with hygienic impact of the practice. Ugh! That in XXI century they don't care about such practices, or practice it, or can't find the culprits is unfathomable.

 

[Rush4087]

As frequently as the dumping is occurring at one location, I20 and the river overpass, why hasn’t a camera been installed?

Hi no greed, my vision is not the best (actually, it’s awful following possibly botched cataract surgery back in March), but when I first read your post I thought it read 120 instead of I20.

Just to clarify: the area being discussed in the New Yorker article is just south of where I-20 crosses the river, right near the Six Flags Over Georgia parking lot. This location is about 3 miles west of the the I-20 / I-285 interchange, and about 9 miles west of downtown Atlanta.

Most Atlantans I think refer to I-285 (which encircles the city) as “The Perimeter” or “The Perimeter Highway”, so the river location being discussed is about 3 miles outside the Perimeter.

Jmo

 

[Rush4087]

Does anybody know if the dumping has continued since 2022 when the New Yorker article was written? Tia