Knob Creek - Disturbing Content - A young collector's nightmare.
Don't read this if a discussion of animal cruelty will upset you.
Recently I was IDing fish here on iNaturalist and ran across a reference to Knob Creek in Kentucky. I was suddenly transported to a time 45 years ago when as a young fish collector I visited that little creek. I was alone, as I often was when collecting. I don't remember the exact location but it wasn't a long walk from the road when I walked out of the woods to the most horrific sight. I won't graphically describe it, but there in the creek someone had disposed of their excess dogs and cats in an act of sadism that defies my ability to comprehend. There were probably twenty animals, some lying in the creek. I felt as though dropped into a horror movie, but the was no shrieking strings, just the sound of the creek, that gurgled like a drowning man.. Though the scene was at least a couple of days old and the perpetrators would be long gone, I became fearful. I left.
I didn't report it. I don't even know how seriously the police would have taken me back then. There was no talk of animal rights, though I know there were cruelty laws. Today, I think it would be different. People would be horrified, as they should be. For that I am grateful. I grew up in a crueler world than exists today. This memory has re-haunted me many times over the years. I have thought about going back to Knob Creek to confront those ghosts, but so far, have not had the courage.
