**The Chickcharney**
- A Bahamian Mythical Creature

...a thread
The Bahamas, perhaps like every other country in the world, is home to many fables, myths and legends.

After all, an aspect of Bahamian culture that was very widespread is storytelling. Years gone by, many straw weavers stayed awake all night through the art of storytelling.
Though storytelling has died down in modern years, many myths, legends and creatures/characters from these stories still live on today.

The creature Anansi, the wise shape-shifting spider & trickster, was inherited from the West Africans brought to these islands...
...via the trans-Atlantic slave trade and is shared with residents of other countries in the region.

One indigenous, I suppose you can say, Bahamian mythical creature, is the chickcharnie (also spelled chickcharney), found on the country's largest island, Andros.
The chickcharnie is a humanoid bird-like creature.

It stands upright at ~3 feet tall and is unable to fly, despite its bird-like appearance. Most stories say that it has a large head & eyes with very long claws, & curved beak & long tail. Its head can rotate almost 360°.
Andros is home to the largest area of swamp and pine forests.

It is in the expansive pine forests where the chickcharney lives. At the top of the tall pine trees, the mythical creature makes its nest and is said to tie trees together to make the nest for itself.
It's long tail and claws are used to help it climb up the very tall trees and it's reported that many claim to see the trees tied together indicating that the chickcharney makes its home there.

Apart from its bird-like appearance, the creature can also be likened to an elf.
The chickcharnie is a magical creature and can be a bearer of good fortune.

If one encounters a chickcharnie, it is said that they are rewarded with a life of good fortune if they treat the creature well. Those who do not, are punished with a life of misfortune.
One person said to have encountered it was Billy Bowleg.

A descendent of the black Seminoles who escaped Florida and fleed to The Bahamas to avoid slavery, Billy encountered a chickcharnie in the Androsian forests. For his kindness shown, he was rewarded with healing abilities.
Naughty children are often chided for their poor behaviour and threatened with taunts of the chickcharney teaching them a lesson in good behaviour.

Those who laugh at the elfish bird-like creature's unusual appearance have their heads completely spun around as punishment.
The former prime minister of the United Kingdom, Neville Chamberlain is said to have been punished for his mistreatment of the creature.

The Chamberlain family owned a sisal plantation on the island of Andros as many Bahamian islands sought to grow sisal for economic gain.
When Neville was put in charge of the plantation, he cleared down a lot of land to grow more of the plant; land where the creature lived.

Moreover, Chamberlain reportedly laughed at stories told to him by the settlers of the island, be they African or European.
The Chamberlain family plantation became a failure.

For 6 years, the plant never grew well for the family on Andros despite other islands in The Bahamas being able to cultivate the plant and by 1897, it cost the family £50,000 which would be equivalent to £6,541,628.51 today.
Many believe that for both destroying the chickcharnies' home and laughing at the stories about it, Neville, and by extension the entire Chamberlain family, were cursed & that's why their plantation was a failure.

Though a myth, some claim that they see it even in modern times.
It's believed that the chickcharney is based on a creature believed to be extinct; the Andros barn owl.

The owl was roughly the same height as the chickcharney, shared many physical features, could not fly much like the chickcharney & also rotate its head like the chickcharnie.
The Andros barn owl is believed to have gone extinct after European colonisation of The Bahamas.

With the island being so large and much of never unexplored in large detail, the bird may still exist today & that may be the reason for chickcharney sightings in modern times.
...or, the owl may truly be extinct, but the chickcharnie waits in the forests for unsuspecting creatures to be either its next victim or its next recipient of good fortune.
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