The Goat Head of Strumpshaw

"Norwich Evening News," February 3, 1970, via Newspapers.comIf you’re at all familiar with my Twitter/X or Facebook feeds, you know that I periodically share old newspaper reports about the seemingly endless varieties of mayhem carried out by goats. (Why do I do this? It’s just how I roll, I guess.) So, you can imagine how delighted I was to learn of the following story, which just may be the peak World of Goats tale ever.For about two hundred years, a pub called The Goat Inn stood in the Norfolk, England, village of Strumpshaw. (It is now known as “The Huntsman.”) It was an ordinary little British pub until an unwise purchase gained the place a certain eternal fame among those of us who like our locally-brewed ale and cider with The Weird for a chaser.One day in 1908, the wife of The Goat’s landlord, a Mrs. Newton, took a fancy to the large, handsome white goat belonging to a traveling peddler, and bought it for a half-crown. She then showed her esteem for the animal by having it…