Everything You Ever Wanted
(and didn't want) To Know About Groundhogs
02/02/02 may be a unique and special day on the calendar this
year, but for a little critter in northwestern Pennsylvania it's
just another day at the burrows; just another year -- another
prediction.
2002 is the 116th year Punxsutawney Phil will give
his annual long term
weather forecast. Phil began this yearly ritual in 1887 and as legend
has it, if he sees his shadow there will be six more weeks of winter. If he doesn't,
spring is just around the corner.
Ninety-one times Phil has seen his shadow, 14 times he has not.
There is no record on nine occasions, and in 1943 he didn't make an
appearance. (Legend has it he was serving as mascot of the 5th Marines in
France.) So, if these results are statistically meaningful, don't put
that show shovel away just yet. The odds favor more cold and snow.
Phil likes to sleep in a little in his enclave on Gobbler's Knob
keeping the thousands who gather in Punxsutawney each year to party with the world
renowned celebrity, waiting in the morning cold. If and when he does sees his shadow, it is usually between 7:20 and 9:AM. The
earliest was shortly after 7AM. One year Phil was hung over from the
previous night's festivities and didn't see his shadow until 4:25PM.
That is the latest time Phil made his prognostication.
Phil dates back long before the first white settlers
headed into western Pennsylvania in an area halfway between the Allegheny and
Susquehanna rivers that the Shawnee or Delaware Indians occupied. Phil is a part of popular traditions that traverses many centuries
and cultures when myths and legends of astrological signs and physical
events, such as animals popping out of their winter dens, did influence
our lives.
Phil, who at the time worked
part-time with local beavers on flood control projects, got his job in 1886 as a result of a tiny paragraph in The
Punxsutawney Sprit, the local newspaper. "Today is groundhog day
and up to the time of going to press the beast had not seen his shadow."
Where editor, Clymer H. Freas, got the urge to put the blurb in the paper is
not known. However, the legendary first trek to Phil's home on Gobbler's Knob
was made the following year. Thus began what has been called
"one of the greatest ongoing publicity campaigns in history",
and a merchandising bonanza for local entrepreneurs.
Phil's new job no doubt help to propagate his family tree and spread
his relatives throughout northwestern Pennsylvania. Prior to 1887 Groundhogs
were more likely to be shot, skinned and eaten than revered for their
weather forecasting abilities.
No longer a part of the food chain, they have risen to lofty heights
and are now honored as "The Seer of Seers, Sage of Sages,
Prognosticator of Prognosticators, and Weather Prophet Extraordinary."
And, he even became a movie star in the 1992 Colombia Pictures film,
Groundhog Day, staring Bill Murray. Sadly though, Phil didn't get to
have his home on Gobbler's Knob immortalized on film, as the
movie was actually shot in Woodstock, Illinois.
It should be noted that Phil holds no
ill feelings about that. After all, "that's show business."
You can learn everything you ever wanted to know about groundhogs and
Groundhog Day for 02/02/02 at the official Groundhog Day web site, www.groundhog.org.
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