Revenge of the Gobblers

The Ohio town of Rocky Ridge has been having problems getting its mail delivered -- rain, sleet and dead of night may get the brush-off, but the swift completion of the couriers' appointed rounds has indeed been stayed -- by wild turkeys.

Seems a group of the birds -- which is called a "rafter" according to the story -- have been flocking around the town in large numbers and attacking mail carriers when they attempt to make deliveries. Rocky Ridge city ordinances don't allow for anyone to open fire and turn the turkeys into drumsticks, so they're stuck until they can convince the birds to move on. The first tactic has been to ask Rocky Ridge residents to stop leaving birdseed out for the turkeys to eat.

There seems to be no apparent reason for the turkeys to have gathered at the small Cleveland suburb, although one mail carrier did record a strangely repeating pattern in their gobbling. When played in front of a group of telegraphy hobbyists, the pattern proved to be a message in Morse code: "Deliver Carlson, and no one else has to get pecked." This message was dismissed, as the only person named "Carlson" who has history with turkeys was a resident of Cincinnati, not Cleveland.

But the dismissal seems premature. Although turkeys' flying ability is sometimes overestimated, it is well-known that they cannot read road maps.