Heres a cute story about Punxsutawney Phil, PA's most famous Groundhog from the National Geographic
website:
A member of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club hoists Punxsutawney Phil on Groundhog Day 2005.
Photograph by Jay Dickman, National Geographic Stock
"Groundhog Day is a lot like a rock concert but the people are better behaved and there's a groundhog involved," said Tom Chapin, editor of the Punxsutawney Spirit newspaper.
"There's music and entertainment, spoofs of game shows, and people shooting t-shirts and Beanie Babies" into the crowd, he said.
Tradition has it that if Punxsutawney Phil emerges from his temporary burrow—a simulated tree stump at the rural site of Gobbler's Knob—on February 2 and sees his shadow, winter weather will continue for six more weeks across the United States. But if Phil doesn't see his shadow, then spring temperatures are just around the corner.
Regardless of the weather prediction, on Groundhog Day, Phil "speaks" to his human caretakers, known as the Inner Circle, in Groundhogese and tells them his forecast. The Inner Circle then translates Phil's words for the world to hear—or so they say.
Whatever he says on February 2, "immortal" Punxsutawney Phil—supposedly born no later than the 19th century—will get his 2010 message out in some decidedly 21st-century ways, by texting his forecast for the first time and, of course, updating his Facebook status.
In 1887 a group of groundhog hunters from Punxsutawney dubbed themselves the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club and declared their furry oracle, Punxsutawney Phil, the one and only "official" weather-prognosticating groundhog. The Punxsutawney ceremony originated around the same time.
More than a hundred years later, Punxsutawney Phil remains the star of Groundhog Day, though rivals such as
Staten Island Chuck and
Gen. Beauregard Lee maintain regional fame.
According to Punxsutawney folklore, Phil owes his 123-year-plus lifespan to an "elixir of life," served every summer at the annual Groundhog Picnic, of which there are curiously no photographs.
Despite the Inner Circle's claims, such longevity would make Punxsutawney Phil a statistical anomaly, to say the least—groundhogs in captivity typically live no longer than about ten years, which suggests Phil's name, passed down like "Lassie," may be the only immortal thing about him. Then again, Phil, weighing in at 20 pounds (9 kilograms) versus the usual 13 (6 kilograms), is anything but ordinary.
When he's not predicting the weather, Punxsutawney Phil makes his home at the Groundhog Zoo, an annex of the town library.
