About Baawhapsum

Baawhapsum: Baa whap sum 

What is Baawhapsum: Baawhapsum is the sound you hear when the rake handle hits your face when you step on it.

The legend of the rake: In 1976, a small boy and his brother were playing around the farm where they lived. The farm was very old. The blue cinder block buildings consisted of a chicken coop, corncrib, a repair shop and a tool shed. There were many derelict pieces of farm equipment, such as, discs, harrows, hay rakes, broken down tractors and many pieces of non-descript parts to farm equipment whose usefulness and what they actually did in the old days was lost to history. Piles of scrap metal, broken glass and a few old pick-up trucks, old cars and old motorcycles were included in this junk yard. 

Boys. The brothers were doing what boys do, well at least boys from that era. They played soldier using sticks for guns. They built forts and cabins out of junk laying around.  They played in the stream among the briars and mosquitos. When they were available the boys obtained starter fluid cans from their Dad’s shop. The cans of starter fluid made fun flamethrowers to incinerate the water spiders in the stream. This was the fun. There were no video games. The TV had three channels and was black and white. Besides, you could not stay in the house anyway. Why stay in the house when there was so much dangerous stuff to impale yourself on, get cut by, burned by and break a few bones? Getting stitches and stepping on nails was a compulsory activity. Staying in the house was actually more dangerous. 

It was on one of those magnificent days of yesteryear the older brother was running around the chicken coop while playing soldier and unseen to him was a rake, lying in wait. This rake had been there for some time as it was unknown to the adults. The brother stepped on the end of the rake and the handle came flying up and hit him in the face. The younger brother satisfied he got his kill, laughed at the comedy of the pain inflicted. What was that? The younger brother asked. The older brother said; “All I know is I heard a sound”. “What was the sound?” the younger brother asked, Baawhapsum…. 

Now you know where Baawhapsum came from. However, what happened to the rake?