Sesame Street’s Mr. Snuffleupagus Called This Cape Cod Town Home

Today is the birthday of Sesame Street's beloved Aloysius Snuffleupagus, and you may not know that Snuffy – or rather, the man who first performed the role – called the Cape Cod town of Truro home.

Sesame Street posted a "Happy Birthday" message to Snuffy today and other related videos on its Facebook page.

In case you're wondering how old he is, well, he's always four and a half years old.

Snuffy made his debut on November 15, 1971, and the original version of the character was pure nightmare fuel when you look back at it.

During his early years on Sesame Street, the man behind (and inside) Snuffy was Muppets performer Jerry Nelson, who also played Count von Count, Herry Monster, The Amazing Mumford, Robin the Frog, Sherlock Hemlock and many other characters on that show as well as all Jim Henson productions.

In those days, only Big Bird ever saw him or interacted with him, which led everyone else living on Sesame Street to think that Mr. Snuffleupagus was nothing more than Big Bird's imaginary friend.

However, following the release of the 1985 film Follow That Bird, it got to the point where eventually everyone on Sesame Street could see Snuffy.

Nelson had to retire from playing Snuffy in 1978 due to a combination of back issues (that had to be one heavy costume to wear) and his commitment to The Muppet Show, and multiple other Muppet performers have the role since.

Nelson eventually retired to Truro, where he lived even in his later days with the Muppets, and in 2009 released an album (featuring some fellow Muppet performers) called Truro Dreams.

Nelson died at his Cape Cod home on August 23, 2012, at the age of 78 – just five days after Snuffy's birthday.

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