Thursday, January 15, 2009

Scissors Meets Thunderhoof

Razorback Ridge, MS> Scissors was the grandest most impressive hog to ever grace the State of Mississippi and was raised in Charleston, MS by Colonel Tom James. I have written before that he was the champion hog in the U.S. for several years. I wrote about how wild hogs came to Mississippi after the giant hogs' miraculous escape from a band of German hognappers near the famous Christmas Place in Holmes County, MS.
I did not mention the meeting in the forest of two great legends; Scissors and Thunderhoof.
When Scissors escaped from the kidnappers, the edge of the bluffs became it's stomping ground. Every animal was terrified of the hog and left whenever it showed up. They did not know that the gigantic animal was as gentle as a lamb and that the family of Col. Tom James used to ride around on it's back.
Scissors, on the hoof, was around 1800 lbs. and so is Thunderhoof. When the great buck learned of a strange animal in his woods, he immediately went to confront the animal and find out what kind of danger it posed to the wildlife there.
They met in a grove of Sweet gum trees that is now known as the North Cornfield if you ever get a chance to visit there.
Thunderhoof eased into the grove and eyed the huge hog. He had seen nothing like it before and I can assure you that Scissors had never seen the like of the gigantic deer before. The hog let out a wild and terrifying grunt. Thunderhoof pawed the ground and broke off a couple of cedar trees with his antlers. The deers' back was arched to charge as the giant hog approached him. They smelled each other and the fight began.
To this day, the grove is now a large field and the woods are strewn with debris from the famous fight. There are even several old cars torn to shreds up in the woods there. It took only moments to realize that Scissors was really a scared, gentle animal and he playfully sparred with the gigantic hog for sport. Thunderhoof loved the fight, it was the first exercise like it he had had in over 50 years and Scissors, the giant hog, did well. After the hog was completely exhausted, Thunderhoof laughed and the fight was over. A great friendship was started then .

After the tussle, they became fast friends and Thunderhoof showed him the country.
Over the years, Thunderhoof was spotted near Charleston, MS many times as he went to visit his friend and when the steam train came through the area on the way to Jackson for the fair, it always stopped for a day to let Scissors off to stretch it's legs. Thunderhoof always met the train and they spent the day wandering the woods of the famous Christmas Place. Some hog obsessed people say that the giant hog known as Scissors still wanders those woods today. We do know that his offspring sure do. Here is a pic of the Colonels children unloading Scissors at the station there.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Another classic, Rex! Nicely done!