On a warm, humid April afternoon, a group of killers escaped into the rural Mississippi countryside. Trained government trackers saw it when it happened. So did trained spotters. All were powerless to stop them.
If you experienced their wrath, it was seconds of roaring rage and violence — only to quickly be replaced by silence and the strong smell of broken pines. This happened over and over as the killers churned their way through Mississippi.
One killer escaped in the area of northern Rankin/ Southern Leake counties. He traveled northeast, taking his out his wrath on an area near the Edinburgh and Madden communities. Trees and chicken houses all were destroyed at the flick of his finger. But not satisfied with wiping out just trees, he set his sights on the city of Philadelphia. Law enforcement saw him coming. His brutality was caught his on camera. The warning was sounded. But no one could stop him. Bricks and dreams littered the wet red clay.
After leaving parts of Philadelphia in ruin, he headed to Kemper County. There he drew first blood. By the time he and his fellow killers left Mississippi, dozens were dead and millions of dollars of property was destroyed. The hardest hit was the community of Smithville.
Then another killer got loose near Newton, crossed the border and headed into Alabama. By rush hour, he had made it to the college town of Tuscaloosa. People around the world saw live as he cut a grisly gash through the heart of the home of The University of Alabama. And once again, law enforcement could do nothing but watch (or run for their lives) as he murdered his way up 15th Street. By the time he had left the city limits, a bloody scar of twisted metal, people and dreams cut through Tuscaloosa.
Many criminals take the interstate after a crime so they make a quick getaway. This killer was no different. He paralleled I-20/59 all the way to Alabama’s largest city: Birmingham. Authorities there were helpless as this mass murderer approached their city. He was caught on camera and was once again tracked. People hid. Sirens wailed. But people knew from the destruction they had seen on their TVs that they could not hide from his temper. Debris from Tuscaloosa, over 50 miles away, fell from the sky like rain.
The killer never was caught. He continued his killing spree all across Alabama and into Georgia. South of Rome, Georgia was hit. As was the community of Pine Log and near Waleska. More people died. He eventually disappeared off of the radar in the North Carolina/South Carolina border area. Man nor mountains could stop him. He finally tired of his rampage and vanished.
Three hundred miles of pain, death, destruction and broken dreams. Gray-templed weathermen scratched their heads in disbelief. Long-time emergency management officers said they’d never seen anything like it. “Worse than 1974,” they said. His historic and brutal rampage will forever be in the record books
While man watched helpless in the face of nature’s killer, man’s response the next day was far from helpless. The eerie silence was replaced with sirens. And the sounds of rescue. Volunteers poured in. Aid followed soon behind. Neighbor helped neighbor and people stopped what they were doing to help rebuild. After total destruction came total construction.
The world watched the South suffer yesterday. Today it’ll watch the South come together.
Man could not stop the killer. And the killer couldn’t stop man. Even the killer is not that powerful.
