grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

Land Johnson, Louisiana State Fair-1953

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throwback thursday #TBT
Paul Land Johnson
Birth: August 7, 1914 (Mississippi)
Death: June 15, 1978 (Louisiana)
This is a picture of my Great-Uncle Land Johnson taken at the Louisiana State Fair in 1953. Didn’t he look like a movie star? 
There are two things I know about Johnson men (seven original Johnson brothers and many, many more now)…
1. They ALL (had) have smoldering good looks. 
2. They (were) are all natural born story-tellers.
The most incredible story about Uncle Land involved his ‘argument’ with an alligator. Although the yarn has grown through the years as most great tales do, I can only relay the story as I’ve heard it from Uncle Bud (Land’s son), another handsome Johnson yarn spinner…

As Uncle Land and his friend Emil spent a peaceful afternoon trotline fishing on the Mississippi River, a curious alligator swam up to their aluminum boat. The unusually clear water allowed the men a perfect view of this monster. 

What to do? 

Instead of hightailing it to shore or trolling in water not infested with predators, they poked him between the eyes with an oar… The beast went berserk. He bumped and rocked and pitched the boat, nearly dumping them into the river.

Being prepared farmer-hunters, the men had firearms on board. Uncle Land shot the alligator with his 12 gauge, making him even more crazed. His second shot, fired with a 22 rifle, killed the thing.  

For days, Uncle Land hauled the alligator around town in the bed of his truck proudly showing off his 8+ foot trophy. Eventually he skinned, cleaned and cooked it but didn’t much like the taste. His son, Bud, took the alligator head to school which no doubt impressed all the girls.

I left out the part alleging Uncle Land death-rolled the alligator underwater like Tarzan, King of the Apes. Whether or not that happened is up for discussion among the cousins. One thing’s for sure—we all agree Uncle Land didn’t let the big one get away.

Land Johnson with his alligator…
talya

Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

“Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second.” 
― Marc Riboud

Musical Pairing:

Hank Williams, I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive
(#1 hit song, January 1953)

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Comments

  7. Dorothy Johnson says

    Great story! Your uncle was a cutie, too. I married into a Johnson tribe that produced its share of handsome, yarn-spinning men. Terry’s dad’s nickname when he was growing up was Pistol Johnson. He loved to tell WWII stories. Best of all, he loved me and made no secret of it. I miss him. But his son is a chip off the block in many ways. I’m blessed to have been taken in by this group.

    Reply

  8. Joy says

    Talya, I enjoyed this SO much. I loves me a handsome, story-tellin’ man. 😉 Hank Williams was the perfect accompaniment to this wonderful Southern family legend.

    Love, Joy
    Yesterfood

    Reply

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