Pranksters

        Several people have told me bits and pieces of this story over the past year. No one seems to know the names of the people involved (or they are unwilling to divulge them), but it still makes for interesting reading:

       At the beginning of WWII one of the local Caddo boys became a pilot. He was told to practice his flying skills so he often flew around the area and used a pasture west of the high school as a landing site. Of course he took his friends for rides. One day he and a buddy decided to play a prank on their fellow citizens. They spread the word around town that at a specified time a local fella was going to jump out of the plane with a parachute. Meanwhile,  they had stuffed a set of clothes with hay to create a “dummy”.

A crowd formed to see the young man jump.

The plane flew over and the enterprising pranksters threw the dummy out.

The crowd waited for the parachute to open.

Someone said, “It don’t look like that parachute is going to open.”

This was followed by screaming and hollering from the onlookers.

The dummy hit the ground and everyone rushed to see if he was dead.

Not many in the crowd found the experience humorous. Perhaps that’s why no one wants to give or take credit for the story! I was told that at least one of the young men involved stayed in the military.

Comments

[Houstine]

I sent your blog info to my uncle, Bill Kennedy in Colleyville. He has shared it with a lot of "old" timers from Caddo. They are all really enjoying it and all you good researc articles. Keep up the good work!