The Legend of the Saguaro Cactus
By jag61082 | January 12, 2011
Sometimes people are stupid. Most of the time humans can walk away from their foolish actions, but sometimes they can’t. This is as true today as it was in 1982, when the urban legend about the saguaro cactus revenge came about.
In 1982, David Grundman and James Joseph Suchochi were decidedly bored, so they packed up their guns and took off into the desert. They wound up two miles north of Arizona 74 near Lake Pleasant, which is a beautiful area with nothing but desert, blue skies and the wonders of the great outdoors. Sometimes roadrunners and birds will be in abundance.
According to Snopes, the men were inspired to target practice on saguaro cacti that grow in the desert. No one is sure if it was just a dumb idea or if they wanted to shoot something that looked like the outline of a man. Regardless of the reason, the men shot several of the federally protected endangered plants.
Grundman shot a small cactus in the trunk enough times that it fell to the ground. He bragged about how easy it was to take down. He never imagined saguaro cactus revenge was just around the corner.
His next victim was a 26 foot tall monster sized saguaro that was estimated to be 100 years old. After shooting the cactus arms several times, one of them severed and fell on Grundman. The saguaro cactus revenge was complete, as the severed arm killed the man by crushing him.
The Austin-based band the Austin Lounge Lizards wrote a song about the events that took place that fateful day. The name of the song is Saguaro.
Read more on the Austin Post about urban legends.
Read the Snopes report here.
This photo is courtesy of Dope Posters.
