tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1877722433362186484.post6090878072526790415..comments2024-03-25T10:30:09.319-07:00Comments on Film Thoughts: Halloween 2015: September 27Bonehead XLhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04545161927886923285noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1877722433362186484.post-3838494085757609742015-09-29T20:44:36.112-07:002015-09-29T20:44:36.112-07:00As a youngster not more than 7 years old, I had to...As a youngster not more than 7 years old, I had to regularly help my Grandpa butcher pigs. <br /><br />After shooting the pig between the eyes, he would slice behind the pig's Achilles tendons, hook it through the hind legs and drag it by chain with a truck to a large tripod. The pig was then raised high up the tripod with a block and tackle until it hung upside down by its hind legs. The pig would then be repeatedly raised and lowered into a 55 gallon drum of scalding water. This made the course hair of the pig easy to scrape off.<br /><br />Once that was done, my Grandpa would take a large knife and cut completely around the pig's neck, draining it of blood, cutting deep enough so that only the neck bones were keeping the head intact with the body. When this was completed, my job began.<br /><br />I would grab the pig by the ears and walk in a circle, twisting the head until I felt its neck bones 'pop'. I would then roll a wheelbarrow under the pig and pull downward on the ears. The head of the pig would fall into the wheelbarrow. Then the pig would be split open and in half with knife, saw, hammer and chisel, and the innards pulled out and plopped into the wheelbarrow.<br /><br />I would then roll the wheelbarrow away from the butchering site to a nearby swamp, where I would dump the head and guts, leaving them to rot away or be chewed on or pecked at by some wild animal.<br /><br />I recall my biggest fear was not of the actually killing or butchering of the pig, you get used to that, even as a kid. No...my biggest fear was that I might allow the wheelbarrow to tip over and spill its contents before I reached the swamp. When this happened, I would have to pick up the pig waste and put it back into the wheelbarrow, making sure that I got it to the swamp.<br /><br />For some reason the horror of "Motel Hell" and Farmer Vincent never bothered me. I'm not sure why.whitsbrainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18171082058163775614noreply@blogger.com