The quiet darkening woods in Amite County were suddenly startled by a close, strange, and loud sound, like a screen door slamming against the trees. There was no house nearby. Jamie Stewart had finished squirrel hunting when in the woods he heard the unmistakable noise, something unnatural and unexplainable. He hurried into a clearing to meet his father who said he had not heard a thing.
Jamie could not shake his curiosity and suspicion of the unidentified deep metallic rumble in the swamp of the Tickfaw basin. Eager to investigate, he and his father drove their old Datsun pickup truck through the dirt backroads, a maze of turns known only to locals, zigzagging around ancient sloughs and the winding path of Easley Creek. Sounds carry and their originating directions can deceive the ear. But Jamie knew his native woods, and windows down, they trekked to the approximate location of the mysterious sound. Once there, they turned off the truck to the silence of the night. But moments later, people could be heard talking in a patch of dense woods.
Jamie exited the truck, and after walking a few yards in the direction of moving flashlights, he stumbled upon an airplane crash site, with people everywhere. Some were injured. Others were deceased. A few locals were already helping with first aid. No ambulances had arrived. The closest ones were in McComb, 30 minutes away, if they could locate the scene and cross the creek from their side. The plane was ripped apart, but there was a small opening toward the cockpit. Jamie’s father instructed him to climb in and see if anyone needed help. He did so and saw two pilots, both not moving or breathing. A cousin showed up with a tractor and chain to pull apart the wreckage and access any potential survivors trapped in what was left of the cabin. A helicopter appeared and hovered above with a blinding light shining below to help first responders as they arrived. The bright light from above exposed small pines which had been sheared by the distressed aircraft and mature trees near the creek which had abruptly stopped the momentum of the plane’s downward spiral and likely caused the catastrophic debris field. More medical personnel and law enforcement appeared, and they all labored under difficult terrain to treat and transport wounded to various vehicles waiting to drive to local hospitals.
After the plane’s passengers were taken away, Jamie and his father slowly drove home in silence, praying for the families of the dead and injured. It was late when they got home, but the phone rang. Jamie’s sister had heard on the radio that the famous rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd had crashed near Gillsburg, Mississippi. Jamie could not believe his ears while his dad, not a rock music fan, shouted out, “Who are they?!” Surprise and horror flooded Jamie’s mind. The Florida born musical group and entourage literally fell from the sky next to his family homeplace.
Shocked and saddened, Jamie retreated to his bedroom and walked over to his record collection to find his recent vinyl record purchase, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s critically acclaimed 1974 album titled Second Helping, with hit songs like “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Don’t Ask Me No Questions.” In that quiet moment, he was all alone again, like hours before in the woods. Not sure what to do or how to think, he broke the silence and repeatedly played his new record long into the night.
October 20, 1977, is a night Jamie Stewart will never forget. When he hears the whippoorwills at night calling to one another in his southwest Mississippi forest, he imagines those who tragically left this world on a warm fall evening. They are free as a bird now, and he will always remember them.
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Clark Hicks is a lawyer who lives in Hattiesburg. His email is clark@hicksattorneys.com.
