The Lynyrd Skynyrd Crash Site - A Cold and Rainy Day In Gillsburg Mississippi
A visit to Gillsburg Mississippi to the location of the Lynyrd Skynyrd crash in October 1977 .
Transcript
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today's adventure brings us to a very
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rainy wet and moist Southern Mississippi
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to a small town but in October of 1977
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became very notable and will always be
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associated when it's gonna welcome
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everyone Adam the whoo here now I have
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an umbrella
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you have opted to lay ears on the ground
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but to protect the camera that is being
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recorded so yours is right here yeah
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that's fine
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smart because we wanted to get the
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framing you said you should be able to
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see this abandoned gas station behind us
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right and I agree you are a team player
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trying to make it better
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I like that
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good err
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while on tour the plane ran out of gas
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and crashed on the outs just on the
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outskirts of town
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it has about five miles in the outskirts
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of town here we just decided to see what
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is in the city limits before heading out
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kind of to the middle of nowhere to see
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right here behind us this is gonna be
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like first stop a little banning gas
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station that's the cool box of stuff
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check it out inviting you to join me and
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Cody shall you some definite damage has
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taken its toll on us over the years it
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was an Exxon filling station Exxon extra
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say Oh Exxon on let it and the roof seen
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better days there's a little relic in
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there Pepsi machine
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is the door open even though the windows
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are busted out it is all locked up have
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a Pepsi is what it states that's the
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slogan there on the left side it's even
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got the old bottle cap behind it - sure
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does 45 cents it's a pretty good deal
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that is a true antique I'd pay 45 cents
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for Pepsi yeah me too
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local fire department also the voting
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precinct you have some hoses out and a
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little water tower there adjacent
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you look up to the far right corner real
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closely you can actually see where the
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old sign you used to hang it's pretty
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cool seeing these old relics sitting out
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here in the middle of nowhere yeah that
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metal bracket yeah still there coming
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through the foliage no sight of the
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actual sign itself anywhere around on
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the ground however stated written there
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on the side southern tractor of Gil's
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burg wait isn't Gil's burger julesberg
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I've heard both I've heard both
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pronunciations
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I guess it's left up to interpretation
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GI LSBU RG this might lend a clue the
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statue is of ella ella gil GI ll y f--
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of logan phillips and daughter of w a
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gil t v-- Tull says she passed away here
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in 1891 and I would imagine the town is
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her namesake it says she was the founder
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of the Gil's Berg Collegiate Institute
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says Lynyrd Skynyrd monument project fan
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lives here
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that's where we're gonna be headed
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follow about era the arrow shows us it's
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out here it's definitely out here they
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have recently erected this memorial just
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outside the location on October 20th 77
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band were in the early stage of their
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ambitious tour to promote Street
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survivors flying from Greenville South
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Carolina where they had played a show
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the night before heading to Baton Rouge
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Louisiana
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to a scheduled concert that would never
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be
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they did not recognize that they were
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the members of Lynyrd Skynyrd one of the
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rescuers recalls wondering what's a
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bunch of hippies doing on an airplane
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they don't look like they can afford a
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ticket one of the witnesses at the scene
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stated that's Lynyrd Skynyrd's claim but
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don't worry
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I think Leonard made it out okay several
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passengers including the charismatic
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frontman founder Ronnie Vanzant didn't
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make it
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I wouldn't this is on the ground excited
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a plane flying low which is much too low
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over the treetops by the time the plane
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hit the trees what was already spreading
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in the corner
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the moments after the crash has ended
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farmers hunters and other volunteers
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converged on this area hearing blankets
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flashlights and other tools for what
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they reckoned would be a grim urgent
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undertaking
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the best of the band songs never faded
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in the years since it happened the music
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speaks to the life in the American South
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but touches on the universal themes of
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nonconformity freedom love loyalty
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betrayal and loss transcending geography
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to reach fans across time and location
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20 of the 26 passengers survived most
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with serious injuries the last album
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released just three days beforehand
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would eventually reach the highest
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record chart ranking of all their work
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the actual site is just a little bit of
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a ways from here through the woods it is
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walking distance however complete
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private property and they do have some
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cameras up in the trees would not
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recommend wandering back there and more
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than a dozen no trespassing signs but it
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is much that they have built this little
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homage and honor of what happened here
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just a few feet from open to the public
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for all to see those who make the
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pilgrimage
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so up in these trees right here see that
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there's actual cameras and they put them
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up there in the camouflage so it's like
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they don't want us to know they're there
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I mean it's good obviously some people
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will are out here maybe not for the
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right reasons but most likely they do
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not want anyone traversing on the
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private property I get it
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I did a little research beforehand
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trying to designate where the tree where
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years later some of the survivors and
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rescuers went and marked it up returning
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to where it took place and that is off
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that direction quite a ways over this
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chain-link fence and those are the signs
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that are posted down that little dirt
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path and here's yet another another
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camera there are a lot of classic tunes
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that they they produce put out recorded
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sang I think my favorite of of Ayres was
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simple ham it may be one of the best
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rock songs ever written
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hey check it one
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what do you think their most popular
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song was creeper that's true cuz I was
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in a band for a while so were you and
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lot of people just in between in between
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your set will say play some free bird
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using a ton of films documentaries TV
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shows everybody knows to play some free
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bird setting the timer that turned out
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pretty good
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yeah little tripod action there nice and
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at the top of this little stand you can
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make contributions you can also sign the
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guestbook
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they have one in here check it out tell
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us where you're from
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a little waterproof waterproof in the
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guestbook I actually think I'm gonna
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sign this do
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Cody in the Wu or the Wu and Cody it
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flows better Cody and the Wu
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I'm getting really wet shielding here
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with us