The Black Boar Of Doom

Many of the folks who settled the South were of Irish and Scots-Irish ancestry. Among the Celtic folk of western Britain, there was a long-held belief that the devil sometimes took the form of a black hog. Perhaps that in part explains the reports among certain Confederate regiments in the western theater of the war.
During the early days of the war, some Rebel Troops of southeastern Missouri had the notion that their unit was haunted by a Black Boar of Doom. These tough cavalrymen claimed that every time one of their number saw the Black Boar just befor a battle, it presaged his death in action, The Boar was monstrous-looking beast--big, black as night, and with eyes like two burning coals. An encounter with this spectral beast was indeed a terrifing event. No man who saw it,they said ever lived more than seven days.
One cavalryman of the regiment was undaunted,however, He did not beleive in ghosts and scoffed at the supperstions of fellow troopers. Right befor a major battle, the soldier saw the Black Boar, He was still undaunted;a hog is a hog, he said, no matter how unusual it seems. A skeptic by nature, nothing could persuade him it was anything other than an overgrown razorback.
Soon after he saw the beast, his unit was engaged in a big battle, Casualties were high. But this skeptic came through it all unscathed. He went about camp bragging that he'd seen the Boar and survived and goading his messmates for being so gullible.
The next evening the tropper and his messmates were inspecting some of the booty they had liberated from the Yankees. One of there number was inspecting a newfangled Yankee revolver, It was one of the new, double-action guns with a self-cocking mechanism. Not familiar with its operation, the Johnny Reb inspecting it acidentally discharged the gun. The bullet made a beeline for the sceptic's skull, plowing through the troopers brain and killing him instantly. The Black Boar had claimed yet another victim.

[ami]

cool story!