Cactus plugging

Cactus plugging

Cactus plugging is the practice of blowing up a cactus for fun. A person will typically cut a saguaro cactus open at one point or two. After it has drained sufficiently to be hollow, the cactus plugger will then take TNT or some other explosive and fill the cactus with it, then light it. Another common variation is simply to shoot holes in the cactus with bullets until it will fall over like a tree.

In one well known incident in 1982, one David Grundman died going cactus plugging after the saguaro fell straight on top of him and fatally impaled his body with its prickles. A song by the Austin Lounge Lizards poked fun at Grundman's death. The cactus seemed to regrow almost twice its size the following year. There was a strange occurrence in that the visible scars of the bullet holes grew back as well. The plant was destroyed in an outburst of flames in the summer of 2001.

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The Grundman accident