The Texas State Fair will never be the same.
In a spectacle that could have come right out of the 1973 cult classic movie, "The Wicker Man," a 52-foot talking cowboy statue that for 60 years has welcomed visitors with a hearty "Howdy Folks," went up in flames today shortly after 10 AM, as reported by The Dallas Morning News.
Only Big Tex's hands, 50-pound belt buckle and metal skeleton were left after the flames were extinguished, USA Today reported.
The man who gave Big Tex his voice for the past ten years, Bill Bragg, told the News that he was reading from his script when he saw Big Tex go up in flames. "He went down talking," Bragg reportedly said with tears in his eyes.
A Dallas Fire-Rescue dispatcher alerted the fire department with a radio report, "Got a rather tall cowboy with all his clothes burned off," according to the News. WFAA-TV said the structure was originally created as Santa Claus and was bought by the State Fair for $750.
An electrical short circuit in the wiring that enabled Big Tex to move his mouth while he was talking sparked the blaze, according to a vice president for marketing for the fair, as reported by the News, although this has not been confirmed.
"Big Tex is a symbol of everything the state fair stands for," fair spokeswoman Sue Gooding said, as reported by the Associated Press. "Big Tex is where my parents told me, 'If you get lost, meet at Big Tex.'"
In the movie, "The Wicker Man," (remade with Nicolas Cage in 2006), a pagan community living off the coast of Scotland sets a giant wicker statute of a man on fire as part of a May Day festival each year, filled with human and animal sacrifices to ensure a good crop season.
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