Faith, Death and Hell in Rural Alabama
By J. B.
7 October 2008
WC Rice knew the day and hour he was saved: the 24th day of April, 1960, at 2 A.M. He suffered from ulcers, and he was delivered from his pain through faith. He spent his remaining years decorating his property on Hwy 86 in Autauga County, Alabama, where he placed rusting testaments to a wrathful God among the kudzu and red clay around his unassuming one-story house.
It is probably easy to pass off WC Rice's Cross Garden as another roadside attraction. He collected cast-off trash, signs, cars and appliances to spread his warning: Hell is Hot Hot Hot. There is no Thermostat in Hell. Sex is Sin. Read Revelations. Read Matthew. You will die. The world is coming to an end. God's justice is at hand.
WC Rice had a faith in the hereafter and the peace that awaited him. It compelled him to spread the word with the zeal of a prophet. He died in 2004, 43 years after he made peace with the Lord.
His family tends his cross garden to the present day.
1 Response
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On 8 October 2008 David Rocaberti said:
Surely, one of the weirdest places I heard of
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