[January 28, 2026] The dead. Like so many kids, I had a morbid interest in death and in those things that can kill you. From tales told by my Mom that I had a preference for thrilling experiences, a curiosity for “scary things,” and this meant I wanted a shrunken head for my twelfth birthday. I didn’t want a fake one either, I wanted it to be a real shrunken head. Both my parents were wise enough to tell me “no” and that if I wanted one, I’d have to go get it myself. I didn’t.
I’d been raised on early television and comic books, and watched a number of shows and read comics that involved topics that borderlined on the bizarre. As an interesting side note, I’ve been able to find many of the shows on the Internet for free, watched some, and found them mindless. Shows like Tarzan the Ape Man, The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and many more.
I was fascinated at the time, and got many “good” ideas such as trying to buy a baby monkey from a hobo for a dollar, running around naked outside in the rain trying to get hit by lightening and becoming Electric Man, climbing on the roof and jumped off (no injuries but got an ass whopping), eating all my spinach at dinner and trying to be Popeye the Sailor Man to join the Navy, and dressing up as a scare crow to stand out in our front yard to scare off the birds. Yeah, none of these worked out like I wanted.
Young kids often have the same problem, they are unable to see much into the future to guide their current behavior. Despite having a broken left arm (twice) trying to be Superman, or having my arm nearly crushed in a roller washing machine thinking I was quick as Flash Gordon, or getting 33 stitches in my right foot for being Batman and landing on broken glass, I nevertheless continued on my merry way straight into my next adventure.
Our Mom was busy and my brother Philip was always asking to go see a movie in the next town over; Bastrop. We saw some of the classics like (amazingly still running in theaters at the time): King Kong (1933), Them! (1954), The Mummy (1959), War of the Worlds (1953), The House of Wax (1953), and many others, some of which deserve honorable mentions like I Married a Monster from Outer Space (1953) and The Ape Man (1943). We would see one or two of these per year because, according to my Dad, “It costs too much.”
Except for lizards and hairy tarantulas, I was not into living, dangerous things. Neither was Philip. Of course, we had to use them – alive or dead – to scare our sister Terri, girl cousins, and everyone in our school classes. That was a heap of fun to hear them scream. It would take some considerable effort from our Mom to eventually convince us that such behavior was not such a good idea, we surely thought it was “funny.” Dad threatened me with more ass whoppings, so me being the pragmatist, I throttled back a little.
There were very few enjoyable outlets for young boys growing up in rural areas of the Deep South during the 1950s and 60s, so we were forced to use our imagination for entertainment. One of my personal least favorite times was building a “monster” from our Dad’s clothes by stuffing it with Mom’s extra rags and straw. The body was easy but the face had to be just right and I was good at drawing scary faces, that’s what I did. My time as a budding artist almost came to an end, and to this day I wish I had that scary face or its photograph to show my own children.
I’d set up the “monster” in the corner of our bedroom one night before bedtime and waited. It seemed like an hour – more like five minutes – when my sister Terri came walking in, looking for me. I let out the loudest and scariest roars that I could muster, not having practiced much, my voice didn’t work like I wanted. Wow, I sure got another quality whopping that time. Needless to say, I didn’t repeat that stunt. And after all the work I put into trying to scare my sister, it was a bust. Then I cleaned up the room.
Psychologists today will say this phenomenon is known as “sensation-seeking,” which involves “a preference for exciting or thrilling experiences where kids learn about dangerous or thrilling things.” And that might just be true. But I think there is a simpler answer. My brother and I were just looking for something beyond being bored. Oh sure, we went hunting and fishing and camping and were involved in other outdoor efforts, but nothing compared to getting a shrunken head, watching a scary movie, frightening girls and teachers, or even jumping off a roof top (or a bridge).
We were just ordinary kids and we survived the 1950s and 60s mostly intact. We were part of the baby boomer generation that grew up with little attention from adults, and that pushed us to use our own imaginations which sometimes didn’t work out well. For the most part, we survived those days with a better understanding of how people work at the psychological level. And when we didn’t, we just scared them.
That shrunken head that I wanted for my birthday, never worked out. Granddaddy Smith had one, and he was a cool guy, and maybe that’s another reason I wanted one. Yet, by the time I was a teenager in high school, there were more interesting subjects for a young boy’s attraction: girls.
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Please read my books:
I guess that I’m not at all shocked that Gen. Satterfield – as a little boy – would like a shrunken head (a real one, at that). Just look at his accomplishments in the US Army. And us men can fully understand why he would want it. Although I don’t believe he thought it through. He wanted to be the “cool” guy in school. He wanted everyone to think he was the kind of interesting person to hang out with. In other words, he wanted to be something that he was not. His parents were smart enough to figure this out and tell him “no.” We all need to have boundaries set for us by our parents – both parents. This makes us better people in the long run, even if we think our parents are “unfair.”
Gotta laugh at the Popeye the Sailor Man reference.
Sounds like me growing up in Chicago. I tactfully wanted a machine gun to help overcome the problems of gangs on the south side. I was a little kid and at the forefront of wanting to overcome the criminal element in my home town. Everyone laughed at me. Once I returned from the Navy, I joined the police force Chicago PD, and actually was part of their SWAT teams for a while and carried an M16 rifle that had a fully automatic setting. I never had to use it, but I finally had achieved my childhood dreams.
I wanted a stuffed dog. My parents thought I was crazy.
Unwoke Dude, you were crazy …… ha ha ha. But as kids that is what we do. We push on all the social boundaries to see where they are, and it shows us also what will happen when those boundaries are violated. This is part of being a kid. Normal. Even if you, sir, wanted a shrunken head for your birthday, we all at one time or another wanted something impossible. Cheers.
Happy Birthday, whenever it is. 🎂
What are little boys made of?
Snips, snails
And puppy-dogs’ tails
You never disappoint, Gen. Satterfield.
Yeah, this is hilarious. Just imagine being a little boy who will eventually grow into something that is strong and brave, and respected as a US General Officer, and as a kid, he wants a shrunken head as a birthday gift. I’m not surprised that his parents stepped in to put that to an end. Looks like he has great parents. Good for Gen. Satterfield, the little boy from rural Louisiana.
There is nothing more likely to get something of great interest or to do something extremely dumb than a young boy in those years. There was no Internet, no iPhones, no telephones you were allowed to use, TV but only if dad or mom approved, and almost no money to spend. That meant fishing, hunting, camping, walking around town, etc. Use your imagination or else. That is why, IMHO, that so many of the Baby Boomers are so resilient, and why the newest young adult generation who has all sorts of stuff are so weak, effete, sad, and mentally retarded. Get raised in a deprived environment and get strong. Get raised in riches and get weak.
I don’t know why but, sir, you seemed to have wanted the “coolest” stuff when you were a kid.
Yeah, thinking the same thing. He was always pushing boundaries. 👍
Some comic relief. Gen. Satterfield is da man. He always seemed to have something wild going on, exploring the back roads where abandoned towns were and had crazy people there (see his letters to his granddaughter), or jumping off a bridge (actually his friend did it), and going hunting with his hounddog. These are the adventures of a real kid, not some wimpy one like we see today who had a meltdown in a town grocery store.
Erleldech, yes!! And, this is the kind of good entertainment we all love.