Walking Tall in Corinth.
It was called the Shamrock, but there was nothing lucky in it for the suckers who visited this Corinth area motel and grille and general den of vice. The Shamrock was only one of the criminal enterprises operated in the state line area between McNairy County, Tennessee and Alcorn County, Mississippi during the 1950s and 60s by groups known variously as the State Line Mob and the Dixie Mafia.
The motel’s 49-cent country ham breakfast came with a far steeper price for those who partook of the Shamrock’s crooked gambling and brothel services, and those who threatened to expose the operation risked the ultimate price. But when former wrestler Buford Pusser put on the McNairy County sheriff’s badge, he vowed all that would change.
In 1966, he came to the Shamrock to arrest owner Louise Hathcock for robbery. The moll of one crime boss and the widow of another whom she had killed herself, Hathcock fired on Pusser, and he fired back, killing her. The next year, the mob would have its revenge in the infamous ambush that killed Pusser’s wife and left the sheriff’s face permanently scarred. In the end, however, in the movie and in real life, the State Line Mob was defeated, and the Shamrock was torn down.
Today, it’s only a roadside ghost, where curious passersby sometimes stop to take photos and do a little walking tall around the site.
Disappearing Acts.
Corinth-Jacinto-Iuka-Tishomingo County
At the largest siege in the western hemisphere, right under the noses of a superior force, an entire army vanishes into thin air…Later, two armies clash, yet the sound of their gunfire is lost mysteriously, spirited away by magical wind…Nearby, a thriving town disappears, leaving behind an architectural jewel that will preside with grace and elegance over a picturesque ghost town…Further east, the gentle hills of Mississippi melt away suddenly, replaced by jutting rock cliffs and ledges and overhangs as high as 60 feet, where a simple and pleasurable canoe trip becomes an adventure in natural beauty and drama…where long lost Indian tribes once came to quarry stone to create tools, and today’s outdoor lovers come to discover the recreation capital of the mid-south.
And now it’s time for your own disappearing act. Leave behind the everyday, and come lose yourself in this fascinating and history rich corner of paradise. Your adventure begins in Corinth.