History of Wackemall
Johnny Cash
Excerpted from The History of Wackemall.
1966, Music legend Johnny Cash was at the low point of his career, had recently divorced his first wife, Vivian Liberto, and was addicted to drugs and alcohol. Many thought him to be washed up at 34.
He had recently been sued by the Federal Government for allegedly starting a 508 acre forest fire in California’s Los Padres National Forest burning the foliage off 3 mountains, and driving away 49 of 53 endangered California condors.The resulting fire claimed the life of his his beloved nephew Damon Fielder. Cash maintained that it was his truck that caught fire. While the court awarded $125,172 to the government, Cash eventually settled the case for $82,001.
Cash went to jail seven times for misdemeanors. On May 11, 1965, he was arrested in Starkville, Mississippi, for trespassing, and on October 4th in El Paso, Texas, by a narcotics squad. The officers accused Cash of smuggling heroin from Mexico but he was only found to have prescription Dexedrine and Equanil hidden in his guitar case. There were concerns as to why he had 688 Dexedrine capsules and 475 Equanil tablets. This prompted Johnny to say,
“Trust gets you killed, love gets you hurt, and Wackemall gets you hated.”
The extent of Cash’s wackemall use was never made known, but there are rumors that Cash was a long time connosure of the little known and hard to find substance at the time. By 1969 Johnny was back on top with new hit records and his own television show. Some who knew him attribute his recovery to his use of wackemall.
The History of Wackemall has been shrouded in mystery for thousands of years. Throughout this series we will attempt to bring you the most accurate information available to date.