Years ago, the story says, a sharecropper's home rested there. He was a good, hard-working man who had been blessed with beautiful wife and a small child. The story varies on why he went out on a day he knew could bring storms. But the point is, he left. His wife and child waited for him to return, watching the anvil-shaped clouds build in the West Texas sky.
Tornadoes are a fact of life in Texas.
But the one that ripped through the valley was huge. The sharecropper had not been able to make it back before the storm had overtaken him. Hiding under a swathe of trees to protect himself from the elements, he rode out the blinding rain and wind and returned home. Or at least, he found what was left. His small shack was destroyed, obliterated by a swirling funnel cloud.