When it’s outdoor season, it’s not unusual to hear about someone who fended off a bear with a pocket knife, or scared off a mountain lion with an axe, or things like that.
But here’s the story of a woman who used the power of rock to defend herself in the woods.
As Global News Canada reports, Dee Gallant of Vancouver Island, British Columbia was out at dusk hiking on a local trail with her dog. It was their usual evening walk.
The unusual part was the cougar standing 50 feet away. Gallant said at first it was no different than seeing a deer in the woods, interesting but not a big deal.
So she recorded the creature on her smartphone for a bit, but it had its eyes on her, and was walking closer and closer.
Gallant started waving her arms and shouting, trying to get the cougar to back off, but no luck.
Fortunately, she had a backup plan: she went into her phone’s music library and found the loudest song she could think of, and one with an appropriate message: the Metallica song “Don’t Tread on Me.”
She said, “As soon as he heard the first note, he bolted. He was just gone.”
The story has been getting attention all over the internet the last few weeks – including from Metallica! Gallant says frontman James Hetfield called her to talk about the encounter. Gallant said, quote “He was so sweet.”
Which is the single part of this whole wild story that I can’t wrap my head around. Come on, Hetfield! You’re the lead singer of Metallica, what is being sweet gonna do to your image, man?
Here’s a story that might make heavy metal even heavier: guitarist Takamizawa Toshihiko has just designed a guitar shaped like Godzilla. The body of this limited edition instrument is shaped like the greatest rampaging movie monster of all time, and the guitar’s neck is Godzilla’s tail.
The pre-order price was north of $50,000, which is a ton of money. But then, how often do you have a guitar that’s capable of running wild all over Tokyo?
Metallica responds to B.C. woman who fended off wild cougar with the band’s music (GlobalNews.ca)
A Very Resourceful Woman Scared Off a Cougar by Blasting Metallica (Noisey)
This Limited-Edition Godzilla is a Monster of a Guitar (Guitar World)
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