KILN, Miss – June 5 is National Moonshine Day. And it could be celebrated every day in the Mississippi town whose name you see up on the water tower.
But you don’t say it the way you see it.
WGNO News with a Twist features guy Wild Bill Wood says the name of the town is spelled out “K-I-L-N”.
That’s correct according to folks here who say the correct way to pronounce the name of their hometown is “KILL” and they call this place, “The Kill”.
“The Kill” is famous as the home of football star Brett Favre. But maybe more famous as the place for making a killing making moonshine.
At Dolly’s, a convenience store, they’ll tell you their hometown is the moonshine capital of America.
And down the street from Dolly’s, you’ll see a man named Al Saucier sipping half-sweet tea. Al is busy writing a book about the moonshine and “The Kill”.
This book will be Al’s eighth on moonshine.
Al tells the story about how “The Kill” shipped the stuff to Europe and to Al Capone in Chicago.
Al sits and writes on the front porch at Dempsey’s Seafood and Steak.
That’s right next door to Da Swamp where his books are bestsellers. Al will tell you that moonshine families sent their kids to college. Every grandpa in the county sent his kids to law school or be a teacher or even a doctor.
And if the kid agreed to do a little moonshine running for grandpa, the kid got a new car to drive to college.
Down another street is a place called the Broke Spoke where you’ll find a guy named Stevie.
He’s the bartender here who bought the place 30 years ago.
Stevie says the Broke Spoke is the most important thing that ever happened to moonshine in Kiln, Mississippi.
It was really the general store for moonshiners back in the big moon shining day.
“The Kill” is now just a faded moonshine memory. It’s just like the faded sign at the White Lightnin’ Car Wash.