kudzu man

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Kudzu man, the Southern Devil, towers over the innocent redhead.

The devil, i.e. Satan, Prince of Darkness, Beelzebub, Mephistopheles, Lucifer, et cetera, et cetera, can appear in many forms, human, foul or otherwise, even a plant in the pea family, in this case a 15-foot giant green Blair Witchy kudzu man that towers over the back parking lot of a local fast food emporium. 

Initially, kudzu was promoted in the late 1800s as merely a full-bodied and friendly arbor plant to shade porches here in the South, as witnessed by this memorable passage from Harper Lee's novel To Kill A Mockingbird:

"Mr. Avery boarded across the street from Mrs. Henry Lafayette Dubose’s house. Besides making change in the collection plate every Sunday, Mr. Avery sat on the porch every night until nine o’clock and sneezed. One evening we were privileged to witness a performance by him which seemed to have been his positively last, for he never did it again so long as we watched. Jem and I were leaving Miss Rachel’s front steps one night when Dill stopped us: “Golly, looka yonder.” He pointed across the street. At first we saw nothing but a kudzu-covered front porch, but a closer inspection revealed an arc of water descending from the leaves and splashing in the yellow circle of the street light, some ten feet from source to earth, it seemed to us. Jem said Mr. Avery misfigured, Dill said he must drink a gallon a day, and the ensuing contest to determine relative distances and respective prowess only made me feel left out again, as I was untalented in this area."

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