Jerry Summers
In a previous article we told of one of Cas Walker's most successful promotions for his supermarket on Chapman Highway in Knoxville, Tennessee in August, 1975 where a stuntman by the name of Hubert O’Dell "Digger" Smith was buried alive for several days and attracted large crowds to the premises and substantially increased grocery sales. Digger made his living by traveling around the country performing the same stunt at various locations.
The March 25, 1980 Chattanooga Times and Knoxville News-Sentinel reported Odell “has been buried in Chattanooga promising to remain underground until Iran releases the 50 American hostages being held in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.” He was buried in front of a Chattanooga car dealership (Downtown Dodge) which is sponsoring the event. According to the owner of the dealership and promoter of the event, Sonny Bagley, he told a press conference last week that “he is working out details of the hostage exchange and has been assured of an audience with the militants at the United States Embassy through an intermediary. O’Dell claims that the Chattanooga burial was the 160th time that he has performed the stunt of being buried alive, either to make a living or to raise money for charity. His planned 30-day stay at Cas Walkers’ Chapman Highway supermarket was aborted after 21 days.
His Chattanooga stay indicated that he had lately acquired a few more comforts than his Cas Walker burial. The Chattanooga underground facility was a three foot wide, six foot deep grave that housed a small television, chemical toilet and two telephones, one for calls from the general public and the other a private line for interviews with reporters. Food and water are lowered to Digger through a plywood chute which also permits ventilation. An intercom gives him 24-hour contact with an above-ground guard. He also had a banner with the number 50 on it.
Other witnesses have stated that they saw Digger buried alive in Detroit in the 1960s in a used car lot, at the Casino Pier Seaside Heights, New Jersey, at Mack’s Mobile Homes in Phenix City, Alabama in 1979, and at Hardaway Ford in Columbus, Georgia. In September 1961 O’Dell promised to be buried underground for 60 days as a promotion stunt for Bluff City Buick in Memphis. However, after 13 days the Memphis Police ordered construction workers to dig up “Digger” because the cops wanted to charge him with “non-support” of a wife back in Atlanta, Georgia.
Even buried alive underground, he couldn’t escape from her!
Video footage of Digger’s burial at Cas Walkers’ Supermarket on Chapman Highway can be found on YouTube – Digger O’Dell – Cas Walkers Stories Project along with several other videos on the controversial grocery man’s colorful career.
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Jerry Summers
(If you have additional information about one of Mr. Summers' articles or have suggestions or ideas about a future Chattanooga area historical piece, please contact Mr. Summers at jsummers@summersfirm.com)
Digger O'Dell