Actually, it should be considered the great manure fire of '04-'05 because the thing has been burning for FOUR MONTHS! The doo-doo conflagration began in late October in Nebraska (and they say there isn't anything to see in Nebraska)and had been burning ever since. This was no little soft-serve, poopy-patty, this was the mother of all cow chips. Measuring 100 feet long, 30 feet (!) high, and 50 feet wide, the pile is thought to have ignited when heat from the bottom of the pile combusted. And you thought burning man was the best flamed-based celebration! Burning Patty is way better!
Powered by the farts of some 20,000 cows, the methane in the poo was efficient enough to smolder throughout the chilly winter. Now you may not know this, but I am a bit of an expert when it comes to flaming piles of...stuff. I worked on a mulching crew in Southbury when I was in college and I can attest, the bottom of those piles gets steaming hot. Ours was more wood debris than cow debris, but it was still smokin' on chilly mornings. No one could smoke around the pile and we had to use plastic pitchforks as not to ignite the steamy recesses of fortified, fertilized, ground cover. Better safe than smelly, right?
Anyhow, thus ends a great era in Nebraska's history. Since the fire is now out, if you're in town, why not visit carhenge, a tribute to the gods constructed by redneck druids to honor the forces of nature: white magic, black magic, Buick magic, and I assume, corn magic.
