Hank Williams Jr. Recalls Vivid Details Of Horrific, 500-Foot Fall Down A Mountain In 1975: “That’s Why I Lived… I Remember Every Bit Of It”

Somehow, he lived to tell the tale.

On August 8th, 1975, Hank Williams Jr. and his friend Dick Willey went hiking in Montana, up near the Idaho border around Ajax Lake. With Ajax peak resting up 10,000 feet, Hank encountered a snow field about a thousand feet below it, but when he attempted to cross, the snow underneath him gave way, and fell down the mountain about 530 feet.

His face struck a boulder on the way down, fracturing his skull in a number of places. His nose, teeth and jaw were broken to pieces, his eye was hanging out of the socket, and a fracture in his skull had even left his brain exposed and sticking out through the hole in his forehead. It sounds like a picture out of a horror movie, and in his autobiography, Living Proof: The Hank Williams Story, Hank recalled the horrifying aftermath:

“I put my hands up to feel my nose. Where my nose should be there’s nothing there. My teeth and parts of my jaw fall out in my hand. I raise my hand to my forehead, and where my forehead should be, there’s something soft and squishy. That’s my brain, I think.” 

Dick was able to run back up the mountain and find a park ranger who would radio for help. Hank was eventually rescued by helicopter, which flew him to Missoula Community Hospital…. but the damage was extensive, obviously.

Williams spent over seven hours in surgery just to get him stable. By all accounts, he shouldn’t have lived, but he managed to pull through and lives to tell the tale to this day. The first two people Hank Jr. saw when he woke in the hospital was none other than his godmother, June Carter Cash and her husband Johnny Cash.

“When I fell, there were only two people I saw when I woke up in the hospital bed, and that was Johnny and June. June put a cross on me and told me it was all going to be OK. I never knew if I would sing again or not, talk again or not, let alone think about what I was going to look like. It was a scary time.”

According to The Tennessean, Audrey Williams, Hank Jr.’s mom flew up to Montana to help take care of her son, calling it a “miracle” that he even survived, adding that it was “just God’s will for him to live,” and I’d say that’s a pretty accurate way of explaining it all:

“It’s just a miracle the boy is living, but he’s young and he’s tough. It was just God’s will for him to live.”

Audrey died shortly thereafter, and Hank Jr. would go on to endure nine more surgeries to repair the damage to his head and face. We’re talking plates, skin grafts, the whole nine yards. To cover the scars and permanent disfiguration, Hank grew out his beard, started wearing sunglasses and a cowboy hat… hence the signature Hank Williams Jr.’s look that we all know and love.

“I’ve had dreams about it. I should have died. The doctor said he had worked on plenty of boys in Vietnam and, to be frank, they looked good compared to me.”

While I’m sure it still affects him mentally and emotionally, Hank Jr. also joked during an interview a few years ago that he still has a little back pain from time to time…

“530 feet with a long way and 17 operations, yeah, I have a little bit of back pain now.”

He remembers “all” of what happened, which has to be traumatic, but also part of the reason he survived something like that. It’s really hard to fathom that any human being could, but Hank explained being strapped to the outside of a helicopter, then getting to the hospital and having everything cut off of his body:

“All of it. That’s why I lived, they said, because I remember every bit of it… they strapped me to the outside of a helicopter. That ride was pretty rough. Cold. Then you get down there and they cut everything off. I said, ‘Don’t cut my cross off.’ They cut everything off. I had a gun in the shoulder holster when I fell, cut the whole straw, cut all of that off. Operated all night. Woke up, I don’t know, a day and a half later or something like that.”

It took years for him to be able to sing again, and many thought he’d never get his voice back. The fall put him in a position to “start all over,” and he was able to use the tragedy to push himself forward, rather than let it be a career-ending accident:

“It was a long time after that, it was starting all over.”

Hank Jr. went on to release another 20-something albums, win countless awards, and eventually be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. He was around 26 years old when this happened, so still very early in his career, and it really is a blessing that he’s still alive and well today. He still plays shows and is active in the country music industry, most recently releasing an album called Rich White Honky Blues in 2022, collection of blues covers produced by Black Keys frontman, Dan Auerbach. He even recently opened up a bar in Nashville called the “Hank Williams Jr Boogie Bar.” It’s right next door to Alan Jackson’s spot

You can watch the 1987 feature on him for ABC’s 20/20., which provides more detail and commentary from Hank Jr. and his friend on the whole ordeal. It’s pretty graphic in terms of their descriptions, so fair warning if you’re squeamish… like me:

The post Hank Williams Jr. Recalls Vivid Details Of Horrific, 500-Foot Fall Down A Mountain In 1975: “That’s Why I Lived… I Remember Every Bit Of It” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.