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Andre ride

By [email protected]

A Giant exhibit will be coming this May to the Rankin Museum of American Heritage.

Gail Benson, curator of the museum, met with Jackie McAuley late Thursday afternoon to inventory an upcoming exhibit on the late professional wrestler Andre the Giant.McAuley donated nearly all of the memorabilia for the display room. Two pictures from another contributor were mailed to the museum to be added to the collection.

She said she got the idea after seeing a message online from a man who said he had traveled to the small Richmond County town and couldn’t find any sign — even in the museum — that the wrestler had once lived there.

“And I thought, that’s just not right,” McAuley said. “When people come to Ellerbe, there needs to be something to show that he actually lived here and was part of the community.”

Having been close to the Giant, she had a lot of his belongings and thought to herself, “All this stuff is up in the attic…and it’s just going to the bad.”

So she called a friend and brought the items to the museum.

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