Grave of Shorty the Squirrel (Gone)
Tyler, Texas
Died 1963
Shorty lived outside the Smith County courthouse for 15 years. He was a panhandler and a beggar, but beloved by the town -- and particularly by Miss Geneva Pillow, who fed him daily.
The citizens of Tyler honored Shorty with free medical care, a special pedestrian crossing, and a lower speed limit on Broadway -- all with the goal of prolonging his life. But no squirrel lives forever (or even for very long) and Shorty died in 1963.
He was buried in a park across the street from the courthouse, his grave surrounded by a brick wall, marked by a Georgia granite headstone engraved with his likeness. A replacement squirrel was quickly run over by a car (another testament to Shorty's genius for survival). With no one to fill his snack-grubbing shoes, Shorty's legend grew. Paul Harvey told his story on the radio. He became even more famous in death than in life.
After a rough patch in the 1990s, when Shorty's tombstone was stolen twice and not recovered, a new marker was placed over his grave. It was removed during park renovations in 2024. Shorty's bones were not found, leading to speculation that he had accidentally been dug up some time in the 1980s.
