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Nearly 20 years ago at approximately 2:42 a.m., a 59-foot stack of logs collapsed on the campus of Texas A&M University, trapping John Comstock for about 7 and a half hours. Comstock was not alone during the collapse. The tragic incident caused the death of 12 Aggies and 27 injuries.
Current and former students were working on the Aggie bonfire, a longstanding tradition meant to boost school spirit before the school’s annual football game against The University of Texas. While students — harnessed to the structure — worked to build the “stack,” the structure collapsed.
The 12 Aggies who died on Nov. 18, 1999, will be honored in “The 13th Man,” a documentary directed and produced by Charlie Minn. The film will play at Evo Cinemas Starplex 12 in San Marcos from Nov. 15 - 21.
“So the film is that way to honor those Aggies who lost their lives that night,” Minn said.
The film centers around Comstock, who was thought to be the 13th individual to pass during the tragedy. A press release was even released announcing his death. However, Comstock survived the mishap and was the last person to be pulled out of the stack.
While time passed, Comstock was given oxygen through an IV tube to maintain his consciousness.
“I had time to pretty much contemplate everything,” Comstock recalled. “Like I couldn’t feel my legs, I wasn’t sure if my back was broken and ultimately I really just wanted to get out of there, I didn’t want to die trapped.”
Comstock said responders thought moving the logs where he was located could potentially affect other people.
“So they got all of those other people out first and then eventually they decided that the log at my waist was the one they needed to (lift up) so they fired up a chainsaw and started cutting out logs above me and eventually got to the point where they thought they were going to be able to lift it up,” Comstock recalled. “So they counted to three and they said ‘we’re going to lift this up on the count of three and I’m going to pull you out of there.’ And so that’s what they did. They counted to three, they were able to lift up the log on my legs and then they pulled me out.”
Comstock was immediately transported to an emergency room to undergo surgery, and ultimately lost part of his left leg.
Minn said the film is called “The 13th Man” because Comstock was supposed to be the 13th fatality.
“John is a miracle survivor and he’s called the 13th man because he was supposed to be the 13th fatality,” Minn said. “He came within a whisker of losing his life, so the film really centers around him.”
Comstock said he feels honored that his story is part of the focus of the documentary. After 20 years, many current students at Texas A&M were not yet born during the tragedy.
“I ultimately just wanted it to honor the 12 victims and give them kind of a voice because a lot of the students on campus today weren’t even alive when that happened,” Comstock said. “And so my main focus was to raise awareness for the 12 we lost and the tradition of going out to the memorial and having the students today understand what an important event it was.”
Comstock now uses his story to help others overcome their own struggles in life. He speaks at local schools in College Station, but also has traveled the country for the past three years as a motivational speaker.
“There’s a press release that ultimately said that I died, so I use that as a call to action telling people if there’s something they want to do in life that they should do it now, they shouldn’t wait,” Comstock said. “And that ultimately just focus on the positive things in life and ultimately be persistent and never give up because you don’t know what the future may hold.”
For more information about showtimes for “The 13th Man,” visit the documentary's website.
