John Zingg was asleep on his couch in a T-shirt when his girlfriend crept up with a tarantula and placed it on his arm. She'd taken out a $250,000 life insurance policy on him first.
"I smashed the spider," the 77-year-old Vietnam veteran told Cowboy State Daily matter-of-factly. "She cried over the spider. She's in there trying to kill me."
When paramedics arrived, Zingg remembered something he’d read in “National Geographic” about snake antivenom working on spider bites.
“The ambulance operators told me that I had five seconds to live and I couldn’t talk. It swells up your lungs. So I scribbled out ‘antivenom’ for the ambulance guy,” said Zingg. “He give it to me, and I just come right back to life.”
The girlfriend went to jail. Zingg survived — just like he's survived being struck by lightning, a helicopter crash in Vietnam, a bullet lodged in his brain from a cowboying accident, and getting tangled in a clothesline after being bucked off a horse.
For 57 years, Zingg has been a fixture at Sheridan's historic Mint Bar, that weathered establishment beneath the neon cowboy on Main Street.
These days, you'll find him at his usual spot at the end of the bar, nursing a Diet Coke — he gave up alcohol more than 30 years ago. But he still shows up, sometimes before the bar opens at 10 a.m., slipping through the back door to sit in the dark until someone can serve him.
Now, after four prostate surgeries that have drained his savings and a recent diabetes diagnosis, the community that's heard his stories for decades is rallying to help. The Mint is hosting a fundraiser at 4 p.m. Saturday, complete with a pie-baking contest and silent auction.
"He's very dear to us," said Kat Deeds, The Mint's managing partner who's been serving Zingg Diet Cokes since she started bartending there in 2011.
"This man has stories you can't believe," she said. "That's one of those things where if you ask the right questions and talk to people, you find out the most amazing things."
The Mint Bar in Sheridan has been open for 118 years and John Zingg has been telling stories there for almost half that time. (Courtesy John Zingg) 
The Mint Bar in Sheridan has been open for 118 years and John Zingg has been telling stories there for almost half that time. (Courtesy John Zingg)
Local Legends
The outpouring of support has stunned even longtime locals. A Facebook post about the fundraiser garnered around 220,000 views worldwide, with people from across the country sharing memories of Zingg.
Singer-songwriter Ian Munsick donated $500 to the GoFundMe, giving Zingg at least three brushes with music stardom.
There’s the time DJ Brandi Cyrus, the less famous daughter of country star Billy Ray Cyrus, was standing on the end of the bar at The Mint wearing a fringed leather skirt and leather thong.
“And John walks in, walks right through the middle of the photo shoot. Doesn’t even pay attention,” said Deeds. “And I was like, ‘John, did you not notice the hot blonde at the end of the bar in a thong?’ And he’s like, ‘No, can I have my Coke?’”
Then, back when Zingg was studying psychology at Sheridan College, he hung around another musician: Chris LeDoux.
"He wanted to go to Casper College, but he got his application in too late," Zingg said. "He went to Sheridan College, and I was at Sheridan College, and I used to give him a ride to the college. His car wouldn't run."
Zingg was studying psychology at the time. He said his test scores were stellar, though he never pursued it as a career.
"I don't like weirdos," he quipped.
As a young man, Zingg had an early encounter with a celebrity. He was working as a shoe salesman in Southern California when in walks one of the biggest movie stars of all time: Elizabeth Taylor.
“She’d buy $10,000 worth of shoes and give them to the homeless,” said Zingg.
One Of Their Own
A lifetime cowboy who worked at the Padlock Ranch near Dayton and drove trucks for Big Horn Coal, Zingg served as a Navy SEAL in Vietnam, where he survived that helicopter crash.
The bullet in his brain came from what Zingg described as a cowboying accident. Turns out, cowboying also got Zingg struck by lightning.
“The cows all run into the timber, and I went in there and got off my horse and stand by a tree and lightning hit the tree I was standing by,” he said. “Went through my head and down through my boots. Ruined my boots.”
These are the stories that bubble up in conversations between Zingg and those who sidle up next to him at The Mint.
The bar itself is a living legend.
It’s where Ernest Hemingway once gambled and where original newspaper articles from Custer's Last Stand hang on the walls. It’s a community gathering place where people like Zingg can find connection without needing a drink.
"He's not somebody that would ever ask for help," Deeds said. "So I told him I'm doing this and he just has to get over it. And he knows better than to argue with me."
"It's a real Western bar," Zingg said simply.
Asked about the overwhelming community response, Zingg seemed genuinely surprised: "It's hard to believe."
For the Nov. 15 fundraiser, participants can enter pies for $10 each or pay $10 to sample all entries. All tips during the event and proceeds from the silent auction will go toward Zingg's medical expenses.
When asked what he plans to tell the crowd that gathers for him, Zingg offered a humble response: "I'd just like to thank everybody for supporting me."
These days, when he's not at The Mint, Zingg goes fishing despite his bad shoulders, watches news stations, and keeps an eye out for what he jokingly calls a "rich woman" to take care of him — though after that tarantula incident, one imagines he's carefully screening his romantic prospects.
David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.
