Whenever I pull cars with my hair, it’s like I’m possessed –77-year-old 'Super Dragon' Grandpa

At the age of 17 , with a body mass that was fast resembling that of a wrestler , Pa Ubong Hanson discovered he had strength that was unrivalled by his peers in Ikot Eyo in Nsit Ubium Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State .
Lifting objects that made his friends’ jaws drop , quickly earned him the monikers “ World Sampson” and “ Super Dragon ” .
Then at the age of 20 , he did the expected .
That day , Pa Hanson planted his two stout feet in the ground in front of a car and asked the driver inside it to engage the gears.
“ I told the driver to hit the accelerator and drive the car forward while I pushed it backwards . My strength won against the car . It could not move forward at all, ” he said

That was the beginning of exploits that took Pa Hanson, now 77 , across different countries in Africa , where he pulled cars with his dreadlocks and tested his strength against multiple men in unmatched tugs of war .
In his heyday , Pa Hanson was a hulk of raw muscle . Pictures of his younger self show him as someone in the league of world renowned body builders and wrestlers.
Today , with a head of grey dreadlocks and a face encircled by a tuft of equally grey beard neatly bound together at the chin, he is like an old soldier that never dies.
Thanks to social media , more than 20 years after Super Dragon retired from active strength performance , his pictures surfaced , showing him in a tug of war with 10 grown men, who strained unsuccessfully to pull him by his arm .
The most shocking of the pictures, was the one showing him pulling a car with a rope tied around his neck .
Old age has certainly told on Pa Hanson .
“ In those days , I used to pull cars with my dreadlocks . My hair was the source of my strength , ” he told our correspondent , when he was tracked down after his pictures went viral during the week .
According to Super Dragon , when he discovered his strength , he was in an auto mechanic school , with the hope that he would make his living repairing vehicles .
But fate pushed him in a different direction . He said he quit being a mechanic in 1964 and went fully into body building .
“ I started to stop moving cars and life weights in my early 20 s . At the time, I could beat up five of my mates at the same time . Right from that time, I realised that there were many things that I could do that others could not . My fame started growing. Whenever I was to perform , it was like I was possessed . The hair I used to pull vehicles never hurt . I felt nothing , ” he said .
Pa Hanson told
Saturday PUNCH that through the 60 s and 70 s , he ventured outside Nigeria to perform and spread his fame .
He said , “I went to Cairo, Egypt on a tourist visa and performed in public arenas . From there , I went to Ethiopia and established there for a while . I used Ethiopia as my headquarters for about seven years .
“ After I left Ethiopia , I went to Kenya and also performed there. I performed in stadia and was always motivated when I saw the large crowd of people coming to watch my performances. ”
While Pa Hanson, went around the continent performing , his wife of more than 40 years , held forth at home .
“ I married my wife very young and she is now in her 60 s. So , she was there at the early stage of my career. All my children were brought up and educated with the proceeds of my performances in and outside Nigeria , ” he said .
Pa Hanson reminisced about his time in the stadia of Ethiopia and Kenya, where he challenged anybody in the crowd who felt he was strong enough to come out .
He said with just one arm, sometime up to 15 men could not move him .
Finally in the 80 s , he decided to come back home .
Between the 80 s and 90 s he performed in schools in Akwa Ibom and surrounding states , as pupils paid a token to watch him .
With an extraordinary strength at his age , one might think that Pa Hanson has a special lifestyle or diet which keeps him in great shape, considering the fact that he lived in Ethiopia .
This , he said , would be a wrong assumption .
“ I don ’ t have any special food or diet. But I do not smoke or drink alcohol , ” he said .
But Super Dragon is not your everyday old man .
One could mistake him for any agile 50 - year - old man .
In fact , our correspondent asked him to clarify the truth to his age claim because his physical look would make many doubt that he was indeed 77 and he simply laughed.
“ Why would I lie about my age ? What do I start to gain ? My parents were literate and had a record of when I was born , but such records are long lost . I was born just before the start of World War II . Shortly after I was born , he went off to fight in the war , ” he said .
Pa Hanson’ s daily exercise regime would humble a lot of fitness enthusiasts.
According to him , he takes a walk every day , which sometimes goes on for up to 20 miles .
He said , “Apart from taking a walk , I jog around my compound on a daily basis. When I jog , I engage dynamic tension . ( a process that involves tensing the muscles of a given body part and moving the body part against the tension as if a heavy weight were being lifted ) .
“ I also lift weights every day . Men of my age group always marvel when they see me . Most of my peers cannot even walk due to old age . I have never had any illness like diabetes or arthritis that affects old people of my age and I have never been hospitalised . ”
But Pa Hanson is not the only one with his kind of strength in the family . One of his brothers – Tarzan – went on to become a renowned wrestling champion .
None of his children tows his path because they simply could not match their father ’ s strength .
He said they made do with simply copying some of his workout regime for personal development and not professional use .
One of his children , Koko , told our correspondent that their father ’ s popularity actually made them an envy among their peers .
“ People fear us because we are Super Dragon ’ s children . They were always afraid of taking us on in fights even though we don ’ t have his strength , ” he said .
With an education that stopped at standard school level , Pa Hanson speaks good English , which he ascribed to his travels and exposure to many countries .
But despite his physical strength , he said his talent has been wasting away since he retired because government does not think he has anything to offer .
“ There is a lot I can still offer young people in terms of sports and strength training . But I don ’ t think the government cares so much , ” he said .
Pa Hanson currently keeps body and soul together through farming .