Donald Trump was on stage ahead of the South Carolina primary on Saturday, and told a very strange story to underline his stance on the best way to deal with the threat of terrorism. 

The crowd in attendance heard the billionaire real-estate mogul, who went on to win the primary, regale them with a tail of General John Pershing, who executed a number of terrorists by firing squad using bullets which had been dipped in pig's blood. 

Starting the story, Trump said "I read a story—it’s a terrible story, but I’ll tell you. Should I tell you? Or should I not?", eliciting cheers from the crowd.

While he never stated that the terrorists were Muslim, he noted that "you know there’s a whole thing with swine and animals and pigs and you know the story, they don’t like that".

Stating that Pershing was a "rough guy", he added that he captured 50 terrorists, dipped the bullets in pig's blood and then shot 49 of the 50 prisoners, sending the last one back to tell the story, "and for 25 years there wasn't a problem".

While Trump used the anecdote to warn people that they need to "start getting tough" or else "we're not going to have a country", the website Snopes previously debunked the story, suggesting it is in fact a myth.

Fellow Republican presidential hopeful Senator Marco Rubio branded Trump's words as "bizarre", adding that "I'm sure people are offended. We hope people are offended by that. That's not what the United States is about".

Via Slate