now its in show business - macabre fun

Friday, April 1, 2005 8:49 AM

"Poor little thing
never even saw the light of day, now
it's in show business!"

It being Friday and me being as bored with life as I usually am, I thought I'd reminisce about another story that's been a particular favourite of mine over the years. So I'm gonna tell you all about it:

It revolves around Elmer McCurdy a good old-fashioned outlaw who died in Oklahoma in 1911 – stop reading if you’ve heard this one. He apparently robbed a train for whiskey or such (good call, to be fair) and was shot by the posse sent out to “bring him down”.

Its post death that the show really begins – apparently he was embalmed and then dressed up and propped in the corner of the undertaker’s shop like some sort of macabre wishing well (without the well) . . ..

A few years later some “brothers” of his showed up – yeah right - and took the body on tour. The origins of the body became obscure and eventually he starred as the hanging man in a Long Beach house of horror.

In 1976 they were filming an episode of the Six Million Dollar Man in the amusement park’s fun house and a stagehand decided to move the hanging man prop. The arm came off in the move and the human origins of the “prop” were revealed. Apparently Elmer has since been buried in Oklahoma, but how cool is that?? Kaylee would definitely see the bright side of going on tour post death . . . .

Is also very like a Dorothy L Sayers story (if you’ve never read her detective novels you should!) where a sculptor does away with his girlfriend (I think I remember this right) by dropping her in a vat of some kind of acid preparation and then coating her in gold and making her into a fantastic chaise lounge. The detective proves the crime by snapping off the armrest of the chaise and showing the human bone inside! Coolness incorporated, I reckon . . .. Who hasn't wanted to make a particularly annoying squeeze into furniture??

Right – back to work . . . .
(Oh and I owe a lot of my info on these things to http://www.snopes.com the fantastic Urban Legends website!)

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