Doggedly searching for the crux of the biscuit.
Quiet, or everybody will want one.
A man who bought a smoker Tuesday at an auction of abandoned items might have thought twice had he looked inside first. Maiden police said the man opened up the smoker and saw what he thought was a piece of driftwood wrapped in paper. When he unwrapped it, he found a human leg, cut off 2 to 3 inches above the knee.
The smoker had been sold at an auction of items left behind at a storage facility, so investigators contacted the mother and son who had rented the space where the smoker was found. The mother, Peg Steele, explained her son had his leg amputated after a plane crash and kept the leg following the surgery "for religious reasons" she doesn't know much about.
"The rest of the family was very much against it," Steele said. Steele said her son, John Wood, plans to drive to Maiden, about 35 miles northwest of Charlotte, to reclaim his amputated leg, police said.
I'm intrigued by the unspecified religious reasons. One time in high school, I bought an old jacket at Goodwill and found a joint in the lining of the breast pocket. I thought that was the luckiest thing ever, but man, a human leg? That would be awesome.
I was in high school. What do you think I did?
Posted by: apostropher at September 26, 2007 07:19 PMDon't look a gift joint in the mouth, Brock.
Posted by: Clownæsthesiologist at September 26, 2007 08:10 PMInvestigators have been trying to find out whose leg it is, but so far, they're stumped.
Posted by: Gaijin Biker at September 26, 2007 10:53 PMOh, whoops, didn't RTFA. I guess they can be stumped about the religious reasons, then.
Posted by: Gaijin Biker at September 26, 2007 10:54 PMI imagine the religious reasons are to do with resurrection of the body. (I have cartoon-y visions of him and his leg trying to get reunited after the Rapture in the midst of a bunch of resurrected people whizzing around above the earth's surface. And the leg can't see! and he might be late for the ascension by the time he finds it...Much safer just to be buried with it.)
Catholic theology however seems to postulate resurrection from some kind of stored template in the mind of God á là Star Trek transporter pattern, as cremation etc. is no bar.
Posted by: emir at September 27, 2007 07:19 AM"man, a human leg? That would be awesome."
But it's not like this joint is one you could smoke, apo - except in a smoker. What would you do with it? Forget it, I don't want to know.
Posted by: TokyoTom at September 27, 2007 07:26 AMForget it, I don't want to know.
No, you probably don't.
Posted by: apostropher at September 27, 2007 08:29 AMDid the guy smoke his leg in order to preserve it? Why wasn't it just a mass of putrefying flesh, instead of something resembling a piece of driftwood?
Also, apo, did they eventually ask you to stop coming by the Goodwill every day and trying on all the jackets unless you were actually going to purchase one of them?
Posted by: M/tch M/lls at September 27, 2007 09:32 AMThe Mexican President Santa Anna had his amputated leg buried, then later dug it up and reburied it in Mexico City's cathedral. (I seem to recall it was displayed on a column or pedestal for a while, but google isn't helping with that.) So there's a precedent.
Posted by: lemuel pitkin at September 27, 2007 09:32 AMAlso also, I was a little surprised that I didn't learn about this story from you. I blame that damn third kid of yours.
Posted by: M/tch M/lls at September 27, 2007 09:36 AMSo there's a precedent.
Yes, in fact they called it El Precedente.
Posted by: M/tch M/lls at September 27, 2007 09:41 AM8: apo, for some reaon I feel guilty in giving you this link on "extreme cuisine". But that's silly, isn't it? Say yes!
Posted by: TokyoTom at September 28, 2007 09:31 AMAnd the follow-up:
It's a strange incident and Halloween's just around the corner, Whisnant said. The price will be going up if I get (a stake in) the leg.
Posted by: KJ at October 1, 2007 01:01 PMI'm amazed they didn't make the obvious "charging an arm and a leg to see it" joke.
Posted by: M/tch M/lls at October 1, 2007 01:48 PM