Selling of Big Bopper's Casket Is Unsettling and Creepy

Observer-Reporter ^ | 1/23/2009

[nickcarraway]

Anyone who's strolled through a record show or taken a cursory glance through eBay knows there's a flourishing, recession-proof market in rock 'n' roll memorabilia out there. Rare vinyl albums and singles, autographs, promotional discs, posters, books, backstage passes, concert programs, you name it. Even if you had the same bank balance as Bill Gates, you could spend eight hours a day collecting it and still not hope to get it all.

Sometime soon, it's been reported, there's going to be a piece of rock 'n' roll memorabilia going up for sale on eBay that's certainly unique. No one would dispute it's one-of-a-kind. It might very well be valuable.

And I can't figure out who would want it.

It's the coffin that housed the body of J.P. Richardson, otherwise known as the Big Bopper, for 48 years.

OK, everybody, repeat after me: Ewwwwwwwwwww!!

According to the Beaumont Enterprise in Texas, the son of the Big Bopper, the Texas singer who died in a plane crash with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens 50 years ago come Feb. 3, is looking to sell the 16-gauge steel coffin that was hauled out of the ground in 2007 so the Big Bopper's body could be given an autopsy. It was requested by his son, Jay Richardson, in order to quell a long-standing urban legend that gunfire in the cabin caused the small, private plane to crash into a field outside Clear Lake, Iowa.

"I have no personal use for the casket," the younger Richardson told the newspaper. "When you get down to it, it is just a metal box."

The Big Bopper's body was placed in a new coffin after it was examined and, since then, the old one has been on display at the Texas Musicians Museum in Hillsboro, Texas. It's in "surprisingly good condition" according to the Beaumont Enterprise: "It bears minor rust spots and a white lime stain showing where several inches of water once leaked into the surrounding vault, but there was no evidence water had ever seeped into the casket itself."

Well, now that you say that, where's my checkbook?

Maybe there's a big Big Bopper fan out there who is itching to spend their eternal slumber in his old coffin. It's hard to imagine it being used for any other purpose. Can you display it in a living room? Perhaps it can take the place of a couch. It could probably be decked out with speakers so "Chantilly Lace," the Big Bopper's biggest hit, could come streaming out of it when the lid is lifted.

His son says he wants to use some of the proceeds of the coffin's sale to put together a musical about his father's life. Following the success of stage shows like "Mamma Mia!" and "Jersey Boys," you can understand why Richardson would want to pursue that. But selling his father's used casket? That's just unsettling and creepy, to say the very least. As of late last week, I looked on eBay and there was no listing yet for the Big Bopper box. But they did have a signed, handwritten copy of "Chantilly Lace" that the Big Bopper allegedly had in his suitcase when he died. The asking price was $29,999 (why not make it $30,000 even?).

I won't be buying it anytime soon because I have a mortgage to pay off. But if I were considering a high-priced way to commemorate the Big Bopper, I'd sink my cash into that before the casket without a second's hesitation.

[nickcarraway]

Weird. This should be good for another verse of Don McClean's, "American Pie," no?

[LibFreeOrDie]

For those FReepers too young to remember, here’s the Big Bopper (1958):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TcC_ni0ojo

[nickcarraway]

I'm sorry I watched that. I always picture The Big Bopper as much cooler.

[SunkenCiv]

This story makes me feel real loose like a long necked goose, despite the fact that it’s not what I like. ;’)

Big Bopper’s casket a macabre marketable on e-bay [J.P.Richardson]
Beaumont Enterprise | 12-27-08 | Ron Franscell
Posted on 12/28/2008 6:23:55 PM PST by deport
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2155376/posts