Posted on 05/24/2003 7:58:51 PM PDT by BenLurkin
LANCASTER - A nearly 5-foot-tall papier-mâché Egyptian coffin caused a little excitement Friday morning when it was found placed in front of the Great Britain House of Imports - its origin unknown.
When store owner Maureen Braden arrived at the Lancaster tea house on 10th Street West near Avenue J-4, at 9:30 a.m. she couldn't miss the elaborately decorated coffin and went to the dry cleaner next door looking for answers. They told her it was there when they arrived to open shop at 7 a.m.
"It looked like a Tutankhamun, it had a beard and everything," she said. "It was like something you would see in a museum."
Concerned because of the sensitive political climate, Braden called the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department who responded to the scene shortly after 10 a.m.
Sgt. Tim Noonen said they believed the coffin was probably some kind of a stage prop.
Arriving at the taped off area shortly after 1 p.m., the Sheriff's Department Arson Explosives team from Whittier cut open the coffin to check for wires and, finding none, removed the item from the premises, Braden said.
"Someone from arson explosives determined it was abandoned," Noonen said.
"It was just suspicious because of what is going on," Braden said, adding that she also believed it's likely the coffin was some kind of school project. Deputies told her it was very well made, she said.
Though she said the business is occasionally the target of random tagging, they have not received any particular threats and have no other causes for concern.
"I wanted to know where it came from," Braden said.
"Nobody wanted to move it," Braden said. "Why would anybody take the time to bring this thing out … it was pretty big around. I'm glad they took it away."
It Came From Egypt!
You Brits should really have left old Tut alone! Now he's going to go around and scare every one of you silly, one at a time.
The England leg of his tour should be quite a hoot.
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