Big Bopper's casket to be auctioned

The Big Bopper's casket is to be auction on eBay in the next few weeks. The Big Bopper spent the last 50 years in the casket but was transferred to a new one last year. The metal casket is apparently in decent condition with just a bit of rust and water damage. It's currently on display at the Texas Musicians Museum. From the Beaumont Enterprise:

Jay Richardson, the Bopper's son, plans to sell the empty casket on eBay to raise money for a musical show about his father and to keep the Bopper's memory alive. Born three months after the crash, Jay, who lives in Katy (Texas), never met his father in life - but saw him for the first time at his exhumation.

"Wouldn't it be wonderful to bring Dad back to life?" Jay, 49, said recently from Canada, where he was touring with a tribute act to his father, Holly and Valens.

"I have no personal use for the casket," he said. "When you get down to it, it is just a metal box. More important is what this particular metal box represents.

"In another 200 years, will people care about rock 'n' roll?" Jay asks. "Who knows? But why would I want to destroy it? Even though it was Dad's resting place for 48 years, it's also a unique opportunity to learn more about the early years of rock 'n' roll."

Big Bopper's casket a macabre marketable on e-bay

• [Craigger1]

  As long as people can make music, Rock and Roll will always be around in one form or another.
  As far as buying a 50 year old water damaged, rusty casket goes…there’s plenty of sheeple out there. Someone will buy it!

• [Anonymous]

  #15 posted by nehpetsE, January 2, 2009 5:04 PM

  “American Pie”(the song, not the movie) predicted this would happen.
  You just have to know what the lyrics REALLY mean.////
  // It was not a prediction actually because that song was written after the crash and released in 1971 so it was more like a story then a prediction.

• [Pyros]

  Possibly worse than buying the Big Bopper’s used toilet paper. I mean, you really have to stretch your imagination to conceive of something more repugnant or grotesque.

• [Ugly Canuck]

  This undertaking has all the marks of becoming a very grave affair.

• [andyhavens]

  Water and rust aren’t my biggest worries when purchasing a used casket…

• [Uncle_Max]

  “Even though it was Dad’s resting place for 48 years, it’s also a unique opportunity to learn more about the early years of rock ‘n’ roll.”

  How? How will a box that contained a rock and roll musician for 50 years help ANYBODY “learn more about the early years of rock ‘n’ roll”? Do 50′s singers decompose differently?

  Sure, it’s a curiosity piece, but it’s not like this is the museum of musical history he’s selling.

• [Ceronomus]

  Most places in the US it is flat out illegal to sell a used casket… it might be illegal in all of the US at this point, I’m not certain.

• [booticon]

  All I have to say is:

  EWWWW

• [st vincent]

  The perfect ride for the Bopper:

  http://www.allpar.com/history/auto-shows/time-capsule.html

  If they can sell that casket, you can bet it’ll start a trend. Collectible celebrity caskets! Free case of Febreze for the winning bidder!

  • [Antinous]

    Remember that Mythbusters where they sealed the dead pig in the car? I’m just sayin.

• [cycle23]

  Really Antinous? I expected more…

  At least Tennessee says it ain’t kosher:

  The district court also held that the licensing requirement was not rationally related to the state’s interest in consumer protection. The State of Tennessee argues that the FDEA closely regulates the conduct of funeral directors, preventing them from making fraudulent misrepresentations, making solicitations after death or when death is imminent, or selling a previously used casket. See Tenn.Code Ann. § 62-5-317(a)(2). The penalties for violation of these provisions include the suspension or termination of the funeral director’s license. The state contends that if casket retailers need not be funeral directors, then the retailers would not be subject to these regulations and consumers would be at risk.

  http://bulk.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F3/312/312.F3d.220.00-6281.html

• [icky2000]

  Illegal to sell a used casket? Citation please?

  • [Antinous]

    Illegal to sell a used casket? Citation please?

    Why? Are you thinking about going into the business?

• [cycle23]

  — note, I believe the reference is definitely toward LICENSED funeral directors. I have also seen numerous references to used caskets being sold by wholesalers in Texas.

  All I can say is please give my body to science and not worms.

• [Baldhead]

  Don’t get it. Make one song of moderate popularity, die with a famous person in a (at the time) relatively uncommon way, and people will want to buy (and sell) your casket. If Big Bopper had choked on a sandwich two years later nobody would know his name. Hell most don’t know the name, only the alias.

  Why the hell did they transfer him to a new one anyway? he’s freaking dead, I doubt he cares much.

• [cha0tic]

  “I have no personal use for the casket,”

  What? He’s going to live forever? Why not save it for when he dies?

• [jim]

  Go to Antinous’s recent comments and see how many times he asks for a citation and then decide for yourself whether or not his comment in this thread is asinine or merely ironic.

  • [Antinous]

    Um. I provided a citation that appears to prove the opposite of the claim. Is there a problem with that?

• [arkizzle]

  Jim, did you notice Antinous had quoted Icky?

• [jim]

  I apologize to Antinous. It must be difficult to be both a commenter and a moderator. I don’t really care about used death boxes, I just felt a bit snarky at the time. Sorry to disrupt this thread.

• [jim]

  I read Antinous’s comment as mocking Icky’s request for citation.

• [Anonymous]

  I realize that auctioning a celebrity’s used casket is a mixed bag of opinions, good and bad. However, I find the comment threads concerning this topic tasteless and offensive. Jay Richardson(The surviving son of The Bopper)was born 3 months following his father’s death and never had a chance until now to know his father.He wanted to make sure that there was no foul play in his father’s death. Is that wrong? Is it wrong for Jay to get to know his father even in death? No. Absolutely not. As for the casket itself, the interior was medically disposed of and the reason The Bopper was not reburied in the same casket is because the integrity of the seal around the casket was probably compromised when it was re-opened. That casket was under the ground for over 50 years so the seal would have aged and would not be suitable for reburial. Batesville donated a new casket for the re-interment to replace the old one. I believe Jay has the right to dispose of the original casket in a way that he sees fit. Please refrain from making disparaging threads and show some respect for the deceased and his family. Thank you.

• [cycle23]

  Aw, come on Jim, you were no more snarky than he. Anyway, it appears that both six feet under AND some random blog were right. Depends on if you mean sold by -anyone- vs sold by licensed funeral directors, and probably depends on if you mean “which state/country/interzone”…

• [Anonymous]

  “How? How will a box that contained a rock and roll musician for 50 years help ANYBODY “learn more about the early years of rock ‘n’ roll”? Do 50′s singers decompose differently?”

  -He wrote lyrics on the inside of the tomb over the last 48 years. Don’t you know all dead people do this?

• [Fred H]

  “When you get down to it, it is just a metal box. More important is what this particular metal box represents.”

  The Lil’ Bopper is my new zen guru.

• [Anonymous]

  I can’t think of a single tasteful thing to do with a 50 year old casket. Even turned into a table it would be pretty damn nasty.

  Maybe if his corpse was still inside it, it would have some draw. Since it’s technically against the rules to sell human remains on eBay, he could just… “give” the corpse to whoever won the “empty casket” auction.

• [Anonymous]

  Maybe he’s not been just laying there all this time.Maybe he’s been working on new material and there’s enough for a box set.

• [TheCat]

  Who the heck is the “Big Bopper”?

• [nehpetsE]

  “American Pie”(the song, not the movie) predicted this would happen.
  You just have to know what the lyrics REALLY mean.

• [Anonymous]

  Why’d Bopper need a new casket anyhow?

• [Ceronomus]

  I’m working on finding a linkable citation, but a link to a BLOG with only one post (Used Caskets) is not a link proving that it is legal to sell caskets.

  Trying to find the citation is difficult, finding it online is proving VERY difficult.

  • [Antinous]

    I found dozens of references to selling used caskets, but not a single reference to it being illegal. Unless you count Six Feet Under.

• [Ceronomus]

  Though, I suppose if a BLOG post is a suitable citation…

  http://sirjorge.com/blogx/2007/11/07/the-yes-man/