The Big Bopper's Casket To Be Sold On eBay

BY Dave SynyardPublished Jan 6, 2009

Selling obscure celebrity items on eBay is nothing new but the Big Bopper's son has plans to add to, and even top, the list. In the coming weeks, Jay Richardson will place his father's original casket for auction on eBay after it spent 48 years covered in earth and holding the corpse of Jiles Perry Richardson (aka the Big Bopper).

Why exactly does Richardson have his father's corpse? Well, in 2007, he had the Big Bopper's steel casket exhumed from its original burial place in order to make him more visible than he previously was. After removing his father's pristine corpse, which still has perfect hair, he was reburied in a new casket.

"I have no personal use for the casket," Richardson 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? 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."

The Big Bopper famously perished in the 1959 plane crash that also took the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the 21-year-old pilot, Roger Peterson. The incident was forever immortalized in Don McLean's hit "American Pie" as "the day the music died."

After the casket is auctioned off all proceeds raised from the event will be used to fund a musical show about the Big Bopper, says Richardson.

The Big Bopper "Chantilly Lace"

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