Why was big bopper exhumed

Bass and Richardson were surprised to find the body preserved enough to be recognizable. I handled it better than I thought I would. The body was reburied in the cemetery but in a different plot, where there will be room for a graveside statue to be installed later.

Bass, 78, is a pioneer in his field and has worked on famous cases. Most remarkably, his thick brown hair was still perfectly coiffed in his familiar, s flat-top. After the autopsy found he died of crash-related injuries, the Big Bopper was reburied in a sleek new casket donated by the Batesville Casket Co. Since late last year, the old casket has been on public display at the Texas Musicians Museum in Hillsboro, Texas.

The Big Bopper died right as he was hitting the big time. The happy-go-lucky Texas DJ in a leopard-skin jacket would sell a million records but never see a dime from his greatest hit, " Chantilly Lace. He approached some auction houses about selling the casket, but "they all seemed confused," so he decided to reach for a wider audience on eBay. After the autopsy found he died of crash-related injuries, the Big Bopper was reburied in a sleek new casket donated by the Batesville Casket Co.

Since late last year, the old casket has been on public display at the Texas Musicians Museum in Hillsboro, Texas. Tom Kreason , the museum's founder and a rock historian who has developed collections for the legendary Sun Records Museum in Memphis and the Hard Rock Cafe , admits the casket is macabre but says it is a "priceless" artifact of a historic moment in music.

We called it 'the day the music died' and there's no title bestowed on any other tragic days since," Kreason said. This casket is very symbolic of how we lost three incredible artists, but it's also a statement about what we've lost with many other artists, too. The Big Bopper died right as he was hitting the big time. The happy-go-lucky Texas deejay in a leopard-skin jacket would sell a million records but never see a dime from his greatest hit, " Chantilly Lace ," a two-minute novelty song that is both innocent and suggestive.

Richardson, who also wrote the George Jones hit, "White Lightning," was toying with an idea he had for a new kind of jukebox that would play short films of musicians playing their hits. He called them "music videos. Facebook Twitter Email. What Dr. Bill Bass found in bones of the Big Bopper. Hanna Lustig Shopper News. Show Caption. Hide Caption. Bill Bass on the interest over Big Bopper's death. Tales from The Body Farm.