Mummified Soldier found propped up in phone booth
Submitted by Larie Tedesco August 2004
Source:  Times Picayune October 15, 1985

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Mummified Soldier found propped up in phone booth
by United Press International
 
     Hampton, N. H. - Pranksters stole the mummified body of a Civil War soldier and propped
it up at a public Telephone in front of the town officers, police said Monday.
     Someone removed the remains from a tomb in rural Greenland and brought it to the
coastal community Saturday night and placed it at one of two public phones, where police
found it Sunday.
     "He was just set up on the shelf with his chin up on top of the phone," detective Sgt.
Skip Bateman said.  "There he was, waiting to get his call."
     Bateman said only the upper half of the torso - still dressed in a handsewn Confederate
uniform with wooden buttons - was found at the phone.  The rest of the body was found at a
family burial ground in Greenland.
     Greenland Police Chief Karl Gilbert said pranksters in the past had broken, into the
mausoleum at the March family farm.  Once, he said, "They set him up in the casket, beer in
hand."
     He said the soldier had fought for the South in the Civil War and his family had him
buried at the March homestead.  "They're long-gone." he said of the Marches.
     "He looks like he's in great shape for a fellow that old, "Gilbert said.
     Bateman said the soldier is well-preserved, with leathery skin, hair and chin whiskers.
     "At the present time, it's being held by local funeral home until Greenland can figure
out a way to secure this mausoleum," he said.
     Gilbert said the tomb, which is half buried, apparently was entered by moving a large
granite-block and steel door.  He said about a half dozen other bodies - all in less-
preserved states than the soldier - are also in the tomb.