North Carolina pair feud over leg

[JODO 2]

North Carolina pair feud over leg

A US man who stored his amputated leg in a barbecue smoker that was later auctioned off is locked in a custody dispute with the man who bought it.

John Wood's smoker was sold to Shannon Whisnant last week after he fell behind on payments at the storage facility in North Carolina where it was kept.

He wants his leg back but Mr Whisnant says he has a receipt for the smoker's contents and wants to share ownership.

Mr Wood's leg was amputated above the knee after a plane crash in 2004.

He asked to keep the leg so he could be buried as a whole man when he died, and stored it at the facility in Maiden after losing his home.

But when Mr Wood failed to pay the necessary rental fees, the storage company auctioned the smoker and all its contents.

'Strange incident'

After buying the smoker last Tuesday, Mr Whisnant looked inside and found a man's leg wrapped in a wire screen.

Halloween's just around the corner - the price will go up if I get the leg

Shannon Whisnant

He initially gave the leg to the police, who concluded it had not been removed as a result of a crime and sent it to a funeral home until Mr Wood could pick it up.

But after making money by charging adults $3 (£1.47) and children $1 (49p) to look inside the empty smoker, Mr Whisnant asked for it back.

His request was refused by the funeral home, so he decided to try to persuade Mr Wood to share custody and profits.

"I told him I'd share custody of it..." Mr Whisnant said.

"It's a strange incident and Halloween's just around the corner. The price will go up if I get the leg."

'Despicable'

Mr Wood, who now lives in Greenville, South Carolina, has insisted he is not interested in using the leg to make money and plans to travel to Maiden as soon as possible to reclaim it.

"I just think it's despicable," he said.

"I don't mind having the 15 minutes of fame, but I'm not looking to really profit off this thing.

"He's making a freak show out of it."

Having had his offer rejected, Mr Whisnant has threatened to begin legal action if the leg is not returned to him by next week.

He says he has a receipt showing he bought both the smoker and its contents at the auction. "Everybody knows it's mine, period," he said. "And if anyone tries to take it, I want everything they got."

Story from BBC NEWS:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/7024124.stm

Published: 2007/10/02 12:57:11 GMT

[Fandango 1,440]

what the fuque?

[almaty 19]

north carolina..enuff said

[Jasman0717 9]

This is just way too weird

[Ban Hammer 14,571]

sounds like someone is trying to get a leg up on the owner of the grill with lawsuits.

[natty bumppo 297]

sounds like someone is trying to get a leg up on the owner of the grill with lawsuits.

NC bar-b-que secrets exposed ... film at 11 ....

[eau_xplain 2]

north carolina..enuff said

Hey! There are plenty of decent people in North Carolina. Other states have their share of weirdos too.

[Ban Hammer 14,571]

sounds like someone is trying to get a leg up on the owner of the grill with lawsuits.

NC bar-b-que secrets exposed ... film at 11 ....

i guess i better hop to it and turn on the tv

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

north carolina..enuff said

Yo, Dean. It ain't cool throwing stones while sitting in a glass house.

[almaty 19]

north carolina..enuff said

Yo, Dean. It ain't cool throwing stones while sitting in a glass house.

lol..so true,, north carolina is an academic paradise ....compared to other parts of the south..

[Bootylicious!! 2]

north carolina..enuff said

Hey, I live in NC and I think this is insane. I'm even in the mountains so that makes it even more insane that I think it's insane. You know, we're supposed to walk around barefoot and pregnant up in these parts. This is really embarrassing actually. I can't believe they would be arguing over a leg. ####### is up with that?

[Emancipation 2]

Holy #######.. I'm pretty "normal" when compared to these two!

[JODO 2]

Cops go out on a limb for amputee

Thu Oct 4, 4:43 PM ET

A man whose amputated, embalmed leg was sold at a North Carolina auction will get the limb back over the objections of the buyer, who wanted to include it in a macabre, money-making Halloween display, police said on Thursday.

The dispute over the leg John Wood lost in an airplane crash three years ago was apparently resolved when police decided the buyer, Shannon Whisnant, had given up ownership by calling authorities and asking them to take it away.

"The simple fact is that he said he didn't want it," said Capt. Tracy Ledford of the Maiden Police Department, who chuckled his way through an interview about the case that has made for lively gossip in the small North Carolina town.

"The guy don't have a leg to stand on," Ledford said. "He's not getting the leg back."

Wood, 42, kept the embalmed leg because he wanted it to be cremated with him when he dies. He stored it in a small barbecue smoker in a Maiden storage unit, but failed to keep up the unit's rent, police said.

The storage company auctioned the smoker on September 25 and Whisnant was the buyer.

When he found the leg, he called police and said he "wanted to get rid of it," but later decided to make some money from it, Ledford said.

"He wanted to show this thing at Halloween and charge money to see it," he said.

Whisnant told local media he was willing to go to court to keep the leg and planned to charge admission to see it -- $3 for adults and $1 for children.

"It's a hell of a conversation piece," he told the Greenville News. "I bought it. It's mine."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071004/od_nm/usa_leg_dc

[sarah and hicham 3]

They had the guy who bought the smoker on the radio here the other day. It was an interesting interview.

[Ban Hammer 14,571]

Court rules man has no leg to stand on

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Nobody needs two left feet.

Even though a North Carolina man found an amputated human leg inside a smoker he bought at auction, he can't keep it, Judge Greg Mathis ruled on his television show in an episode that aired Thursday.

Shannon Whisnant had refused to return the leg to its owner, telling the judge he wanted to build a museum and charge people $10 to look at the limb, which had been cut off 2 to 3 inches above the knee.

"You're not getting that leg. I'm not giving you the man's leg," Mathis told Whisnant.

John Wood, whose left leg was amputated after a 2004 plane crash, joked to the judge about losing his leg twice. He had kept the leg and the cooker inside a rented storage space. When the South Carolina man couldn't pay the bill, the items were auctioned.

He said he wanted his severed leg so that it could be cremated with him when he dies.

The judge dismissed Wood's claim for emotional distress caused by media coverage of the case and ordered him to reimburse Whisnant $5,000.

The men had agreed to have their case settled by Mathis, and they signed papers that his decision was legally binding.

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