Friday, March 14, 2008

The case of the traveling skull...?

No, more like the skull in the traveling case.

It was a dark and stormy night at Munich airport. Two women with a suitcase approached the security screening station. As the case passed through the X-ray machine, a skeleton appeared...

Okay, I'm hamming it up with the "dark and stormy night" part, but in fact security screeners in Munich did come across a skull and bones in a traveler's suitcase recently, and they did turn out to be human remains.

According to an item on the Reuters website, the skeletal remains were those of a man who had died in Brazil 11 years ago. His sister was transporting his bones in her luggage, from São Paulo Brazil to Naples -- via a stopover in Munich. She told the surprised officials at the airport that it had been her brother's wish to be buried in Italy.
"We questioned the women and they produced a valid death certificate showing he had died 11 years ago of natural causes. As they were not violating any German laws they were allowed to continue their journey to Italy," said [police spokesman Christian] Maier.
Just as well this happened in March, and not around Halloween.

[Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com]