Mysterious sealed coffin found near Richard III grave site in Leicester, England

[ashling]

Last edited Mon Jul 29, 2013, 02:17 PM - Edit history (1)

Another body has been recovered from the Leicester car park where the remains of Richard III were discovered last year – but while a king of England was bundled into a hastily dug hole slightly too short for his corpse, the mystery man was buried in splendour, his body sealed in a lead coffin placed in a handsome limestone sarcophagus.

The stone lid was lifted carefully by hand last week. Archaeologists from Leicester University expected to find a fragmentary skeleton, since the weight of the lid and centuries of soil on top of it had long since crushed the sides of the box. Instead, to their surprise, they discovered an inner lead coffin, carefully soldered on all sides, its lid decorated with a cross.

“It’s in remarkably good nick except for one end where we think water trickling down has degraded the lead, so we could just see the feet. They look to be in very good condition, so we hope to learn a lot more from the bones,” said the site director, Matthew Morris.

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Thank goodness it is in such good nick!

Think of the past due parking fees

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/07/29/mysterious-sealed-coffin-found-near-richard-iii-grave-site-in-leicester-england/

[Dash87]

1. This stuff morbidly fascinates me

I would love to be the one opening the coffin. Must be exciting!

[Pretzel_Warrior]

9. They're waiting to get Geraldo Rivera on the first flight over there

[Dash87]

12. Must... Redeem... Career!

(Opens coffin up to nothing in there)

"Damn!"

[jakeXT]

2. Link ? Do they know there is a body in there or are they just guessing ? /nt

[pipi_k]

5. The excerpt said

that water trickling over the lead degraded it so they could just see the feet, but they look to be in decent condition.

So I'm thinking there must be a body attached to the feet...

[HarveyDarkey]

3. Got a link?

[ashling]

6. updated it to add the link

[dr.strangelove]

4. This will clearly be the start of the Zombie Apocalypse or the release of Court Dracula

No question about it. That box was sealed for a reason. Look out Pandora.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

8. That would be a great Court TV show

Court Dracula. He is Judge, Jury, and he will suck all your motherfucking blood if he finds you guilty.

[Pretzel_Warrior]

7. that is so weird. maybe they'll find out it is his man servant

I mean, this guy sounds like he went out in style compared to Richard III.

Or they lost Richard III's specially made coffin at the time of his death and then just buried some random villager in it so Richard III could at least be near his coffin.

[Aristus]

13. Henry Tudor, soon to be crowned Henry VII, had Richard III's dead body deliberately abused

and disrespected before burial. So Richard being buried without the care of a lead casket was planned.

[sinkingfeeling]

10. I love this stuff. If I could do it all again, I'd shoot for being an archaeologist.

[bluesbassman]

11. And in other news, Geraldo is still batting .0000.

[pinboy3niner]

14. If it's in such good nick, they can make an I.D. by checking his Prince