N.H. Man Seeks Return Of Mummified Baby

[Seahorseladydi]

http://www.kptv.com/news/13424318/detail.html

Man Says Remains Have Been With Family For Decades

POSTED: 3:51 am PDT June 1, 2007

Video at link

CONCORD, N.H. -- A New Hampshire man is fighting state law to get back a mummified baby he said is a family heirloom.

Charles Peavey, of Concord, said that the mummy, named Baby John, has been in his family for decades.

"He was in our family for 90-plus years, and now we have to fight for something that's truly ours," Peavey said.

Concord police took the corpse a year ago after a woman reported hearing someone talking about a dead baby. Police said they were uncertain who the child was or how it died. Lab tests recently came back.

"It's believed to be a male child and very young, possibly a stillborn or a newborn," Detective Julie Curtin said.

Peavey said that there is nothing to prove that the baby is related to him, but he's taking his fight to get it back to court. He said that family folklore holds that his great-great-uncle had an affair with a woman who died in childbirth, and the mummy is their child who died.

"My entire family is behind me 100 percent," Peavey said.

On Thursday, Peavey paid $150 to file a petition to have a judge rule on the case.

"I've been collecting silver since I was 15 years old, and it was to go to my niece, Jennifer," Peavey said. "And she said, 'Just sell the silver. I'd rather have John.'"

His niece, Jennifer Arizmendi, said that she was next in line to get the mummified baby. She said she's just as committed to getting it back.

"They've taken something away that they don't have a right to take away," she said. "Regardless if he's blood-related or not, he's been in our family. He's been passed down."

If Peavey doesn't get the body back, he can have it buried, and a cemetery has offered to bury the baby for free.

 

[sherri79]

as the mom of a still born child the story really gets to me. this is a baby not grandma's china. you dont pass it down as some odd keepsake.bury this child and let him rest in peace imo.

 

[Wrinkles]

Hiya Sherri,

I agree with you... Bury this baby. Spend the saved silver on a gravestone for the baby, or pay for the burial instead of letting someone else do it, and forget a lawsuit.

There is something twisted about this story, in my estimation. If they want to keep the babies ashes, okay, cremation is an alternative.

These people don't even know the whole real story about this little one. Their argument of "it is ours" is weird. The nieces comment (next in line to receive the baby) said, "Regardless if he is blood related or not, he is ours, he has been passed down." This is nutty... All of our deceased loved ones are ours, we don't store their mummified bodies in closets or in a cabinet for viewing - it is against the law and for good reasons.

Something feels kinda sickening here, in watching and listening to the uncle and the neice. There is something here that we don't know, and I must say it really feels yikky.

W

 

[CyberLaw]

Can anyone say "Tales from the Crypt" or Twilight Zone or how about Psych Exam.

 

[hicpics]

the first thing i thought when i read the article is bury the poor baby. Its really disgusting how they want to pass the body down in the family. its totally disrespectful to the baby.

 

[Wrinkles]

Hiya CyberLaw,

Psych Exam

There, I said it.

What else are these people hanging on to? What kind of mentality does it take to pass the baby on like a family heirloom? AND how are these people using this baby? I suspect that they are using it in some fashion. Think about this...

According to the video, the whole baby issue came up when the uncle's "grand niece" said something. She was being teased at school and said, "You better watchout, my uncle has a dead baby at home."

Are they using the baby as a macabre disciplinary tool? A fear mechanism to bring family children in order? Based on what the grand niece said, there ought to be some interviews with that little girl to find out how she knew about that baby...what was said about it.

Just thinking...sphew...

So what do you all think, what mentality keeps people hanging on to such as this? I didn't hear love in the interview, I heard possession (woah, is that a double entendre?)

W

 

[hicpics]

Hiya CyberLaw,

Psych Exam

There, I said it.

What else are these people hanging on to? What kind of mentality does it take to pass the baby on like a family heirloom? AND how are these people using this baby? I suspect that they are using it in some fashion. Think about this...

According to the video, the whole baby issue came up when the uncle's "grand niece" said something. She was being teased at school and said, "You better watchout, my uncle has a dead baby at home."

Are they using the baby as a macabre disciplinary tool? A fear mechanism to bring family children in order? Based on what the grand niece said, there ought to be some interviews with that little girl to find out how she knew about that baby...what was said about it.

Just thinking...sphew...

So what do you all think, what mentality keeps people hanging on to such as this? I didn't hear love in the interview, I heard possession (woah, is that a double entendre?)

W

i think your right. it sounds like some sort of fear mechanism to me. whatever it is definately weird.strange people is all i have to say

 

[Wrinkles]

Hiya hicpics,

You wrote:
>>strange people is all i have to say<<

I can certainly agree that I think their behavior in this thing is VERY strange! I can't even begin to understand it!

W

 

[hicpics]

Hiya hicpics,

You wrote:
>>strange people is all i have to say<<

I can certainly agree that I think their behavior in this thing is VERY strange! I can't even begin to understand it!

W

hi wrinkles
nice to meet you.
its just a very odd story. its got me stumped. Its just not normal behavior to want to keep a dead mummified baby around and pass it down generation to generation.

 

[Lizzie's Mom]

What an odd family tradition. I wonder if they saved and are 'handing down' little Henry's foreskin and Aunt Nellie's amputated hammertoe? And, any other bodies or body parts?

 

[Seahorseladydi]

the first thing i thought when i read the article is bury the poor baby. Its really disgusting how they want to pass the body down in the family. its totally disrespectful to the baby.

I totally agree with you! Bury the poor thing! :slap:

 

[Dena]

This is sick, I completely agree, a baby is NOT grandma's china! They don't even know about the baby, who he was. He is a part of "folklore" in the family. This is just weird and that baby needs to be put to rest.

 

[sherri79]

A judge has ordered a New Hampshire man to put an unusual family heirloom to rest.

Probate Judge Richard Hampe told the Concord Monitor newspaper that a mummified baby passed down for 90 years through Charles Peavey's family must be buried because there is no DNA evidence proving kinship.

Peavey said his family is disappointed, but will not appeal the decision. <TABLE class=storyAd cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100&#37;" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=storyAdObj>

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

Authorities became aware of the mummified infant, known in Peavey's family as "Baby John," in April 2006 after Peavey's niece told day care staff her uncle kept a dead baby in his home. Peavey had kept Baby John on a bureau in his home.

Authorities confiscated the mummy, which Peavey's family believes to be a relative's stillborn child. Relatives and friends treated the mummy as a part of the family, giving it cards during holidays and even a dried pet fish.

"I've never treated him like a joke. No weirdness was going on," Peavey said. http://www.news4jax.com/news/14160416/detail.html
==================

ok i added the bold. just wanted to ask if the guy has any idea what the word weird actually means?

 

[sherri79]

http://www.wmur.com/news/15628847/detail.html
CONCORD, N.H. -- A mummified baby that a family held onto for decades, believing it was a long-lost relative, was buried Tuesday, but the family said they didn't get the closure they hoped for because by the time they arrived at the cemetery, it was already buried.

 

[Amraann]

A judge has ordered a New Hampshire man to put an unusual family heirloom to rest.

Probate Judge Richard Hampe told the Concord Monitor newspaper that a mummified baby passed down for 90 years through Charles Peavey's family must be buried because there is no DNA evidence proving kinship.

Peavey said his family is disappointed, but will not appeal the decision. <table class="storyAd" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td class="storyAdObj">

</td></tr></tbody></table>

Authorities became aware of the mummified infant, known in Peavey's family as "Baby John," in April 2006 after Peavey's niece told day care staff her uncle kept a dead baby in his home. Peavey had kept Baby John on a bureau in his home.

Authorities confiscated the mummy, which Peavey's family believes to be a relative's stillborn child. Relatives and friends treated the mummy as a part of the family, giving it cards during holidays and even a dried pet fish.

"I've never treated him like a joke. No weirdness was going on," Peavey said. http://www.news4jax.com/news/14160416/detail.html
==================

ok i added the bold. just wanted to ask if the guy has any idea what the word weird actually means?

Lets see .. Keeping a corpse on your dresser, giving it cards and pet dried fish and NO weirdness was going on?????
WTF??
Please someone give the entire family a Psych evaluation right now!!!!

 

[GlitchWizard]

There is something twisted about this story, in my estimation. If they want to keep the babies ashes, okay, cremation is an alternative....
W

What is the difference between keeping ashes and keeping a mummy?

(I am being totally serious, here.)

People hack up dead animals, give them fake eyes and mount them on the walls as decorations... call them trophies... They bury their babies in the ground to rot for a few hundred years until a land developer removes them from their place to build a condo - then what happens to them? They pay to intern their babies into a mosuleum, only to find the body was actually dumped and the coffin resold.

There are far weirder things than keeping a mummy. Museums are filled with them.

If I were the baby, I'd sure prefer to get cards and presents than to be forgotten. That's me, though.

 

[Mira]

snip What is the difference between keeping ashes and keeping a mummy?

(I am being totally serious, here.

i have to agree. but then, my best male friend (ex bf) says that this song is his anthem for life LOL we used to dance to this a LOT


Joe Diffie, Prop Me Up Beside The Jukebox Lyrics

Well I ain't afraid of dyin', it's the thought of being dead
I wanna go on being me once my eulogy's been read
Don't spread my ashes out to sea, don't lay me down to rest
You can put my mind at ease if you fulfill my last request

Prop me up beside the jukebox if I die
Lord, I wanna go to heaven but I don't wanna go tonight
Fill my boots up with sand, put a stiff drink in my hand
Prop me up beside the jukebox if I die

Just let my headstone be a neon sign
Let it burn in mem'ry of all of my good times
Fix me up with a manequin, just remember I like blondes
I'll be the life of the party even when I'm dead and gone

Prop me up beside the jukebox if I die
Lord, I wanna go to heaven but I don't wanna go tonight
Fill my boots up with sand, put a stiff drink in my hand
Prop me up beside the jukebox if I die

Just make your next selection and while your still in line
You can pay you last respects one quarter at a time

Prop me up beside the jukebox if I die
Lord, I wanna go to heaven but I don't wanna go tonight
Fill my boots up with sand, put a stiff drink in my hand
Prop me up beside the jukebox if I die

Oh, prop me up beside the jukebox if I die

if ya wanna hear it, http://www.geocities.com/pianoladynancy_wavs225/JoeDiffie_PropMeUpBesideTheJukebox.wav

 

[sherri79]

What is the difference between keeping ashes and keeping a mummy?

(I am being totally serious, here.)

People hack up dead animals, give them fake eyes and mount them on the walls as decorations... call them trophies... They bury their babies in the ground to rot for a few hundred years until a land developer removes them from their place to build a condo - then what happens to them? They pay to intern their babies into a mosuleum, only to find the body was actually dumped and the coffin resold.

There are far weirder things than keeping a mummy. Museums are filled with them.

If I were the baby, I'd sure prefer to get cards and presents than to be forgotten. That's me, though.

i will try to explain the diffrence but may be unable to since i dumped my baby in the ground to rot. first it is a public health issue. a dead body rotting in your house is not healthy, even a small dead body. there is also the matter of respect. yes i know we take the skin and bone of dead animals to hang on our wall as a trophy. it is disrespectful to the animal and sorta gross but we do it. i wont debate if we should use dead animals for decoration but i will argue we should not use dead children as decoration. if this family wanted to be close to the baby they had kept around so long as anything other than a novilty they could have asked that it was cremated. speaking for myself the fact i buried my child does not mean i forgot it. i still send flowers regularly and visit the grave. not a day passes i do not remember my child despite the fact i did not place his body on a shelf and pass it around to the next lucky family member. had this child been placed in a small coffin and kept on the shelf i would think the family a bit odd maybe but not sick. to prop a corpse up on a shelf and give it a dead fish as a pet is sick no matter the age of the dead. have we realy come to devalue the life of a child so much that if a family wants to treat the body as a ornament we see that as ok? i guess the answer is yes if i was to go by what is seen in the crime forums daily.

 

[Amraann]

I must agree with Sherri here on soooo many levels!

I think my larger concern is the emotional health of the children being exposed to these people?
The little girl using the "dead baby" as a threat to a classmate??
Ummm this is not the comments of someone being raised in a healthy environment.

I still contend there is waaay more going on with these people.
I am sorry glitch but normal non-mentally ill people do not keep mummified baby corpses on their dressers and give it gifts.

 

[imthemom]

i will try to explain the diffrence but may be unable to since i dumped my baby in the ground to rot. first it is a public health issue. a dead body rotting in your house is not healthy, even a small dead body. there is also the matter of respect. yes i know we take the skin and bone of dead animals to hang on our wall as a trophy. it is disrespectful to the animal and sorta gross but we do it. i wont debate if we should use dead animals for decoration but i will argue we should not use dead children as decoration. if this family wanted to be close to the baby they had kept around so long as anything other than a novilty they could have asked that it was cremated. speaking for myself the fact i buried my child does not mean i forgot it. i still send flowers regularly and visit the grave. not a day passes i do not remember my child despite the fact i did not place his body on a shelf and pass it around to the next lucky family member. had this child been placed in a small coffin and kept on the shelf i would think the family a bit odd maybe but not sick. to prop a corpse up on a shelf and give it a dead fish as a pet is sick no matter the age of the dead. have we realy come to devalue the life of a child so much that if a family wants to treat the body as a ornament we see that as ok? i guess the answer is yes if i was to go by what is seen in the crime forums daily.

I totally understand what you are saying Sherri, I am sorry for your loss. I do think this family is very odd but I do think they had the right to do with the body what they wanted if he truly was their relative. In Mexico they put the bodies in toombs and they come back every year and go in and place flowers with the body. It is left in the open. There are different cultures for different people. Egyptian mummies are on display in lots of museums. We have a museum here in Illinois called Dixon Mounds. It used to have Native American bones you could look at but the Native people were not happy about this and fought to have them buried, which was done. I really think it depends on your beliefs.