Emmett Till's Original Casket Found

In the midst of a major scandal at the Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois (about 20 miles southwest of Chicago), police discovered the original casket of Emmett Till. Police were at the cemetery because cemetery workers had dug up at least 300 old graves, dumped the bodies in a mass grave in the back, and then resold the plots to unsuspecting families.

Emmett Till, a 14-year-old boy who had been murdered in Mississippi after whistling to a white woman, died in 1955. The story of Emmett Till's murder and a picture of him in a glass-covered casket was shown around the U.S. and helped spur the civil rights movement

In 2005, Till's body was exhumed in the hopes of finding more evidence in the murder investigation. Afterwards, he was reburied, apparently as is customary, in a new coffin. The old coffin, however, was supposed to be used for a memorial for Till. Instead, police officers found the old casket in an old shed, with a family of possums in it. Also, the money donated for the memorial for Till was allegedly taken by one of the cemetery workers. For more about the condition and circumstances of finding Emmett Till's coffin, please read the Chicago Sun Times article.