From the AP via the Des Moines Register: Big Bopper died instantly in '59 crash
J.P. ''The Big Bopper'' Richardson suffered massive fractures and likely died immediately in the 1959 plane crash in Iowa that also killed early rock 'n' rollers Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens, a forensic anthropologist said Tuesday after exhuming the body.
The performer's son, Jay Richardson, hired Dr. Bill Bass, a forensic anthropologist at the University of Tennessee, to look at the remains in Beaumont, Texas.
There have been rumors a gun might have been fired on board the plane and that the Big Bopper might have survived the crash and died trying to get help.
Bass took X-rays of the body and found nothing Tuesday to support those theories.
''There was no indication of foul play,'' Bass said in a telephone interview from Beaumont. ''There are fractures from head to toe. Massive fractures. ... (He) died immediately. He didn't crawl away. He didn't walk away from the plane.''
The rock 'n' roll stars' plane crashed after taking off from Mason City on Feb. 3, 1959 — a tragedy memorialized as ''the day the music died'' in Don McLean's song ''American Pie.''
Jay Richardson, who performs in tribute shows as ''The Big Bopper Jr.,'' didn't know his father, who gained fame with the hit ''Chantilly Lace.'' His mother was pregnant with him when his father died.
The Civil Aeronautics Board determined pilot error was the cause of the crash. A gun that belonged to Holly was found at the crash site, fueling rumors that the pilot was shot, but no one has ever proved a gun was fired during the flight.
Richardson watched Bass open the coffin on Tuesday and observed his examination. He said he was pleased with the findings because it proved the investigators ''knew what they were talking about 48 years ago.''
''I was hoping to put the rumors to rest,'' he said.
Bass and Richardson were surprised to find the body preserved enough to be recognizable.
''Dad still amazes me 48 years after his death, that he was in remarkable shape,'' Richardson said. ''I surprised myself. I handled it better than I thought I would.''
Well..isn't that macabre?
It is amazing the lengths people have to go to put down these sorts of rumors and conspiracy theories. Maybe people who were very emotionally invested in these people (families and fans) just don't want to accept the arbitrariness of such an ending. If there was something "more to the story" maybe it gives it some sort of meaning, although, probably a false one.
It reminds me of a line in a Graham Parker song (one that mentions the Big Bopper, and maybe not coincidentally)
The clock just keeps ticking
as if you're not there, man.
It either drags you down,
or it lifts you.
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