Two metre giant left to rest in pieces

ALLENDALE – James Hines was a giant – a two-metre 136-kilogram preacher and funk musician so big that after he died in 2004, a macabre rumour began circulating in this small town that the undertaker had to cut off his legs to fit him in the coffin.

This week, after years of whispers, Hines’ body was exhumed, and the gruesome story appeared to be all too true.
The coroner’s office said only that it had found ‘undesirable evidence,’ and a criminal investigation has been opened. But Hines’ widow said investigators told her that his legs had been cut off between the ankle and calf, and his feet had been placed inside the casket.
‘It’s just like pulling the scab off an old sore. I was kind of like smoothing things out. But now it’s like starting all over again,’ Ann Hines said on Thursday, two days after investigators pulled the casket from the ground, lifted the lid, photographed the contents and returned it to the earth, all without leaving the graveyard.
– Nampa-AP