Oh, come on, editor!
Surely you didn't believe that AP story you published on Page A14 of the Dec. 9 Deseret News about the missing Moldovan granny. I mean the one about the grandmother's corpse wrapped in a rug and strapped to the roof of the car, then stolen while the surviving relatives are in a restaurant.This is nothing but the old "Runaway Grandmother" urban legend that has been told worldwide for decades.
The article mentions that a local daily named the Observator reported the story, but that doesn't make it true. Probably an AP writer picked it up and sent it on its merry way without checking, and I suppose many newspapers should not be faulted for printing what the AP sent them.
But, please, not the Deseret News. After all, you published my column on "The Runaway Grandmother" back on April 24, 1987, complete with a funny cartoon by Craig Holyoak and a top-of-page-one teaser that read: "Grandma's fit to be tied -- to the luggage rack!"
Jan Harold Brunvand
Salt Lake City