BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Two mummified bodies found in an abandoned, burned-out mortuary have a story as eerie as Halloween: They were known as Pap and Molly, and legend had it that they stabbed each other to death in the 1930s.
A passer-by spotted the corpses this week in the remains of the Shortridge Funeral Home, reviving memories of the mummies for longtime residents who had seen them at the mortuary decades ago.
Police summoned to the scene Wednesday night initially checked to see if foul play was involved. After roping off the area and waiting for daylight, they removed a coffin containing both bodies and decided no recent crime had occurred.
Residents in the west Birmingham neighborhood said Pap and Molly were understood to be a husband and wife who supposedly stabbed each other to death during a drunken fight in the 1930s. No one claimed their bodies.