# Body in a barrel **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 17, 2006, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-in-a-barrel/376787 "2006-10-17T15:58:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-in-a-barrel/376787/1 "2006-10-17T15:58:00Z")
A few months ago, I heard news reports that a steel drum was found in a swamp or drained lake, and a body was inside. There was suspicions that the body was that of a newscaster who went missing ten years earlier. Trying to Google the story, all I get are urban myths of a body in a cask of brandy or somesuch. Any updates? ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-in-a-barrel/376787/2 "2006-10-17T16:18:41Z")
Googling “dead body steel drum found” turned up a few such cases, but none as recent as you seem to suggest: [A San Diego woman whose body was found in a steel drum in 2002](http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/1503098/detail.html) [A body found in a steel drum in a ravine in Marlboro, NJ, also in 2002](http://www.visitmonmouth.com/01190_prosecutor/crime.htm) [A body found in a steel drum buried under a house on Long Island in 1999](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9C02E3D6113DF930A2575AC0A96F958260) All very grisly, but none apparently the incident you were thinking of. ---
**Author:** ![Sonia\_Montdore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Sonia\_Montdore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sonia_Montdore)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-in-a-barrel/376787/3 "2006-10-17T19:59:03Z")
[QUOTE=Enola Straight] Trying to Google the story, all I get are urban myths of a body in a cask of brandy or somesuch. [/QUOTE] Not all the stories are myths. When Admiral Nelson was killed at Trafalgar, his body was placed in a cask of either rum or brandy (I forget which) and shipped home to England. The sailors who removed the body from the cask and placed it in a coffin are said to have drunk the rum/brandy. One of Queen Victoria’s sons-in-law, Prince Henry of Battenberg, died of disease in Africa while on a military campaign and was likewise shipped back to England in a barrel of booze. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-in-a-barrel/376787/4 "2006-10-17T20:56:14Z")
My dad or my husband…I forget which…recounted a story about someone who was cut into pieces, stuck in a barrel, and floated down the Chicago River a looong time ago. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-in-a-barrel/376787/5 "2006-10-17T21:10:04Z")
If you know the name of the missing newscaster than you might try the [websleuths](http://websleuths.com/forums/index.php?) boards. They have an entire forum dedicated to missing people. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2006, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-in-a-barrel/376787/6 "2006-10-17T21:15:34Z")
Warning though, the founder of that forum believes that Patsy Ramsey killed Jonbonet. Do not bother arguing the point. It is still a decent source of information for various missing persons cases, and they also have news and updates on various crimes. (With a lot of editorial comment that would get a person “Modslapped” here.)