# Mystery xx **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** books-writing-myths\ **Created:** [November 20, 2020, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-xx/926057 "2020-11-20T16:55:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-xx/926057/1 "2020-11-20T16:55:01Z")
Read this one in the '90s. The cider barrel on tap in a British pub seems to have run dry, despite not having been on tap very long and still weighing far more than an empty barrel should weigh. When it is opened, a body is found inside. The body turns out to be a Yank airman or soldier who had disappeared during WW II. (Not sure how many years after the war this is set; I think maybe in the '50s.) The Yank had had some connexion the daughter of the farmer who had made the cider in that barrel. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-xx/926057/2 "2020-11-20T18:01:43Z")
The _Body in the Barrel_ is a hoary old urban legend. You can find it in Jan Harold Brunvand’s books, and the Paradox Press _Big Book of Urban Legends_. Usually it’s the body of a famous person being transported by ship – i don’t think I’ve heard the variation of the Yank in the Cider Barel before, but it’s basically the same story. Don’t bother looking for it in the papers – it almost certainly ain’t true. > **[Body Found in Barrel](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/bier-barrel/)** > > Imbibers drink the liquor from a barrel used to preserve a dead body. > **[The WIne Barrel | Urban Legend | Scary For Kids](https://www.scaryforkids.com/wine-barrel/)** > > The Wine Barrel is an urban myth about something horrible found floating in a cask of alcohol. There are quite a few variations on this story. There was a married couple in Scotland who inherited an old castle when the husband’s gradfather died.... > **[Sucking the monkey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sucking_the_monkey)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > In the Royal Navy, sucking the monkey, bleeding the monkey, or tapping the admiral was the practice of sucking liquor from a cask through a straw. This usually involved making a small hole with a gimlet in a keg or barrel and using a straw to suck out the contents. It was known for people to die from alcohol poisoning by this practice. > Admiral Horatio Nelson was killed in the Battle of Trafalgar by a French sniper while topside his ship, HMS Vic... Although NBC News reported something similar as an actual news story. I suspect they were just taken in, though > **[Pickled corpse tumbles out of rum barrel](https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna12631404)** > > Hungarians who drank their way to the bottom of a huge barrel of rum got a nasty surprise when a pickled corpse tumbled out of the empty barrel, a police magazine Web site reported. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-xx/926057/3 "2020-11-20T18:04:59Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > The _Body in the Barrel_ is a hoary old urban legend. Nothing to do with the book I’m looking for. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-xx/926057/4 "2020-11-20T18:06:50Z")
Sounds like the book is based on the legend, though. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-xx/926057/5 "2020-11-20T18:23:48Z")
Could well be, but it was a good book and I want to read it again. I was actually going to ask about a different book (also a mystery), but I happened to think of this one as I was starting to type the OP and now I can’t remember what the other one was. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-xx/926057/6 "2020-11-20T18:38:17Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > I was actually going to ask about a different book (also a mystery), but I happened to think of this one as I was starting to type the OP and now I can’t remember what the other one was. ☹ I apologize if I derailed your Train of Thought. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-xx/926057/7 "2020-11-20T18:54:55Z")
Not your fault - it was already derailed by the time I finished typing the OP. It will come back to me later. When I’m nowhere near the computer, no doubt. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2020, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mystery-xx/926057/8 "2020-11-22T05:25:03Z")
Aha – I have remembered what the other mysterious mystery was! Read this one in the late '90s or early '00s. Skeletal remains are found buried in a field in Maryland(?). The skull is turned over to a forensic sculptor, who applies strips of clay in the right amounts in the right places to re-create the man’s face. After finishing, she steps back to look at her work – and discovers that she has just completed a bust of JFK. The rest of the book, involves running from the bad guys whilst trying to figure out how JFK got buried in somebody’s field…