Associated Press
SALEM, Ore. — A carpenter’s apprentice who tried to sell the rights to his mummified body on an Internet auction site says he wanted to raise money for his unborn child’s future.
James Olheiser posted the offer on eBay on Thursday, only to have company officials pull the item within 15 hours. The San Jose-based company said it violated guidelines that prohibit the listing of human bodies or body parts on the site.
EBay has removed offers for many unusual items — including a serial killer’s fingernail clippings and a human kidney — but company spokeswoman Jamie Patricio says she has "never heard of anything like that before."
Olheiser, 24, offered the rights to display his mummified corpse for $250,000, which would include the cost of mummification. Under his proposal, the mummified remains would become part of a public or private collection.
The contract would be void if Olheiser met with an untimely death — particularly because a doctor recently told him he was in perfect health, he said.
"I figured it would be some weird millionaire who would pay $250,000," said Olheiser, whose wife Danielle is expecting a daughter in May.
The couple hoped to use the money to pay bills and fund their daughter’s college education.
"I think it’d be amazing," said Danielle Olheiser, 19. "We could put little Penny Lane through college and never have to worry about that kind of thing again."
Olheiser said he got the idea from watching a television special on mummification and talking with friends about Internet auctions.
Now that eBay has nixed Olheiser’s idea, he’s not sure what he’ll do next.
"Maybe I can find some other auction site," he said.
Copyright ©2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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