9. McCurdy’s Corpse Became a Sideshow Attraction After Death
After Elmer McCurdy’s death in 1911, he was sent to an undertaker who embalmed him and then dressed him up. However, the undertaker felt McCurdy looked too fancy all dressed up. Therefore, the Undertaker propper him up in a corner and charged people a nickel to see McCurdy. The Undertaker then named this attraction, “The Bandit Who Wouldn’t Give Up.” However, instead of handing the Undertaker the nickel, viewers would drop the coin in McCurdy’s mouth. An interesting side note to this is the Undertaker did eventually collect the coins from McCurdy.
Without a next of kin coming to claim McCurdy, he continued to collect nickels for the funeral home. Even when carnival promoters came in to try to buy McCurdy, the Undertaker refused. After all, McCurdy was creating a steady income for the funeral home. However, this changed in 1915 when two men claimed McCurdy was their brother. Unfortunately, these two men were carnival promoters. They brought McCurdy to Texas and exhibited him as “The Bandit Who Wouldn’t Give Up.” After this, McCurdy showed up in a variety of places, such as an amusement park near Mt. Rushmore.