North Carolina man fights to keep human leg found in smoker
MAIDEN, NC (NBC) - A custody battle has erupted over a North Carolina man's amputated leg.
Shannon Whisnant found the leg in a barbecue smoker he bought at an auction. He's turned that smoker into a tourist attraction, and is trying to get the leg back.
The battle is over just who owns that leg and what will happen to it - whether it will be kept for posterity or used to make money.
The smoker is in a storage shed in Maiden, North Carolina, where Whisnant now charges $3 a peek for adults and $1 for kids.
Opening that smoker has opened a can of worms about the severed human leg found inside.
"It's mine, I want it back, have a receipt," Whisnant says.
John Wood, who lost his leg in a plane crash, plans to get it back so he can eventually be buried with it.
Whisnant says that's led to negotiations for the leg.
"We can do sort of like a split-custody of it," he said.
He admits the leg made him sick when he touched it, and he still gets sick when he thinks about it, but now he hopes it can make him money.
"My phone hasn't stopped ringing for five minutes," he said.
Whisnant says about nine people have already paid to see the smoker.
He hopes to reach a deal with Wood later this week.
If not, he plans to invoke "finders-keepers" for Wood's leg - and says if Wood cared, he wouldn't have left it there.
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