Fact #117303

Harry Nilsson : He was killed by a handgun by the police in one of those incidents. I got this phone call, went down to the jail where they were keeping his girlfriend as a material witness or something, asking her questions. I got her out and then they said, "What do you want done with the body?" And his folks lived in England someplace, I didn't know how to reach them, so I said "Well, burn it "So they got the ashes and they have these different kinds of boxes … cardboard boxes, tin boxes, brass boxes and gold boxes with diamonds. I said, "So how are you going to send him back to England?" And they said, "Well, we've got this nice little paper bag here. " And I said, "No, no, no, that's nice. I'll go for the brass, it's not too ostentatious." At the time, there was this rash of ghoulery. There were these professional modem day ghouls who used to steal the remains of the deceased or something, and if they feel a heavy one, they know it's either brass, gold or lead. And they used to steal them.

So what happened was that I mailed him to his parents and I get a call a week later from Neil Aspinall at Apple who says, "Harry, where's Mal?" I said, "I sent him, Neil. He's in the mail." So he says, "C'mon man. They're starting to give me some pressure from over here." So I said, "Look, I'll put a tracer on him."

So I called Forest Lawn. "Where's my friend?" And they said, "Well, we've had these ghouls running around." And I said, "You've got to be kidding! You mean you've lost my friend?"

It turns out that he did turn up, and you'll never guess where... the dead letter office. I swear to you. It sounds bizarre but that's what happened. Eventually we sent it on to his folks who, by the way, before spilling his ashes in the ground near the Thames, the wind came up and blew them into the water so now he's lost in the Thames someplace up there saying hello to Keith (Moon) and John.