Or, so the story goes. Nobody really knows where Wright’s remains ended up, and the dispute over his whereabouts has, to this day, a sort of cult following. The consensus is that the remains ended up in Arizona, but so far as I know, it's never been dispositively settled.
There are three cemeteries in Mississippi that claim to have the remains of Robert Johnson, the great bluesman alleged to have sold his soul to the devil at a delta crossroads. When he died at age 27 of unknown causes, he may have been buried in an unmarked grave at a church near to the place where he died.
Or, maybe not. According to American Heritage magazine, "People have claimed to have located his grave, and three stone markers have been planted in three different cemeteries."
Interesting, no? In the modern era, when we keep records about everything, lest public servants have nothing to do, the remains of three prominent men, each with fanatical admirers and fierce detractors, simply vanished. In the case of Wright and Johnson, there is probably some skullduggery involved - and in the case of Paine, neglect and indifference.
How much more difficult must it be, then, to discern the truth about Jesus? There was surely no shortage of underhanded and neglectful characters in Jesus' day, too, and cynical publicists and opportunists all too eager to peddle an interesting tale, and family who wished for him to rest peacefully. The fight for control of his remains, and the storyline, must have been titanic, rivaling even the battle for Anna Nicole Smith's remains.
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