The Boy Who Loved Hearses

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John Keel's passion was cars; and the cars he loved above all others were hearses. He adored them. He studied them. He was enamored with the remarkable craftsmanship that went into making one of these oft-neglected pieces of automotive Americana. And by the time John was fifteen he was considered by many members of The Professional Car Society (a group dedicated to the restoration and preservation of vintage hearses) to be North America's greatest expert on hearses. By age sixteen John had memorized the entire catalog of every U.S.-made hearse ever built and had begun working on a comprehensive history of the American hearse. By the age of eighteen John Keel was dead, the cause of his death still a mystery.