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Hand by Starke

Let’s say that your family has some heirlooms. You know, antique furniture, old jewelry, mummified hands, that sort of thing. What do you do with a mummified hand that’s been in your family for years?

In this case, the hand was given to a museum, and its staff informed the police. Maybe the hand had been chopped off illegally! Now note the bad puns from both the reporter and the police in this Reuters story.

SALMON, Idaho, Sep. 27, 2011 — Police in Idaho Falls said they have closed an investigation into the origins of a mummified hand after learning it dates back 700 to 1,000 years. 

The dismembered limb was handed over to the Museum of Idaho in Idaho Falls more than a year ago by a patron who told officials it had been in the family for years. Unable to link the limb to criminal activity, Idaho Falls officers submitted it to antiquities experts, police spokeswoman Joelyn Hansen said. 

A finding by a physical anthropologist showed the hand spanned between the 11th and 14th centuries, Hansen said. 

"It's out of the reach of our jurisdiction," she said. 

The limb will likely be offered to the Indian tribes of Utah now that police have a grip on its origins. 

"We're leaving it in someone else's hands," Hansen said.