Shannon Whisnant was in the documentary Finders Keepers recently. Theres an appreciation, but theres not a lot of love there. Shannon served on the board of directors of the American Irish Foundation. With no way to store theleg, Wood first refrigerated it at a local Hardee's before saving it through his own mummification techniques. John did the only natural thing. "It's. He was a nobody in town, he said in a phone interview, because as a child, he was never invited to Mr. Woods house. Sidebar: Is there another term, in the film world, except footage? Mr. Wood asked during a recent interview alongside his directors in New York. Its Woods left leg that gets amputated; Whisnant walks with a limp, due to a mysterious left leg injury. When he got evicted, it went into his grill in his storage unit. As for the leg itself,Wood moved it from the bottom of a golf bag and into his closet before finally encasing it in epoxy as a memorial to his father, fulfilling Wood's initial intentions ofkeeping the leg. And John was the co-pilot that day, kind of took home some guilt from that, even if it wasn't his fault. Inside the smoker, a mummified human foot. Eight years ago, a man named Shannon Whisnant found an amputated human foot in a barbecue smoker he'd purchased from a storage locker in Maiden, North Carolina. 82 minutes. He deals in kind of found goods and trying to resell them for a profit and he is always looking for a way to turn a buck. He really likes it. But thats all prologue, in a sense. Mr. Wood described Mr. Whisnant as my Antichrist. Mr. Whisnant sometimes appeared jealous and disdainful of the foe he called the one-legged man. And yet, eight years in, their fortunes are inextricably linked. I think what happened was, he saw that the local media took to the story so quickly, and it gave him this kind of sense of fame and sort of energy around being on camera that he so longed for. So much so that the 2015 documentary, directed by Bryan Carberry and Clay Tweel, actually feels like a companion piece. His addictions have never gone away, and hes become estranged from his family. Concertgoer Allegedly Orgasms While L.A. Philharmonic Plays Tchaikovskys 5th, Melanie Lynskey, Seth Meyers, and More Support WGA Amid Negotiations. Eventually, they decided to appear on the show Judge Mathis, to once and for all decide the legs fate. Junk dealer Shannon Whisnant, is the, er, lucky guy who found Woods appendage, in 2007, rolled up in a length of window screen like a taquito, after winning the contents of Woods storage locker at auction when Wood fell into arrears on his rental payments. After taking it home, he opened the grill to find a macabre surprise in the form of a crudely mummified human foot. Say no more. They put it in their freezer until the manager found it. Cunningham sniffed the makings of a good story, so he flew to Wood and Whisnants town of Maiden, North Carolina, to start poking around. John Wood, center. Its also a class story: Wood, the son of a furniture company exec, grew up on an estate in Maiden, with a roller rink in the basement and a go-cart track. Whisnat charged people to see the leg in person, referring to himself as the "Foot Man" and selling shirts to further his brand. In 82 svelte minutes,Finders Keepersencapsulates something ineffable about the modern American experience. With the help of his friends, family, and Warner Bros.,he's managed to get himself on the straight and narrow. Carberry: John Wood was kind of the rich kid of this small town. He was coauthor of The Truman Merry-Go-Round (1950) and published many articles.[4]. The two men grew up in the same town, on opposite sides of the class divide. While the documentarians told Vogue in 2015 that generally speaking both Wood and Whisnant were happy with the doc, with Whisnants only complaint being that it was too short and he wasnt in it enough, larger than life Whisnant was less circumspect talking to the In The Mouth Of Dorkness Podcast. John says hes watched it a bunch and he tears up at a different spot every time. Shannon 'Footman' Whisnant Interview (Episode 36) : Ad Nauseam Podcast : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive In this wonderful episode we get to interview the Footman himself. And so does Wood. The latest fashion news, beauty coverage, celebrity style, fashion week updates, culture reviews, and videos on Vogue.com. So that is this bizarre evolution of the cosmic connection between these two guys, that possibly the Foot Man, as he calls himself, might have to have his leg amputated. Thankfully, Bryan Carberry and Clay Tweels documentary Finders Keepers has answers to all those questions. Article ImagePrior to the events of Finders Keepers, John Wood lived a fairly ordinary, albeit troubled, life in North Carolina. Ever watchful for an opportunity to gain fame and make a quick buck, Whisnant tried to parlay his find into a tourist attraction, charging three bucks for a peek at the leathery limb; he even had t-shirts and other merchandise made, dubbing himself The Foot Man. But go figure, the foot did indeed belong to someone: John Wood, who had lost it after a plane crash in 2004 that also took the life of his father. They didnt deride it as being about two rednecks fighting over a leg. Read on for more thoughts from Carberry and Tweel about John Wood, Shannon Whisnant, and the path to Finders Keepers. Barnum route instead, charging local curiosity-seekers for lookie-loos ($3 for adults, $1 for children), selling Foot Man t-shirts, and stoking the national media attention for all it was worth. Arrangements: Munden F.H., Morehead City. R.At Landmark's Bethesda Row Cinema. When Wood drives to Maiden to reclaim the leg theres a problem. The documentary by Brian Carberry and J. Clay Tweel leaves no stone unturned, thanks largely to Wood and Whisnant, who are only too happy to revisit the details of the bizarre and twisting saga, which involves small claims court, the television shows "Judge Mathis" and "Dukes of Haggle" and Whisnant's ongoing attempt to monetize his reputation as the "Foot Man," as he has come to be known (and as the T-shirts he once sold proclaim). Oscars Best Picture Winners Best Picture Winners Emmys Women's History Month STARmeter Awards San Diego Comic-Con New York Comic-Con Sundance Film Festival Toronto Int'l Film Festival Awards Central Festival Central All Events Always Sunny to Talking Sopranos: The Best TV Rewatch Podcasts Hosted By Cast & Creators, The Star Trek Story Bridging the Gaps Between Deep Space Nine and Picard, Taskmaster and The Underrated Comic Genius of Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Finders Keepers: The Spiritual Sister Documentary to Tiger King. It was tied so much into this tragedy, and getting past Johns fathers passing. Menu. In their hands, this is much more than a stranger-than-fiction yarn about a severed leg. I'm sure y'all figured that out by now. It kind of breaks the stereotypes that are thrown around in pop culture for Southern rednecks. When Wood failed to make payments on the rented space, Whisnant swooped in at auction and got it. Wood felt that Whisnant was exploiting his leg asa "freak show,"and that regardless of whether it was still attached to him, he should have control over what happensto his own body. And as hilarious graphics follow the limbs bizarre journey from funeral home to Hardees drive-through, from embalmer to possum tree (dont ask), those feelings push insistently against the desire to mock. We want to hear it. A part of me just died. Shannon Whisnant always craved the limelight. He and Lisa are still together but certainly having some rough patches. All the essentials: top fashion stories, editors picks, and celebrity style. The Den of Geek quarterly magazine is packed with exclusive features, interviews, previews and deep dives into geek culture. If you're looking for an extremely disturbing documentary film, you'll find it on these lists! So that was nice. If part of the story is this guys search for fame, and desire for fame, thats the story, said Mr. Berlinger, who tread similar tonal and thematic ground with the 1992 film Brothers Keeper. When you go in the editing room, you have to make a great effort to be fair to your subject and fair to your material, whatever that is, he added. As Finders Keepers gets weirder, it also gets better and deeper. When his power got cut off, he even took it to a friend who worked at a Hardees. According to the directors of Finders Keepers, Wood has stayed clean and he's married. There was a ton of great footage, hysterical footage, that they didnt use, of me.. Select this result to view Jessica Shannon Whisnant's phone number, address, and more. He lost it because, in the throes of addiction, he couldnt keep up on his storage unit payments. Shannon saw it. It helps to understand the way Whisnant thinks when we learn that he announced last year that he was running for president. Mike Shannon, the St. Louis native who became the voice of his hometown team for 50 years, has died. Judge Mathis called me the Rasputin of the South, he said. Did it have the same effect on either of you?BC: I can remember when I first saw some of Eds early footage, when Katy [the amateur forensic veterinarian who eventually preserves the leg] is holding it in her hands without any gloves, I got nauseous that day. The foot was once a symbol of his father, but gradually, it transforms into a symbol of how much Johns own life has spun out of control. Mr. Whisnant and Mr. Woods interaction made international headlines in 2007, and the two men aired their custody battle on an episode of Judge Mathis that was wild even for reality TV. It was very one-sided and only 10 percent of actually, really what happened, he said. He also began petitioning the police to return the leg to him. At this point, it would be. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. Afterward, Mr. Wood spiraled into drug and alcohol addiction. The deeper we get into the background of the story and its characters, we witness a struggle for fame, forgiveness and family. He was an associate fellow of Yale University's Morse College from 1966, and in 196162 was fellow-in-residence at the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions in Santa Barbara, California. Hes fallen on hard times. What If a Whole Stand-up Special Were About Peanut Butter? Now hold on, youre saying. The rest winds thoughtfully through family history, class, and the twin perils and enticements of drugs and celebrity. Join Facebook to connect with Shannon Whisnant and others you may know. Finders Keepers could have easily veered into Hicksploitation 101, scoring laughs off the quirks and delusions of a couple of rednecks fighting over a foot. Whisnant grew up poor, the kind of kid, he laments on camera, who would never have been invited over to the Wood house. From designing global go-to-market strategies for telehealth in the 2000s, to growing one of . I guess Im a nobody. The foot might be a branding opportunity for him, but its also, we realize, a cosmic righting of the scales. As you might imagine, what followed was a bizarre battle, a media frenzy and, now, a new documentary called Finders Keepers. CIA Director, Noam Chomsky Named in Epstein's Private Calendar: Report As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. They were even profiled on a show called Worlds Dumbest Hillbillies! But while the documentary certainly doesnt deny the gut-busting news-of-the-weird hook of this story one talking-head participant refers to the whole situation as fuckery and shenanigans its more interested in drawing connections between two sad characters who are haunted by distant or abusive fathers. 16 on a season of Worlds Dumbest Hillbillies) built the tension, and pinned the tabloid coverage as a villain. John is doing really well. Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, "William V. Shannon, 61, Envoy Under Carter and a Times Writer", "William V. Shannon Dies at 61; Author and Former Ambassador", "United States Ambassador to Ireland - Nomination of William V. Shannon", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=William_V._Shannon&oldid=1131812187, 20th-century American non-fiction writers, Ambassadors of the United States to Ireland, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 5 January 2023, at 21:53. Terms of Service apply. The Wood and Whisnant camps were by then leery of media attention, but the filmmakers pitch was, Were going to give each of you a voice behind this salacious headline, said Clay Tweel, the other director. I kind of love the idea of the intersection between the incredibly wacky and stupid with this much deeper meaning. There was definitely an awareness of what the media is capable of. Where did you find these actors?. His discovery turned him into a local celebrity; Whisnant had t-shirts . Welcome to your next obsession, Finders Keepers, a bizarre story of a legal battle over a severed human leg Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness has taken the locked down world by storm, inspiring a whirlwind of memes, at least one lawsuit, and even prompting Netflix to release a hastily put together Aftershow catching up with some of the main players after the series became a humungous hit. Tweel: Shannon is a kind of self-made man, an entrepreneur of sorts. Yet the hicks-at-loggerheads story that was propagated by a snickering news media (and that is grasped, sometimes uneasily, by the directors, Bryan Carberry and Clay Tweel) veils a deeper, more resonant tale of fathers and sons and wounded feelings. Rather than toss it in a dumpster as he was advised, Whisnant saw the dismembered limb as a sign of good fortune. Shannon Whisnant January 2, 1974 ~ November 12, 2016 (age 42) Service Details Guest Book / Condolences Send Flowers & Sympathy Gifts Photographs Obituary Service Details Shannon Whisnant, 42, of Stacy, originally of Hickory, NC, passed away Friday, November 11, 2016 at Carteret Health Care. They signed on, no restrictions. From the very early stages we had that in mindto not feel like we were exploiting them. Tweel: John has seen the film now many, many times. William Vincent Shannon (August 24, 1927 - September 27, 1988) was an American journalist, author, . In 1977, Shannon was appointed ambassador to Ireland by President Carter. Industry professionals are tweeting their support of guild members. Throughout the editorial process wed say, Is it too much on this side or too much on that side? After having spent so much time with these guys, and getting what theyre about, their personas, how they interacted with us and with their friends when we were around, being there to witness their Southern storytelling, and self-deprecation, the humor, the slight exaggerations here and there, that just rubbed off on how we told the story and portrayed them. His service will be announced later by the family. Done grossed me out.. Shannon Whisnant on IMDb: Movies, Tv, Celebrities, and more. Junk dealer Shannon Whisnant, is the, er, lucky guy who found Wood's appendage, in 2007, rolled up in a length of window screen like a taquito, after winning the contents of Wood's storage. Revealing its humanity slowly and a little tardily, Finders Keepers finally does justice to its dueling antiheroes, one addicted to attention and the other to multiple substances; one indulged and the other violently abused; one who finds himself and one who becomes increasingly lost. By Shannon Whisnant Dec 4, 2014 Experience Owner / President Self Employed Jan 2011 - Present12 years 1 month East Coast Working on 9 new reality shows and a movie always looking for good help. As Whisnant and Wood struggle over ownership of the limb, other issues come into play. Its not impossible that hes playing that up a little bit. His gruesome discovery became. Only one of the initial accounts, Mr. Carberry said, explained why Mr. Wood was an amputee: He lost his leg in a plane crash that killed his father. I just didnt want to pick it up. Mr. Whisnant had no such qualms, turning it and himself into a tourist attraction (They want to see it, and watch the cholesterol drip out of it) and denying Mr. Woods pleas to return his property, which had been severed in a plane crash. Were they both eager to participate in the documentary? Meanwhile, their unresolved conflict continues to bring them public notoriety, which is just fine for Whisnant; his goal in life is to be famous, and he seizes the chance to gab on about their feud on the radio, on TV talk shows, in front of news cameras. Well, it wasnt his leg, exactly, as he learned when his report made the local news and an amputee, John Wood, came forward to claim his former limb. Mike Dubberly got a chance to talk with former Alabama All-American Defensive Lineman and Co-Captain Shannon Brown, who's now the principal at Liberty Middle School in Madison, Alabama. And he actually broke his left leg, the leg that has the leg curse on it, a couple months ago, and then he tried to walk on it too soon and re-broke it. Ad Choices, Everything You Need to Know About the 2023 Met Gala, 47 Best Mothers Day Gifts to Give Mom This Year, Where to Watch the 2023 Met Gala Livestream. Wood, who has struggled with drug addiction, alcoholism and homelessness, is the films heart. They dont shy away. So it goes for a film that manages to make a grotesque and often bleak situation hilarious. Contains coarse language and images of a mummified leg. But Mr. Whisnant, a professed entrepreneur with a flair for promotion and a thirst for the spotlight, did not want to return it to Mr. Wood. View Shannon Whisnant results including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. But in the throes of addiction which began after the death of his father, Wood failed to keep up repayments on the storage unit and lost his leg as well as all of his other belongings. He attempted to home-embalm and mummify the leg, then left it in the smoker. Whisnant is a blue collar man who felt like a nobody because he was never invited to Woods house as a kid (whether this is meant metaphorically or literally is unclear). They decided to make a documentary. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. Its hard to get 400 hours of footage into 83 minutesfuck editors, they should be stoned to death.. But morally speaking, its Woods. The painful quest to win back his leg, and Whisnants dogged insistence on keeping it for himself, helped Wood get and stay sober. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - April 27, 2023 marked 12 years since the devastating tornado outbreak in Alabama. Both have tragic backstories (one is addicted to drugs the other addicted to fame) and their parallel paths lead to redemption, disillusionment and a plan to run for President in the 2016 US election. Finders Keepers is available to watch on Amazon. FILE - Mike Shannon waves as he is honored before the start of a baseball game between the St. Louis . But this shockingly funny, weirdly touching custody battle between John Wood, the aggrieved amputee, and Shannon Whisnant, the fast-talking entrepreneur who unwittingly bought the appendage in a . Case Details Parties Documents Dockets Case Details Case Number: Starring Shannon Whisnant and John Wood The Orchard Running Time: 82 minutes Release Date: October 2, 2015. They (oddly) agreed, and Wood, after attempting to store it in the refrigerator at a nearby Hardees, employed some makeshift preserving techniques to, as he said, mummify it.. Though Woodhas hadhis ups and downs, the events have helpedhim regain perspective. Like, actually nauseous. In 2007, a North Carolina man named Shannon Whisnant bought the contents of an abandoned storage unit at auction. But you did a really good job of not poking fun at them, even though we see other media people doing that. What made it feel like an important story to tell?Brayn Carberry: I saw this Handycam footage that Ed [Cunningham] had shot. The foot belonged to John Wood, a troubled addict from a wealthy background who lost it in the plane crash that killed his father. Whisnant initially gave it to police, who subsequently turned it over to a funeral home when it became clear it was not the result of foul play. A seventeen-member Board of Directors, elected by the membership, governs the NCPH with the active assistance of numerous committees which address administrative or policy issues, investigate and advise the organization on recent developments in the field, and support initiatives that enhance the practice of public history. CT: The fact that Katy was handling it with no gloves was a little crazy to me. View the profiles of professionals named "Shannon Whisnant" on LinkedIn. The main dispute between Wood and Whisnant, which is highlighted in Finders Keepers, isthat Wood didn't want to use his leg for publicity,while Whisnant wantedto make money off of the situation. Carberry: Shannon had two notes. He says he cries at a different part at almost every screening. Freevees new series will determine whos the greatest reality-TV contestant across. He wanted to keep the limb as a memento of sorts to his dad. In 2007, Shannon Whisnant, a bargain hunter from small-town Maiden, North Carolina, picked up a BBQ smoker at auction. Have you followed up with them since filming ended? Did the leg rightfully belong to its original owner, or to the man who had inadvertently paid good money for it? View the profiles of people named Shannon Whisnant. Meanwhile Woods addiction destroys his life utterly, leaving him estranged from his family and completely destitute. When he found the leg, he thought he'd stumbled upon his big break. Other names that Shirley uses includes Shirley Bowman Whisnant, Shirley B Whisnant and Shirley Bowman Whisnant.