Adding to the folkloric aspect of this query, there is the
old expression, usually in response to 'where is [so and so]?':
"He went to shit and the hogs ate him."

There seems to be a lot of 'hog-lore' that has entered popular
culture.  This notion of gangsters usings hogs to dispose of
bodies was recently used in a film by, um, Ritchie?, the fellow
who made "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels."  If memory
serves, the title is "Snatch." (?)

For Linda (and other collectors of pig stories), there's a
great example of folklore being absorbed by popular media
in the film "Operation Petticoat" (1959).  Tony Curtis smuggles
a pig aboard ship by dressing it up in a coat and cap.  He
gets stopped by the sentries, but they buy the story that the
odd looking seaman is ailing and needs to see the ship's doctor.
Afterwards, they remark about the ugliness of submariners.
This motif is borrowed, with some adaptation, from an old African American tale of the 'John and Old Marster [master]'
variety.

As for the original question, I've heard from people who should
know that pigs will take a bite out of you, given the right circumstances (i.e., never lie down and play dead in a pig sty).
As to what becomes of the bones, I don't know.

Marty


Martin C. Perdue
doctoral candidate in architectural history (and son of a
folklorist)
Univ. Va.
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