On this episode of Our American Stories, along the shores of Lake Michigan is a story stranger than fiction: a man preserved in a glass coffin. He was part of the House of David, a communal religious group whose followers built amusement parks, baseball teams, and their own legends. Visitors came from across the country to see him, but not all of them came with good intentions. Thieves once tried to steal the diamond necklace that lay inside the coffin.

For decades, the figure has fascinated locals and outsiders alike, raising questions about faith, spectacle, and how we remember the dead. Chris Siriano tells the story of America’s man in the glass coffin.

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