Bocephus Foley

Employment
Bocephus Foley was a mechanic at the Turner Todd Motor Company in Mobile, Alabama from 1930 - 1934. He is notable because of the unexplained events surrounding his death.
Death and Controversy
On the afternoon of June 14, 1934 during a routine day, Foley was mortally wounded when crushed by a car. Although accounts differ in details, the overall incident is generally agreed on. A coworker had just pulled a car to the top of the ramp in the rear of the building which runs from the side street to the upper floor where the service area was located. Someone had left a oil drum at the top of the ramp, blocking the way for the car. The worker got out of the car to move the oil drum out of the way but neglected to set the parking brake of the still running car. By the time the car began rolling back down the ramp, it was too late to stop it.
At the moment that the car was rolling down the ramp, Mr. Foley was returning from a break and walked in front of the ramp entrance. Before he could react, the car struck him, pinning him between the rear bumper and the corner of the brick opening that provided driving access to the ramp. He was initially rendered unconscious but regained consciousness as the worker who had driven the car up the ramp and had run down after it arrived at the site of the accident.
The general manager was immediately summoned and after an examination of the situation, he determined the best course of action was to drive the car forward, thereby releasing Mr. Foley who had no obvious serious injuries. This was done and Mr. Foley, shaken but apparently otherwise unharmed was able to walk around and communicate coherently. He refused offers by several employees to be taken to the hospital and insisted he was uninjured. He was sent home for the day and instructed to visit a doctor to make sure that he was not seriously injured.
The following morning, June 15, at approximately 5:30 a.m. the first person to arrive, a salesman who often opened the dealership, noticed the sound of a car engine running in the rear of the building. He attempted to open the sliding door to the ramp but it was jammed from the inside, so he made his way around through the building to the top of the ramp. When he turned on the overhead lights in the ramp, he observed that the same car which had rolled down the previous day was at the bottom of the ramp with the engine running. When the employee approached the vehicle, he heard a voice coming from behind it and found Mr. Foley pinned behind it just as he had been the prior afternoon. When he was asked what happened, Mr. Foley began crying and repeating "Y'all just left me here! My God! How could you just leave me here all night?"
The salesman immediately got into the car through the passenger side (the driver's side door was jammed against the brick wall of the ramp) and pulled the car forward. Mr. Foley immediately fell forward and was unresponsive. A doctor was called and Mr. Foley was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident.
When the coroner arrived to remove the body, he made a preliminary estimate of the time of death (based on eyewitness account) at 5:40 a.m., but in his report later that day he estimated it as around 11:00 p.m. the previous day, based on internal body temperature. This discrepancy was noted by the life insurance company who paid Mr. Foley's life insurance claim and an investigation was opened, but a satisfactory explanation was never found for the events. At the request of the insurance company, a homicide investigation was opened with the Mobile, Alabama police department, but this case was never resolved. It is still unknown how Mr. Foley came to be pinned by the same car he had been pinned by on the previous day. He did not have keys to the building, no doors had been unlocked, and all windows were secured. The night watchman did not hear anything out of the ordinary and insisted that he personally checked the upstairs, including the ramp, several times during the night. He had left when his shift ended at 4:00 a.m. and noted nothing out of the ordinary. This case remain unsolved.

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