Visitors to Tennessee are sometimes surprised to see funeral processions–a hearse, vehicles bearing flowers, and a long line of mourners in cars and trucks–drive slowly through intersections, no matter whether the light is red or green, with a police escort front and rear.
This old time Southern practice is declining as cities get larger and police departments have more pressing duties. In small towns, however, the funeral procession lingers, and local motorists will to the side of the road while the caravan passes.
One high school lad in Rogersville bought a used hearse, and every day after school he and his buddies would stage a mock funeral procession, with locals dutifully pulling over, until authorities noticed that these particular processions always began at the school and ended at a local eatery.
