'Nun Bun' Done Gone

Vanished.

Just in, the news that the petrified pastry resembling Mother Teresa (above) that put Bongo Java on the spiritual pilgrimage map — with three crosses — has gone missing from its glass case.

Bongo Java, a Nashville, Tennessee icon, has had the preserved cinnamon bun on display for nine years, ever since it was discovered by a customer in 1996.

Shop owner Bob Bernstein told Reuters that the thief broke into the coffeehouse at 6 a.m. on Christmas morning and smashed the glass case housing the artifact (below),

ignoring cash nearby.

Bernstein noted, "I can't figure out why anyone would steal it. They can't sell it on eBay, it's not fit to eat, there was no ransom note, and the police put its value at only $25 on their reports."

Before her death in 1997, Mother Teresa herself wrote a letter to Bernstein asking that her name not be used commercially.

Subsequently, it became known simply as the "Nun Bun."

Here's the story as reported by NewsChannel5 in Nashville this morning.

'Nun Bun' Still Missing After Christmas Morning Theft

The petrified pastry known as the Nun Bun made a Nashville coffee house famous, but it still hasn't been found after someone broke into the Bongo Java on Belmont Boulevard Christmas morning and stole it.

The Nun Bun came out of the ovens at Bongo Java nine years ago, and many said it bore an uncanny resemblance to Mother Teresa.

It was dubbed the "Nun Bun" and put on display for all to see, and garnered all kinds of attention.

It was talked about by David Letterman and Jay Leno, became the subject of T-shirts and a Trivial Pursuit question, and even garnered a letter from Mother Teresa herself.

But someone broke into Bongo Java on Christmas morning, went right past the money, and snatched the famous roll.

Just about everyone has a theory on why someone would steal it.

"A drug addict who wanted to sell it for the money, a young kid on a prank, somebody who had a problem with it. Who knows what it was, it just doesn't make any sense to me because it's not going to do anyone any good," Bongo Java owner Bob Bernstein said.

"It’s like somebody took something really sentimental. It's either a prank or it's just somebody angry about preserving a bun with shellac," said Bongo Java customer Holly Butler.

Bernstein said he hasn't received any ransom letters, and he hopes it's all just a prank and that the Nun Bun will be brought back safe and sound.

********************

Is nothing sacred?

Tell you what: that's some bad ju–ju the thief's carrying around — if I were him or her I'd drop this bun like it was hot.

Preferably on the front doorstep of Bongo Java (below)

before it opens tomorrow morning.

Can't quite see the resemblance?

Look again.