An “extremely intoxicated” 55-year old man has been charged with public drunkenness after he was seen locking lips with the lifeless possum about 3 p.m. on the side of a road near Punxsutaweny, Pennsylvania. Police said the marsupial has been dead for some while.

Nevertheless the Brookville man was apparently trying to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to the road kill. Witnesses said the man appeared to be conducting a séance.

Possums are prone to play dead, especially when threatened. Their eyes glaze over, their teeth are bared, and they secrete a rank stench from their glands.

The man’s explanation before a local judge next week should be worth tracking.