When I was a young teen, I volunteered at the local YMCA to help set up a "haunted house" (actually a squash court) for Halloween. One of the decorations I pulled out of a storage closet was a display skeleton. I set it up and was having fun playing around with it when I noticed it had some metal fillings in the teeth...and everything was a bit TOO realistic.
> The skeleton’s bones are held together by wire, like you would see in a school biology set, and he suspects the IORM ordered the body through a catalog.
Kind of buried the lede there.
> He and Hatem believe The Bluebird’s skeleton could be that of a woman, based on its small stature and broad hips. Benkert said a historian he consulted in 2017 guessed the skeleton may have been a young man, possibly from India.
Given the timing, India or the dead body of an unclaimed indigent were my first guesses.
GJim 4 hours ago [-]
In the late 19th and early 20th century it was commonplace for educational skeletons to be made from real bodies, frequently sold by poor Indian families. This only stopped when plastic became a practical option.
And before somebody cries foul; education is very important, and real bodies were once the only source of durable anatomically correct teaching skeletons.
giarc 3 hours ago [-]
A colleague of mine studied physiology and anatomy at McGill University likely in the 1970s. She said the cadavers were mainly unclaimed bodies of homeless people from the city of Montreal. The rule was that all work was to be done in the university labs, but she said students often snuck body parts out to conduct dissection work after hours in their dorm rooms. A lot has changed in the field, but it wasn't that long ago that we treated the dead like a tool.
throw_pm23 2 hours ago [-]
Times have changed, now the living are treated no better. I kid, I kid.
wslh 3 hours ago [-]
Medical schools in countries like Argentina use cadavers as an essential tool for teaching anatomy, allowing students to gain hands-on experience and a deeper understanding of human anatomy.
bhickey 2 hours ago [-]
You may have misunderstood the above comment. While using cadavers in medical education is commonplace, _taking body parts home_ is no longer the norm.
chasil 2 hours ago [-]
However, cadaver parts are now surgically implanted in patients for a variety of reasons, and those are certainly taken home.
Why would be a man from India based on the timing. An Indian man buried under a Baltimore bar is weird irrespective of time.
Edit: Ah I see, it’s because Indian skeletons were frequently sold as educational tools.
bell-cot 2 hours ago [-]
> Because of the skeleton’s age, The Bluebird [bar] said it did not contact Baltimore Police to look into the discovery. The department’s policy is ...
WARNING: This sort of policy varies by municipality. If you'd prefer to minimize unpleasant interactions with your local law enforcement, do not make assumptions.
pmdulaney 3 days ago [-]
Improved title: "Whose skeleton was buried by a secret society under this Baltimore bar?"
qup 4 hours ago [-]
In the new title, the skeleton has gone from person to property.
Strang 2 hours ago [-]
Grammatical possession does not imply property. "My grandmother," "my hometown," "my skeleton," etc.
drhagen 1 hours ago [-]
In Chapter 21 of the Screwtape Letters, CS Lewis discusses the dangers of interchanging of the various flavors of "my". (Well, a fictional demon monologues about the utility of confusing "my" in the mind of humans, but that's the Screwtape Letters for you.)
LoganDark 4 hours ago [-]
I would say the skeleton is a property of the body. I wouldn't say I'm my skeleton - I'm just a flesh automaton animated by neurotransmitters...
cameroncooper 3 hours ago [-]
"flesh automaton" reminds me of this great short story by Terry Bisson I came across in an issue of MIT's Twelve Tomorrows
I still get the heebie-jeebies thinking about it.
Kind of buried the lede there.
> He and Hatem believe The Bluebird’s skeleton could be that of a woman, based on its small stature and broad hips. Benkert said a historian he consulted in 2017 guessed the skeleton may have been a young man, possibly from India.
Given the timing, India or the dead body of an unclaimed indigent were my first guesses.
And before somebody cries foul; education is very important, and real bodies were once the only source of durable anatomically correct teaching skeletons.
A quick search results in "allograft bone."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_grafting
International treaty, all skeletons come from India. [0]
At least this is what was claimed in The Return of the Living Dead.
[0] https://clip.cafe/videos/international-treaty.mp4
Edit: Ah I see, it’s because Indian skeletons were frequently sold as educational tools.
WARNING: This sort of policy varies by municipality. If you'd prefer to minimize unpleasant interactions with your local law enforcement, do not make assumptions.
https://www.mit.edu/people/dpolicar/writing/prose/text/think...