Freak Museum A Private Collection: Man is...

...the Ultimate Collectable

Human Exotica

What follows is all authentic.

No fakes, fantasies or reproductions.
No clay, no putty, no paste.

Nothing but real people...
...or what remains of them.

Egyptian Mummy's Hand
with snail shell talisman
ca. 2,500 b.c.

Egyptian Mummy Foot

This beautifully wrapped child's foot measures just six inches long

Dabs of bitumen were used to secure the ends

of the wrappings at the toes and heel.

A rare and fine example of a wrapped mummy part.

Egyptian Mummy's Hand

with faience cobra ring

Human Skin Shoes

American, 19th century

Human skin shoes are considered by many collectors to be the epitome of human relic collecting.

So rare, this pair is the only known authentic example. These have been subjected to
a DNA analysis and proved to be human skin.

For an account of a single human skin shoe, see:
Argument before the Tewksbury Investigation Committee 1883
and

A Traffic of Dead Bodies by Michael Sappol

Mummified Frog Baby

American, 19th century

This anencephalic was preserved and mounted in a frog-like position.

Even the fingernails are preserved.

Arm of an Egyptian Mummy

In life this person decorated their hand with gold leaf, some still remains.

The fingernails are well manicured and dyed red with henna.

An exceptional example.

Fetal Skeleton

Early 20th century

Dissected Human Face

metal museum tag: [name redacted]
dated 1900, American

Oddly, the dissector felt the need to preserve the mustache

Egyptian Mummies Foot

Mounted in a period shadow box

The contemporary label reads:

"Mummy foot from Egypt about 1800 b.c.

From Capt. Nicholls 1918 and presented at that time."

One wonders who was Captain Nicholls

Dissecting Room Trophy

Tanned Skin of a Human Breast

Names redacted to protect the innocent

Read more about tanned human skin by clicking below.
Tanned Human Skin by L. S. Thompson

Memento Mori Ring

Cut and carved from a Human Femur

American Civil War, mid 1860's

More of a grisly Civil War relic then to actually be worn.
Read more about human bone rings in Dark Trophies by Simon Harrison chapter 9.
These rings are rare, so...
Beware of the newly made fakes now being circulated.

Mendicant Bowl

Aghori, Shaivite Sect

India, 19th century

The Aghori reject all worldly goods.

They subsist on the generosity of others.

Often eating and drinking from bowls made of human skulls.

The Preserved Head of Thomas Williams
aka John Head

One of the London Burkers

Executed Newgate Prison December 5, 1831

Thomas Williams, alias John Head.

Executed December 5, 1831.

Drawing by W. H. Clift, made directly after the execution.

The London Burkers

The Affair of the Italian Boy

'Burking' (after William Burke of Burke and Hare fame) was the term coined in the early nineteenth century for the practice of murdering victims to provide corpses or body parts for medical purposes.

James May, Thomas Williams and John Bishop were the notorious Burkers who murdered an Italian boy, Carlo Ferrari, in London in 1831. They offered his corpse for dissection to King's College Hospital but his teeth separately to a dentist. They were betrayed by their excessive greed, as the teeth still had fragments of flesh attached to them and hence could not have come from a corpse but only from a recently living body. After their arrest, they confessed to various other crimes of murder and grave robbery.

Grave-robbing or body-snatching, though illegal, was condoned by many surgeons as a necessary evil for the provision of human specimens for dissection. They were later tried and convicted at the Old Bailey: Bishop and Williams were hanged, May was transported to Botany Bay, Australia.

In a neat finale to the story, Bishop and Williams' cadavers were dissected after their execution, Bishop's head was preserved. In death he sits with lips retracted, showing his teeth. The Italian boy's murder brought about the passing of the Anatomy Act in 1832, this enabled licensed teachers of anatomy to obtain cadavers legally.

For an excellent account of the London Burkers, see:

The Italian Boy: A Tale of Murder and Body Snatching in 1830s London by Sara Wise
"The Italian Boy" by Sara Wise offered on Amazon.com

Broadside for the Exhibition of the Death Masks

of John Bishop and Thomas Williams

ca 1832

For more information on exhibitions of the recently dead,

and other extraordinary shows, see:

"The Shows of London" by Altick

Adipocere
aka Grave Wax

Displayed in it's original sealed museum jar.

19th century, Philadelphia

Tibetan Religious Relics

All that follow are authentic.

None are modern reproductions.

Stringed Instrument

Human Skull & Femur

Tibet, 18th century

Kangling

This human bone trumpet is decorated with gem grade turquoise cabochons

and silver mountings. Whips are rarely seen attached to a kangling.

They are used to chase demons away.

Tibet, 19th century

Kangling

This bone trumpet is almost completely covered in silver wire.

Decorated with precious coral and turquoise.

Unlike the above specimen, the end is covered in human skin.

Tibet, 19th century

Kapala

Complete skull bowls with cover and triangular base were used on

Tantric alters and are rarely seen today. The lids are finely chased.

Contrary to popular belief, human blood is not offered in kapalas.

Tibet, 19th century

Kapala

This rare example has the metopic suture.

The lining is silver with a gold wash,

and a beautiful matrix turquoise cabochon is mounted inside.

Tibet, 19th century

Kapala

Lined with silver, a large precious coral bead decorate this kapala.

Kapala

Beautifully decorated with precious coral and

three finely chased silver plaques, (the fourth is missing),

this kapala has a dorje and carnelian bead decorating the inside.

Mala, Tibetan Prayer Beads

Rarely seen are rosaries made from human skulls as this example is.

The beads are worn at the edges from years of use.

Egyptian Mummy's Foot

Each toe wrapped separately

A True Hand of Glory

This is one of two authentic Hands of Glory known to have been used in Great Britain for the express purpose of burglary. This was offered as evidence in a trial, and retained by the sitting Magistrate after the case was passed to a higher court. The hand remained in his estate for 150 years.