An obsession with the famous is something we have had for a long time. While today important possessions of a celebrity are auctioned off, in the past the body parts of popular figures were saved after their deaths and sold and, at times, even stolen. In today’s list we will be telling you about where these body parts are today and the journey the travelled to be at that place. Read it all below.
1. Edison’s Last Breath
This is a little weird but Henry Ford thought that the soul of a man exited the body with the last breath so he convinced Edison’s son to sit by his bed and catch it in a test tube. Therefore, if you would like to visit with the soul of Thomas Edison, you can do so at the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. I will not go because I would be way to tempted to break the glass, uncork the tube, and let Thomas Edison go on his way. I would not want to be trapped in a test tube for all eternity while ugly people came by and gawked. On the other hand, if you do not believe the soul leaves the body with the last breath or that it can be captured in something as simple as a test tube, think about all those people who travel all the way to the Henry Ford Museum, hand over $25 bucks, look at an empty test tube and say, “Wow, Thomas Edison’s soul. It’s funny, it looks just like air.”
2. Isaac Newton’s Tooth
I had a root canal once that cost me $450.00 bucks. I thought that was expensive but in 1816, the tooth of Sir Isaac Newton, the man who figured out gravity and the theories contained therein, was sold for just over $3,600 dollars US. By 2001, the value had increase to over $35,000 and who knows what it would be worth on today’s black-tooth market. (About a buck and a half the way things are going) The tooth was set as a stone in a ring, which is pretty cool. No one but God and the owner knows who has it now.
3. Lenin’s Brain
Noted physician and Neurologist Oskar Vogt and one of the founders of The Brain Institute in Moscow snagged Lenin’s brain after being asked to consult on his illness. He discovered upon brain autopsy the presence of giant cells, which he believed probably lent themselves to Lenin’s genius. He then spent most of his time studying the function of the human thalamus, the partitioning thereof, and his theories on gradation. (Whatever that means) The brain remains at the institute.
4. Elvis’s Wart
Joni Mabe is an artist from Georgia who, oddly enough, did not become infatuated with The King until after his death. Once she was bitten, however, she stayed bit in a major way. Her friends list on Facebook is like a living monument to the King of Rock and Roll with literally dozens of Elvis look-a-likes smiling, glaring, and rocking from the page. She has a collection of Elvis memorabilia that could fill a museum. In fact, it has been viewed by thousands of Elvis loving fans around the world. She feels she has been led by the spirit of Elvis himself to flea markets and auctions where she has picked up many of her items and being an artist of some talent, has many beautiful works with Elvis depicted. Where she obtained his wart is a mystery but, there it is, a prize piece of an admirable collection.
5. Geronimo’s Skull
Okay, follow me if you can. Prescott Bush, Grandfather of George W. served as an army volunteer at Fort Sill in Oklahoma. He was also part of a secret society (who apparently could not keep a secret, if you and I know about it.) called The Yale SECRET Society of Skull and Bones. (If I wanted to start a secret society, I would not use secret in the title) and rumor has it that they stole Geronimo’s skull, some bones, and his silver bridle from the fort’s Apache Indians Prisoner of War Cemetery. They then sent a letter to San Carlos Apache Chairman Ned Anderson (is that an Indian name?) claiming so. He met with this secret Skull and Bones Society’s official, (a secret club with an official?) saying, “Hey, what’s up with that?” They got their attorney to deny that they took it. (So why send the letter?) To shorten this up, there have been requests made to President Bush, and now to President Obama to have the skull and bones returned to the gravesite, even though they have no proof that they were dug up in the first place since Geronimo’s grave was unmarked at the time. Where is Geronimo’s skull, right now? Your guess is as good as mine is. That appears to be the only secret that was successfully kept.
6. Washington’s Hair
A month after George Washington’s death, Eliza Wadsworth wrote to her father, Peleg Wadsworth, and asked if he could obtain a lock of his hair and a scrap of paper with his signature on it. He in turn, wanting to fulfill his daughters wish, wrote to Martha Washington. Martha had her secretary send a note back that the wish would be granted, so moved were she by the earnestness of a father to obtain for his child that which she desired. When Eliza died, she passed the treasured article to her sister asking her to make sure the peoples of Maine could enjoy it. She, in turn passed the locket of hair to her son, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who had it encased in his gold watch and engraved for posterity. He gave it to the Maine Historical Society where the people of Maine enjoy it to this day.
7. Chopin’s Heart
Chopin had a terrible fear of being buried alive so he instructed his family that when he died and they were quite sure he was dead, they were to remove his heart. They complied with his wishes, placing it in brandy (possibly) until it could be taken to Warsaw and sealed in a pillar of The Holy Cross Church of Krakowskie Przedmiecie. The inscription from Matthew 6:21 reads, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
8. Galileo’s Finger
Galileo was the man when it came to science. This guy was so bright he didn’t need a candle. He dabbled as a Physicist, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, and could shake a mean boo–tay, when he needed to. He was known in his time as The Father of modern observational astronomy with his improvements to telescopes and subsequent observations. The Father of modern physics, The Father of science, and The Father of modern science, and he wasn’t even trying. This cat knew where it was at! They snagged his finger when they moved his grave to a monument. Maria Bandini became its owner and moved it to several museums, none of which have names in a language I can write, however, it is now at the Museo di Storia della Scienza and has been since 1927. (See what I mean?)
9. Einstein’s Brain
Einstein is well known for his genius and for holding the record for most consecutive bad hair days. The majority of people think verbally, or, to put it another way, we think with words. Father of the theory of Relativity, Albert Einstein claimed to think visually rather than verbally. His brain relied mostly on imagery in that; he could see numbers as animated beings with personalities. Where the normal person sees in his mind the number 10, Einstein saw a living, breathing number–10. After his death, possibly without his permission, his brain sat immersed in alcohol in two mason jars in a cider box for twenty years before anyone but its captors knew it had even been preserved. The brain was initially removed by Thomas Stoltz Harvey, noted Pathologist at Princeton Hospital. He was released from service for refusing to give up the brain and also Einstein’s eyes, which he removed and gave to Henry Abrams.
10. Rasputin’s Penis
Rasputin, the Russian rascal that seduced every woman he came across, including the wives of noblemen, paid his dues when those angry noblemen stacked the deck against him and whacked off his wee wee. A maid found it, saved it, and in 1920, it found its way into the hands of some Russian women living in gay Paris. (Rumor, Rumor, Rumor all) It is further said that they worshiped it like some kind of idol, until Rasputin’s Daughter Marie got wind of it and came a knocking. She reclaimed her father’s (supposed) pecker and put it away with the Christmas boxes in the attic where if lay forgotten. However, (writer takes a deep breath and continues) Michael Augustine made a purchase from a lot sale and found it in a velvet bag along with some of Marie’s writing. I guess that is how he knew it was Rasputin’s woody. He sold it to an auction house that later discovered it was a sea cucumber. Even if you believe any of this, believing that an auction house would be fooled by a sea cucumber until after they made the purchase is too big of a stretch. They do not make those kinds of mistakes. Either way, now the thing or one just like it has turned up in St Petersburg and of all places, The Russian Museum of Erotica. Give me a break. The picture looks like someone’s big assed Johnson, but to believe that Rasputin’s poker would be that preserved after nearly one hundred years is asking way too much.
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