The Weirder, the Better
If you thought a “first class” skeleton was expensive, it could even more money for a medical researcher to get his hands on an abnormal skeleton. In 1891, The Baxter Spring News reported a story about a woman who had a disease where her bones never stopped growing. When she died, so many scientists wanted to own her skeleton, there was a bidding war to get their hands on it. It sold for an undisclosed amount, but it was likely worth tens of thousands of dollars.
John Merrick was known as “The Elephant Man”, because he had a bone disease that completely disfigured his face. When he was alive, he lived in a workhouse, but his condition only got worse and worse. He was put in a freak show, until a doctor came along and began treating him. After he died at 27 years old in 1890, his skeleton was purchased by the Queen Mary Medical School in London. Since then, it has continued to be on display, and everything that could possibly be learned about his deformity has already been discovered.
In 2014, there was a petition that Joseph Merrick’s skeleton should finally be laid to rest. The school responded that they believed further study could possibly be done with his bones to help with cancer research, but if Merrick’s family requested it, they would bury him. While it may seem politically incorrect to some people, the Queen Mary Medical School is not the only institution who is doing this. The Mutter Museum in Philadelphia also has similar displays of real human skeletons and bodies.