2 – Human Skin Clothes
Ed Gein was one of the most twisted serial killers of the 20th century and the alleged inspiration for Silence of the Lambs. He used to make masks, lampshades, belts, and vests made from the skin of his victims. What you may not be aware of is the fact that people in the 19th century created clothes from human skins more often than we are comfortable admitting. Unlike Gein’s spree, no one was murdered, but if poor people died and remained unidentified, their skin could be used to create clothes.
One of the most common objects to be covered in human skin were books. A Doctor Ludovic Bouland was apparently the man who covered a book recently found at Harvard University. He received the book as a gift in 1880 and covered it in skin, a process also known as anthropodermic bibliopegy. In the UK, there is a book in the Bristol Record Office made from the skin of a man who was hanged in the local jail.
The tale becomes even more macabre when you continue analyzing the case. The book contains the details of the crime committed by John Horwood, an 18-year old man convicted of the murder of Eliza Balsum in 1821. He apparently stalked the young lady after becoming infatuated with her and one day; he beat her to death with a large rock. Surgeon Richard Smith dissected Horwood’s corpse and used his skin to cover a collection of notes on the case.
Over in Australia in the 1880s, a New South Wales doctor used to make his shoes from skin, but with a caveat: The skin had to come from an African because he believed their skin made the best leather. Although he wasn’t from the United States, the physician fought in the U.S. Civil War on the Union side. He claimed that he would use a white man’s skin if it were sufficiently thick.