Today’s Acquitted Yet Truly Morbid Fact!
In the early hours of March 23, 1928 in Gladbeck, Germany a youth named Helmut Daube was found dying in the street; his throat had been cut and his genitals slashed off. The police soon discovered that Daube’s closest friend was his fellow-student Hussmann; when they went to Hussmann’s house, they discovered that his shoes had been recently washed, and showed traces of blood. His clothes were also blood-stained. Hussmann had completely dominated Daube, and the two had been lovers; but recently Daube had realized that he preferred girls and had tried to break away.
At first Hussmann claimed the blood was that of a cat he had killed, but Paul Uhlenhuth’s recently developed blood test quickly revealed that it was human blood. Hussmann then changed his story and said he had had a nosebleed. The forensic laboratory at Bonn demonstrated that this was also impossible, for the blood on the shoes was type A – Daube’s group – while Hussmann was type 0.
The feeling of the court was that, while they were not convinced of Hussmann’s innocence, they were by no means happy about convicting him on what, to them, amounted to purely circumstantial evidence, so Hussmann was acquitted. But the case drew wide attention to the use of testing for blood groups in criminal cases. Since that time, many criminals have been hanged on the evidence of a dried blood-spot on a wooden floor.
Helmut Daube. Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman know just how he felt.
Culled from: Crimes and Punishment: The Illustrated Crime Encyclopedia, Volume 6
Ghastly!
I’ve featured this video about Japan’s Suicide Forest Aokigahara before but I just revisited it and was reminded what a strangely moving and beautiful work of art it is. If you haven’t watched it, please take twenty minutes to reflect on life and death at the foot of Mt. Fuji. You’ll be glad you did. Oh, and it’s not particularly graphic either. (Thank you to Joseph for sending me the link.)
Fetus Du Jour!
Here’s another preserved fetus from the 1930’s that I photographed at the Museum of Science and Industry last week. I call this one: Eternal Meditation.
