Today’s Anatomical Yet Truly Morbid Fact!
Dr. John Webster was the Professor of Chemistry at Harvard Medical College in 1849 when he borrowed $438 from a fellow doctor, John Parkman. Growing impatient for the repayment of the loan, Parkman called at Webster’s rooms on Friday, November 25. Parkman was never seen alive again. Two days later his wife reported him missing, and reward noticed were posted all over the area.
The first evidence that murder had been committed was found by a college janitor named Ephraim Littlefield. He had noticed that on the day when Parkman was known to have disappeared, Webster’s laboratory door had been locked, but the wall against which the laboratory’s assay oven was situated felt hot to the touch. When this was put to Webster, he claimed to have been conducting experiments. He then attracted further suspicion by offering the janitor a Thanksgiving turkey.
Littlefield persuaded his wife to keep watch for Webster while he hammered a hole through the laboratory wall. To his horror, he saw through the hole two parts of a human leg and a pelvis. He alerted the police, whose subsequent search of the laboratory yielded a human torso and more than one hundred and fifty bones and body fragments.
A team of university anthropological experts was called in to solve the anatomical jigsaw puzzle, and they found the pieces belonged to man roughly five feet ten inches tall and aged between fifty and sixty years old.
Parkman had been sixty years old and six feet tall and further evidence in the shape of a set of dentures was found in the furnace. These were compared with the dental records and a cast kept by Parkman’s dentist. The result was a perfect match, and Webster was convicted of murder and sentenced to death.
Culled from: Hidden Evidence: Forty True Crimes and How Forensic Science Helped Solve Them
Creepy Curio Du Jour!
Of course, we all wish we had a brain in a jar that we could put on our curio cabinet. And, wouldn’t you know it? Jack actually does!
“I received a call one day from a friend who does estate sales for a living. He wanted to know if I wanted some human body parts because he believed that trafficking in those would land him in jail. I assured him they were referring to parts recently removed from live people, but he still wanted no part of what he found. I received multiple jars of various and sundry creatures. My favorite of course was this brain. They were taken from an estate of a woman who taught brain surgery at UCSF many years ago. This really can’t be classified as Hazmat or Toxic waste, but it still fits the display. (Well maybe BioHazard?)
“PS: I put Abbynormal on the jar!”
(Do you have a creepy curio you’d like to share? Send it to the Comtesse!)
Atrocious Artwork!
Steve wrote to tell me about his friend Jen Lewis who specializes in sculptures of serial killers. Of course, such a worthy hobby must not go unrecognized! Here are a few of her masterpieces. Her Etsy page is currently devoid of morbidity, but I’m sure if you contact her directly at dezr04@yahoo.com to commission a serial killer, she’d be more than happy to oblige.
Albert Fish
Ed Gein
Ummmmm… Leatherface? Not sure, actually… but creepy!
And one more creepy thing for the road!
In reading the entry for December 27, 2014 I thought that the story sounded familiar. I listen to old time radio broadcasts and had recently heard this tale, including the doctor’s offer of a Thanksgiving turkey.
I found the podcast so that I could forward the information to you:
The podcast is named ‘Case Closed’. The podcasts contains many crime style programs and the one with the story is named ‘Crime Classics’ with the episode name of ‘The Terrible Deed of John White Webster’.
So if you want to hear this story acted out, find the podcast.
Yours,
K.C. Lilly