Career Ending
Charles Byrne was seven feet, seven inches tall. He built his career on it, moving to England from his native Ireland to work as an exhibition in London. Prior to his death in 1793, he made a will stating he wanted his body placed in a lead casket and sunk in the sea, where it would be safe from researchers. Unfortunately, he had made “friends” with John Hunter, a surgeon. Byrne’s body was replaced in his coffin with a weight, and Hunter put Byrne’s skeleton on exhibition — where it remained until recently. Now the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons is being asked to put an end to Byrne’s 200 year postmortem career, and let his skeleton be buried. That might not mean he couldn’t be used for research anymore, though: his DNA has already been taken. (AC/Irish Post) ...Can’t a dead man rest in peace?Original Publication Date: 01 July 2018
This story is in True’s book collections, in Volume 25.
This story is in True’s book collections, in Volume 25.
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