CREEPYPASTA.COM - Scary Paranormal Stories & Short Horror Microfiction — Skeleton of the Week, April 8: St. Donatus of Bad Münstereifel, Germany | Empire de la Mort I will admit that the remains of the skeleton of St. Donatus in Bad Münstereifel, Germany, are not nearly as impressive as the skeletons I have profiled over the last few weeks–not only are they less decorated, they are not even articulated. In fact, the remains are not even complete, and what few bones are present in the town’s Jesuit church are simply wrapped in colored fabric and nowadays stored away unseen in a shrine. But what might seem in our eyes to be deficiencies in presentation were in fact due to Donatus’ own incredible popularity: he was the most famous of all the skeletons taken from the Roman Catacombs, and so esteemed that everyone wanted a piece of him . . . literally. The skeleton was found in one of Rome’s subterranean galleries in, the 1640s, and a decade later was on its way to Germany. The book Heavenly Bodies by Paul Koudounaris, a history of skeletons taken from the Roman Catacombs, will be released Fall 2013 by Thames and Hudson.
Barts Pathology Museum: Museum History "Barts Pathology Museum: A Potted History" by Carla Valentine The medical student walks reverently across the parquet floor: hanging gas lamps spill pools of light onto the polished wood, and as his shadow swims through them he hears the echoes of his footfalls rise purposefully to the lantern ceiling. He passes shelf after shelf of potted specimens, golden light bouncing from the curved glass like wolves eyes in the moonlight, until at last he locates the pot he is seeking. Carefully he picks it up and examines the delicate minutiae of the specimen, recording each detail deftly with his pencil, softly scratching the paper with the lead, the quick strokes the only sound in this silent, cavernous museum….The way we teach medical students may have changed since the heyday of the Pathology Museum in the 1920’s and 1930’s, but the building itself has lost none of the drama.
Retronaut - See the past like you wouldn't believe. The Medicine Chest | Exploring the world of eighteenth-century medicine