Harvard discovers three of its library books are bound in human flesh

reply to post by LABTECH767


Ed wears a belt of human nipples and is a monster
lady gaga does the same thing and it's a fashion statement

Off topic a little, but I once held a very rare copy of Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" where the cover was made from asbestos. Of course I washed my hands afterwards.

Back on topic. A drum maker told me once that the 2nd best sounding skin to use on a drumhead is goat skin.

reply to post by raedar

Mostly, I just wanted to share. But I'm curious if anyone has heard of this and if it was a common practice. Ugh!

Thank you for the share. S&F
1. Yes, I've heard of those & others.
2. Some from WW11 Nazi Germany Reichs with tattoo's still on the skin, especially decorative used for lamp shades.
3. Some apparently from alleged Satanic Cults World wide, though mostly England.
4. I DO know of one old small Roman Catholic Church torn down from when I attended as a child, for a new huge one, that the Altar had human skin embedded & shellacked into it's marble, being told by Nun's it was the skin of Christ, a Priest said it was skin from those who'd historically sacrificed their lives for the Roman Catholic Church, ( I now take it, he meant Knight's Templars for how very old he claimed them to be ), who had come to Canada early post WW11, quit and went back to marry a woman. A Bishop claimed it to be that of the eldest, greatest known Popes, while a Brother, ( One interning for Priesthood ), claimed that a long time ago, the Roman Catholic Church had found what they thought as true Satanic activities between Sunday masses, with upside down crosses & other Satanic symbols on the pews and the Altar so that one will probably remain a mystery & I've never been inside the new one to know if the same Altar is still being used, despite being asked & doing major fund raising for the new R.C. building.
5. And then there are others once thought to be human skin but were pig, sheep & bear skin.
6. Some are still apparently of unknown skin type origin and date for whatever excuses they haven't been able to carbon date or get DNA from.
7. Sadly, people, intelligent as we may seem or are, can be crazy, nuts, psychopathic, psychotic, sadistic, etc.
8. It's always been & will probably continue as long as there is an Earth filled with humans or worse.

reply to post by Aleister


But what about human skin? O_o

reply to post by Aleister


I read about that. It was bound in asbestos because its fire proof (obviously the joke being the book is about book burning in the future).

One recently went to auction for quite a bit of money. Id love to have a copy of that first edition.

1n3MANarmy
reply to post by Aleister

 

But what about human skin? O_o

Read my post again. The drum maker had never seen one, but I guess it's common knowledge among drum makers. .

The "ewww factor" is enormous.

GogoVicMorrow
reply to post by Aleister

 

I read about that. It was bound in asbestos because its fire proof (obviously the joke being the book is about book burning in the future).

One recently went to auction for quite a bit of money. Id love to have a copy of that first edition.

I just looked it up on Wikipedia under the F. 451 article, and it was a limited edition, signed and numbered, of 200 which, apparently, isn't considered the first edition because it also contains two stories which weren't published in later editions. Some Bradbury collectors have all the luck - and all the lung problems.

reply to post by raedar


Yea, in one way creepy. But in most cases where human skin was used as book binding it was thought of as a way of honouring the dead. If you consider the fact that these books were made pre the invention of the printing press at a time when less than 1% of the world's population could read and write, you get a sense of how valuable a book was in those days. To have part of your remains used in the binding of a precious object was typically a sign of your value and reputation.

Although in most cases, including in the recent example of the NAZI desk lamp, further analysis has determined that the leather used was in fact calf skin. Over the years, the object would easily have been contaminated by the DNA of those who handled the object, and its not always easy to distinguish between actual human skin and contamination. DNA degrades over time so it would prove extremely difficult to say with any certainty what creature the leather may have come from originally. In the case of the NAZI table lamp, it took several tests to establish that the skin used was not in fact human, even though tests made previously, before further DNA analysis advancements, had established, in the opinion of the testers that the skin was human.

If you consider that every single catholic church in the world contains a first class relic of the saint to which the church is sanctified as part of the alter construction, (usually bone fragments from the same saint's remains) it's not that big a jump to see how human remains were not always thought of as 'creepy' or unclean in ancient times.

Also it was not uncommon for fakes to be constructed and sold to rich people as being made from human skin, or containing the remains of a holy person.

In fact some people even today keep the ashes of their loved one's remains as mantle ornaments. In five hundred years time that too will be viewed as 'creepy'.

Take a stroll through your local natural history museum sometime and see how many human remains they have on show...

crazyewok
Happened as recently as NAZI germany.

There have been a few cases of lapshads and other house hold items bring found to have been made out of human skin.

Now those things I heard of, but not these books. How horrible for anyone to use human flesh for such purposes.

reply to post by redshoes


Great insight, thank you! Personally I want to be worm food....

reply to post by UNIT76


Perhaps you should do some research on the subject.

They turn up at these universities because they're the oldest and longest lived libraries.

Also, despite being quite macabre, the use of human skin seems to have a practical application, they've been used to bind human anatomy books from people who donated their bodies, to bind court proceeding logs of convicted murderers who've been put to death.

I mean how poetic is that! Use the skin of the murderer to bind the book that documents his judgement.

There are, of course documented cases of people not quite right doing it, but nothing to suggest "elite", I'm sorry.

Night Star
Now those things I heard of, but not these books. How horrible for anyone to use human flesh for such purposes.

It's just skin. Just bits of animal flesh, as we are all animals, here for a little while, and then dead. The spark gone. After a while, even ghosts get bored with the world and leave. Is it any less creepy than embalming our corpses and letting them mold and rot in containers buried in the dirt?

Of the people who died at the same time these book cover people did, how many of them have a remnant of themselves still interacting with the world? How many others are now little more than bones picked over by worms, or dust blowing down a street?

It's not that there are worse or better things that could happen to a person's physical remains. It's just another thing.

reply to post by Blue Shift


I don't know, somehow to me it seems disrespectful.

reply to post by redshoes

This may be true in some cases, not true in other cases and in some cases, unless we ourselves are knowledgeable enough to do carbon dating, DNA & know the origins of some, they will remain a mystery to us :

Although in most cases, including in the recent example of the NAZI desk lamp, further analysis has determined that the leather used was in fact calf skin. Over the years, the object would easily have been contaminated by the DNA of those who handled the object, and its not always easy to distinguish between actual human skin and contamination. DNA degrades over time so it would prove extremely difficult to say with any certainty what creature the leather may have come from originally. In the case of the NAZI table lamp, it took several tests to establish that the skin used was not in fact human, even though tests made previously, before further DNA analysis advancements, had established, in the opinion of the testers that the skin was human.

www.google.ca... ndow=1&rls=com.microsoft:en-US:%7Breferrer:source?%7D&rlz=1I7GGHP_enCA445&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=BtI8U82qH-SL2wWB7IGgBA&ved=0CDYQsAQ

http...://tvblogs.nationalgeographic.com/2012/09/27/hum an-lampshade-a-holocaust-mystery/

en.wikipedia.org...

www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org...

www.independent.co.uk... ng-object-2117357.html

www.historynet.com...

[url=http://www.nizkor.org/features/techniques-of-denial/appendix-8-01.html]http://www.nizkor.org/features/techniques-of-denial/appendix-8-01.html[/ur l]

I cannot even bring myself to post other links I've found on human skin, bones, teeth, ears & other body parts that don't need testing to show they are human such as whole hands, fingers, eyeballs, etc.
Yes, a lot of such were used for religious honor OR religious desecration or just the sick sheer novelty & other nefarious reasons such as trophy pieces, show of manhood, etc.

reply to post by StormyStars


I appreciate your input and will keep an eye on your threads. Very interested in what you expressed based upon personal experience.

Peace

raedar

Yikes, is that face in the leather supposed to be there?

HUMAN LEATHER TRADE.. coming to a decade near you

reply to post by gardener


Finally saw the face you guys referenced, just in time for bed nooooooooooo

reply to post by raedar


My Paternal Grandparents and my Father were from Austria, my Grandmother Cousin to Marie Antoinette, they were Royals. My Grandmother and her 6 older sister were put in a camp despite being French speaking Austrian Royals. They were not in camp long, but long enough to see unspeakable horrors before Mr. Hitler himself heard of 7 red headed, silver blue eyed teen women in camp to be prepared for chambers & or experimentation. He released them as soon as he saw what family they were obviously from in Vienna Austria, & that their Father had once been an admired Soldier. But it was enough to scar them all.
Upon arriving in Canada, the family took years to admit to being Austrian and Turk/ Romanian which has another horrific event.
My Mother's side were very very strong supportive rich Roman Catholics originating from France, Italy and Africa.
The whole Roman Catholic thing was horrific on us all, especially us girls who were placed in a remote all girls Roman Catholic School. That was extremely horrific though my older female cousins fell into line, I ran away at 14. My younger female cousins were extremely lucky to not have to go there due to a mysterious fire followed by a few huge explosions while everyone was away for 2 weeks of Christmas hollidays justified as we only had 2 weeks summer holidays & due to what remnants were left behind, and what was found on the other side of the grounds when attempting to rebuild as quickly as possible.
Thus, it was never rebuilt. Ever. The area is fully grown in but even the loggers avoid the entire area for some reason.

reply to post by raedar


This has disturbing written all over it!