Shipment of 18 human heads found at Chicago's O'Hare airport

[snopes]

Investigators probing a shipment of 18 human heads intercepted at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport have determined they came from bodies donated for scientific research and were being transported for disposal.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/...0AKCSV20130115

[htonl]

Why would they be shipping heads internationally for disposal? Surely there are crematoria in Italy?

[JoeBentley]

Obviously this is viral marketing for the upcoming sequel to the classic cult 1997 comedy starring Joe Pesci.

And in other news an airport baggage handler was seen walking out of O'Hare mumbling "They don't pay me enough for this sh..."

[Bettie Page Turner]

They're not being shipped for disposal. They're likely destined for some sort of medical testing or surgical training.

[GenYus234]

Have you read another article that says that, Bettie?

[Bettie Page Turner]

No. It's just that it would make no sense to ship heads just for for disposal, but body parts are very commonly shipped for tests or training. Bodies donated for scientific or medical research/training are often parted out, so to speak. If you need to train 20 doctors on a new knee technique, you don't order twenty cadavers; you order twenty knees.

[Gayle]

Originally Posted by Bettie Page Turner

They're not being shipped for disposal. They're likely destined for some sort of medical testing or surgical training.

The article says they were used for research in Italy and being sent to the US for disposal.


According to NY Daily News:
The heads were originally sent from Illinois to a medical research facility in Rome and were returned to the Chicago area for disposal as part of the agreement for the order, Paleologos said

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...#ixzz2IAFIFGOB

Some people are very concerned about where the ashes of their loved ones end up. Maybe returning of the heads to the US for cremation and THEN giving the ashes back to the families encourages more donations.

I've never seen it myself. As far as I'm concerned, after I've done my bit for forensics and am cremated, you can toss the ashes in the dumpster for all I care. I'll be long gone.

[DawnStorm]

Were they talking heads and if so does David Byrne know about this?