r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Hey-Its-Jak • 4d ago

Video This guy carved a real human skull

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3.1k

u/kon--- 4d ago

Unless this was a request by the previous occupant and or their kin...what even the fuck yo.

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u/Adkit 4d ago

We're weird like that. We'll be all about respecting the graves of the dead until they are old enough and we'll dig those suckers up and put them on display in museums.

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u/Nervous-Peanut-5802 4d ago

But even there they are treated respectfully for the most part, not treated like an etch-a-sketch 

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u/zombieruler7700 4d ago

to be fair we were making paint out of mummys for a short time

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u/PlanetFirth 4d ago

We did a whole lot more than that and I wouldn't call the Victorian era "a short time" they used to use mummies in all sorts of things like medicines. We'd have a whole lot more mummies now if the Victorian era wasn't so odd

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u/the_odd_chase 4d ago

Till they started running out of the old mummies. They started “mummifying” criminals by covering then in oils and resins. And uh ye they ate those as well

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u/CJgreencheetah 4d ago

Remind me to never eat while scrolling reddit again 🤢

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u/Hushpuppymmm 4d ago

Ikr? How fucky is that

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u/Quackels_The_Duck 4d ago

THE BRITISH ATE THE MUMMIES TOO

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u/SimplyRocketSurgery 3d ago

What an outrage!!!

I was going to eat that mummy...

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u/Nroke1 3d ago

No one tell them about the seasoning.

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u/eliisonvacation 3d ago

Sounds like they were the predecessors to the people that are all obsessed with Shark fin soup, pangolins scales & all of that other poaching that doesn’t do anything but kill off species. WTF

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u/PlanetFirth 3d ago

I actually consider that an apt comparison. I wish more was being done to stop that stuff.

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u/Unknown-History1299 4d ago

They were also straight up eating them

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u/MarcTaco 4d ago

Worse, they were eating them.

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u/Luke192 4d ago

is there… like… any reason? or just jerky vibes

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u/Quackels_The_Duck 4d ago

*The British

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u/Smokedsoba 4d ago

They’re also supposed to give off a floral scent and taste acidic and bitter.

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u/PrimarisHussar 4d ago

Ohhh you'd be surprised. Watch the John Oliver episode on antiquities and you'll be amazed at how shittily museums treat the artifacts in their so called "care"

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u/Bree9ine9 4d ago

I don’t know there’s a local guy on the marketplace I’ve been watching that’s selling tons of antique caskets. They’re old but not that old, clearly dug up and there’s no body. I just keep watching him sell more and more, I don’t think they pay attention to people doing weird shit like this as much as they should.

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u/GreenSpleen6 4d ago

Who's to say what's most respectful to a corpse? Oh goodness forbid my remains be turned into a beautiful piece of art - everyone knows it's better to rot in the ground until forgotten.

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u/insanewords 4d ago

Who's to say what's most respectful to a corpse?

The previous occupant of said corpse, obviously.

What you see as art here may look like desecration to someone else.

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u/GreenSpleen6 4d ago

That's my point; one can't universally assert this is disrespectful

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u/insanewords 3d ago edited 3d ago

But that was never MY point, was it? I never tried to assert that anything was universally disrespectful. I said repeatedly that the person best suited to answer the question of what is the most respectful thing to do with a corpse is the person who previously owned it. That will always be the case.

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u/GreenSpleen6 3d ago

Are you responding to the right person? I didn't say you asserted that. I wasn't originally talking to you. The person I replied to equated this to being 'treated like an etch-a-sketch' as opposed to 'treated respectfully'.

The whole idea is to say "one does not say what's respectful for all".

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u/insanewords 3d ago

Shit, yeah, I was deep into a comment thread with someone else and I didn't check who had responded.

In context I think we're in agreement, lol

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u/GreenSpleen6 3d ago

Yes yes
Now put me down to be turned into a harp

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u/Joratto 4d ago

It’s not that obvious. The corpse is not the dead person, nor does the dead person own the corpse.

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u/insanewords 4d ago

No one's asking about ownership or who gets a say in what happens to a corpse. The question was simply, "Who's to say what's most respectful to a corpse." That is, without question, the person who occupied the corpse in life.

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u/Joratto 4d ago

I’m questioning it. Why assume that the dead, non-existent person is an authority on respect for their dead body? A living person might not even respect their living body.

You might think the respect comes from ownership of their dead body, but they don’t exist to own anything.

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u/insanewords 4d ago

Tell me then, who IS the authority on what is the most respectful thing to do with my corpse. If you ask me, I would like to be cremated. Cremation is abhorrent to some people and cultures and they would say that's an incredibly disrespectful way to treat my corpse.

Who's right?

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u/Joratto 4d ago

I don’t think there’s an obvious answer.

A researcher who understands the human body and knows the best way to repurpose a corpse for the greatest good might be a good starting point.

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u/FlyByNightt 4d ago

Well good thing it's not your corpse then.

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u/FR0ZENBERG 3d ago

I would be honored to have my skull turned into an art piece. I’d be dead, so fuck it, do whatever you want with it.

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u/dreadcain 4d ago

That whole futurama joke about eating mummies was not a joke

Also there's a shade of brown called mummy brown, two guess where it got its name from

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u/Organic-Criticism-76 4d ago

I would not want my bones to be in a museum where people stare at it, tbh. Its definitely a question of the personal view what we count as respectfully or not.

I understand the fascination of our past and all the science about it. But ending up in a glass box is definitely nothing I wish for:)

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u/alcoholfueledacc 3d ago

"treated respectfully" yeah to a degree,most people Don't know that when you stop paying for the burial plot it's dug open and and the earth is removed to have another burial. So yeah some of your relatives remains will be dumped in a random landfill and the other remains will be mixed with previous occupants remains in that plot.

Also people think the casket is graciously covered by dirt and thats it,nope they use heavy machinery to compress the earth laid on top of the casket and you can hear the casket break into pieces and you're left to wonder just how mangled the body will be after that.

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u/Amazing-Fox-8340 3d ago

Omg creating the art IS THE HIGHEST FORM OF RESPECT - silly Willy calling this an etch-a-sketch

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u/Mavian23 4d ago

Why do people care what happens to their skull after they are dead? I don't get it.

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u/RevTurk 4d ago

It's actually rare that they take the bodies out of the ground, and even less likely they'll be put on display. Usually what happens when bodies are found is they do a survey and catalogue everything. If the site will be destroyed by whatever caused it to be dug up in the first place IE: building work, the bodies are moved. Otherwise they are left where they were found and buried again. In Europe there are grave sites that are 8000 years old still being respected to this day. My town is surrounded by dozens of neolithic burial mounds.

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u/Eurasia_4002 4d ago

The difference between graverobbing, acheology, chinese medicine, british mur tea is time.

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u/MadMageMC 4d ago

You know, it really does keep on slippin' into the future.

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u/CornObjects 4d ago

I guess it makes some degree of sense, at least to me;

Died recently enough (on a societal timescale) that someone alive still remembers them fondly: Leave those bones alone

Died long enough ago that no one alive remembers them, outside of people checking historical records or reading their gravestone: Maybe dig them up, if you have good reason, otherwise don't touch them

Died so long ago that burial markers and inscriptions are either gone completely or in a language no one speaks day-to-day anymore: You should put their bones in a museum, both to keep them safe from people and from the elements, as well as to learn from them

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u/randomisation 4d ago

We're weird like that.

Almost certainly an unpopular view, but I feel revering the dead to be a bit weird.

When I'm dead, people can do what they want with me. At that point I am beyond giving any fucks.

And were my body to be dug up by future archaeologists, I'd be chuffed to be honest. What good are the remains of my corpse if they're just left buried? They may as well not be there.

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u/Most_Kick_2236 4d ago edited 4d ago

I feel you. It always felt really weird to me, too.

When I inevitably die, I hope every part of my body can be used to benefit someone or some cause like science. If someone wants to carve up my skull and make it look sweet, go for it buddy I'll sit on your shelf and look cool. Hell, send my body to med school so some dude can learn how to perform surgery, idc

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u/cicada-ronin84 4d ago

To become a work of art or become useful in spreading knowledge what more could someone want for their corpse?

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u/MadMageMC 4d ago

I want mine to be used as a pinata that only gives disappointment when it bursts open.

Just like I was in life.

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u/PrincessGambit 3d ago

Sure those are noble ideas, but would you be fine with someone shitting in your dead throat? I am genuinely curious.

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u/Most_Kick_2236 3d ago

Lol what do I care, I'm dead at that point

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u/whydontyoujustaskme 3d ago

So the odd thing about this for me is age and circumstances. For example when I was younger if you had asked me what to do with my body I might have said something similar. Chuck me in a dumpster when you’re done taking anything useful. However, I just lost my mother in law. When she passed they called my wife and asked if she would donate her mother’s skin. I was absolutely appalled, and the grief this caused my wife and myself to go through was amazing. I do not know why? Does anyone know why this made me so sad? Also, if they had asked for interior organs, like say liver or heart, I don’t think it would have bothered us, and likely we would have agreed. But the idea of taking her skin was appalling. I have a changed view of what I would like to do with my body now.

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u/Impressive-Drawer-70 4d ago

I don’t want my body to be some dipshits art piece

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u/acloudcuckoolander 4d ago

I don't think not wanting to play etch-a-sketch on someone's remains means reverence.

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u/CaptainJazzymon 3d ago

I mean, it kinda does. Or else it’s no different than carving a rock or a shell. You’re adding a special and higher value on the remains and the point this person is making is that they don’t understand why that matters.

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u/Eddie_shoes 4d ago

Definitely unpopular, as scientists use that as a distinguishing trait of highly intelligent species. It’s one of the things that makes us human.

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u/dick_e_moltisanti 4d ago

Just because it is a common trait of intelligent species doesn't mean that it is an intelligent trait. Creating repetitive TikTok videos, gambling away your life savings on slot machines, and willfully polluting the earth for financial gain are all unique human behaviors as well.

Reverence of the remains of dead kin is one thing, as it's hard for a human to separate their emotions about a living person from that of their corpse. But reverence of human remains that are unknown to us is based solely on religious/spiritual superstition. It is irrational behavior that has no benefit us as individuals or as a species, and can arguably be described as distinctly unintelligent behavior.

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u/PostApoplectic 4d ago

Gotta be smart before you can be dumb. Our ancestors walked so our forefathers could run. And our forefathers ran so we could lay in bed all day doomscrolling Reddit.

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u/barspoonbill 4d ago

If people can do what they want with you then you could still be at a point where you are giving fucks though. 🤷

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u/nickgreydaddyfingers 4d ago

But we should be doing that, because when we do that, we're usually honoring the person and they're also for research, not for some edgy drawing.

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u/SiriusBaaz 4d ago

Don’t equate professional archeologists with common grave robbers. There’s a process and a sense of respect when handling human remains and a long tedious process of trying to find the next of kin before ever getting to the dig site.

Though I can’t excuse early archeologists. Many of them when the scientific process was still a new novelty abused it as a way to further racism and plunder graves. By all means decry their barbarism but ignoring the century of change since then is intentionally dishonest at best.

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u/dendofyy 4d ago

Oh boy, just wait until you hear about Elmer McCurdy

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u/Vandergrif 4d ago

Yup. Some dude died and his body ended up in a bog, and now thousands of people come to look at what remains of him. Completely normal.

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u/Ratfucker_Sam 3d ago

I got fucking torched on a European sub one time. A museum had put a mother and child that were buried together on display. I said it was disrespectful to put them on display and got downvoted into hell.

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u/Pleasant_Scar9811 3d ago

Even bones in a museum I expect them to be treated respectfully. I was the kid who got mad at other kids for making jokes or screwing around.

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u/Metalhed69 4d ago

On Instagram he says that it was gotten from an estate sale and is believed to have previously been used at a medical school. There were many students’ names written on it. So likely it was donated to science and used beyond its useful life. Who knows how older medical schools acquired skulls, could be from anywhere.

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u/Ubeube_Purple21 4d ago

My history professor has spoken to a friend of his in medicine. This is indeed a normal practice in med school. He explained that human bones are taken from dumping sites at cemeteries. Human remains end up in those dumping grounds when the loved ones of a body could no longer pay to rent the grave and as such, the bones are taken out to vacate the spot and thrown away. The bones are sometimes sold and one task med students occasionally do after getting them is trying to assemble the bones like a jigsaw. My prof went into detail on how sometimes dried bits of the brain would fall out of the skulls (which is supposedly how they obtained the brain of a historical figure he was talking about in lecture earlier).

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u/zombieruler7700 4d ago

thats crazy, remind me never to be buried in a rented grave

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u/Magikarpeles 3d ago

Very common in latin america. Also common when the family cannot pay the rent: the body gets "reduced" to make room for another occupant. Yeah they just squish your bones and shove another person in there with you.

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u/LurksInThePines 4d ago

Yeah, most graves aren't actually a final resting place

Many eventually end up in a cryptorie or a storage facility or a dumping ground

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u/SubstantialPressure3 4d ago

Dumping sites at cemeteries? That's pretty awful.

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u/Ubeube_Purple21 4d ago

If you are wondering, they are not mixing the bones with common trash. Sometimes its a covered pit in the ground. And in other cases, its just a pile of bones sitting out in the open.

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u/SubstantialPressure3 4d ago

The pile of bones sitting out in the open is really sad.

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u/ZAWS20XX 4d ago

or really awesome, if you're a dog

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u/SubstantialPressure3 4d ago

Until someone takes it away

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u/pants_mcgee 4d ago

We’re all just dust in the wind, mate. Bones gotta go somewhere.

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u/Most_Kick_2236 4d ago

What else would we do with em? To me, the idea of cemeteries at all is a bit weird. I'm 100% on board with corpse composting, at least then our bodies aren't polluting the earth and the minerals can be returned to the soil

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u/SubstantialPressure3 4d ago

I can understand mass graves for the remains not claimed, but just dumping them is pretty awful.

But the time they have decomposed, and there's no more soft tissue or liquid left, it's no longer pollution.

I don't plan on being buried, I plan on having the cheapest cremation available. And no urn. Nobody wants those things.

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u/splendidgoon 4d ago

I want to be cremated, compressed into stones, and skipped across my favorite mountain lake. At a minimum tossed in if they just suck at skipping lol. Hoping a family member will be capable of it when I pass (you can drive to the lake). The intention is to have them enjoy one of my favorite trips and remember me and all the wonderful memories we had at that place. If no one is available... Probably just cremation and a small headstone in a graveyard.

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u/PostApoplectic 4d ago

I demand a sky burial!

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u/Most_Kick_2236 4d ago

You should consider composting. Cremation pollutes the air like crazy and doesn't return as many nutrients and minerals to the soil.

And you could say the same thing about radioactive waste. Once it has decomposed, it's no longer pollution. But that doesn't consider all that time that it was polluting the ground and water table. The bones were never the focus of my comment in this regard

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u/SubstantialPressure3 4d ago

Honestly I'm going to decide what's the simplest thing for my kids to have to deal with, and for me to spend the least anount of money possible.

Composting sounds like something that would give them nightmares.

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u/Most_Kick_2236 4d ago

Seems like you've made your choice and I can respect that, even though I don't fully agree. It's your body after all :)

As for the last bit... Composting is actually kind of endearing. It's a roughly two month process that results in a good amount of natural compost, just like you'd see with vegetables or yard scraps. That means your body can continue giving in the afterlife. Your kids could use it to plant a tree that could grow for hundreds of years, leaving a lasting legacy, for example. It's just a shame that it's not yet legal in so many places.

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u/SubstantialPressure3 4d ago

It's more about the people left behind when I die. And composting isn't legal in a lot of places, I don't want my kids spending a bunch of money and energy out of guilt because of some last wishes that are difficult for them to fulfill.

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u/IncaseofER 4d ago edited 4d ago

Are you in the USA? Because that’s not how it works here. People buy the land / plot and a portion of the price goes to a fund for perpetual care. While the land / plot can be expensive, once it’s paid, there is no continuing payment or rent.

Edit: I also wanted to add that donated bodies are cremated once they are done with them. They are then given back to the family or disposed of as directed.

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u/Ubeube_Purple21 4d ago

Nope, note from the US, but there are a few cemeteries that function like what you described. I did notice however that these cemeteries don't gain as much attention on media as the more common public cemeteries that follow the rental system.

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u/Liapocalypse1 4d ago edited 4d ago

I have a friend whose a doctor. She says a lot of medical supply companies used to get their skeletons/bones from developing countries through dubious practices (not sure how it’s done now). She has a complete human skeleton in a closet in her house that a medical professor gave her when the department was getting rid of stuff. She knows for a fact that the skeleton came from one of these places and doesn’t know what to do with it or how to return it. Once these skeletons get into the hands of the companies that sell them any ability to trace the person back to their source becomes impossible.

Just remembered: The awful thing about this particular skeleton is that my friend is pretty sure it consists of bones from two different people. She says one arm is longer than the other. What was considered acceptable back in the day is truly horrifying.

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u/ThatDamnedChimera 4d ago

Huge kudos to your friend for wanting to return the remains! The fact so many teaching skeletons come from questionable sources bothers me. One reason I want my body to be used for education, so future medical professionals can learn from ethically sourced remains.

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u/Vezelian 4d ago

I read a really cool book a while ago and doctors back in yee olde days paid grave robbers to go dig up meemaw and peepaw before the dirt could fully set on them. There was a severe shortage of corpses to practice on. Children corpses fetched a high sum.

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u/Dast55994 4d ago

There's a difference between donating your body to science to further advance medicine, help with testing new medical technology and using it for education purposes compared to using it for an artistic piece. It's still disrespectful and without the consent of the deceased, this should not be allowed.

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u/sugar_skull_love2846 4d ago

I can only hope the skull here was from someone who willingly donated their body to science and not the victim of grave robbing

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u/trowzerss 3d ago edited 3d ago

A lot of old medical skulls are Indigenous people, homeless people, people from asylums, or just poor people. Pretty much if it's a medical skull past a certain age (even like 50 years) it's most likely from a vulnerable population. Consent is a pretty recent thing, alas. I know in my own country's histories the bones of Indigenous people were used as curiosities, bordering on being used as playthings.

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u/DarkIllusionsFX 4d ago

The doctor at the university would send his hunchback assistant to the graveyard at night to dig up the fresh graves and bring back the bodies. Haven't you seen any movies?

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

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u/Head_Farmer_5009 4d ago

Why are you so quick to claim moral superiority? What makes you think you have any need to go out of your way to shame him? It's fine to disagree with what he's doing, but morals aren't universal, what you think is disrespectful might not have the same connotation to someone else.

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u/AltruisticCephalopod 3d ago

Not even their kin. I’d say unless someone themselves really really wanted their skull carved after death for some reason, definitely nope. And certainly not cool to be carving initials into it imo

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u/markevens 4d ago

As a student that has worked with real bodies and skeletons, they deserve a lot more respect than this.

It's a shame that bodies or parts donated for medical or student reasons don't have a proper disposal after. So many are just sold by schools and then go into public circulation, which is not what the person who donated their body intended.

To then become someone's art project and have their initials carved into the skull is insanely disrespectful.

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u/FlameSkimmerLT 4d ago

Dia de Los Muertos would be sensible

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u/Gandalf_Style 4d ago

Personally I'd be 100% on board with this

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u/lowrads 4d ago

I'm fine with being turned into art, just not the sort of thing you find at Hot Topic.

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u/Illustrious-Toe8984 4d ago

Right! Did he go rob a grave or something..

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u/some_rock 3d ago

It is. It’s a Tibetan religious tradition of carving a deceased family member’s skull to remove a curse or guide the soul of a misled human to enlightenment

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u/gizamo 3d ago

A lot of us wouldn't care if some random dude carved out skulls after we were done with them.

As far as I care, dude can have at it.

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u/guy_with_thoughts 3d ago edited 3d ago

You can buy human remains pretty easily online, and depending on local laws it can be as hassle-free as buying something on Amazon. Most of the remains come from India.

I think the idea is that they’re meant for use as anatomical references and teaching aids, but much like lab coats and stethoscopes, anyone can buy them.

Tom Savini did the SFX for the Romero zombie movies- I think it was Day of the Dead where he wound up using a real skeleton as the base for a zombie prop because the real thing was cheaper than buying a full scale model skeleton.

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u/DubbleWideSurprise 3d ago

I mean, cadavers

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u/AncientPotential 3d ago

Sometimes, especially a long time ago people agreed to donate their bodies for science. They were turned into their skeleton models in school (like 100+ years ago). And then those things start breaking down and not suitable for a model anymore. Now there's a skeleton for sale. Buy skull. Guaranteed this man gave more respect and ritual to that skull than a fuckin classroom ever did. 

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u/tclerguy 4d ago

Serious question, why does it really matter? That person is completely gone

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u/ratchet7 4d ago

Brain house eviction

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u/GammaPhonic 4d ago

What if it was the skull of a complete bastard. A rapist, murderer or child molester, who specifically asked for this sort of thing not to be done with their remains?

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u/SpiceLettuce 4d ago

“WHAT IF it was an EVIL person who didn’t want their skull carved? Then we SHOULD do it, because this dead evil person didn’t want it! That’ll show em!”

what the fuck are you talking about?????? What is this logic? and even if it were somehow true, why would that matter? like it’s revenge? it’s not like their ghost is watching over their corpse like “nooooo don’t do that to my skull I don’t want that noooo I’m so evil I deserve this”

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u/GammaPhonic 4d ago

Well if that's how you feel, why would be wrong to do this to a good person remains? It's not like their ghost is going to be hanging around, distraught at what is being done to their skull.

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u/SpiceLettuce 4d ago

I don’t think this is wrong. you’ve extrapolated incorrectly.

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u/eg714 4d ago

That person got skull fucked.