Were Books Really Bound in Human Skin?
Vložit
- čas přidán 21. 01. 2022
- By the skin of our books...
Thank you Patron deathlings, who make this all possible!
/ thegooddeath
*$5+ PATRONS! Check out Caitlin’s SECRET Shop for a limited edition item inspired by this video*: the-order-of-the-good-death.m...
DARK ARCHIVES by Megan Rosenbloom is now in paperback: bookshop.org/books/dark-archi...
More about Megan: meganrosenbloom.com
Twitter: / libraryatnight
Anthropodermic Book Project: anthropodermicbooks.org/
Learn more about The Historical Medical Library of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia: collegeofphysicians.org/library
Twitter: / collegeofphys
**CAITLIN CONTENT**
Books: caitlindoughty.com/books
MORTAL course: www.mortalcourse.com/
Our podcast on iTunes: apple.co/2yK6c6G
Spotify: spoti.fi/2QZEVEM
Google Play: bit.ly/2AdEvoj
The Order of the Good Death - articles, resources, updates, and more: www.orderofthegooddeath.com/
The Order of the Good Death on Instagram: / ordergooddeath
The Order of the Good Death on Twitter: / ordergooddeath
**OTHER WAYS TO SUPPORT AND GROW OUR NON-PROFIT**
Donations on Patreon: / thegooddeath
A one time donation: bit.ly/3iaz9jN
The Order of the Good Death's Store: the-order-of-the-good-death.m...
**WHERE ELSE YOU CAN FIND ME**
Website: www.orderofthegooddeath.com
Twitter: / thegooddeath
Instagram: / thegooddeath
**PRODUCTION CREDITS**
Mortician and Writer: Caitlin Doughty
Producer and Writer: Louise Hung (@LouiseHung1)
Editor & Graphics: Andy Windak
A big thanks to Heidi Nance and her team at The Historical Medical Library of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia for talking with us, introducing us to the Marys, and most of all for your stewardship. Thank you for your hard work and collaboration!
**SELECTED SOURCES & ADDITIONAL READING**
Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin
Rosenbloom, Megan. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. New York, 2020.
The Skin She Lived In: Anthropodermic Books in the Historical Medical Library
histmed.collegeofphysicians.o...
Poetry Month and ARB-Phillis Wheatley's Poetry
libapps.libraries.uc.edu/libl...
Blockley Almshouse
collaborativehistory.gse.upen...
Philadelphia General Hospital (Old Blockley): Philadelphians "Ain't Goin' to no Bellevue"
m.philaplace.org/story/897/
The History of the Necronomicon
www.hplovecraft.com/writings/...
A BINDING OF HUMAN SKIN IN THE HOUGHTON LIBRARY: A RECOMMENDATION
www.princeton.edu/~needham/Bo...
Please tell me it's called a Skindle.
ROSA I....
Epic!
amazing!
That's terrible and I love it! 🤣
Omg 😹😹😹
"Ask a Mortician" is now a "History class with a Mortician" and I like that a LOT
should i skip school for youtube video making? i making good stuff but i need much time to making. maybe replace school with making videos. i have two girlfriends. thanks for your opinion dear jus
Or... history with a "Classy Mortician"
fools that don't really know anything at all but to bury the dead, Jesus said let the dead bury the dead but You Follow me for I'AM life in the flesh the Holy Light of Eternal Life I'AM Emmanuel GOD with you for only a short time to redeem what belongs to I the Creator of all things even hell did I create but not for mankind he that steals with does not belong to him Lucifer Satan the fallen one the darkness of the deep void all the same one, he hinds behind a lot of names
@@ronaldcossin4525 What ARE you on about?👀
Yep.
As a person with albinism, and generally very good skin (probably because I don't smoke and mostly have to stay out of the sun) I would be pleased to think my skin would be made into a book (I don't doubt it would be beautiful) especially if it was a book that helped educate people about the albino experience in some way, medically or culturally. My faith does not restrict me as to the fate of my body after death. so flense away! And while you're at it, maybe you could make some of my hair into string to bind the spine. Boil my bones to make the glue. I'm basically already a human book.
I love this for you. Any particular book in mind?
So cool!
yes I was just thinking of skin but all that goes with it! I wonder if I could make a entire book pages and all? ❤
Imagine beautiful albino leather being sold on the black market. Alabaster skinned people disappearing in dingy slums.
I feel like that got pretty sarcastic at the end. But the beginning seemed so passionate..hmm.🤔
In 1828, one of my ancestors - 'William Corder' was hung, drawn and quartered for the murder of Maria Marten ("The Red Barn Murder"). His skin was used to bind a book about the murder, and his skeleton was kept at the Royal College of Surgeons of England until 2004 when his remains were cremated. The book made from his skin is still on display along with a replica of his death mask at the Moyses' Hall Museum in Suffolk, England.
I'm curious, since you are in the unique position to be the living family/descendants of a human skin book... How do you feel about what she said in the video?
@@jayleejames864 hi! Which part?
@@thehermit5886 have you visited the book?
@@stephanie22345 possibly when I was younger, I’m not sure. The book resides in a museum in England, and I live in Australia, but I may have visited the museum when I was younger and visited England with my family.
@@thehermit5886 grim way to go, but by that time the sentence was probably commuted to beheading
Cadaver skin was part of what was used to reconstruct my chest after my cancer was removed. I am grateful for the person who donated their tissue and skin to me every day. Consent in tissue donation is really important.
How fantastic, isn’t science great!
I am a donor and if anything I have can be useful to another upon my death they are welcome to it. Though at a healthy 71 years old I don’t know what will be usable. Then my remains will be cremated and hopefully scattered or buried somewhere interesting. Circle of life.
Cadaver bone was used in my spine fusion. Without it, I'd be the Incredible Human Pretzel thanks to scoliosis. Been thankful for it ever since I was told, and it's why I'm an organ donor.
@@LexYeen same. I don't know if they'll want my organs after my cancer, but they're welcome to use my body for cadaver research in med school. It's a great cause.
@@Bluesbabesrv your skin is still donatable until 80 years, your cornea until 85. At least where im from 🙂
@@Sarcazzer bear in mind there are other exclusions that become increasingly likely with age before any cut-offs, too. If you're passionate about donation, it's worth investigating what you need to do in your area to set up a plan b, like donation for research, anatomy education, or use in a "body farm" study, just in case you're not eligible to donate. ❤️
"Who was making these books?"
"Doctors"
If I've learned anything from this channel is that 19th century doctors were some of the scariest breeds of people to walk this earth
very glad i wasn’t alive back then. go to the doctor with a headache and come back with “medical cocaine” and an amputated leg
An earlier doctor was walking around with one of the first medical bags - made from the hide of a pirate hanged on the Boston commons.
Sometimes you have to wonder, who was the first doctor to have good intentions.
@@thoughtengine The doctor with the good intentions, that would probably be Hypocrates.
@@chkingvictim Sounds like an ork painboy from a Games Workshop game...
@@chkingvictim I really wouldn't mind some "medical cocaine" prescribed for a headache. But hey, I'm a fucking ex-junkie, were I alive then I sure would have a lot of coughing fits for that sweet sweet heroin sold without prescription for the symptoms of common cold, probably.
I actually like the gravity that a human skin medical book holds to the reader. The philosophical and emotional impact of holding someone's literal body and representative life in your hands is a sobering reminder of how incredibly important a physician's duty is to their patients.
It's also a beautiful sentiment, in the strangest of ways, that the medical knowledge contained in those texts comes from the patients who came before them. People who bravely and desperately suffered experimental treatment until an effective remedy was finally invented for the condition they may or may not have survived.
Well that rendition of the Reading Rainbow theme will haunt my dreams and live in my head rent free for a few weeks to come 😂💀
Hahahahaha I was thinking the same but it was super fitting! ❤️
It was brilliant.
God I love it! It's absolutely mortifying isn't it?! I'm trying to find it.
"It wasn't weirdos, it was doctors!" ...I propose that there is some overlap between these two groups.
Can you say:
Criminal Minds episodes?
Forensic Files?
FBI Files?
Unsolved Mysteries?
America's Most Wanted?
Law & Order..."Ripped from the headlines"?
"some" lol
Definitely.
caveman: "Argh! I fell on a sharp piece of wood last week, and now there's splinters trapped inside the wound preventing it from healing!"
the caveman equivalent of that guy who collects knives: "Let me witness your FLESH. I will PURIFY it."
And that's the story of humanity's first surgeon.
As the daughter of a surgeon, I have to concur. However, I think my dad is more of a garden variety-weird. Now, he did have a colleague who was a GI doc…who had jars of gallstones and kidney stones on his desk. They were oddly pretty, for what it’s worth.
Wonderful video, Caitlin! We can't wait to collaborate with you again!
You have a wonderful museum
@@helgabluestone2407 Thank you! :-) We'd love to see you here one day!
Absolutely love your Museum. It’s a must visit whenever in the US. When the current restrictions to our travel are lifted we’ll be back. Thank you for all the hard work curating your incredible collection. x🇦🇺
It is indeed a fascinating museum. It’s also great for dates.
@@theMutterMuseum I love your collaborations!!
Hi, Caitlyn's Dad! I love your daughter, her work, her amazing sense of humor. Thank you for bringing her into the world. Thank you for making her ready to take the world by the horns. Thank you for loving her, she's loved by so many of us. I do appreciate all your hard work and care and love, Sir.
Skin books are different than skin mags, just saying
@@aprilmay1700 I wonder, are you trying to be April May from Ace Attorney?
This is so great! I work in the book conservation lab at one of the institutions that houses one of the Phyllis Wheatleys. We've had both of them in our lab. They're just...books, really. You'd never know that they were bound in human skin if no one told you. As to the ethics of them, I completely disagree that they should be disbound and buried. It's part of the history of the book, both good and bad. I think that trying to cover up unfavorable histories because they're "distasteful" is just as bad now as it was at any other point in history. We're human, and sometimes we do things that are baffling and make our descendants uncomfortable. But trying to step over that is worse. I'm sure he means well, but removing history because it's unfavorable sets us up to repeat it.
Is there any suspicions of whose skin is used as the binding for those books? I’m curious if that’s at all known
There is a saying, "The damage has already been done..." I think this also fits here. The skin has been removed, treated, and are a part of the book. The Damage has been done. Pull the skin off the books and burying them is not going to fix or repair the damage. However, keeping the books as they are will repeatedly bring up the past so we can continue to learn from it. Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it. History should never be erased but re-visited from time to time so we can avoid going into the repeat loop.
So true! Love your comment! It's already done and over. We should use it as a learning tool. Even though our ancestors were crude and weird.... We gotta learn from them, and hope to never repeat their weird and crude mistakes ever ever again.
Yes but does displaying the books as a rare prize send the correct message about this? Or does it rationalize the actions of the book binders of the past: "Well if they hadn't done what they did, Harvard wouldn't have this amazing piece for its collection." That flippant press release shows that there is a potential for these items to be used not for teaching the errors of the past, but for celebrating them.
I watched a documentary on the BBC about forensic archaeology, one of the team had been 'gifted' an exhibit a child from the 1800s. As the team discussed the case and found out more about the boys life they decided to give him a proper burial. I know that this is more than just a bit of skin but my point is that the story is what matters and that sorry ended right, Marys and all the others haven't.
I want to be a book. I'll be immortal. Well, sort of. LMAO! Ah, grief got me acting dumb. Just wanted to say, I LOVE your comment. I could not agree more.
I agree 100%. Plus, so long as the staff treats the books with respect, which they seem to be doing, I think that there's incredible value in keeping them around. Yes, what happened was awful, but concrete items that represent atrocious acts play a key part in education, preventing them from happening again.
As a former history teacher I say teach the controversy. It teaches critical thinking, research, supporting your claims with evidence and just being able to form your own point of view. Also would it be more disrespectful to ignore what happened to the people post mortem?
Unfortunately they don't want people thinking like that because people who think like that question things and that's threatening to the establishment. I didn't realize that when I was a kid I just figured I was an insubordinate it bad child I now know I was pushing against a system that had been created for me by asking questions. Now is an adult if I ask questions I am attacked I am attacked not much has changed.
As a side note I completely agree with you.
Yes I think the libraries trying to find out about the source of the skin is great - that doctor didn't even give Mary Lynch her full name, which feels so dehumanising to me - his credit is far more important to him, while her death seems to be the important detail about her and he even got the date wrong!
I'm kinda surprised he didn't go all in and include the chance to boast about his confirming her diagnosis/cause of death too, but maybe the lack of details means he was worried about repercussion if her family discovered he'd taken her skin..?
I think it's good to show the historical context, and to have this difficult conversations
I tried and got called a bot. It literally hurt my soul but I aggressively lovingly agree.
@@matthewdeckerofficial you were called a bot for talking about a completely unrelated topic. There’s a time and a place for everything. Trying to hijack a comment thread to expound upon an issue of concern to you that’s wholly unrelated to the video is pretty much what defines bot behavior. And if you’re this easily emotionally wounded, the internet and social media specifically probably isn’t for you.
"A book that so perfectly captures the human soul should also be wearing the human skin."
That goes right onto my dashboard of fascinating logic.
I'm surprised you haven't mentioned about William Burke's skin being used as a wallet after his execution and public dissection. It was my first experience learning what Anthropodermic Bibliopegy was when I read about it.
Was it also him who was made into shoes or was that someone else? I know someone got turned into shoes.
I think they bound a note book in his skin.
Your dad clattering around right when you said “hello from my parents’ house” is just too perfect 😅
As a dad I can tell you he did it on purpose
Dads have to dad
HI DAD❤
Did anyone else die at 35:50 😂
@@djonnyrocket8768 "I didn't make *that* much noise." 😄😄
The “reading rainbow” song at the end of an episode about human skin books is PEAK Ask a Mortician humor, I’m cracking up
Same! I wish it was on Spotify so I could confuse my friends when I played this! LOL
it killed me lmaoooooo
It was glorious... and scared my dog out the door. he won't come back in now... 😅
"I can be anythiiiing"
The best part was pairing it with the Evil Dead II scene in the background.
I feel this is a similar situation and 've been complaining about this for 50 years. Go into a museum and you can see real human skeletons. But can't take a shoe from a sunken ship? One rule for one and one rule for another. Not allowed to dig up Queen Victoria are we? But it's okay for some unknown working man.
So true. Lots of double standards of ethics in regards to class.
A very thorough, well thought out vid. Your treatment of both sides was excellent. We don't approve of past horrors but we need them around to remind us to be compassionate and respectful. We prove our lack of humanity in burying our past grievous acts.
Yep. I often think about this.
They've definitely dug up all sorts of pharaohsemperors, kings etc. I think at some point, we are removed enough to see them as archeological evidence vs the bodies of dead humans. But yes, there is absolutely a complete disrespect for non-upper class people.
it’s also all well and good to put pharaohs in museums
I like the idea of the “Skin Books” being curated as historical artifacts not on open public display, but available for inspection by appointment. Once again, Caitlin, you’ve done a fantastic job on a difficult subject!
The most disturbing part about those books isn't the idea of dark magic, but rather the dehumanization process that went with many of them. The idea of using a fellow human as cattle is disturbing.
You are just one step from realizing that using cattle for cattle ain’t great at all.
Wait until you learn about Igbo slavery.
Flesh is flesh. I'd argue its pretty disgusting to cut up any living thing. At least the humans were dead before their skin was used, not murdered for their skin.
"I didn't make THAT much noise"
"That's not what the camera says"
I did not expect to be laughing that hard this early in the video.
I immediately felt a kindred spirit with your dad.
This IS the man that replaced a pale, dead fish with an identical live one to freak his wife out (and consequently delaying Caitlin's first experience with death)
@@bird2793 Huh, I just realized my first experience with death was a murder. Of a tadpole. By my cat.
@@HaleyJo1992 I think mine was my dad taking the head off a fish. Apparently I started crying and told him to “put it back on”. 😂 He said something along the lines of “You like eating fish yeah? We can’t eat him alive can we?” I thought that was a pretty good point so I stopped crying lol.
The reading rainbow song slowed down to sinister levels to this is true perfection
Pee was also sold to tanneries. It's where the saying, "They don't even have a pot to piss in." came from.
After hearing all the atrocities happening to slaves, my first thought was "Oh no, they're going to bind her poems in her own skin." I'm not sure if I should be relieved or scared of my own mind...
To be honest, that was my first thought too. Really wouldn't be surprising.
Same……. I breathed a sigh of relief!
Me, too.
same. looking at history I think it's not unreasonable to expect that from white colonizers... look at what Columbus did to indigenous ppls. :/
While doubtful she would have been granted consent, the way these books seem to be lovingly cared for would be the epitome of immortality for an author. I wonder if Stephen King would object to this? These days we barely know the names of our great grandparents. To leave a piece of yourself with your greatest life work is touching. No pun intended but...
What if Van Gogh could have left a painting on a canvas made of his own skin?
Or a clothing designer using their own hair to make clothing?
Does the use of other mediums change our perception?
The Nazi's made clothing out of the hair shaved off of the heads of the Jews. I stared at the exhibit for minutes and minutes, squinting to see individual hairs. Wanting to fully acknowledge each one as priceless. Should these be dismantled and buried due to how they were obtained?
Would "burying" them be paradoxical, by hushing their impact on humanity?
Caitlin: "Dad? Darling. You had one instruction..."
Caitlin's Dad: "I didn't make that much noise!" 😂🤣
Oh, Caitlin! How I missed you! 🥰💖⚰⚱
🤣🤣 freaking loving it!
My thoughts exactly oh how we have missed you our death guru 😂😂😂
1:02 *"Everyone say Hi to my Dad."*
Hi Catlin's Dad! LOL! 🤣
Never get enough of Caitlin!!! I learn everytime I watch😀Best to you Caitlin and to All that gather here😀
As a rare book librarian myself, I can't believe it's taken me this long to watch this video. Excellent work! Professional note: Paul Needham, who retired from Princeton in 2020, is a massive figure in the field. He's done hugely important scholarly work on early printed books, including the earliest one of all, the Gutenberg Bible - and published a history of book binding! So it's interesting to learn he takes such a strong line on the retention of human skin bindings.
I love the closing credits so much! The content, as always, is above and beyond all expectations. That's why I love this channel. I've come to expect fascinating new information, yet I'm always impressed and stimulated. Then there are the delightful easter eggs which make me smile at random times. Like the slow-mo harmonic bridge of the reading rainbow song on top of the book of the dead animation. Thank you.
" Lovecraft described the book as rigidly suppressed."
The Necronomicon: Oh, like he can talk.
"When I die, I want my skin to be used to bind books." is not something I ever thought I'd think about, but here we are!
Will you get a tattoo of the book name on you first ?
@@trentgay3437 That would be a cool idea if I wasn't TERRIFIED of needles and thus unable to bring myself to get a tattoo (even though I really want one). lol
I'm a writer, so my final book will be bound with my skin, just because I can and that seems extra
@@idiotically-everything Oh that is definitely extra. You can specify your skin will be used to bind your book? That would be lovely. I'd have my private book of poems bound in my skin.
@@MamboDogFace Not sure of the legality, but I'm gonna try :3
It is insane how much i like the storys on this channel! I bow down before your insane effort you put in your videos! You got a new fan here! I learn so much!
This is my favorite subscription channel. Long-time watcher, and I am always amazed.
Keep the books around. Have the difficult conversations. To bury them, I would think, is to try to ignore what happened. I know that's not Mr. Needham's intention, but we can't change the past.
We can't change the past, but we can give the respect due to the dead. Do you always disapprove of burying found human remains? Because that's what these books are, found human remains. We can't know if the people whose skin was used for these books wanted to be buried, but considering how many religions require burial/cremation as part of the death rites, burying seems like a good start.
The person’s brain no longer exists. Said person no longer exists, so he or she has no idea if we keep the skinbook or bury it
@@PrincessSixThirteen how to give respect to the dead is actually a rather complicated question. Not every culture or person has the same notion as what defines 'respectful' treatment of a deceased person. maybe someone actually wanted to be a book. Maybe they wanted to be blown out of a cannon. Maybe they wanted a "proper burial" or maybe they wanted to be cremated. If I was buried I'd be pretty annoyed tbh. I want to be aquamated. And not everyone is religious, nor has everyone in history always been religious. If you're this concerned about the people whose skin was used to make these books being respected and their wishes in some manner fulfilled, are you then going to presume to guess someone's personal desire for disposal of their remains? "Well alot of ppl back then in that area were catholic so let's go with a catholic funeral!" (Imagine if the person was in fact Jewish. That'd be a hell of an oops)
From my point of view, these books are more akin to organs being donated against someone's will than a body being stolen. If you're viewing a section of skin as being an important part of someone's identity then I'm curious how you'd view organ donation. And there are definitely people who think you should keep everything of yours when you die. And others who are happy to give up all their organs when they die, even their skin. We don't know these victims' answers to those questions. I personally think presuming to know their thoughts on it is akin to putting words in their mouths.
Correctly calling them victims and treating their remains with respect and as a teaching tool (as well as finding out their names to restore their identity) gives them a dignity in death that they were cheated of in life. And for me, that's being respectful.
Especially if there are no families of the deceased who are distressed about the condition of their relative's remains. If the family/group of origin is distressed, you need to give stuff back to the people & families they came from. Other times, the situation is different.
@@electrictroy2010 While in this case I think there is value in keeping the books around, "this person doesn't exist anymore because they're dead" is a bad approach to human remains. If that were true across the board, there would be no need to respect the wishes of the dead, and we could just throw everyone in a landfill. While you or I might not be bothered by that for ourselves, respect for the dead is kind of a cornerstone of our society, and one of the main points of this channel
John Stockton Hough is my great-great grandfather. He didn't bind the book until decades after the skin was tanned and after his wife left him. Hoarding runs in that side of my family, and we joke that the reason for the number of decades between tanning Mary's skin and using it was due to losing it in his hoard.
So cool! Thank you for sharing!
Whoa that's an interesting addition to the story. Sort of fits with my vibe that there was a sort of crafter "be a shame for all this material to just go to waste" impulse being acted upon.
Now that really is interesting! Thank you for sharing that! You never know who you will meet in the CZcams comments! Once I meet Big Bird's son! I had a chance to tell him how much I adored his father in Sesame Street. His dad had died, but I have a true love for my childhood idol. Thanks for sharing your family tree. I think it's awesome that he knew and acknowledged that it was Mary's skin. He had given her life and greatness after death that she didn't get in life. Extraordinary!
What an interesting - and yet sad - addition to the story. I'm sure the Mutter would love to know this about the Mary's and that some of JSH's descendants are still around. These are all ready priceless books, but this would put a unique anecdote on them.
prove it
This may seem an odd take on your final question, but I feel that removing these books from their collections and burying them is a kind of book burning. It would be denying their history and their meaning. Yes, that history makes us deeply uncomfortable, but it tells us so much about ourselves and our complex and conflicted history.
PS - I look forward to your posts. Thanks for what you do!
a couple of years ago i went to the surgeons hall museum in edinburgh, and among other things, i saw the pocket book made from burke's skin. i remember it spooked me a little, but it was also fascinating, and i had so many questions. this video really cleared up a couple questions i had at the time - and i totally agree with your verdict. thank you :)
Caitlin: "I wouldnt have gone with the cannibal joke..."
Also Caitlin like 8 minutes later: "This wouldn't be be possible without my *delicious* patreon supporters."
That's not a joke, that's just fact. Her patreon supporters are delicious.
@@falleithani5411 but the real question that hasn't been asked is, "What do they taste like?"
@@ChristopherSadlowski Chicken. They taste like chicken.
This is why she's fantastic
@@Gladiamdammit - Real Long Pig tastes like Pork.
caitlin's newfound talent of mouthing over antique imagery makes me happy
It's too fucking funny 😂😂 kills me every time
She’s getting REALLY good 😂
Caitlin's animated mouth reminds me of that old "Clutch Cargo" series - and yes I'm old enough to remember that! 🤕
I love your channel, you have so much interesting information, not just embalming bodies, but real historical things. Thank you for sharing with us.
You have a very professional, yet charismatic and friendly voice for narration. Keep it up.
The flying Necronomicon singing a slowed down version Reading Rainbow has got to be about the best thing ever.
It's a barometer, thank you for identifying your results, noted. I'm horrified.
Here's my number..
I've seen a book, and lampshade iirc, at the Holocaust museum in Montreal during a visit with my high school history class in 1981. The items were kept in order to discuss topics of the people, the horrors of the concentration camps, and they brought the whole subject even more gravitas by their presence. I guarantee you the class were the most quiet, and respectful, bunch of 16 year olds ever. We also met 3 survivors at the end, who each told how their lives were upended, and how they ultimately survived, those horrific experiences.
Damn, at the end you meet survivors? What do you even say or do? I would want to hold them, as if that would do anything to heal what they'd been through. I feel like the hug would just be for me to feel like I had done something for these people who went through hell...
@@littletechn8175 yeah it was an experience I have never forgotten, obviously. It hit most of us like you cannot believe. When I hear people try to deny the Holocaust these days it angers me. Denying historical fact just shows a level of ignorance, and in some cases stubborn headedness, that I just cannot fathom.
I really wondered why Cait didn't talk about the Holocaust and the human skin artifacts. The barbaric evidence that exists in regards to the atrocities the Jewish people suffered is undeniable.
Field trips like that would never happen nowadays. Sad…
@@jonseymouse She did though? Go back and watch it again.
This video was fascinating. Thank you. I love the way you explore different sides of a story or topic and really place a focus on the humanity in these issues. On the topic of books - not bound in human skin - I'm reading 'Lady Killers: Deadly Women Throughout History' by Tori Telfer. Low and behold, my favourite mortician Caitlin wrote a quote on the back!
Incredible amount of knowledge here! Thanks, Cat
Having never heard of the Necronomicon, I immediately assumed it was like Comic-Con for Necromancers. Never have I been more disappointed in pop culture.
You’re missing out a chunk in life if you have not watched Ash in Army of Darkness 🧟♂️
There is a fun book called the Necronomnomnomicon that is a cookbook based on the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. It's beautiful and very funny, if you're into that kind of thing. My fav recipe title is "New England Damned Chowder" lol!
Ah yes, Necronomicon! My favorite panels are "Human toes and their many uses", "Graverobbing 101", "Why you should never use necromancy on whales", and "Ask a Lich (18+)"
Yeah instead of awesome dark magic we get a racist coward who said he liked h*tler, v boring imo (and yes i have read some of his stories, not that scary imo unless youre a bigot yourself, that for some reason fears different races and species or different body parts/disabilities. Knowing all his horror was based on his fear of poc really removes the intrigue, especially with the ones depicting poc poorly)
@@CommanderWiggins "never use necromancy on whales"
*inhales*
im gonna fukin do it
Saddest of all is that all the care, respect and dignity Mary L never received in life she receives in death to only a tiny part of who she was. Really interesting video!
@@em9341 it's the recognition that she was a person, and the knowledge of her story that wouldn't otherwise have been known
I thought the same thing. I suspect the staff looking after her now view her as far more human than the staff who "cared" for her whilst she was alive.
This is a very potent reminder of how brutal the 19th century could be.
@@em9341 then you must also accept that she wouldn't have been recognised or known if it wasn't for the books or the strips of her on them. You can only memorialise someone if there is a trace of them and it was clear she was going to be another record in an asylum if it wasn't for them.
@@em9341 then you must also accept that she wouldn't have been recognised or known if it wasn't for the books or the strips of her on them. You can only memorialise someone if there is a trace of them and it was clear she was going to be another record in an asylum if it wasn't for them.
@@em9341 Respect looks different to many people. For example, I'd be honored if someone thought my skin was worth preserving like this, personally, but you probably wouldn't. There's no one right way to respect someone, as it comes in many forms.
Plus, like others have said, without her skin being preserved, we wouldn't know who Mary L even was. Would you rather her story be forgotten instead of being used to spread awareness? There's really something to be said about the way we in society treat disabled people, and this is just one horrific example of how people don't even necessarily see us as humans due to our disabilities. Her story is one worth sharing. She doesn't deserve to be just another statistic.
That ending was PERFECT! Great job!
Thank you for the end credit music. It was much appreciated!!
Caitlin: Their ordinariness might mean they’re hiding on your bookshelf right now…
Me: *slowly turns around to stare at my copy of “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes”*
And some made of cat skin?
Where's my copy of, "Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs"??
Me: *looks at my copy of "The Way of All Flesh" by Samuel Butler*
Me: HMMMM
Me looking nervously at my "leather" bound edition of Little Big Man... 😥
Roflmbo 🤣🤣🤣
I agree with the librarian. What is done is done. It is absolutely unethical, and it is reminder to not let it happen again. Without Mary's book, I never would have heard of her, and her sorrow and suffering. It was a different world. I am glad it is unethical now. Keep them, I believe. She is now immortalized by informing us. Absolutely fascinating. Thank you.
I whole heartedly agree. Trying to erase the past is a folly.
you call it a different world, but it is important to remember that this happen our world not so very long ago.
I'm wondering if her family have any input into these books because it's her remains 🤔
RE: “different world.”
Human skin book binding wasn’t the norm then either. I understand what you’re getting at. (I assume: “don’t judge bc we can’t understand” or thereabouts is your point.) However, Generalizing human book binding as part of the norm of that time doesn’t work. It was fringe in the 18th & 19th centuries too.
Trying to erase, deny or make any part of history more “palatable” is *ALWAYS* wrong! IF such books were being carted around & presented as something to be viewed to entertain people…that would be disrespectful & wrong. But these books…at least those not owned by private collectors…are being treated & preserved with respect & are being used to teach the public not only about the time period they were made in but also about the lives & deaths of those whose skin was used(when known). While many of those whose skin was used to bind such books didn’t consent to it…I imagine many of them would approve of their story supported & enforced by the actual book being used to educate people that such practices did occur & most often the social failures & inequalities which allowed for it. So that hopefully it will never happen again. Also I would imagine many if not most would approve of their memory being kept alive since it goes beyond just their name beside the book their skin was used on. As those who share these books with the public tell them as much as is known about such people’s lives as well as much about the point in history they lived & died in. I can understand some people’s wish for the skin or even entire book to be buried or destroyed as that would remove any reminder that society ever did such things besides for text & photos in history books & websites as well as “weird facts” sites. Which would mean it wouldn’t be known by many who didn’t go looking for such info & thus could be largely forgotten by society. The desire to do the same with much of history people find disturbing or which they feel ashamed ever happened. Which attempts to do so are occurring *RIGHT NOW* by banning fiction & nonfiction books on such topics from schools & colleges along with movements to remove any mention of slavery, racial inequality & the harms done to Native Americans & other races from K-12th history books & even in some colleges here in America! The purpose of history is to teach us where we collectively came from, how we got to where we are now & most importantly…the mistakes & horrors which occurred so that we never allow those or similar ones to ever occur again. As we’ve seen with both government & social response to the pandemic…such knowledge of history CAN be vital to avoiding repeating history. If you don’t know…we in fact DID NOT learn from previous pandemics & thus failed to avoid many of the same mistakes. And our government & society are repeating mistakes from history which I truly hope don’t lead to similar conclusions. Also by not forcing schools to properly teach history(& government)our government can more easily divide, control & lie to citizens thus maintaining control & freedom to do what they want. A poorly educated or poorly informed citizenry is an easily controlled & manipulated one. If you don’t believe our country is poorly educated look up literacy rates when you get a chance & the channels that go out to ask random people questions any elementary student should know. Or you know…watch the game show “Are you as smart as a 5th grader”.🤨
I wanted to say I love the ending you got going on with the slow motion Reading Rainbow at the end.
I'm a professional writer. And, now, I think I'm seriously thinking of looking into perhaps having one of my books, one that I have written, being at least partially bound in some of my skin when I die. There's a company that will, for a price, collect your tattoos upon your death, carefully preserve them, and frame them in a rather lovely and well-made shadow box frame that will then be delivered to the person you have chosen before your demise to receive it. I think it would be quite touching. . . almost the most personal of gifts to leave behind for my loved ones, a book that I wrote myself, bound in my own flesh. After all, every piece I've ever written, I have, at least metaphorically, put so much of myself into the creation of. Why shouldn't it be appropriate, and quite poetic, to leave behind me not only the body of my life's work, but a literal part of my own body binding that work? Maybe I can get my tattoos preserved and used as some of the illustrations in the same book!! How AWESOME would that be, you know?!❤️❤️❤️
It should be my autobiography!!! My memoirs...❤😂❤
What book?
The writing about Mary L. on the inside cover of the book is SO interesting, that the owner thought to preserve her information. It was clearly important to him.
Or he just kept notes. I know my college's anatomy lab was not unusual for having a collection of odd things removed from the donated remains. The Mutter Museum itself grew out of a doctor's collection of oddities. it just used to be the default thing to collect oddities as teaching tools.
"age 28 years, widow" oh... as if dying at such young age wasn't bad enough on its own
@@griffenspellblade3563 lmao you’re right, but the way you just dashed that person’s romantic fantasy about caring so much for the person who’s skin was made into a ´treasured’ book as a ´memento mori, *sigh*´ like, ´Nope. It’s just good record keeping’. I’m 💀
In a way he preserved her history. A poor common citizen, completely unknown otherwise.
I agree. It showed he valued her in some form, her life, what he was able to learn from her autopsy, and of course her skin. If only everyone thought hey I'm using this person's skin (or whatever organ) I should credit them and give information to honor them.
can't wait to bind "smoke gets in your eyes" and "from here to eternity" in human skin #supportyourfavoritecreators
With the consent of the owner of said skin, of course :)
Thank you for the time and effort of researching this subject.
Did anyone come back here after Harvard removed the human skin binding from one of their books?
Me
✋️
As someone who works with old books, I'm much more horrified of the contents of some of the books I've handled than the existence of human skin books. Might have even unknowingly touched one at one point or another. Some of the leather bindings had a weird texture, maybe due to age or a past treatment of the leather, maybe due to skin suit. Maybe it's Maybelline.
lol
Oh? What are the weirdest contents that you've found in those old books?
@@shart8008 I'm nearly positive that whatever it is it's horrifically racist.
I agree with this sentiment. There's so heinous shit out there.
@@ChristopherSadlowski oh, it very much is. I'm German, so I usually get at least a couple of n4zi surprises a day. Sometimes those types of books can get damaged beyond repair completely, 100% on accident though and we sadly have to throw them into the garbage where they absolutely belong.
Anybody else absolutely die at “Dad….darling, you had one instruction.” ?? 😂😂
the reading rainbow theme song at the end got me more
Luved it!
Thank you for this post on books. I love books and now I have an even more interest in books. I love you so much. I can watch you all day.
Okay, I LOVE you Caitlin, and we are all going straight to hell (do not pass go, do not collect $200) for that Reading Rainbow ending. You for doing it, and all of us for laughing at it!
Hi, Caitlin’s Dad!
Edit: Since most of the books seem to be bound with anonymous people’s skin and there is no DNA to match, I think it’s more fitting to memorialize them as the Mary’s are. If there was a known ‘donor’ and their descendants wanted the skin back or buried, then they should be allowed that.
1:02 *"Everyone say Hi to my Dad."*
Hi Catlin's Dad! LOL! 🤣
Why should someone's great great grandson have any say what happens to a piece of their ancestor's skin?
These books are rare and interesting enough that I don't think it would be wise to let descendants just destroy them :/
@@cla_rence Because that’s how we handle our dead in this country. It’s the closest next of kin.
@@melisa8256 By "this country" I imagine you mean the US. I'm not from here so idk, but isn't there laws about remains that have become artefacts ? Where I live, once human remains have become part of museum collections, they can't be destroyed or sold (which has its own issues.)
Anyways, my point remains, I don't think it's wise to give unique pieces of history to people for them to destroy it.
Human skin bound books are interesting enough but when you're able to say "oh hey that's made from Mary L" it's blows your mind and puts it all into perspective. I'm happy the librarians respect them for what/who they are
Girl, you are SO GOOD at this!!!!
Every time I watch your videos I have a new book to buy. Time for Dark Archives !!! I have all of yours and so many other mortuary science books and death psychology. I really really want to go to school for my license within the next few years and your videos help keep that fire burning within me
I'll never forget my manuscript professor going "I hope someone turns me into a book after I die" in the middle of a lecture.
What was the reaction from the class? 🤔😳
Ooh, the "coulottes made from human skin" has a nice lead-to to Icelandic necropants that really deserve their own Middle Ages Were Magic video.
I know nothing about Icelandic necropants, but I love the Middle Ages Were Magic segments. There's no one else I'd rather learn about such a topic from.
' Necropants' is a great name for a dark metal band ! lol
As an Icelandic person I NEED a video about the necropants! Caitlins talent for history about corpse and such would do this part of our history so much justice!!!
If you pull them down on your friend are you a... necropantser?
@@sunshine4ndrainbows397 Now that joke is truely groan worthy. Nice one. 🤣👍
I avoided this video for a long time because I thought the content would be tough, but your delivery was great as usual. I thought I loved you as much as I could already. Then, the slowed down reading rainbow song made me realize that I love you more.
This was wild. You definitely have a gift for narration of history.
As a physician (ooooo, I am a pathologist, I do autopsies), I am so impressed with Caitlyn’s presentation style. She is articulate and her diction and pronunciation is remarkable. She is so entertaining as she gives out her well researched information. Her intelligence and wit shine through.
A. Sphincter say what?? That's what you got out of the vid 😂🤣😂🤣😂 You have a book hidden away, don't you? ALERT, I'M JUST KIDDING 🙏✌️
True! She has a great speaking voice and super clear enunciation! I bet she would be entertaining as a theater actor!
I'd say someone has a crush. ;)
@@deannawheeler4362 Don’t we all?
Oh, so you’re new here huh?
Never thought a channel hosted by a mortician about cadavers and the dead history would be so damn interesting. We watch it as a family sometimes. It's amazing and my wife and older kids love it.
Caitlin is amazing 😍
That's so darkly wholesome.
you know what they say:
a family that indulges their morbid curiosity together stays together
We love your shows, dear mortician. Interesting , informative and good. Kudos
Thank you so much for busting the myth about wearing white gloves!!! I am a museum curator and it drives me nuts that people think that we use them.
If my skin was ever used in this way without my consent, I would want people to know. If I was mary and suffering and would have otherwise been lost to history, but now am facilitating great conversations about humanity. She shows us all the darkest parts of humanity that if we aren't constantly aware of we could slip back to. Also they are being genuinely loved and cared for as a person a part of history. If something so awful has already been done and with these stories and books we can keep Mary alive why would it make sense to bury them where inevitably their struggles will be forgotten.
It brings the old saying "don't judge a book by its cover" to a whole other level!
I like what is being done with the Mary L. books, and I think other human skin books deserve the same. Nothing can be learned from a dark history by burying it. I do think, however, on the off-chance that a descendant of an involuntary skin donor was uncovered, that they should have the right to decide what should be done with their dead relatives remains.
I tend to agree. I think the example of the reaction from Princeton to a book at Harvard is also (in my opinion, mind), based on what is what is presented here of his arguments, more than questionable. It strikes me as very much anything but a reasoned, or even compassionate, reaction, but rather smacks of a highly emotional reaction (e.g., the loaded language without, so far as what we are given is concerned, anything more than highly questionable assumptions about motivations of people more than a century dead -- assumptions, moreover, based on psychoanalytical theories which have themselves come in for considerable criticism from both historians and reputable psychological researchers. In other words, a "gut-level" emotional rather than truly reasoned and deliberated reaction based solidly on evidence and measured thought. (Once again, I wish to make it clear: this is my opinion based on the summary of his arguments as presented here; his entire argument might well substantiate his claims; but, given their resemblance to so many such which have become all-too-common in recent decades -- notthat they were ever exactly scarce to begin with -- and which more cautious investigation has,if not entirely exploded, at least seriously undermined... I remain inclined to doubt it.)
Furthermore, I can sympathize to a fair degree with such a reaction; it is just that I also sympathize with the concept of these as historical artifacts which in themselves tell a story, and which are important in being examples from which to learn about not only our own cultural biases of different times -- including the present, which is no less prone to error than any earlier -- and how to see the people of the past not as aliens becauase of those differences, but as people very much like us, with different prejudices and assumptions, some of which are indeed seriously open to question ethically... but at the same time keeping in mind our own faults in that direction, and how we might learn to do better from those we are criticizing.
All that said, I do think that, simply on the level of respect for any living descendants/relatives who might have such an objection, their views should be quite seriously considered in making any decision on such a matter as the disposal of these relics of the past.
Finding relatives is pretty much impossible without accurate information on the donor.
If someone knocked on my door and told me that they had books made from a great-great-granduncle, I'd find it interesting but there wouldn't be an emotional connection. The phone calls to relatives would be unique.
@@sw3783 a dead person is dead. They aren't here anymore. They can't be harmed.
What matters is whether other (living or yet to be living) people are harmed by what's done to the body.
Displaying native bodies is dehumanising to living and future indigenous people.
The book made from Mary L? Less easy to claim it's actively harming anyone by being used to teach others about a dark time in history.
@@sw3783 I think you should reconsider what I was actually saying, which is that if someone connected to Mary L. was discovered or came forward, they should have final say over what remains of her. Until then, how can you possibly presume to know what she would want?
And no, I am not an apologist for native remains being taken by scientists-- I've actually worked with native groups to reclaim the remains of their ancestors. It still has to be proven that they are, in fact, their ancestors, though. You can't just assume they are connected because of your personal beliefs and sensitivities. At that rate, let's just bury all history without review!
I believe cultures should have rights over their artifacts, but that requires an in-depth knowledge of what that culture is before just making assumptions and giving things away.
@@sw3783 cry about it on twitter
The song at the end had me cracking up, since I did grow up with that program. The line; “I can go anywhere”, certainly held new meaning.
I just love this channel SO much!
I keep going back to the note about Mary Lynch in the book: widowed by age 28, dying of TB, resigned to ending her life in an almshouse, unintentionally further poisoned by her relatives, and buried in a pauper's grave. Saddest of all is that she was one of thousands. Anne Sullivan spent the bulk of her childhood in a similar institution and lost her brother Jimmy there.
What that doctor did was probably actually more to remember her than what anyone else did.
@@themedia1271 Sadly agreed, and I feel, from the note and how it's phrased, that this was his intention.
Working on a family tree, I came across a girl who I thought was lodging with relatives. At the age of 7, she was a servant in a rich household. Her father had died, leaving the family destitute. The mother went into the alms house. The three daughters were put out to service. I got the name of one in a short obituary, but the third is lost.
the fact that most of these skin books exist without the consent of the deceased is absolutely horrifying but at the same time i would honestly love to have my skin used to bind books (after-death plan is to hopefully donate my body to the arts if thats legal when i die so the idea of becoming a book sounds SUPER appealing to me)
You could also be a drum. Just saying.
@@free2bme520 that sounds pretty cool too, i wouldnt mind being used for someones art project as well as long as its respectful. im planning on getting a lot of tattoos and maybe like a tarp or smthn of all my tattoos cld b one of those “oddity” art projects, but i think itd b a super cool way to preserve art
Ooh, is donating your body to art possible? I'd love for every piece of me to be used. Use my skin for a book and make a necklace out of my spine. I'll be dead, I'd rather my meat sack be used than just decay.
Yeah, I agree. There could be people who would absolutely hate if their body was used that way, be that because of religious beliefs or just not wanting your corpse to be cut up and become a possession.
But they were never given a choice.
@@getsouped Snorri Ásmundsson was looking (possibly still is?) to dance with a donated corpse as an art project. I thought that would be an interesting thing for my dead body to be apart of.
Brings a whole new meaning to 'skin book' [old army term for Penthouse, etc]
I still want to read Phyllis' work ever since I learned about her through the American Revolution... Also I find the cognitive dissonance fascinating of the people she mentioned were surprised by the books to think that human skin is so macabre when we bind books in animal skin all the time without their consent... What interests me more is the difference in the binding of old books to now.
Well lucky you. She’s published on Amazon now. I checked. Wanted to look into reading her work myself.
@@MissCaraMint Don't really know why I'm lucky? Yes I am hoping I can read at least one of Caitlin's amazing books too!
My own harvested skin,and some other tissue from my forearm and thigh was used to create a whole new esophagus. I had stage 4 larynx cancer, and so I had to have neck resection surgery ,with reconstructive surgery. Its absolutely fascinating what we can do with skin. Truly amazing 😊
This random internet stranger is sending positive vibes your way. I hope you heal well ❤️
@@grimsqueaker437 thank you so much,,that's so kind of you . I really appreciate it. 💞
Wow, that is amazing! Sending you love and prayers for your healing!
I'm not quite sure what you just wrote.
Are you saying doctors took some of your skin to create a new esophagus because you had to have your "old" one removed?
If so: modern medicine is amazing and badass!
And good wishes to you, I hope you recovered well it sounds like quite the ordeal.
I may be facing removal of my esophagus. Would you be willing to IM? I’d like to learn more.
This production value and editing and stage presence is above and beyond so proud of how far Caitlin’s come.
Hear, here! I was equally impressed! Well done!
You are so fascinating and I just love all of the thoughts and information you share
There's a lot of research in these stores, I love them all, Thank You
I love that, of all the costumes Caitlin might have gone for in this episode, it's the dog doo scooper she chose. We stan.
As a museum worker, I think, barring a living relative's request for removal and burial of the item, the books should be used as a teaching tool. They are real and tangible items that illustrate the need for medical ethics and compassion for people who may not have the capacity to consent or refuse treatment. Treating them with respect as representation of the human beings they came from is part of that process. Having said that, I personally don't have a problem with my post-mortem skin being used for book binding. I like the idea that my skin could contain someone's creative work or some educational tome. Is that weird?
I don't think that's weird! As a person who loves books for their content and as objects, I'd be happy to consent to my skin being used for that purpose, especially if a family member would appreciate that as an heirloom. I think there's an obvious difference between a doctor unnecessarily cutting strips off of dead poor people for their own purposes and choosing for part of one's own body to be used in book binding!
As another museum worker and someone who is soon to graduate with a degree, I respectfully disagree. We have no need for an item to teach about it and the controversy around them. As I talked about in my comment, when I learned about Mrs. Baartman and the way the world mistreated her, there was no need for her literal corpse to be on display. Unless there is explicit consent from the person themselves (who was used) and/or their direct family, we should put them to rest. A part of a skin is still part of a person and should be respected as such. Just because I would consent to some of my skin being used, does not mean that I should force that view into academia as a whole.
@@TheRunningLeopard ok but if we give parts of people the same respect as all of people then should we go bury every single skeleton in a museum and every single object that has any part of a human? Those books do not hurt anyone, unless they begin to hurt someone like if a relative wants the books gone then why should we destroy parts of history just because a few people think that it feels icky.
Consider along with all that, human skin leather is widely believed to be an urban legend. What would it mean if the evidence of its non-consensual creation was destroyed by default? Certainly, they shouldn't be presented as just an historical curiosity, and probably they shouldn't be displayed at all, but if destruction necessarily even the most respectful memorial? These are some of the artefacts of the development of modern medicine, which was built on an incredible degree of disrespect and dehumanisation of poor and enslaved people, both in life and in death. The perpetrators of this were people fundamentally just like us. If the proof of our openly doing things like this so recently had all been destroyed years ago, could we have so quickly recognised and believed that, say, "Real Bodies: The Exhibition" was made up of the bodies of non-consenting political prisoners?
If one of those anonymous book covers are part of one of my relatives' remains, I'd hope she was carefully preserved in an off-display collection, proudly reminding the people who care for her of what was done to her, and telling us not to let it happen again.
@@TheRunningLeopard cry about it on twitter
I love these longer vids by Caitlin
Reminds of that line of Clive Barker's. “Everybody is a book of blood; wherever we're opened, we're red.”
and bound to each other figuratively speaking
Good one!
I have known about Phyllis Wheatley since I was a child. Wheatley was one of the inspirations for my sister, who is now a professor of creative writing. I have never, never heard of this!
I came across your channel and I am in ♥️. Omg I’m learning sooo much. You’re amazing ♥️
As a writer I think having a special boxed set of my works bound in my skin when I pass would be a great way to preserve my memory, to be honest.
I was expecting this to be a Middle Ages Were Magic episode! Crazy how they still made skin books in the 1930s!
I still really wish to have a "Middle Ages Magic" shirt 😩! It would be our Deathlings' inside joke thing lol 😂!
I'd especially expect it from the 30s, tbh...
In this day and age, I'm frustrated by our culture's need to "bury" history rather than teach the history of humanity. If we are ever to grow intellectually and socially we need to learn from humanity's past warts and all. Yes, our past can be difficult to face, but we can learn so much more by curating these oddities of the past. Often I believe we shy away from items such as these books because we fear death and what will become of physical forms after that death. Just my two cents worth.
What a super interesting topic!! Thank you so much for this video. My late friend and tattoo artist told me after doing a quite special tattoo "could you please heal the tattoo and then die so that I can make a lamp shade out of it". Sadly he passed away due to pancreatic cancer before I could, lol. This video reminds me so much of him and the love he had for beautiful skin. I miss him all over now. Keep up the great work!!
It's 5am and I'm sitting here laughing my arse off! You are sooooo hillarious. So interesting and well researched information. Thank you!
I would actually be interested in having my own skin used to bind a book and would be quite angry if someone then dismantled said book and buried my skin but I would fully consent to the process. The fact that this skin was taken without that consent is not ok but I don't think that means they should be buried and basically erased from history, instead we keep them, learn from them, make sure people are aware of the controversy behind them, and do better in the future
Erasing history is never a good idea.
SAAAAMEEEEEE OMG i didn't know other people like me existed
Same. I would actually not mind having my skin be bound as a book, and although the skin in these books were not taken consensually, I think it should remain as an option.
If the skin was taken with the individual’s fully informed consent, then I’d agree with you. However, I would argue people’s right to dignity and bodily autonomy trumps preserving these books. There are other ways to preserve the history of the books. Finally following through on the person’s desires for their own remains does not automatically equal erasure. We can still teach people about them, make sure people are aware of the controversy and history, and learn from the mistakes of the past while also honoring another human’s wishes for their remains. Or, if it was a case where we can find the family/descendants of a person whose skin was used without consent, asking what they want done. I say this as someone who also would love to have my own skin used for book binding- ya know, with my consent.
@@alwayscensored6871 So, y'know how these books were dismantled and the skin buried, and nevertheless we're all here talking about them? History is not erased by the destruction of, for example, a book bound in human skin, or say, a statue praising a racist piece of shit. Refusing to honor deplorable people or deplorable actions does not erase the memory of those people and actions.
Back in the 90's I bought the Marvel Comic Squadron Supreme which has the ashes of creator Mark Gruewald in the ink of that printing.
IT HAD THE WHAT?
@@dylan4142 This is a real thing. Mark Gruewald was a Penciler, Writer, and Editor at Marvel in the late 70's to mid 90's he created characters such as Crossbones and U.S. Agent which have appeared in the MCU Films and DisneyPlus shows. He died in 1996 and per his wishes he was cremated and some of his ashes were mixed with ink used to do a reprinting of his Maxiseries from the 80's called Squadron Supreme which was Marvel's take on the Justice League. & I bought one.
AHHHHHHHHHHH that's so cool!!
That’s amazing
I just looked it up and that is honestly such an interesting story. Nothing against people doing that if that is what they wish for.
Dark Archives is one of the most fascinating books I've ever read. Excellent video, as always.
Awww that moment with your dad was adorable
I have had corneal transplants on both of of my eyes to treat Keratoconus - I will be forever incredibly grateful to the donors and to their families but if I think too deeply about having a deceased persons tissue as a part of me I do feel a little creeped out by it so I always try and concentrate on the gift of sight they have given me.
Mightn't be the place for this conversation, and I'm sorry if my asking raises feelings you don't want to have. I am curious if you have thoughts on xenotransplantation - that is, transplants using animal organs, or animal organ scaffolds "filled in" with your own stem cells. Do you think you'd feel differently, especially as someone for whom the gratitude aspect is so important?
@@AD_AP_T With so few organs available and so many people on long waiting lists for vital (heart, lungs, liver & kidneys) transplants I can see the need for animal parts to fill that void.
For me personally I have mixed feelings as I ask: is one life more important than another? Would the animal be slaughtered for just that one part? do we just kill an animal every time we need an organ? they might be "just animals" but they are still a living creatures.
All organ donations should be treated with dignity, respect and honour.
Maybe somebody who is waiting for a vital organ would have different answer to me.
Edited to add:
I was incredibly fortunate to be able to continue to live my life relatively normal whilst waiting for my transplant and after my transplant a syntactic cornea was conceived so I had options while not everybody is that blessed
I was diagnosed with Keratoconus last month. Haven't had my first appointment yet but I've been told that transplant is an option, so I'm very grateful for your comments.
@@apjec thank you so much for sharing that. 💕 One of the difficulties is that, because of the different qualities required for different types of transplants, it is possible that one animal would be slaughtered to supply one organ for one person. They'd also be unsuitable for use as food... Even though I'm very excited about the introduction of animal-donated transplants, and I'm fairly confident I wouldn't hesitate to accept one if I was ever in that position, that part doesn't sit totally comfortably with me, either.
@@WolfRaven119 wishing you all the best 💕