Hello Deathlings! Today's Morbid Minute is one of the queerest tales ever told! Or should I say... not told? Shhh! *sputters and then coughs, then continues* *One more shh for fun* ♫Really cool intro music♫ A programming note to begin, this story was first brought to light by researchers at the University of Padua. It was translated and written about in English by Ivan Cenzi. A friend to death that you all should know, whose blog I will link below. That rhymes. ♫A friend to death you all should know♫ ♫Whose blog I will link below!♫ So, back to our tale, queerest ever told. You, you know. It is a cold gray morning in Padua, Italy. The year is 1863. The silence of the morning is broken by a splash as an eighteen year old seamstress dies by suicide in the river. History will forget her name, and the only reason given for her death is that she was plagued by an amorous delusion. By a stroke of luck not necessarily for her, a man named Ludovico Brunetti hears of her death. He's the chair of Anatomical Pathology at the University, and he's on the look out for fresh bodies to practice his new preservation technique. When Brunetti received the girl's body he began by making a plaster cast of her head and upper chest. He then peeled the skin from her neck and face much as you would with taxidermy. He dried out the skin and injected it with tannic acid. Finally, he put the whole thing back over the plaster cast, topping it with her golden blonde hair and a pair of glass eyeballs. But the process was not without flaws, the girl's skin had been cut when hooks were used to drag her from the river and Brunetti's preservation couldn't hide them. So this is where he decides to take some artistic liberties. I believe the scientific term for what happens next would be WHAT THE HELL?? To die by suicide was considered a sin. A sin punishable by eternal damnation. So to cover the cuts in the skin Brunetti turns this girl's tanned corpse into a statement. An allegory on hell. He sticks some wooden branches at the base of the bust. Does his patented preservation technique on some snakes which he has coming up positioned, eating her face. Uses red candle wax to represent blood and calls the whole piece: Are you ready to see this thing?! Aaaaaaaaaaaaa That's it! That's, that's what he did. Let's see it again. Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh Now you know that I believe in cultural relativism. Different cultures, different religions,
different time periods all have their own valid way of dealing with their dead bodies. But I think we can all agree that even at this time period this would be horrifying and creepy .....right? W-We can agree on that? *buzzer sounds* Turns out we can't. First thing Brunetti does is show the bust to the girl's parents. *In an extremely creepy voice* Mummy... Their daughter has just died, her skin has been flayed to make an allegory about hell. And according to Brunetti, they praise him. Everyone who knew her loves the bust, because he really just nailed those features. Then, several years later Brunetti takes the bust to be shown at the universal exhibition in Paris. Instead of people being like, "Oh. Oh dear god." He wins the Grand Prix in Arts and Professions! He wins the damn awards at the exhibition. Keep in mind this was the same period as the American Civil War. This wasn't that long ago. The bust is still kept at The Museum Of Anatomical Pathology in Padua today. The question I always come back to when it comes to displaying human remains in a museum context, whether a skull, or a shrunken head, or a baby in a jar, is: Was there some kind of consent? Are there ancestors or living relatives who are upset at the display? From what we know, from Brunetti, it seems like the girl's parents were thrilled at their daughters preservation. What do you think of the Punished Suicide? Should it ever have been made in the first place? Should it still be on display today? Do we even get an opinion? This stretches even my cultural relativism, which is very hard to stretch. So I'm interested to know what you think! And that, my friends, is your very Morbid Minute. And remember, you will die! Brought to you with support from People's Memorial™ Association and the Co-op Funeral Home and donations from views like you. WHAT THE HELL??
