Morbid Fact Du Jour For January 12, 2011
Today’s Unmarked Yet Truly Morbid Fact!
John Wilkes Booth might have been a successful assassin, but he was a largely ineffectual escape artist. Just 12 days after murdering President Abraham Lincoln, Booth was shot in the back of the neck and killed. His body was (eventually) buried in an unmarked grave at Baltimore’s Green Mount Cemetery. His third, fourth, and fifth vertebrae, however, were removed during the autopsy so investigators could access the bullet. For a peek at those bits of Booth’s spinal column, just check out the display at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington, D.C.
Culled from: Neatorama
Generously submitted by: Reno Dave
I went to the museum back in 2001 but my shot of the vertebrae didn’t show up. You can see photos of some of the other goodies at my travelogue though:
Talk about throwing away your life. Booth was very famous as an actor in his time. It would be kind of like Brad Pitt assassinating Obama today.
There are some whom believe that he was never caught, the cadaver is not J.W.B. and that his descendants are presently petitioning the court to do a DNA test by exhuming the body of Edwin Booth, John Wilkes brother, to compare of what’s left at the National Museum of Health and Medicine.
Cheerio
>>http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2011/jan/08/john-wilkes-booths-aura-still-fascinates-us/?partner=yahoo_feeds