SKIRMISHER

Do you ever wonder about whatever happened to Napoleon’s penis, Einstein’s sliced brain, Saint Catherine’s severed finger, or Oliver Cromwell’s head? Yeah, I don’t, too. But just in case you’re curious, Neatorama has compiled the skinny on 10 famous dead people and some sadly sentimental post-humous stories about their missing body parts.

My favorite is the entry on novelist Thomas Hardy’s heart:

“In his will, English novelist Thomas Hardy specifically requested to be buried with his beloved first wife. His friends, however, didn’t think this was good enough for the author and lobbied to have him buried in Poet’s Corner at Westminster Abbey instead. An ugly fight between Hardy fans and family ensued, until they reached a compromise. The author’s heart was removed and buried with his wife; his ashes were preserved in a bronze urn inside the Abbey. There’s also a long-running (but unsubstantiated) rumor that Hardy’s sister’s cat snatched the heart of a table, and that a pig’s heart had to be substituted for the burial ceremony.”

And also this entry on Saint Francis Xavier:

“Francis Xavier was a saint with a few too many fans. In the early 16th century, the Spanish missionary was sent to Asia by the king of Portugal to convert as many souls to Christianity as possible. Turns out, he was pretty good at the job. Francis Xavier became wildly popular, and after his death in 1552, so did his relics. In fact, demand out-fueled supply. Throughout several years and multiple exhumations, his body was whittled away. Today, half his left hand is in Cochin, India, while the other half is in Malacca, Malaysia. One of his arms resides in Rome, and various other cities lay claim to his internal organs. The leftovers? They went to Goa, India.”

via NEATORAMA

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