A Brief History
On May 5, 1821, Napoleon Bonaparte, erstwhile Emperor of the French died on the lonely island of St. Helena, whispering his last word, Josephine.
Digging Deeper
The great man, a shell of his former self, in ill health served his exile on a desolate island. Little did he know, things would get worse.
When Napoleon died in the custody of the British military, an autopsy was performed and the doctor snagged a souvenir for himself, the dead emperor’s penis. Apparently you could get away with that sort of shenanigans in those days. Napoleon is certainly not alone in his loss of a “loved one.” Many other people have died missing various parts of their anatomy.
John Dillinger, bank robber and Public Enemy Number One is believed to have had his sex organ wind up as someone’s souvenir. Also, when we tell you of historical figures being hanged, drawn and quartered their heads and quarters of their bodies are often put on public display, sometimes for years, but there seems to be no account for what happens to their genitals when they are emasculated. As far as that goes, the practice of lopping off dead enemies’ manhood is a semi-common practice throughout history, with a good example being the fate of George Custer’s 7th Cavalry who were left with an eternal sex change operation. Their trigger fingers were removed as well.
One of the stranger examples is that of St. Francis Xavier, who had his saintly big toe bit off by one of the faithful viewing his holy corpse. Instead of it being returned to rest with his body, the toe has been on display in a church in Goa. Catholic saints frequently have had body parts taken and held as dear treasures in various churches. One of St. Francis’ arms is in Rome and a hand is in Japan.
Heads are common items missing from famous people, especially executed ones. Oliver Cromwell’s head, chopped off 2 years after he was dead and buried, made a convoluted route through the years, and although it is supposedly buried now, no one can really be sure the buried head is Cromwell’s. King Badu Bansu of Ghana had the bad taste to behead a couple of Dutchmen in 1838 and was treated to the same fate when the Dutch caught him. His head was displayed for a while, and then lost for many years until found in a museum’s collection. The skull of Native-American warrior chief Geronimo was stolen in 1918 by the father of George H.W. Bush and some of his Yale pals. Mussolini’s brain is missing, but we could say that about people that are still walking around!
Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson was buried without his arm, which was supposedly found by famous Marine Smedley Butler and is buried at VMI. Lord Admiral Nelson, hero of Trafalgar lost track of his right arm in one of his other adventures.
Other parts get stolen or lost as well, such as Anne Boleyn’s heart, Vincent van Gogh’s ear and the bones of Santa Claus (St. Nicholas) which were stolen in 1087. Lots of Native-Americans and pioneers alike went to their rest without their scalp.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: Do you care what happens to your body after death? What parts would you miss most?
If you liked this article and would like to receive notification of new articles, please feel welcome to subscribe to History and Headlines by liking us on Facebook and becoming one of our patrons!
Your readership is much appreciated!
Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Bierman, Stanley M. Napoleon’s Penis: Plus Other Engaging and Outrageous Tales. Trafford, 2012.
Yes, someone has actually written a full-fledged book on this subject…
