Most liked photo of Carla Valentine with over 4.2K likes is the following photo

We have around 101 most liked photos of Carla Valentine with the thumbnails listed below. Click on any of them to view the full image along with its caption, like count, and a button to download the photo.

4.2K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : Many moons ago (in 2016) I filmed an autopsy for a TV show called Obesity: The Post Mortem. The idea was to also make other episodes like Alcohol: The Post Mortem and smoking etc but unfortunately it never happened. It was a very interesting and insightful programme, but also very divisive. You can still see it in BBC iPlayer in the UK, it was on Netflix Canada and US at one point, and I’m sure it’s even on YouTube. I’ll put the link in my Linktree, above, and you can let me know your thoughts (Cadaver was donated for the purpose etc, of course) #autopsy #autopsytechnician #pathology #obesitythepostmortemLikes : 4241

4.2K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : Many moons ago (in 2016) I filmed an autopsy for a TV show called Obesity: The Post Mortem. The idea was to also make other episodes like Alcohol: The Post Mortem and smoking etc but unfortunately it never happened. It was a very interesting and insightful programme, but also very divisive. You can still see it in BBC iPlayer in the UK, it was on Netflix Canada and US at one point, and I’m sure it’s even on YouTube. I’ll put the link in my Linktree, above, and you can let me know your thoughts (Cadaver was donated for the purpose etc, of course) #autopsy #autopsytechnician #pathology #obesitythepostmortemLikes : 4241

4.2K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : Many moons ago (in 2016) I filmed an autopsy for a TV show called Obesity: The Post Mortem. The idea was to also make other episodes like Alcohol: The Post Mortem and smoking etc but unfortunately it never happened. It was a very interesting and insightful programme, but also very divisive. You can still see it in BBC iPlayer in the UK, it was on Netflix Canada and US at one point, and I’m sure it’s even on YouTube. I’ll put the link in my Linktree, above, and you can let me know your thoughts (Cadaver was donated for the purpose etc, of course) #autopsy #autopsytechnician #pathology #obesitythepostmortemLikes : 4241

4.2K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : Many moons ago (in 2016) I filmed an autopsy for a TV show called Obesity: The Post Mortem. The idea was to also make other episodes like Alcohol: The Post Mortem and smoking etc but unfortunately it never happened. It was a very interesting and insightful programme, but also very divisive. You can still see it in BBC iPlayer in the UK, it was on Netflix Canada and US at one point, and I’m sure it’s even on YouTube. I’ll put the link in my Linktree, above, and you can let me know your thoughts (Cadaver was donated for the purpose etc, of course) #autopsy #autopsytechnician #pathology #obesitythepostmortemLikes : 4241

4.2K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : Many moons ago (in 2016) I filmed an autopsy for a TV show called Obesity: The Post Mortem. The idea was to also make other episodes like Alcohol: The Post Mortem and smoking etc but unfortunately it never happened. It was a very interesting and insightful programme, but also very divisive. You can still see it in BBC iPlayer in the UK, it was on Netflix Canada and US at one point, and I’m sure it’s even on YouTube. I’ll put the link in my Linktree, above, and you can let me know your thoughts (Cadaver was donated for the purpose etc, of course) #autopsy #autopsytechnician #pathology #obesitythepostmortemLikes : 4241

4.2K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : Many moons ago (in 2016) I filmed an autopsy for a TV show called Obesity: The Post Mortem. The idea was to also make other episodes like Alcohol: The Post Mortem and smoking etc but unfortunately it never happened. It was a very interesting and insightful programme, but also very divisive. You can still see it in BBC iPlayer in the UK, it was on Netflix Canada and US at one point, and I’m sure it’s even on YouTube. I’ll put the link in my Linktree, above, and you can let me know your thoughts (Cadaver was donated for the purpose etc, of course) #autopsy #autopsytechnician #pathology #obesitythepostmortemLikes : 4241

4.2K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : Many moons ago (in 2016) I filmed an autopsy for a TV show called Obesity: The Post Mortem. The idea was to also make other episodes like Alcohol: The Post Mortem and smoking etc but unfortunately it never happened. It was a very interesting and insightful programme, but also very divisive. You can still see it in BBC iPlayer in the UK, it was on Netflix Canada and US at one point, and I’m sure it’s even on YouTube. I’ll put the link in my Linktree, above, and you can let me know your thoughts (Cadaver was donated for the purpose etc, of course) #autopsy #autopsytechnician #pathology #obesitythepostmortemLikes : 4241

4.2K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : Many moons ago (in 2016) I filmed an autopsy for a TV show called Obesity: The Post Mortem. The idea was to also make other episodes like Alcohol: The Post Mortem and smoking etc but unfortunately it never happened. It was a very interesting and insightful programme, but also very divisive. You can still see it in BBC iPlayer in the UK, it was on Netflix Canada and US at one point, and I’m sure it’s even on YouTube. I’ll put the link in my Linktree, above, and you can let me know your thoughts (Cadaver was donated for the purpose etc, of course) #autopsy #autopsytechnician #pathology #obesitythepostmortemLikes : 4241

4.2K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : Many moons ago (in 2016) I filmed an autopsy for a TV show called Obesity: The Post Mortem. The idea was to also make other episodes like Alcohol: The Post Mortem and smoking etc but unfortunately it never happened. It was a very interesting and insightful programme, but also very divisive. You can still see it in BBC iPlayer in the UK, it was on Netflix Canada and US at one point, and I’m sure it’s even on YouTube. I’ll put the link in my Linktree, above, and you can let me know your thoughts (Cadaver was donated for the purpose etc, of course) #autopsy #autopsytechnician #pathology #obesitythepostmortemLikes : 4241

3.6K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : 🎉 Cause for CELEBRATION! 🎉 To say the last 2 years have been a nightmare in many ways is an understatement. Following COVID I was made redundant, survived an overdose, managed to claw back my job with a grant, then experienced the death of my only sibling (my little brother, in his 30s) to Ewing’s Sarcoma, then faced redundancy AGAIN once the grant ran out. I’ve finally been told I’m no longer redundant and in fact the job I have at the pathology museum – a job I’ve had for 10 years exactly this October 31st – is safe! And it’s not only safe for a year, but at least 3 YEARS!! I’m over the moon, and that’s definitely an understatement 🎉 Those who know me know I took the place from absolutely nothing to what became a thriving location for filming, talks, taxidermy classes, heart preservation workshops, podcasts and more… before COVID hit. I’m thrilled to be able to stay for a while to get the museum back to what it was before my year of maternity leave (which began the museum’s re-decline) and the pandemic, which was nearly the nail in its coffin. I’m celebrating with this pic of my day showing Henry Rollins around, which is my favourite of all the days I’ve had in the last decade at Bart’s Pathology Museum, not only because it was a dream come true at the time, but because Henry still stays in contact and even gets in touch to offer me free seats for his London shows. It makes me feel like the luckiest person in the world and I’m so grateful that my teenage dreams all came true at this museum, my 2nd home. I hope to see as many of you as possible there now that I’m staying and capacity limitations have been lifted, and really trying to organise one workshop before Christmas. Watch this space!!! (Enquire at [email protected]) #bartspathologymuseum #london #pathologymuseum #medicalmuseum #henryrollinsLikes : 3628

3.2K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : Today (Sep 7th) is International Vulture Awareness Day and it’s a subject close to my heart. I’m sure it’s obvious that I’d have a soft-spot for the carrion feeders of the world: vultures, hyenas, maggots etc who can only sustain themselves by feeding on the flesh of the dead. They’re misunderstood, often ugly and overlooked – but profoundly necessary to our ‘circle of life’. If it wasn’t for these maligned creatures we’d be knee-deep in corpses, and the work they do ensures the fertilisation of our soil and the capacity for new growth; new life. My husband adopted me a vulture called Cassius very early on in our relationship (he’s at the @hawkconservancy trust in Andover) and we see him often, on our drives to Cornwall and Devon. This is an image of a Tibetan Sky Burial from Asian Geographic, illustrating the practice of leaving the dead out in a specific location to be consumed by vultures and – in a natural way – be returned to the earth. So many cultures have different methods of what we call ‘disposal of the dead’ and while Sky Burial may seem abhorrent to some, imagine what they think of ours. Some cultures used to consume the hearts of their dead in a reverential ceremony, to take in the spirit of the one who’d passed, and would wonder why we afford our decedents the travesty of pumping them full of chemicals, locking them in a box and dumping them in the ground. Its often said that “in death we’re truly equal” but there have been, and still are, many ways for the privileged to illustrate that isn’t the case, whether it’s paying for ‘mort-safes’ during the body snatching frenzy of the 19th Century or interring members of prominent families in marble mausoleums. Whatever a person wants for their final repose I think it’s their choice entirely, and we should make a point of understanding all the options out there with no judgement, and especially look on carrion feeders as the misunderstood little heroes they are 💀 (PS get your kids into this concept early by purchasing ‘The Ugly Five’ by Julia Donaldson) #vulture #vultureawarenessday #vultures #skyburial #carrion #carrionfeeders #internationalvultureawarenessdayLikes : 3174

3.1K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : NECROPANTS! 💀👖💀 It’s spooky season and the Carlaween Countdown continues so I had to post an “oldie but a goodie”. This is one of the weirder human remains stories I’ve come across. It’s a pair of trousers made from human skin called ‘necropants’ or ‘nabrok’ in Icelandic, and they’re displayed in Strandagaldur which is Iceland’s Museum of Sorcery & Witchcraft. Necropants come from 17th century folklore. It was said that if you made some you’d be rich for the rest of your life. The process involved getting permission from someone ALIVE to use their skin after death (quite nice to have consented necromancy – that would satisfy the HTA…) but still you’d need to dig him up post mortem and flay the leg skin to make the trousers. Then you’d have to put them on and shove a couple of items in the scrotal sack: a coin stolen from a widow (like she hasn’t suffered enough!) and also a magic symbol – a nabrokarstafur – written on paper. The trousers will then gruesomely stick to your own skin but it’s worth it as the scrotum will constantly fill with gold…. or so the legend goes… (These are replicas: not real skin). I discussed “5 items made from human remains on the podcast @hardcorelisting a while back (part of the @distractionpiecesnetwork) so I’ll put the link in my stories if you want to hear more 🎙️ https://shows.acast.com/hardcorelisting/episodes/top5thingsmadeoutofhumanbodyparts-specialguestcarlavalentine 🎙️ #remains2beseen #humanremains #anatomy #witchcraft #sorcery #necromancy #necropants #nightofthenecrosuit #iceland #nabrock #flaying #blackmagic #scrotum #runandroll #healthgothLikes : 3059

2.4K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : It’s not October yet, but it’s my birthday and I always feel like that is the start of spooky season for me ☠️ “Vampire Burials”: The first 3 images are of a child burial excavated last month in Pień near Poland’s northern city of Bydgoszcz, in what seems to have been a graveyard for “abandoned souls” and the poor. The 400 year old skeleton of a child (aged 5-7 years old) has a triangular padlock on its feet to stop it rising from the dead and is facing downwards to ensure that “if it bites” it bites the soil in the grave. It’s shockingly sad because the first thing I thought was “what could a child of 5-7 years of age possibly do to make people think it’s cursed in some way, and might rise from the dead”? Archaeologists and historians say sudden death seemed “suspicious” back then and could account for this fear; or perhaps if the child had a physical abnormality. Either way it seems horrendous that an afflicted child would be buried like this rather than in the graveyard attached to the church. The second 3 pics are of a woman found last year only a few feet away from this child in the same graveyard. Also believed to be a “vampire” burial she had a scythe placed over her neck. The idea is that if she rose from the dead the scythe would cut her head off. You can see the placement of the scythe in the pics: very inventive #spookyseason #vampireburial #vampireskeletonLikes : 2382

2.4K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : It’s not October yet, but it’s my birthday and I always feel like that is the start of spooky season for me ☠️ “Vampire Burials”: The first 3 images are of a child burial excavated last month in Pień near Poland’s northern city of Bydgoszcz, in what seems to have been a graveyard for “abandoned souls” and the poor. The 400 year old skeleton of a child (aged 5-7 years old) has a triangular padlock on its feet to stop it rising from the dead and is facing downwards to ensure that “if it bites” it bites the soil in the grave. It’s shockingly sad because the first thing I thought was “what could a child of 5-7 years of age possibly do to make people think it’s cursed in some way, and might rise from the dead”? Archaeologists and historians say sudden death seemed “suspicious” back then and could account for this fear; or perhaps if the child had a physical abnormality. Either way it seems horrendous that an afflicted child would be buried like this rather than in the graveyard attached to the church. The second 3 pics are of a woman found last year only a few feet away from this child in the same graveyard. Also believed to be a “vampire” burial she had a scythe placed over her neck. The idea is that if she rose from the dead the scythe would cut her head off. You can see the placement of the scythe in the pics: very inventive #spookyseason #vampireburial #vampireskeletonLikes : 2382

2.4K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : It’s not October yet, but it’s my birthday and I always feel like that is the start of spooky season for me ☠️ “Vampire Burials”: The first 3 images are of a child burial excavated last month in Pień near Poland’s northern city of Bydgoszcz, in what seems to have been a graveyard for “abandoned souls” and the poor. The 400 year old skeleton of a child (aged 5-7 years old) has a triangular padlock on its feet to stop it rising from the dead and is facing downwards to ensure that “if it bites” it bites the soil in the grave. It’s shockingly sad because the first thing I thought was “what could a child of 5-7 years of age possibly do to make people think it’s cursed in some way, and might rise from the dead”? Archaeologists and historians say sudden death seemed “suspicious” back then and could account for this fear; or perhaps if the child had a physical abnormality. Either way it seems horrendous that an afflicted child would be buried like this rather than in the graveyard attached to the church. The second 3 pics are of a woman found last year only a few feet away from this child in the same graveyard. Also believed to be a “vampire” burial she had a scythe placed over her neck. The idea is that if she rose from the dead the scythe would cut her head off. You can see the placement of the scythe in the pics: very inventive #spookyseason #vampireburial #vampireskeletonLikes : 2382

2.4K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : It’s not October yet, but it’s my birthday and I always feel like that is the start of spooky season for me ☠️ “Vampire Burials”: The first 3 images are of a child burial excavated last month in Pień near Poland’s northern city of Bydgoszcz, in what seems to have been a graveyard for “abandoned souls” and the poor. The 400 year old skeleton of a child (aged 5-7 years old) has a triangular padlock on its feet to stop it rising from the dead and is facing downwards to ensure that “if it bites” it bites the soil in the grave. It’s shockingly sad because the first thing I thought was “what could a child of 5-7 years of age possibly do to make people think it’s cursed in some way, and might rise from the dead”? Archaeologists and historians say sudden death seemed “suspicious” back then and could account for this fear; or perhaps if the child had a physical abnormality. Either way it seems horrendous that an afflicted child would be buried like this rather than in the graveyard attached to the church. The second 3 pics are of a woman found last year only a few feet away from this child in the same graveyard. Also believed to be a “vampire” burial she had a scythe placed over her neck. The idea is that if she rose from the dead the scythe would cut her head off. You can see the placement of the scythe in the pics: very inventive #spookyseason #vampireburial #vampireskeletonLikes : 2382

2.4K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : It’s not October yet, but it’s my birthday and I always feel like that is the start of spooky season for me ☠️ “Vampire Burials”: The first 3 images are of a child burial excavated last month in Pień near Poland’s northern city of Bydgoszcz, in what seems to have been a graveyard for “abandoned souls” and the poor. The 400 year old skeleton of a child (aged 5-7 years old) has a triangular padlock on its feet to stop it rising from the dead and is facing downwards to ensure that “if it bites” it bites the soil in the grave. It’s shockingly sad because the first thing I thought was “what could a child of 5-7 years of age possibly do to make people think it’s cursed in some way, and might rise from the dead”? Archaeologists and historians say sudden death seemed “suspicious” back then and could account for this fear; or perhaps if the child had a physical abnormality. Either way it seems horrendous that an afflicted child would be buried like this rather than in the graveyard attached to the church. The second 3 pics are of a woman found last year only a few feet away from this child in the same graveyard. Also believed to be a “vampire” burial she had a scythe placed over her neck. The idea is that if she rose from the dead the scythe would cut her head off. You can see the placement of the scythe in the pics: very inventive #spookyseason #vampireburial #vampireskeletonLikes : 2382

2.4K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : It’s not October yet, but it’s my birthday and I always feel like that is the start of spooky season for me ☠️ “Vampire Burials”: The first 3 images are of a child burial excavated last month in Pień near Poland’s northern city of Bydgoszcz, in what seems to have been a graveyard for “abandoned souls” and the poor. The 400 year old skeleton of a child (aged 5-7 years old) has a triangular padlock on its feet to stop it rising from the dead and is facing downwards to ensure that “if it bites” it bites the soil in the grave. It’s shockingly sad because the first thing I thought was “what could a child of 5-7 years of age possibly do to make people think it’s cursed in some way, and might rise from the dead”? Archaeologists and historians say sudden death seemed “suspicious” back then and could account for this fear; or perhaps if the child had a physical abnormality. Either way it seems horrendous that an afflicted child would be buried like this rather than in the graveyard attached to the church. The second 3 pics are of a woman found last year only a few feet away from this child in the same graveyard. Also believed to be a “vampire” burial she had a scythe placed over her neck. The idea is that if she rose from the dead the scythe would cut her head off. You can see the placement of the scythe in the pics: very inventive #spookyseason #vampireburial #vampireskeletonLikes : 2382

2.4K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : I have always been fascinated by this piece, and the detail in pic 4 is lovely: it’s called “Self” by Marc Quinn and it’s made of his own blood, frozen. It’s best explained via his own website: “Self is a self-portrait of the artist, but one that literally uses his body as material since the cast of Quinn’s head, immersed in frozen silicone, is created from ten pints of his own blood. In this way, the materiality of the sculpture has both a symbolic and real function. The work was made at a time when Quinn was an alcoholic and a notion of dependency – of things needing to be plugged in or connected to something to survive – is apparent since the work needs electricity to retain its frozen appearance. A further iteration made every five years, this series of sculptures presents a cumulative index of passing time and an ongoing self-portrait of the artist’s ageing and changing self.” The first image is “Self” (1991) and subsequent images are 1996, 2001, 2006 and 2011 – various iterations of the same piece. #marcquinn #blood #frozen #selfLikes : 2367

2.4K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : I have always been fascinated by this piece, and the detail in pic 4 is lovely: it’s called “Self” by Marc Quinn and it’s made of his own blood, frozen. It’s best explained via his own website: “Self is a self-portrait of the artist, but one that literally uses his body as material since the cast of Quinn’s head, immersed in frozen silicone, is created from ten pints of his own blood. In this way, the materiality of the sculpture has both a symbolic and real function. The work was made at a time when Quinn was an alcoholic and a notion of dependency – of things needing to be plugged in or connected to something to survive – is apparent since the work needs electricity to retain its frozen appearance. A further iteration made every five years, this series of sculptures presents a cumulative index of passing time and an ongoing self-portrait of the artist’s ageing and changing self.” The first image is “Self” (1991) and subsequent images are 1996, 2001, 2006 and 2011 – various iterations of the same piece. #marcquinn #blood #frozen #selfLikes : 2367

2.4K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : I have always been fascinated by this piece, and the detail in pic 4 is lovely: it’s called “Self” by Marc Quinn and it’s made of his own blood, frozen. It’s best explained via his own website: “Self is a self-portrait of the artist, but one that literally uses his body as material since the cast of Quinn’s head, immersed in frozen silicone, is created from ten pints of his own blood. In this way, the materiality of the sculpture has both a symbolic and real function. The work was made at a time when Quinn was an alcoholic and a notion of dependency – of things needing to be plugged in or connected to something to survive – is apparent since the work needs electricity to retain its frozen appearance. A further iteration made every five years, this series of sculptures presents a cumulative index of passing time and an ongoing self-portrait of the artist’s ageing and changing self.” The first image is “Self” (1991) and subsequent images are 1996, 2001, 2006 and 2011 – various iterations of the same piece. #marcquinn #blood #frozen #selfLikes : 2367

2.4K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : I have always been fascinated by this piece, and the detail in pic 4 is lovely: it’s called “Self” by Marc Quinn and it’s made of his own blood, frozen. It’s best explained via his own website: “Self is a self-portrait of the artist, but one that literally uses his body as material since the cast of Quinn’s head, immersed in frozen silicone, is created from ten pints of his own blood. In this way, the materiality of the sculpture has both a symbolic and real function. The work was made at a time when Quinn was an alcoholic and a notion of dependency – of things needing to be plugged in or connected to something to survive – is apparent since the work needs electricity to retain its frozen appearance. A further iteration made every five years, this series of sculptures presents a cumulative index of passing time and an ongoing self-portrait of the artist’s ageing and changing self.” The first image is “Self” (1991) and subsequent images are 1996, 2001, 2006 and 2011 – various iterations of the same piece. #marcquinn #blood #frozen #selfLikes : 2367

2.4K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : I have always been fascinated by this piece, and the detail in pic 4 is lovely: it’s called “Self” by Marc Quinn and it’s made of his own blood, frozen. It’s best explained via his own website: “Self is a self-portrait of the artist, but one that literally uses his body as material since the cast of Quinn’s head, immersed in frozen silicone, is created from ten pints of his own blood. In this way, the materiality of the sculpture has both a symbolic and real function. The work was made at a time when Quinn was an alcoholic and a notion of dependency – of things needing to be plugged in or connected to something to survive – is apparent since the work needs electricity to retain its frozen appearance. A further iteration made every five years, this series of sculptures presents a cumulative index of passing time and an ongoing self-portrait of the artist’s ageing and changing self.” The first image is “Self” (1991) and subsequent images are 1996, 2001, 2006 and 2011 – various iterations of the same piece. #marcquinn #blood #frozen #selfLikes : 2367

2.3K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : I hope Instagram doesn’t remove this thinking it’s real… I was lucky enough to consult on ‘The Autopsy of Jane Doe’ which is a recommendation for a horror film for spooky season if you haven’t seen it. I’ll also pop up in stories some other mortuary based films or shorts to try for Carlaween 😉 PS, I watched ‘Talk to Me’ last night and I have to say that was fairly terrifying. Some incredibly uncomfortable scenes in that, but not done gratuitously (if you know what I mean) #halloweencountdown #halloweenfilm #horrorfilmLikes : 2298

1.9K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : I’ve been working in a different gallery for a while (it’s being cleared of hundreds of specimens for refurbishment, but the specimens *won’t* go back into that space unfortunately.) So here’s an oldie but a goodie from the main site: 🍖 I wonder if I can get the phrase “Steve the Beef” into a post? Yes I can indeed! Read on… Adipocere: This gentleman is from the Forensic Collection at the Pathology Museum, dated around 1960s/70s and was discovered in the septic tank of a housing estate. The pathologists posited that perhaps he was the murder victim of a London gang rivalling The Krays, or The Krays themselves. Another reason for that theory is his teeth were knocked out, thereby making ID very difficult. This is a dry skull but it’s preserved as what we call a ‘wet specimen’ in Kaiserling fluid as it has adipocere clinging to it. Adipocere – which literally translates into ‘fatty wax’ from the Greek ‘adipose’ meaning fat and ‘cera’ meaning wax – is a “soapy, waxy” substance which occurs in the deceased when the fat or adipose tissue of the body undergoes a process called ‘saponification’. That process litterally means ‘to turn into soap’, although you wouldn’t want to wash with it! I’d call it ‘caseous’ really, which means ‘cheesy’) Just as an aside, the actor Micheal Cera translated is Michael Wax, in the same way that Shia LaBeouf can be translated as “Steve the Beef” 😂😂😂 Anyway, this process usually happens if there is a high moisture content in the environment during decomposition, and can be useful to forensic investigators as it can preserve the tissue underneath. #adipocere #forensics #forensicscience #pathology #pathologymuseum #anatomy #anatomicalmuseum #anatomymuseum #histmed #wetspecimen #conservation #pottedspecimen #michaelcera #shialabeoufLikes : 1925

1.9K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : I’ve been working in a different gallery for a while (it’s being cleared of hundreds of specimens for refurbishment, but the specimens *won’t* go back into that space unfortunately.) So here’s an oldie but a goodie from the main site: 🍖 I wonder if I can get the phrase “Steve the Beef” into a post? Yes I can indeed! Read on… Adipocere: This gentleman is from the Forensic Collection at the Pathology Museum, dated around 1960s/70s and was discovered in the septic tank of a housing estate. The pathologists posited that perhaps he was the murder victim of a London gang rivalling The Krays, or The Krays themselves. Another reason for that theory is his teeth were knocked out, thereby making ID very difficult. This is a dry skull but it’s preserved as what we call a ‘wet specimen’ in Kaiserling fluid as it has adipocere clinging to it. Adipocere – which literally translates into ‘fatty wax’ from the Greek ‘adipose’ meaning fat and ‘cera’ meaning wax – is a “soapy, waxy” substance which occurs in the deceased when the fat or adipose tissue of the body undergoes a process called ‘saponification’. That process litterally means ‘to turn into soap’, although you wouldn’t want to wash with it! I’d call it ‘caseous’ really, which means ‘cheesy’) Just as an aside, the actor Micheal Cera translated is Michael Wax, in the same way that Shia LaBeouf can be translated as “Steve the Beef” 😂😂😂 Anyway, this process usually happens if there is a high moisture content in the environment during decomposition, and can be useful to forensic investigators as it can preserve the tissue underneath. #adipocere #forensics #forensicscience #pathology #pathologymuseum #anatomy #anatomicalmuseum #anatomymuseum #histmed #wetspecimen #conservation #pottedspecimen #michaelcera #shialabeoufLikes : 1925

1.6K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : The ‘Carlaween’ countdown continues with the Guanajuato mummies of Mexico which are famous for looking as though they were buried alive. These are naturally mummified bodies interred during a cholera outbreak in Guanajuato, Mexico, 1833. Natural mummification can occur in dry and hot environments. Between the years of 1870 and 1958 the dehydrated deceased were disinterred. Many of the mummies appear to have hideous facial expressions – as though they’d been buried alive. The theory is that because many of the bodies were buried *immediately* to control the spread of cholera, in some cases the dying may have been buried alive by accident… The facial expressions could be post-mortem artefacts but one case stands out as being particularly horrible: according to accounts, one of the mummies who was buried alive was Ignacia Aguilar. She suffered from a rare sickness that made her heart appear to stop on several occasions (catalepsy). During one of these incidents, her heart stopped for “more than a day”. Thinking she had died, her relatives decided to bury her. When her body was disinterred, it was noticed that she was facing down, biting her arm, and that there was a lot of blood in her mouth. The mummies are currently displayed in a museum called El Museo de las Momias (“The Museum of the Mummies”). As of 2007, 59 mummies were on display, of a collection that totals 111. #humanremains #mummies #fridayfright #carlaween #buriedalive #mummification #naturalmummification #halloween #guanajuato #mexico #diadelosmuertosLikes : 1644

1.5K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : “Snot holes”. I found this skull in my office a few years ago with no catalogue information and ended up putting a pic on Twitter to see if anyone could help identify the holes in the forehead. I didn’t know if they were artificial or congenital or what. Not only did I find out what they were I also had a Doctor from the US contact me to say he *had* the whole skull catalogue! Incredible what can be found on the internet. Turns out these are trephining holes to purge mucus – quite common in the 18th Century. The power of social media! Sometimes it’s on the side of good…💀 #humanremains #remainstobeseen #anatomy #pathology #specimen #conservation #histmed #skull #trephining #trepanningLikes : 1451

1.4K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : I organised this along with some absolutely BRILLIANT bakers and confectioners in Oct 2016, to raise awareness of the fact that the UK is quite far behind many other countries in that it doesn’t have a Taphonomical Research Facility (otherwise known as a ‘Body Farm’). The Body Farm in Tennessee, established decades ago, was the flagship one. Have a good old Google to see the incredible work they do there ☠️ #bodyfarm #thebodyfarm #forensics #forensicscience #taphonomy #research #truecrimeLikes : 1397

1.4K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : Given that this is the Halloween Countdown, it seems apt that I post about a mask. This mask could literally be from a modern horror film but it’s actually from the 17th century. It’s made from leather, fabric, false teeth and real human hair – even the beard – worn by Alexander ‘Sandy’ Peden, aka ‘Prophet Peden’. He was a leading figure in the Covenanter movement in Scotland and in 1666 at the age of 40 was denounced as a rebel. He wore this mask to hide his identity while he was giving Coventicles (which is a really cute word for unlicensed church meetings). It’s on display at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. He died in 1686. I’m not sure whether I would have stayed and listened to what he had to say, or run away screaming..! #humanremains #mask #halloweenmask #carlaween #carlaweencountdown #halloweencountdown #nationalmuseumscotland #humanhair #historyLikes : 1354

1.4K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : Given that this is the Halloween Countdown, it seems apt that I post about a mask. This mask could literally be from a modern horror film but it’s actually from the 17th century. It’s made from leather, fabric, false teeth and real human hair – even the beard – worn by Alexander ‘Sandy’ Peden, aka ‘Prophet Peden’. He was a leading figure in the Covenanter movement in Scotland and in 1666 at the age of 40 was denounced as a rebel. He wore this mask to hide his identity while he was giving Coventicles (which is a really cute word for unlicensed church meetings). It’s on display at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. He died in 1686. I’m not sure whether I would have stayed and listened to what he had to say, or run away screaming..! #humanremains #mask #halloweenmask #carlaween #carlaweencountdown #halloweencountdown #nationalmuseumscotland #humanhair #historyLikes : 1354

1.3K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : ❤️ My Valentine Countdown continues with a holy relic: a reliquary bust from the church of the Groot Begijnhof. I’ve always absolutely loved this bust from the 17th Century, kept under the altar in the Church of St John the Baptist, in Leuven. It’s likely the remains of a Beguine, and features 8 bones including her skull, red velvet, gold thread and some fake hair. You can see the skull behind the highly-decorated face veil; the the eye sockets just peering over the top. #remains2beseen #humanremains #bone #bones #skull #skulls #relic #reliquary #saints #valentinesday #bloodyvalentine #stvalentinesday #stvalentine #bloodyvalentine #february #valentinecountdownLikes : 1295

1.2K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : I’m currently more focused on the forensics specimens held in the collection I work at, because the last book I had published was about the forensics of Agatha Christie (and I’m starting work on a new one…watch this space!) This is a potted section of a man’s torso (you can see the nipple, for context) with a gunshot wound. Archive Info: “caused by an old, large calibre service revolver which hadn’t been cleaned or fired for many years and it was an accidental shooting, possibly because the ammunition was unstable. The combination of a barrel lined with corrosion & carbon deposits, together with old, corroded ammo proved to be deadly. It’s theorised the gun went off due to jarring, so it wasn’t an outright shooting. The rectangular stretch below the wound is from a dressing applied for a short while”. 📸 is mine #gun #gunshot #gunshotwound #forensics #ballistics #forensicballistics #humanremains #autopsy #remains2beseen #anatomy #pathology #specimen #conservation #wetspecimen #anatomymuseum #pathologymuseumLikes : 1235

1.2K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : Life After Death…. Ahead of his time (that’s not a pun – I’ve just noticed his head between his feet 🤦) Jeremy Bentham, born in London in 1748, devised the doctrine of utilitarianism, arguing that the ‘greatest happiness of the greatest number is the only right and proper end of government’. He was a major thinker in the fields of legal philosophy and representative democracy, and originated modern ideas of surveillance through his scheme for a prison called the Panopticon. He supported the idea of equal opportunity in education and his ideas contributed to the foundation of a major university here – University College London – the first institution in England to admit students of any race, class or religion and the first to welcome women on equal terms with men. Bentham’s ideas have tremendous relevance to contemporary society; engaging with his thinking helps us to understand better the world we live in today. Bentham was so progressive that when he died in 1832 he left his body to medical science (mostly organs and skin). He also requested that his skeleton be preserved and this ‘Auto-Icon’ as Bentham called it, pictured, was gifted to University College London in 1850 by Bentham’s surgeon. Today Bentham is displayed in UCL’s South Cloisters dressed in his own clothes and sitting in his chair. As you can see from this picture, the head of the auto-icon is a model made from wax with glass eyes because the process of dessicating his real head went quite badly. You can see it between his feet though…! Now, the head has been moved to the Strong Room of the records department and can only be seen by special request. Many people have speculated as to exactly why Bentham chose to have his body preserved in this way, but whatever his true motives, the Auto-Icon will always be a source of fascination and debate, and will serve as a perpetual reminder of the man whose ideals inspired the institution in which it stands. #carlaween #halloweencountdown #halloween #humanremains #severedhead #skeleton #autoicon #jeremybentham #equality #equalopportunity #progressive #remains2beseen #londonLikes : 1151

1.1K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : Hmmm, I wonder if I can get the phrase “Steve the Beef” into a post? Yes I can indeed! Read on… Adipocere: This gentleman is from the Forensic Collection at the Pathology Museum, dated around 1960s/70s and was discovered in the septic tank of a housing estate. The pathologist/police posited that perhaps he was the murder victim of a London gang rivalling The Krays. A reason for that theory is his teeth were purposely knocked out, thereby making ID very difficult – typical gang MO. This is a dry skull but it’s preserved as what we call a ‘wet specimen’ in Kaiserling fluid as it has adipocere clinging to it. Adipocere – which literally translates into ‘fatty wax’ from the Greek ‘adipose’ meaning fat and ‘cera’ meaning wax – is a “soapy, waxy” substance which occurs in the deceased when the fat or adipose tissue of the body undergoes a process called ‘saponification’. That process litterally means ‘to turn into soap’, although you wouldn’t want to wash with it! I’d call it ‘caseous’ really, which means ‘cheesy’) Just as an aside, the actor Micheal Cera translated is Michael Wax, in the same way that Shia LaBeouf can be translated as “Steve the Beef” 😂 Anyway, this process usually happens if there is a high moisture content in the environment during decomposition, and can be useful to forensic investigators as it can preserve the tissue underneath. On a more serious note, and very sadly, it happens to dead babies frequently because they have a higher fat. #adipocere #forensics #forensicscience #pathology #pathologymuseum #anatomy #anatomicalmuseum #anatomymuseum #histmed #wetspecimen #conservation #pottedspecimen #michaelcera #shialabeoufLikes : 1072

1.1K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : Hmmm, I wonder if I can get the phrase “Steve the Beef” into a post? Yes I can indeed! Read on… Adipocere: This gentleman is from the Forensic Collection at the Pathology Museum, dated around 1960s/70s and was discovered in the septic tank of a housing estate. The pathologist/police posited that perhaps he was the murder victim of a London gang rivalling The Krays. A reason for that theory is his teeth were purposely knocked out, thereby making ID very difficult – typical gang MO. This is a dry skull but it’s preserved as what we call a ‘wet specimen’ in Kaiserling fluid as it has adipocere clinging to it. Adipocere – which literally translates into ‘fatty wax’ from the Greek ‘adipose’ meaning fat and ‘cera’ meaning wax – is a “soapy, waxy” substance which occurs in the deceased when the fat or adipose tissue of the body undergoes a process called ‘saponification’. That process litterally means ‘to turn into soap’, although you wouldn’t want to wash with it! I’d call it ‘caseous’ really, which means ‘cheesy’) Just as an aside, the actor Micheal Cera translated is Michael Wax, in the same way that Shia LaBeouf can be translated as “Steve the Beef” 😂 Anyway, this process usually happens if there is a high moisture content in the environment during decomposition, and can be useful to forensic investigators as it can preserve the tissue underneath. On a more serious note, and very sadly, it happens to dead babies frequently because they have a higher fat. #adipocere #forensics #forensicscience #pathology #pathologymuseum #anatomy #anatomicalmuseum #anatomymuseum #histmed #wetspecimen #conservation #pottedspecimen #michaelcera #shialabeoufLikes : 1072

1K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : I just had to! (Partly inspired by the art on @funeralbossinc) #barbie #barbiethemovieLikes : 1035

1K Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : ⚠️ Barts is closing????! Please Read ⚠️ I remember posting this image so many years ago when I first started the account a few years into my work at Barts Pathology Museum. I was so excited to hit 20k followers and the reach with each post was incredible compared to today (I had a look at how many people saw, engaged with and commented on this post and it was over 10x what I get on posts now despite me having nearly 5x the followers now 🤷♀️). The reason it’s important is that I miss feeling like I have a little community to chat to about human remains and my work, via this app, because I was able to share that work with so many of you, so easily. My reach has certainly dwindled because my posting has – and I’m not sure what came first… chicken and egg etc. The reason I mention this is it looks like we’re *finally* getting the Grade II roof fixed at the pathology museum but it will be CLOSED for 2 years and all specimens removed from the shelves down to the basement 🤦♀️. So, I’m going to do as many events IN THE MUSEUM as I can before that happens, and I’ll share the specimens via videos and reels for a while so that they can still be seen and learned from. If you think you’d be into that PLEASE let me know via comments (I’ll throw the vids on TikTok too if there’s interest.) The one saving grace is that the museum will be empty of everyone and that means teaching cannot happen there, which will free up my time considerably (teaching pretty much tripled in there after COVID and public events were off). So, it’s a new era for me and Barts. Social media helped me get this place on the map and get it a following when no-one knew about it and I had to drag it from the depths of dilapidation and decay. Maybe, with your help, social media can save it again? #SOS #saveourspecimensLikes : 1031

848 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : My ‘Carlaween’ halloween countdown continues with this beautiful cremation image which is something so few people will have witnessed 🔥 “Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire.” (Robert Frost). 🔥 This is one of the most arresting images by photographer Cathrine Ertmann in her series ‘About Dying: Photo Essays from the Morgue.’ She says the series “tries to break down the taboo (of death) by showing something we rarely have access to, and that death can be both hard to look at and also beautiful…It is one of the only things we all share, regardless of gender, nationality, age, or language.” Death: one of the only things we ALL share. I get very tired of having to justify the decision we made – at the pathology museum – to acquire a Public Display Licence and allow “laymen”/the public to view the specimens. We’re currently having some problems with our ability to share the collection with the public and I know similar issues have affected @muttermuseum too. When it comes to death and disease, no-one is a voyeur as these issues affect us all. As long as it’s done in a respectful way and (in the UK, at least) done in such a way as to respect the guidelines set out by the HTA in 1994, then it’s part of our job, as educators, to share this information and these resources. If you agree, please let me know below 👇 Your thoughts, and your support, matter more than ever right now 🙏 #halloweencountdown #carlaween #halloween2023 #humanremains #postmortem #postmortemphotography #remains2beseen #mortuary #morgue #pathology #photography #cathrineertmann #cremation #robertfrost #fireLikes : 848

798 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : For Easter weekend: Here are images of a crucified plastinate entitled “Jesus” created from human bone and blood vessels, by Gunther von Hagens, for a Channel 4 documentary in 2012 “Crucifixion”. B&W photos are Marco Sanges. Although many consider his work controversial and obviously some thought this was quite heretical, he insists that this work is not meant to be blasphemous but a true expression of his Christian values. I remember watching the documentary at the time and during filming I think he’d discovered he was terminally ill with Parkinson’s Disease and you could see his whole attitude of showmanship become very humble and reverent. It’s ironic he has discovered a way to preserve human flesh for posterity – they’ll “live forever”, as it were – but he is already dying. He says after his death he WILL be made into a plastinate and put on display as part of Bodyworlds. #humanremains #plastinate #remains2beseen #crucify #crucifix #crucifixion #plastination #easter #gunthervonhagens #vonhagens #bodyworlds #lent #crucified #easter #easterweekend #jesusLikes : 798

798 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : For Easter weekend: Here are images of a crucified plastinate entitled “Jesus” created from human bone and blood vessels, by Gunther von Hagens, for a Channel 4 documentary in 2012 “Crucifixion”. B&W photos are Marco Sanges. Although many consider his work controversial and obviously some thought this was quite heretical, he insists that this work is not meant to be blasphemous but a true expression of his Christian values. I remember watching the documentary at the time and during filming I think he’d discovered he was terminally ill with Parkinson’s Disease and you could see his whole attitude of showmanship become very humble and reverent. It’s ironic he has discovered a way to preserve human flesh for posterity – they’ll “live forever”, as it were – but he is already dying. He says after his death he WILL be made into a plastinate and put on display as part of Bodyworlds. #humanremains #plastinate #remains2beseen #crucify #crucifix #crucifixion #plastination #easter #gunthervonhagens #vonhagens #bodyworlds #lent #crucified #easter #easterweekend #jesusLikes : 798

798 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : For Easter weekend: Here are images of a crucified plastinate entitled “Jesus” created from human bone and blood vessels, by Gunther von Hagens, for a Channel 4 documentary in 2012 “Crucifixion”. B&W photos are Marco Sanges. Although many consider his work controversial and obviously some thought this was quite heretical, he insists that this work is not meant to be blasphemous but a true expression of his Christian values. I remember watching the documentary at the time and during filming I think he’d discovered he was terminally ill with Parkinson’s Disease and you could see his whole attitude of showmanship become very humble and reverent. It’s ironic he has discovered a way to preserve human flesh for posterity – they’ll “live forever”, as it were – but he is already dying. He says after his death he WILL be made into a plastinate and put on display as part of Bodyworlds. #humanremains #plastinate #remains2beseen #crucify #crucifix #crucifixion #plastination #easter #gunthervonhagens #vonhagens #bodyworlds #lent #crucified #easter #easterweekend #jesusLikes : 798

798 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : For Easter weekend: Here are images of a crucified plastinate entitled “Jesus” created from human bone and blood vessels, by Gunther von Hagens, for a Channel 4 documentary in 2012 “Crucifixion”. B&W photos are Marco Sanges. Although many consider his work controversial and obviously some thought this was quite heretical, he insists that this work is not meant to be blasphemous but a true expression of his Christian values. I remember watching the documentary at the time and during filming I think he’d discovered he was terminally ill with Parkinson’s Disease and you could see his whole attitude of showmanship become very humble and reverent. It’s ironic he has discovered a way to preserve human flesh for posterity – they’ll “live forever”, as it were – but he is already dying. He says after his death he WILL be made into a plastinate and put on display as part of Bodyworlds. #humanremains #plastinate #remains2beseen #crucify #crucifix #crucifixion #plastination #easter #gunthervonhagens #vonhagens #bodyworlds #lent #crucified #easter #easterweekend #jesusLikes : 798

798 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : For Easter weekend: Here are images of a crucified plastinate entitled “Jesus” created from human bone and blood vessels, by Gunther von Hagens, for a Channel 4 documentary in 2012 “Crucifixion”. B&W photos are Marco Sanges. Although many consider his work controversial and obviously some thought this was quite heretical, he insists that this work is not meant to be blasphemous but a true expression of his Christian values. I remember watching the documentary at the time and during filming I think he’d discovered he was terminally ill with Parkinson’s Disease and you could see his whole attitude of showmanship become very humble and reverent. It’s ironic he has discovered a way to preserve human flesh for posterity – they’ll “live forever”, as it were – but he is already dying. He says after his death he WILL be made into a plastinate and put on display as part of Bodyworlds. #humanremains #plastinate #remains2beseen #crucify #crucifix #crucifixion #plastination #easter #gunthervonhagens #vonhagens #bodyworlds #lent #crucified #easter #easterweekend #jesusLikes : 798

783 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : Sound on 😉 and ⚠️ Warning as this may make you feel uncomfortable…. They do say “It’s what’s inside that counts!” Valentines Day is near and it reminds us we can love in all sorts of ways, any day of the year, and sometimes the most important thing is ‘self love’… While perusing some specimens in our cervix section I found this lid from Swartzkopf hairspray… It’s a specimen from the 1970s but there’s barely any information about it except that it had to be removed from a woman’s vaginal cavity and it took 3 hours to retrieve it. There is a massive crack in the lid, at the side, and I imagine that happened while she was using it, meaning that when she pulled the hairspray out the lid remained inside her as the crack loosened it. I have absolutely no problem with exploring sexuality in *any* way at all (in fact, I encourage it as it’s good for your health) but the message from me is “Safety First: Try to use items which are meant to be inside you”! I have so many of these museum things pulled from vaginas and anuses: an anti-aircraft shell, a toothbrush, pencils, hair clips, a stone…the list goes on. But I need your help! If you want to see more content like this in photo or video form, let me know!!!! Post your thoughts in the comments, or just post a black heart 🖤 and I’ll know it’s worth it. Thank you!! PS- this is a good one for radiologists 😉 #selflove #selfcare #xray #radiology #radiography @radgirlcreationsLikes : 783

783 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : Sound on 😉 and ⚠️ Warning as this may make you feel uncomfortable…. They do say “It’s what’s inside that counts!” Valentines Day is near and it reminds us we can love in all sorts of ways, any day of the year, and sometimes the most important thing is ‘self love’… While perusing some specimens in our cervix section I found this lid from Swartzkopf hairspray… It’s a specimen from the 1970s but there’s barely any information about it except that it had to be removed from a woman’s vaginal cavity and it took 3 hours to retrieve it. There is a massive crack in the lid, at the side, and I imagine that happened while she was using it, meaning that when she pulled the hairspray out the lid remained inside her as the crack loosened it. I have absolutely no problem with exploring sexuality in *any* way at all (in fact, I encourage it as it’s good for your health) but the message from me is “Safety First: Try to use items which are meant to be inside you”! I have so many of these museum things pulled from vaginas and anuses: an anti-aircraft shell, a toothbrush, pencils, hair clips, a stone…the list goes on. But I need your help! If you want to see more content like this in photo or video form, let me know!!!! Post your thoughts in the comments, or just post a black heart 🖤 and I’ll know it’s worth it. Thank you!! PS- this is a good one for radiologists 😉 #selflove #selfcare #xray #radiology #radiography @radgirlcreationsLikes : 783

783 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : Sound on 😉 and ⚠️ Warning as this may make you feel uncomfortable…. They do say “It’s what’s inside that counts!” Valentines Day is near and it reminds us we can love in all sorts of ways, any day of the year, and sometimes the most important thing is ‘self love’… While perusing some specimens in our cervix section I found this lid from Swartzkopf hairspray… It’s a specimen from the 1970s but there’s barely any information about it except that it had to be removed from a woman’s vaginal cavity and it took 3 hours to retrieve it. There is a massive crack in the lid, at the side, and I imagine that happened while she was using it, meaning that when she pulled the hairspray out the lid remained inside her as the crack loosened it. I have absolutely no problem with exploring sexuality in *any* way at all (in fact, I encourage it as it’s good for your health) but the message from me is “Safety First: Try to use items which are meant to be inside you”! I have so many of these museum things pulled from vaginas and anuses: an anti-aircraft shell, a toothbrush, pencils, hair clips, a stone…the list goes on. But I need your help! If you want to see more content like this in photo or video form, let me know!!!! Post your thoughts in the comments, or just post a black heart 🖤 and I’ll know it’s worth it. Thank you!! PS- this is a good one for radiologists 😉 #selflove #selfcare #xray #radiology #radiography @radgirlcreationsLikes : 783

767 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : I post this a lot, but I find it fascinating: This pale, decellularized “ghost heart” is a little miracle for organ donation. The concept is a project started by molecular biologist Dr Doris Taylor, and which began around 2008 in the USA. A pig’s heart is placed in a solution which “washes” or removes the cells that make up most of the tissue, leaving just a protein scaffold behind – and amazingly part of this “washing” process involves baby shampoo! The scaffold, a transparent extracellular matrix, is neutral meaning it won’t be rejected by the new host: i.e. the person receiving the heart. After being re-filled with stem cells from the blood or bone marrow of the host, it’s placed into a bioreactor and left to mature into a fully beating heart with a new ‘identity’. This takes a lot of work and time and is now done in a sterile robotic chamber. The heart can then be transplanted into the recipient as if it was their own organ, eliminating the need for anti-rejection drugs and improving the post-transplant quality of life as less time is required in hospital. Dr Taylor left academia in 2020 and is currently working with private investors to bring her creation to the public. Human trials are on the way soon. 👻 I would absolutely LOVE to teach how to make these in a Saturday workshop (like I used to do with regular lamb heart preservation classes.) It would make an arresting little specimen and unusual gift. WHO WOULD LOVE THIS?! Tell me, in comments, if you’d like this or if you’d like me to start doing organ preservation classes again… 2024 may be the year we can increase public engagement events. 🤞 #valloween #valentinescountdown #valentinesday #valentine #humanremains #ghost #remains2beseen #anatomy #pathology #specimen #heart #hearttransplant #ghostheart #stemcells #organdonation #transplantLikes : 767

753 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : ❤️ Jeepers Creepers, where’d you get those peepers? From the Netherlands at a cost of about $3000, that’s where…👀 This is an image of an extraocular implant; a very apt little heart! Willing participant for this *then* experimental process, Deborah Boer, had a platinum heart inserted within the superficial inerpalpebral conjunctiva of the eye. The procedure was first carried out, on 6 people in total, at Netherland’s Institute for Innovative Ocular Surgery (NIOS) in 2002 as a new form of body modification. The process is now trademark (™️) as “Jewel Eye” and includes many shapes as well as hearts, such as stars, four-leaf clovers and more! I have to say, it’s not for me, although I think I’d choose this over having my sclera injected with ink, a la the lovely @graceneautral 🤦♀️ But it’s heart shaped and it involves anatomy so it makes my Valentine theme ❤️ #remains2beseen #anatomy #valentinesday #bloodyvalentine #heart #valentine #eyepiercing #eyejewelry #eyejewellery #valentinecountdownLikes : 753

743 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : My Carlaween countdown countinues with a variant on the theme of “zombie”. This is a specimen of leprosy from our collection (apologies this is a very early photo from my path museum career!) Many years ago, according to the Catholic World Report, lepers were considered the “zombies” of the Middle East; the “walking dead” whose illness cut them off from the land of the living. Steve Parker, in his book Kill or Cure, states that because Catholic doctrine decreed lepers the Living Dead, they had no rights whatsoever. Nowadays the condition is instead known as Hansen’s Disease as that term doesn’t have the same negative religious connotations. (It’s named after the Norwegian scientist Gerhard Hansen who discovered its causative agent in 1873.) Contrary to the much earlier belief that it was a punishment from God he showed it was caused by Mycobacterium Leprae, an unusual organism that is often artificially grown or ‘cultured’ on armadillos. This leprosy specimen is from 1881: “a hand from a male native of Mauritius” and the split through one of the fingers was more than likely caused by exploratory tissue sampling. However what is visible is the shrivelliing of the fingers and spots of discolouration. Also caused in cases of Hansen’s Disease are loss of sensation (which leads to injury) and deformity #carlaweencountdown #humanremains #carlaween #remains2beseen #anatomy #pathology #zombie #zombies #leprosy #halloweencountdown #halloween #thelivingdeadLikes : 743

721 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : ❤ “I give you my heart” Absolutely phenomenal images of a Gunther Von Hagens plastinate, focusing on the heart by showing it held in the plastinate’s hands, in some angles. This plastinate is from the Body World’s III exhibition at California Science Centre (2008). I’ve discussed Gunther Von Hagens plastination technique frequently in previous posts: basically organic tissue is replaced by polymer plastic. These ‘objects’ are therefore 20% organic and 80% inorganic; all ❤️ I was a consultant at Bodyworlds London in Piccadilly Circus during 2019 and we had huge plans for events and for the future. I was absolutely GUTTED it closed down in 2020 during COVID #valloween #humanremains #anatomy #pathology #specimen #plastination #valentinecountdown #valentine #bloodyvalentine #anatomicalheart #valentinesday #bloodyvalentines #biology #physiology #mybloodyvalentine #galentines #heart #anatomicalheart #forensics #forensicscience #gunthervonhagensLikes : 721

721 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : ❤ “I give you my heart” Absolutely phenomenal images of a Gunther Von Hagens plastinate, focusing on the heart by showing it held in the plastinate’s hands, in some angles. This plastinate is from the Body World’s III exhibition at California Science Centre (2008). I’ve discussed Gunther Von Hagens plastination technique frequently in previous posts: basically organic tissue is replaced by polymer plastic. These ‘objects’ are therefore 20% organic and 80% inorganic; all ❤️ I was a consultant at Bodyworlds London in Piccadilly Circus during 2019 and we had huge plans for events and for the future. I was absolutely GUTTED it closed down in 2020 during COVID #valloween #humanremains #anatomy #pathology #specimen #plastination #valentinecountdown #valentine #bloodyvalentine #anatomicalheart #valentinesday #bloodyvalentines #biology #physiology #mybloodyvalentine #galentines #heart #anatomicalheart #forensics #forensicscience #gunthervonhagensLikes : 721

721 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : ❤ “I give you my heart” Absolutely phenomenal images of a Gunther Von Hagens plastinate, focusing on the heart by showing it held in the plastinate’s hands, in some angles. This plastinate is from the Body World’s III exhibition at California Science Centre (2008). I’ve discussed Gunther Von Hagens plastination technique frequently in previous posts: basically organic tissue is replaced by polymer plastic. These ‘objects’ are therefore 20% organic and 80% inorganic; all ❤️ I was a consultant at Bodyworlds London in Piccadilly Circus during 2019 and we had huge plans for events and for the future. I was absolutely GUTTED it closed down in 2020 during COVID #valloween #humanremains #anatomy #pathology #specimen #plastination #valentinecountdown #valentine #bloodyvalentine #anatomicalheart #valentinesday #bloodyvalentines #biology #physiology #mybloodyvalentine #galentines #heart #anatomicalheart #forensics #forensicscience #gunthervonhagensLikes : 721

694 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : (Read on if you work in a hospital or similar…) Since we’re getting near Valentine’s Day, I like to focus on the heart and the intersection between anatomy/pathology and love/romance in a Bloody Valentine countdown. (Whether you like Valentine’s Day, prefer to call it ‘Valloween’ or think it’s pointless, it’s still a great lens to view human remains through, just for fun). ❤️ This is believed to be the real heart relic of St Camillus – who died in 1614 – which was kept for adoration in the Church of St Mary Magdalene in Rome. It began life (well, death) in Killucan in Ireland before being transport to Poland and Peru then finally Rome. He is the patron saint of the sick, doctors, nurses and health workers due to the work he did with the infirm before his death – seems appropriate for my colleagues and many of my followers! If you’re a health worker, nurse, Dr etc comment below: I’m hoping to set out specific visiting times at the museum, like “Medic Mondays” or similar, for any medics or allied health professionals (if we have enough interest) #mybloodyvalentine #humanremains #anatomy #pathology #relic #heart #hearts #stcamillus #rome #relics #valentine #valentinesday #bloodyvalentine #valloween #valentinecountdown #nurse #doctor #healthworker #catholic #catholicismLikes : 694

691 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : 💀🫀 Happy Valentine’s Day! For the special day, here is the skull of St Valentine. The day we all know and ‘love’ as a day for romantic celebration is called St Valentine’s Day yet there may have been more than one version of Valentine or Valentinus. However the two main stories, concerning Valentine of Terni and Valentine of Rome, could also refer to the same person. Scholars are still undecided. What is known is that around AD 200 Valentine, Bishop of Terni, was imprisoned, tortured, beaten with clubs (aha! Not spades, diamonds or hearts…🥁 Sorry…) and beheaded in Rome for his Christianity by the Emperor Claudius. His skull, pictured, is in the Basilica of Saint Mary in Cosmedin, Rome, and is a rather more gruesome reminder of the martyred Saint than a fluffy teddy bear holding a heart. Further relics include “a vessel tinged with his blood” at Whitefriar Street Church in Dublin; parts housed at The Birmingham Oratory and his forearm in Blessed John Duns Scotus’ Church, Glasgow, in a wooden chest inscribed “Corpus Valentini Martyris.” It wasn’t until circa AD 500 that Pope Gelasius declared 14th February St Valentine’s Day, a Christian feast day. It’s been theorised that the date wasn’t arbitrary: it was placed during the already established Roman/Pagan Feast of Lupercalia, a fertility festival held over 13th to 15th Feb, during which men violently thrashed naked women with goat-skin whips to “improve fertility” which is pretty much a typical Valentine’s Day for me 😉💀🫀 #humanremains #stvalentine #relic #holyrelic #skull #valentine #valentinus #bloodyvalentine #valentinecountdown #valentinesday #skull #mybloodyvalentine #anatomicalheartLikes : 691

691 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : 💀🫀 Happy Valentine’s Day! For the special day, here is the skull of St Valentine. The day we all know and ‘love’ as a day for romantic celebration is called St Valentine’s Day yet there may have been more than one version of Valentine or Valentinus. However the two main stories, concerning Valentine of Terni and Valentine of Rome, could also refer to the same person. Scholars are still undecided. What is known is that around AD 200 Valentine, Bishop of Terni, was imprisoned, tortured, beaten with clubs (aha! Not spades, diamonds or hearts…🥁 Sorry…) and beheaded in Rome for his Christianity by the Emperor Claudius. His skull, pictured, is in the Basilica of Saint Mary in Cosmedin, Rome, and is a rather more gruesome reminder of the martyred Saint than a fluffy teddy bear holding a heart. Further relics include “a vessel tinged with his blood” at Whitefriar Street Church in Dublin; parts housed at The Birmingham Oratory and his forearm in Blessed John Duns Scotus’ Church, Glasgow, in a wooden chest inscribed “Corpus Valentini Martyris.” It wasn’t until circa AD 500 that Pope Gelasius declared 14th February St Valentine’s Day, a Christian feast day. It’s been theorised that the date wasn’t arbitrary: it was placed during the already established Roman/Pagan Feast of Lupercalia, a fertility festival held over 13th to 15th Feb, during which men violently thrashed naked women with goat-skin whips to “improve fertility” which is pretty much a typical Valentine’s Day for me 😉💀🫀 #humanremains #stvalentine #relic #holyrelic #skull #valentine #valentinus #bloodyvalentine #valentinecountdown #valentinesday #skull #mybloodyvalentine #anatomicalheartLikes : 691

691 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : 💀🫀 Happy Valentine’s Day! For the special day, here is the skull of St Valentine. The day we all know and ‘love’ as a day for romantic celebration is called St Valentine’s Day yet there may have been more than one version of Valentine or Valentinus. However the two main stories, concerning Valentine of Terni and Valentine of Rome, could also refer to the same person. Scholars are still undecided. What is known is that around AD 200 Valentine, Bishop of Terni, was imprisoned, tortured, beaten with clubs (aha! Not spades, diamonds or hearts…🥁 Sorry…) and beheaded in Rome for his Christianity by the Emperor Claudius. His skull, pictured, is in the Basilica of Saint Mary in Cosmedin, Rome, and is a rather more gruesome reminder of the martyred Saint than a fluffy teddy bear holding a heart. Further relics include “a vessel tinged with his blood” at Whitefriar Street Church in Dublin; parts housed at The Birmingham Oratory and his forearm in Blessed John Duns Scotus’ Church, Glasgow, in a wooden chest inscribed “Corpus Valentini Martyris.” It wasn’t until circa AD 500 that Pope Gelasius declared 14th February St Valentine’s Day, a Christian feast day. It’s been theorised that the date wasn’t arbitrary: it was placed during the already established Roman/Pagan Feast of Lupercalia, a fertility festival held over 13th to 15th Feb, during which men violently thrashed naked women with goat-skin whips to “improve fertility” which is pretty much a typical Valentine’s Day for me 😉💀🫀 #humanremains #stvalentine #relic #holyrelic #skull #valentine #valentinus #bloodyvalentine #valentinecountdown #valentinesday #skull #mybloodyvalentine #anatomicalheartLikes : 691

691 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : 💀🫀 Happy Valentine’s Day! For the special day, here is the skull of St Valentine. The day we all know and ‘love’ as a day for romantic celebration is called St Valentine’s Day yet there may have been more than one version of Valentine or Valentinus. However the two main stories, concerning Valentine of Terni and Valentine of Rome, could also refer to the same person. Scholars are still undecided. What is known is that around AD 200 Valentine, Bishop of Terni, was imprisoned, tortured, beaten with clubs (aha! Not spades, diamonds or hearts…🥁 Sorry…) and beheaded in Rome for his Christianity by the Emperor Claudius. His skull, pictured, is in the Basilica of Saint Mary in Cosmedin, Rome, and is a rather more gruesome reminder of the martyred Saint than a fluffy teddy bear holding a heart. Further relics include “a vessel tinged with his blood” at Whitefriar Street Church in Dublin; parts housed at The Birmingham Oratory and his forearm in Blessed John Duns Scotus’ Church, Glasgow, in a wooden chest inscribed “Corpus Valentini Martyris.” It wasn’t until circa AD 500 that Pope Gelasius declared 14th February St Valentine’s Day, a Christian feast day. It’s been theorised that the date wasn’t arbitrary: it was placed during the already established Roman/Pagan Feast of Lupercalia, a fertility festival held over 13th to 15th Feb, during which men violently thrashed naked women with goat-skin whips to “improve fertility” which is pretty much a typical Valentine’s Day for me 😉💀🫀 #humanremains #stvalentine #relic #holyrelic #skull #valentine #valentinus #bloodyvalentine #valentinecountdown #valentinesday #skull #mybloodyvalentine #anatomicalheartLikes : 691

691 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : 💀🫀 Happy Valentine’s Day! For the special day, here is the skull of St Valentine. The day we all know and ‘love’ as a day for romantic celebration is called St Valentine’s Day yet there may have been more than one version of Valentine or Valentinus. However the two main stories, concerning Valentine of Terni and Valentine of Rome, could also refer to the same person. Scholars are still undecided. What is known is that around AD 200 Valentine, Bishop of Terni, was imprisoned, tortured, beaten with clubs (aha! Not spades, diamonds or hearts…🥁 Sorry…) and beheaded in Rome for his Christianity by the Emperor Claudius. His skull, pictured, is in the Basilica of Saint Mary in Cosmedin, Rome, and is a rather more gruesome reminder of the martyred Saint than a fluffy teddy bear holding a heart. Further relics include “a vessel tinged with his blood” at Whitefriar Street Church in Dublin; parts housed at The Birmingham Oratory and his forearm in Blessed John Duns Scotus’ Church, Glasgow, in a wooden chest inscribed “Corpus Valentini Martyris.” It wasn’t until circa AD 500 that Pope Gelasius declared 14th February St Valentine’s Day, a Christian feast day. It’s been theorised that the date wasn’t arbitrary: it was placed during the already established Roman/Pagan Feast of Lupercalia, a fertility festival held over 13th to 15th Feb, during which men violently thrashed naked women with goat-skin whips to “improve fertility” which is pretty much a typical Valentine’s Day for me 😉💀🫀 #humanremains #stvalentine #relic #holyrelic #skull #valentine #valentinus #bloodyvalentine #valentinecountdown #valentinesday #skull #mybloodyvalentine #anatomicalheartLikes : 691

659 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : ♀️ For International Women’s Day, Frances Glessner Lee, someone I jokingly describe as the ‘Real Life Miss Marple’ but who’s frequently called ‘The Mother of Forensic Science’. Born in 1878 to a wealthy industrialist she was home schooled, and whereas her brother was allowed to go on to study medicine at Harvard, she was not. It therefore wasn’t until her father died and she came into her inheritance at age 52 that she followed her forensic science dreams. She financed and created 20 incredible, tiny dollhouse crime scenes called The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death c.1940s, 18 of which are still in use as a teaching tool by the police department in Baltimore. (They were the inspiration for miniature crime scenes on TV shows such as CSI and Father Brown). In 1931, Glessner Lee endowed the Harvard Department of Legal Medicine—the first such department in the country—and her gifts would later establish the George Burgess Magrath Library, a chair in legal medicine, and the Harvard Seminars in Homicide Investigation. She also endowed the Harvard Associates in Police Science, a national organization for the furtherance of forensic science; it has a division dedicated to her, called the Frances Glessner Lee Homicide School. See www.deathindiorama.com for more, or read the book “18 Tiny Deaths’ by Bruce Goldfarb. #missmarple #fatherbrown #csi #forensics #forensicscience #crimescene #crimescenes #thenutshellstudies #brucegoldfarb #18tinydeaths #internationalwomensdayLikes : 659

659 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : ♀️ For International Women’s Day, Frances Glessner Lee, someone I jokingly describe as the ‘Real Life Miss Marple’ but who’s frequently called ‘The Mother of Forensic Science’. Born in 1878 to a wealthy industrialist she was home schooled, and whereas her brother was allowed to go on to study medicine at Harvard, she was not. It therefore wasn’t until her father died and she came into her inheritance at age 52 that she followed her forensic science dreams. She financed and created 20 incredible, tiny dollhouse crime scenes called The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death c.1940s, 18 of which are still in use as a teaching tool by the police department in Baltimore. (They were the inspiration for miniature crime scenes on TV shows such as CSI and Father Brown). In 1931, Glessner Lee endowed the Harvard Department of Legal Medicine—the first such department in the country—and her gifts would later establish the George Burgess Magrath Library, a chair in legal medicine, and the Harvard Seminars in Homicide Investigation. She also endowed the Harvard Associates in Police Science, a national organization for the furtherance of forensic science; it has a division dedicated to her, called the Frances Glessner Lee Homicide School. See www.deathindiorama.com for more, or read the book “18 Tiny Deaths’ by Bruce Goldfarb. #missmarple #fatherbrown #csi #forensics #forensicscience #crimescene #crimescenes #thenutshellstudies #brucegoldfarb #18tinydeaths #internationalwomensdayLikes : 659

659 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : ♀️ For International Women’s Day, Frances Glessner Lee, someone I jokingly describe as the ‘Real Life Miss Marple’ but who’s frequently called ‘The Mother of Forensic Science’. Born in 1878 to a wealthy industrialist she was home schooled, and whereas her brother was allowed to go on to study medicine at Harvard, she was not. It therefore wasn’t until her father died and she came into her inheritance at age 52 that she followed her forensic science dreams. She financed and created 20 incredible, tiny dollhouse crime scenes called The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death c.1940s, 18 of which are still in use as a teaching tool by the police department in Baltimore. (They were the inspiration for miniature crime scenes on TV shows such as CSI and Father Brown). In 1931, Glessner Lee endowed the Harvard Department of Legal Medicine—the first such department in the country—and her gifts would later establish the George Burgess Magrath Library, a chair in legal medicine, and the Harvard Seminars in Homicide Investigation. She also endowed the Harvard Associates in Police Science, a national organization for the furtherance of forensic science; it has a division dedicated to her, called the Frances Glessner Lee Homicide School. See www.deathindiorama.com for more, or read the book “18 Tiny Deaths’ by Bruce Goldfarb. #missmarple #fatherbrown #csi #forensics #forensicscience #crimescene #crimescenes #thenutshellstudies #brucegoldfarb #18tinydeaths #internationalwomensdayLikes : 659

659 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : ♀️ For International Women’s Day, Frances Glessner Lee, someone I jokingly describe as the ‘Real Life Miss Marple’ but who’s frequently called ‘The Mother of Forensic Science’. Born in 1878 to a wealthy industrialist she was home schooled, and whereas her brother was allowed to go on to study medicine at Harvard, she was not. It therefore wasn’t until her father died and she came into her inheritance at age 52 that she followed her forensic science dreams. She financed and created 20 incredible, tiny dollhouse crime scenes called The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death c.1940s, 18 of which are still in use as a teaching tool by the police department in Baltimore. (They were the inspiration for miniature crime scenes on TV shows such as CSI and Father Brown). In 1931, Glessner Lee endowed the Harvard Department of Legal Medicine—the first such department in the country—and her gifts would later establish the George Burgess Magrath Library, a chair in legal medicine, and the Harvard Seminars in Homicide Investigation. She also endowed the Harvard Associates in Police Science, a national organization for the furtherance of forensic science; it has a division dedicated to her, called the Frances Glessner Lee Homicide School. See www.deathindiorama.com for more, or read the book “18 Tiny Deaths’ by Bruce Goldfarb. #missmarple #fatherbrown #csi #forensics #forensicscience #crimescene #crimescenes #thenutshellstudies #brucegoldfarb #18tinydeaths #internationalwomensdayLikes : 659

659 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : ♀️ For International Women’s Day, Frances Glessner Lee, someone I jokingly describe as the ‘Real Life Miss Marple’ but who’s frequently called ‘The Mother of Forensic Science’. Born in 1878 to a wealthy industrialist she was home schooled, and whereas her brother was allowed to go on to study medicine at Harvard, she was not. It therefore wasn’t until her father died and she came into her inheritance at age 52 that she followed her forensic science dreams. She financed and created 20 incredible, tiny dollhouse crime scenes called The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death c.1940s, 18 of which are still in use as a teaching tool by the police department in Baltimore. (They were the inspiration for miniature crime scenes on TV shows such as CSI and Father Brown). In 1931, Glessner Lee endowed the Harvard Department of Legal Medicine—the first such department in the country—and her gifts would later establish the George Burgess Magrath Library, a chair in legal medicine, and the Harvard Seminars in Homicide Investigation. She also endowed the Harvard Associates in Police Science, a national organization for the furtherance of forensic science; it has a division dedicated to her, called the Frances Glessner Lee Homicide School. See www.deathindiorama.com for more, or read the book “18 Tiny Deaths’ by Bruce Goldfarb. #missmarple #fatherbrown #csi #forensics #forensicscience #crimescene #crimescenes #thenutshellstudies #brucegoldfarb #18tinydeaths #internationalwomensdayLikes : 659

659 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : ♀️ For International Women’s Day, Frances Glessner Lee, someone I jokingly describe as the ‘Real Life Miss Marple’ but who’s frequently called ‘The Mother of Forensic Science’. Born in 1878 to a wealthy industrialist she was home schooled, and whereas her brother was allowed to go on to study medicine at Harvard, she was not. It therefore wasn’t until her father died and she came into her inheritance at age 52 that she followed her forensic science dreams. She financed and created 20 incredible, tiny dollhouse crime scenes called The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death c.1940s, 18 of which are still in use as a teaching tool by the police department in Baltimore. (They were the inspiration for miniature crime scenes on TV shows such as CSI and Father Brown). In 1931, Glessner Lee endowed the Harvard Department of Legal Medicine—the first such department in the country—and her gifts would later establish the George Burgess Magrath Library, a chair in legal medicine, and the Harvard Seminars in Homicide Investigation. She also endowed the Harvard Associates in Police Science, a national organization for the furtherance of forensic science; it has a division dedicated to her, called the Frances Glessner Lee Homicide School. See www.deathindiorama.com for more, or read the book “18 Tiny Deaths’ by Bruce Goldfarb. #missmarple #fatherbrown #csi #forensics #forensicscience #crimescene #crimescenes #thenutshellstudies #brucegoldfarb #18tinydeaths #internationalwomensdayLikes : 659

659 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : ♀️ For International Women’s Day, Frances Glessner Lee, someone I jokingly describe as the ‘Real Life Miss Marple’ but who’s frequently called ‘The Mother of Forensic Science’. Born in 1878 to a wealthy industrialist she was home schooled, and whereas her brother was allowed to go on to study medicine at Harvard, she was not. It therefore wasn’t until her father died and she came into her inheritance at age 52 that she followed her forensic science dreams. She financed and created 20 incredible, tiny dollhouse crime scenes called The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death c.1940s, 18 of which are still in use as a teaching tool by the police department in Baltimore. (They were the inspiration for miniature crime scenes on TV shows such as CSI and Father Brown). In 1931, Glessner Lee endowed the Harvard Department of Legal Medicine—the first such department in the country—and her gifts would later establish the George Burgess Magrath Library, a chair in legal medicine, and the Harvard Seminars in Homicide Investigation. She also endowed the Harvard Associates in Police Science, a national organization for the furtherance of forensic science; it has a division dedicated to her, called the Frances Glessner Lee Homicide School. See www.deathindiorama.com for more, or read the book “18 Tiny Deaths’ by Bruce Goldfarb. #missmarple #fatherbrown #csi #forensics #forensicscience #crimescene #crimescenes #thenutshellstudies #brucegoldfarb #18tinydeaths #internationalwomensdayLikes : 659

659 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : ♀️ For International Women’s Day, Frances Glessner Lee, someone I jokingly describe as the ‘Real Life Miss Marple’ but who’s frequently called ‘The Mother of Forensic Science’. Born in 1878 to a wealthy industrialist she was home schooled, and whereas her brother was allowed to go on to study medicine at Harvard, she was not. It therefore wasn’t until her father died and she came into her inheritance at age 52 that she followed her forensic science dreams. She financed and created 20 incredible, tiny dollhouse crime scenes called The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death c.1940s, 18 of which are still in use as a teaching tool by the police department in Baltimore. (They were the inspiration for miniature crime scenes on TV shows such as CSI and Father Brown). In 1931, Glessner Lee endowed the Harvard Department of Legal Medicine—the first such department in the country—and her gifts would later establish the George Burgess Magrath Library, a chair in legal medicine, and the Harvard Seminars in Homicide Investigation. She also endowed the Harvard Associates in Police Science, a national organization for the furtherance of forensic science; it has a division dedicated to her, called the Frances Glessner Lee Homicide School. See www.deathindiorama.com for more, or read the book “18 Tiny Deaths’ by Bruce Goldfarb. #missmarple #fatherbrown #csi #forensics #forensicscience #crimescene #crimescenes #thenutshellstudies #brucegoldfarb #18tinydeaths #internationalwomensdayLikes : 659

659 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : ♀️ For International Women’s Day, Frances Glessner Lee, someone I jokingly describe as the ‘Real Life Miss Marple’ but who’s frequently called ‘The Mother of Forensic Science’. Born in 1878 to a wealthy industrialist she was home schooled, and whereas her brother was allowed to go on to study medicine at Harvard, she was not. It therefore wasn’t until her father died and she came into her inheritance at age 52 that she followed her forensic science dreams. She financed and created 20 incredible, tiny dollhouse crime scenes called The Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death c.1940s, 18 of which are still in use as a teaching tool by the police department in Baltimore. (They were the inspiration for miniature crime scenes on TV shows such as CSI and Father Brown). In 1931, Glessner Lee endowed the Harvard Department of Legal Medicine—the first such department in the country—and her gifts would later establish the George Burgess Magrath Library, a chair in legal medicine, and the Harvard Seminars in Homicide Investigation. She also endowed the Harvard Associates in Police Science, a national organization for the furtherance of forensic science; it has a division dedicated to her, called the Frances Glessner Lee Homicide School. See www.deathindiorama.com for more, or read the book “18 Tiny Deaths’ by Bruce Goldfarb. #missmarple #fatherbrown #csi #forensics #forensicscience #crimescene #crimescenes #thenutshellstudies #brucegoldfarb #18tinydeaths #internationalwomensdayLikes : 659

653 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : My ‘Bloody Valentine’ countdown continues with this perfect artefact! 🫀 This is a dessicated (dried) human heart in a heart shaped lead case, called a ‘cist’, which was found in a wooden box in Christchurch, Cork, Ireland, in 1863. The person who found it was General Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers of ‘Pitt Rivers Museum’ which is in Oxford in the UK, but it was originally sent to Bethan Green Museum in London as the centre-piece of their “Human Superstition” exhibition. (I’m not sure why it’s ok to remove a boxed artefact in the basement of Cork’s oldest Church, so some say “found” also means “stole” and I guess but that’s a debate for another time.) Heart burials were popular in Europe for a while because the heart was where the soul was believed to reside, so often if the body had to be disposed of the heart would be kept. Sometimes if lovers died apart their hearts were brought together and buried in the same place. Awwww, romantic 🫀⚰️🫀 #humanremains #remains2beseen #anatomy #valentinesday #heart #valentinescountdown #hearts #bloodyvalentine #humanheart #valentinesday2024 #valloween #mybloodyvalentineLikes : 653

648 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : 🧙 It’s a necklace of genital warts for the Halloween/Carlaween post today, because many people associate warts with witches! This fascinating specimen of genital warts, strung together before being preserved in the 19th century, comes from @muttermuseum and their fantastic “Memento Mutter” website. Now, before you start wondering if this is some sort of Ed Gein precursor, or the work of a twisted weirdo, the site explains that the reason they’re strung together is simple: it’s for scientific study. It’s easier to compare the size, shape and morphology of warts if they’re next to each other rather than all at the bottom of a jar. At the museum I work in we have similar things but rather than strung together they’re mounted on a backboard, something that was easier to do when acrylic started to be used for pots – rather than glass – in the 20th century. Also according to the Mutter site, an 8% solution of cocaine would be injected straight into the genitals to dull the pain of the agonising methods used to remove the warts, such as blades and “powerful caustics”. I know @muttermuseum is worried about it’s future at the moment, so if you’d like to find out more about that and/or support them, then do check out their Instagram and @protectthemutter. It’s an issue affecting other medical museums too, so your support really matters 🙏 #muttermuseum #pathology #pathologymuseum #histmed #mutter #mementomutter #carlaweencountdown #carlaween #halloweencountdownLikes : 648

626 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : • What Do The Dead See? • When photography was invented in the 1840s, the similarity between the structure of a camera and that of the eye was noted, leading to an idea that whatever a person witnessed at the moment of death could be imprinted on the retina, like a photograph. The pseudo-scientific term for this was Optography, and these theoretical ‘photographs’ were called Optograms. This concept actually has earlier roots than that, when a Jesuit Friar from the 1600s – Christopher Schiener – recorded his observation of a fleeting image on the retina of a frog he was dissecting. But it was the Victorians with their knowledge of photography and endless pseudo-scientific pursuits who took this idea further, in particular German physiologist, Wilhelm Kühne, who claimed to have devised a process to ‘develop’ these optograms temporarily. The most obvious practical use for such a phenomenon would be, of course, forensic – many cases could be solved if it were really possible for an assailant’s image to be preserved on the eyes of the victim; wide-open in terror. Experiments were carried out in Germany at first, and it was even proposed that one of Jack the Ripper’s victims could undergo this procedure. It was such a widespread and enduring belief that when PC G. W. Gutteridge was murdered in Essex, in 1927 by two men who’d stolen a car from London, they didn’t leave the scene after the killing shot: they also shot him through both eyes – to the horror of the postman who found him dead the next morning. I’m lucky enough to have visited the Scotland Yard Crime Museum several times to see this mask which was used in the Gutteridge murder, as well as all the associated guns and accoutrements. More info is in my book ‘Murder Isn’t Easy: The Forensics of Agatha Christie’. Details of above images will be in the comment below. #forensicscience #forensics #vintageforensics #optography #agathachristie #optograms #scotlandyard #blackmuseum #theblackmuseum #crimemuseum #halloween #hallowerncountdownLikes : 626

626 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : • What Do The Dead See? • When photography was invented in the 1840s, the similarity between the structure of a camera and that of the eye was noted, leading to an idea that whatever a person witnessed at the moment of death could be imprinted on the retina, like a photograph. The pseudo-scientific term for this was Optography, and these theoretical ‘photographs’ were called Optograms. This concept actually has earlier roots than that, when a Jesuit Friar from the 1600s – Christopher Schiener – recorded his observation of a fleeting image on the retina of a frog he was dissecting. But it was the Victorians with their knowledge of photography and endless pseudo-scientific pursuits who took this idea further, in particular German physiologist, Wilhelm Kühne, who claimed to have devised a process to ‘develop’ these optograms temporarily. The most obvious practical use for such a phenomenon would be, of course, forensic – many cases could be solved if it were really possible for an assailant’s image to be preserved on the eyes of the victim; wide-open in terror. Experiments were carried out in Germany at first, and it was even proposed that one of Jack the Ripper’s victims could undergo this procedure. It was such a widespread and enduring belief that when PC G. W. Gutteridge was murdered in Essex, in 1927 by two men who’d stolen a car from London, they didn’t leave the scene after the killing shot: they also shot him through both eyes – to the horror of the postman who found him dead the next morning. I’m lucky enough to have visited the Scotland Yard Crime Museum several times to see this mask which was used in the Gutteridge murder, as well as all the associated guns and accoutrements. More info is in my book ‘Murder Isn’t Easy: The Forensics of Agatha Christie’. Details of above images will be in the comment below. #forensicscience #forensics #vintageforensics #optography #agathachristie #optograms #scotlandyard #blackmuseum #theblackmuseum #crimemuseum #halloween #hallowerncountdownLikes : 626

587 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : What could be more appropriate for Halloween than a scream? 😱 I’ve loved the 1893 painting ‘The Scream’ by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch since I was a child. There are many stories about what this painting represents including his own; Munch describes breaking away from a group of friends to watch the sunset, only to have a vision in which the sky turned to blood, the ground turned black and “nature screamed so that only he could hear it”. Most people look at The Scream and assume the figure in the painting is *screaming*, not hearing a scream. There’s also the fact the bridge depicted is a popular suicide bridge near an asylum in which his sister was resident, so experts have theorised that the area was filled with the audible screams of asylum patients. It’s also been thought that Munch was inspired by a mummy, either that of a Chachapoyas warrior discovered near Peru’s Utcubamba River who appeared to have died screaming (which became a popular attraction – pictured here) or another Peruvian mummy displayed in Florence’s Anthropology Museum. It has since come to light that Munch didn’t visit Florence until after he painted The Scream, but evidence suggests he saw the Chachapoyas warrior when it was displayed in Paris. #edvardmunch #thescream #scream #mummy #peruvianmummy #humanremains #munch #florence #carlaweenLikes : 587

587 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : What could be more appropriate for Halloween than a scream? 😱 I’ve loved the 1893 painting ‘The Scream’ by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch since I was a child. There are many stories about what this painting represents including his own; Munch describes breaking away from a group of friends to watch the sunset, only to have a vision in which the sky turned to blood, the ground turned black and “nature screamed so that only he could hear it”. Most people look at The Scream and assume the figure in the painting is *screaming*, not hearing a scream. There’s also the fact the bridge depicted is a popular suicide bridge near an asylum in which his sister was resident, so experts have theorised that the area was filled with the audible screams of asylum patients. It’s also been thought that Munch was inspired by a mummy, either that of a Chachapoyas warrior discovered near Peru’s Utcubamba River who appeared to have died screaming (which became a popular attraction – pictured here) or another Peruvian mummy displayed in Florence’s Anthropology Museum. It has since come to light that Munch didn’t visit Florence until after he painted The Scream, but evidence suggests he saw the Chachapoyas warrior when it was displayed in Paris. #edvardmunch #thescream #scream #mummy #peruvianmummy #humanremains #munch #florence #carlaweenLikes : 587

561 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : This is the skeleton of ‘The Yorkshire Witch’ Mary Bateman, 1768- 1809, and an image of a cup made from her skin. (Straight off the bat I want to give @thepoisonerscabinet a shoutout because I learned about this woman in Ep 14 of their podcast and they recently reached over 200!) ☠️ Although Mary was known as ‘The Yorkshire Witch’ she was actually a con artist and murderer of 5 people. There’s so much to tell about her crimes but my favourite has to be when she claimed she had a chicken who could predict the Apocalypse. It was known as “The Prophet Hen of Leeds” and it laid eggs which said CRIST IS COMING (she misspelled ‘Christ’, and I think it would have been even funnier if she’d written ‘Chris’!) ☠️ Mary very cleverly etched this phrase into the shells of the eggs with vinegar – rather than writing it on with ink – because it looked more organic; like a part of the surface. This is because the acetic acid in the vinegar neutralises the calcium carbonate in the shell of the egg, releasing carbon dioxide, causing it to lighten in colour and become thinner. The second part of this con, apparently re-inserting the inscribed eggs into the unfortunate hen, is a bit harder to verify… ☠️ After eventually being exposed as a fraud and murderer she was hanged in York Castle and, as was the custom at the time, “anatomised” or dissected publicly. Her skeleton was then displayed to anyone who paid and her skin was flayed and tanned. It was used to bind books, which are no longer in existence, and used to make a folding cup, which I have to say I’ve never really come across before. ☠️ Up until 2015 most of her skeleton, pictured, was on public display at the Thakray Museum in Leeds. However, with changing attitudes towards the display of human remains and the subsequent Human Tissue Act coming into force, she has been in private storage in the anatomy department of Leeds Medical School since then (Lots of this info is from MURDERERS’ LEATHER By EDWARD ELMHIRST 1954) ☠️ #skeleton #humanremains #witch #poisonerLikes : 561

561 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : This is the skeleton of ‘The Yorkshire Witch’ Mary Bateman, 1768- 1809, and an image of a cup made from her skin. (Straight off the bat I want to give @thepoisonerscabinet a shoutout because I learned about this woman in Ep 14 of their podcast and they recently reached over 200!) ☠️ Although Mary was known as ‘The Yorkshire Witch’ she was actually a con artist and murderer of 5 people. There’s so much to tell about her crimes but my favourite has to be when she claimed she had a chicken who could predict the Apocalypse. It was known as “The Prophet Hen of Leeds” and it laid eggs which said CRIST IS COMING (she misspelled ‘Christ’, and I think it would have been even funnier if she’d written ‘Chris’!) ☠️ Mary very cleverly etched this phrase into the shells of the eggs with vinegar – rather than writing it on with ink – because it looked more organic; like a part of the surface. This is because the acetic acid in the vinegar neutralises the calcium carbonate in the shell of the egg, releasing carbon dioxide, causing it to lighten in colour and become thinner. The second part of this con, apparently re-inserting the inscribed eggs into the unfortunate hen, is a bit harder to verify… ☠️ After eventually being exposed as a fraud and murderer she was hanged in York Castle and, as was the custom at the time, “anatomised” or dissected publicly. Her skeleton was then displayed to anyone who paid and her skin was flayed and tanned. It was used to bind books, which are no longer in existence, and used to make a folding cup, which I have to say I’ve never really come across before. ☠️ Up until 2015 most of her skeleton, pictured, was on public display at the Thakray Museum in Leeds. However, with changing attitudes towards the display of human remains and the subsequent Human Tissue Act coming into force, she has been in private storage in the anatomy department of Leeds Medical School since then (Lots of this info is from MURDERERS’ LEATHER By EDWARD ELMHIRST 1954) ☠️ #skeleton #humanremains #witch #poisonerLikes : 561

561 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : This is the skeleton of ‘The Yorkshire Witch’ Mary Bateman, 1768- 1809, and an image of a cup made from her skin. (Straight off the bat I want to give @thepoisonerscabinet a shoutout because I learned about this woman in Ep 14 of their podcast and they recently reached over 200!) ☠️ Although Mary was known as ‘The Yorkshire Witch’ she was actually a con artist and murderer of 5 people. There’s so much to tell about her crimes but my favourite has to be when she claimed she had a chicken who could predict the Apocalypse. It was known as “The Prophet Hen of Leeds” and it laid eggs which said CRIST IS COMING (she misspelled ‘Christ’, and I think it would have been even funnier if she’d written ‘Chris’!) ☠️ Mary very cleverly etched this phrase into the shells of the eggs with vinegar – rather than writing it on with ink – because it looked more organic; like a part of the surface. This is because the acetic acid in the vinegar neutralises the calcium carbonate in the shell of the egg, releasing carbon dioxide, causing it to lighten in colour and become thinner. The second part of this con, apparently re-inserting the inscribed eggs into the unfortunate hen, is a bit harder to verify… ☠️ After eventually being exposed as a fraud and murderer she was hanged in York Castle and, as was the custom at the time, “anatomised” or dissected publicly. Her skeleton was then displayed to anyone who paid and her skin was flayed and tanned. It was used to bind books, which are no longer in existence, and used to make a folding cup, which I have to say I’ve never really come across before. ☠️ Up until 2015 most of her skeleton, pictured, was on public display at the Thakray Museum in Leeds. However, with changing attitudes towards the display of human remains and the subsequent Human Tissue Act coming into force, she has been in private storage in the anatomy department of Leeds Medical School since then (Lots of this info is from MURDERERS’ LEATHER By EDWARD ELMHIRST 1954) ☠️ #skeleton #humanremains #witch #poisonerLikes : 561

529 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : Let’s end the ‘Carlaween’ halloween countdown with a genuine monster: I thought I’d post about a real life monster because I get to talk about a murder case and address the issue of Halloween urban legends in one. Many people will have heard the terrifying myth that their children may not be safe while trick or treating because of blades and needles being hidden in pieces of fruit or sweets, or poisoned chocolate being handed out. In fact there was a case of a child being poisoned with cyanide-laced Pixi Stix…(an American sweet) but it was given to him by his own father. On Halloween 1974 in Pasadena, Texas, Ronald Clark O’Bryan (nicknamed ‘The Candyman’ and ‘The Man Who Killed Halloween’) murdered his 8 year old son for what appears to have been financial reasons: he had increased his son’s life insurance policy from $10,000 to $30,000 just one month before Halloween. He committed the crime by hanging back during a trick or treat outing with his children and their friends, and pretending to have successfully received some candy from an ostensibly abandoned house; candy which he had poisoned. Sickeningly he was willing to kill more than one child to achieve his goal and make it look like a ‘random attack’, by handing out these poisoned sweets to his daughter and three friends too. The reason he never succeeded in killing any other kids is that after lacing the Pixi Stix with an inch or two of potassium cyanide he stapled them closed and the other children were unable to open them. The reason his son ate the stuff is because Ronald actually helped him open it. He was executed by lethal injection on March 31st 1984, to a crowd which shouted ‘Trick or Treat!’ and showered anti-death penalty campaigners with candy. You can research more details about this case which is a brilliant example of one of the basic tenets of crime investigation: when someone comes to some harm it’s highly unlikely a stranger was involved. Most attacks and murders, sadly, are committed by someone the victim knows. #candyman #trickortreat #poisoncandy #halloween #halloweencountdown #truecrime #murder #carlaweencountdown #carlaween #thecandyman #irememberhalloweenLikes : 529

529 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : Let’s end the ‘Carlaween’ halloween countdown with a genuine monster: I thought I’d post about a real life monster because I get to talk about a murder case and address the issue of Halloween urban legends in one. Many people will have heard the terrifying myth that their children may not be safe while trick or treating because of blades and needles being hidden in pieces of fruit or sweets, or poisoned chocolate being handed out. In fact there was a case of a child being poisoned with cyanide-laced Pixi Stix…(an American sweet) but it was given to him by his own father. On Halloween 1974 in Pasadena, Texas, Ronald Clark O’Bryan (nicknamed ‘The Candyman’ and ‘The Man Who Killed Halloween’) murdered his 8 year old son for what appears to have been financial reasons: he had increased his son’s life insurance policy from $10,000 to $30,000 just one month before Halloween. He committed the crime by hanging back during a trick or treat outing with his children and their friends, and pretending to have successfully received some candy from an ostensibly abandoned house; candy which he had poisoned. Sickeningly he was willing to kill more than one child to achieve his goal and make it look like a ‘random attack’, by handing out these poisoned sweets to his daughter and three friends too. The reason he never succeeded in killing any other kids is that after lacing the Pixi Stix with an inch or two of potassium cyanide he stapled them closed and the other children were unable to open them. The reason his son ate the stuff is because Ronald actually helped him open it. He was executed by lethal injection on March 31st 1984, to a crowd which shouted ‘Trick or Treat!’ and showered anti-death penalty campaigners with candy. You can research more details about this case which is a brilliant example of one of the basic tenets of crime investigation: when someone comes to some harm it’s highly unlikely a stranger was involved. Most attacks and murders, sadly, are committed by someone the victim knows. #candyman #trickortreat #poisoncandy #halloween #halloweencountdown #truecrime #murder #carlaweencountdown #carlaween #thecandyman #irememberhalloweenLikes : 529

529 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : Let’s end the ‘Carlaween’ halloween countdown with a genuine monster: I thought I’d post about a real life monster because I get to talk about a murder case and address the issue of Halloween urban legends in one. Many people will have heard the terrifying myth that their children may not be safe while trick or treating because of blades and needles being hidden in pieces of fruit or sweets, or poisoned chocolate being handed out. In fact there was a case of a child being poisoned with cyanide-laced Pixi Stix…(an American sweet) but it was given to him by his own father. On Halloween 1974 in Pasadena, Texas, Ronald Clark O’Bryan (nicknamed ‘The Candyman’ and ‘The Man Who Killed Halloween’) murdered his 8 year old son for what appears to have been financial reasons: he had increased his son’s life insurance policy from $10,000 to $30,000 just one month before Halloween. He committed the crime by hanging back during a trick or treat outing with his children and their friends, and pretending to have successfully received some candy from an ostensibly abandoned house; candy which he had poisoned. Sickeningly he was willing to kill more than one child to achieve his goal and make it look like a ‘random attack’, by handing out these poisoned sweets to his daughter and three friends too. The reason he never succeeded in killing any other kids is that after lacing the Pixi Stix with an inch or two of potassium cyanide he stapled them closed and the other children were unable to open them. The reason his son ate the stuff is because Ronald actually helped him open it. He was executed by lethal injection on March 31st 1984, to a crowd which shouted ‘Trick or Treat!’ and showered anti-death penalty campaigners with candy. You can research more details about this case which is a brilliant example of one of the basic tenets of crime investigation: when someone comes to some harm it’s highly unlikely a stranger was involved. Most attacks and murders, sadly, are committed by someone the victim knows. #candyman #trickortreat #poisoncandy #halloween #halloweencountdown #truecrime #murder #carlaweencountdown #carlaween #thecandyman #irememberhalloweenLikes : 529

515 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : Pop quiz! Apologies for the poor quality of the photo I took, but I’ve not been at the museum much recently and had to use an old image. Does anyone know what this potted specimen is? • It’s a “human horn!” (Yes, I thought of Futurama too…) The medical name for this condition is a cutaneous horn, as cutaneous means “relating to or affecting the skin”, and in Latin it’s Cornu Cutaneum. It may also be called a keratin horn because these unusual growths are made from keratin, which is the same substance that makes up hair & nails in humans, and the oesophagus of rats. They are often benign but can sometimes be malignant and their cause is still unknown. Because they more commonly appear on the face, ears and backs of hands, and in those with fair skin, it’s been suggested that there may be a connection with exposure to sunlight but there’s also a theory they are related to the wart causing virus HPV. They can be removed fairly easily for those with access to a decent medical system. • As you can see from the 2nd slide, there are still people suffering from this affliction and it’s not an archaic condition. The woman in the picture is a 69 yo who watched this horn develop over a period of 20 years. At the time this pic was taken the horn was 17cm long and was removed under general anaesthetic. • You can see from the final image that @muttermuseum in Philadelphia has an example of this in the form of a wax moulage. The woman depicted was called Madame Dimanche and she lived in 19th century France. Her horn was 25cm long! • We had a sudden period of “summer” here in the UK over the last fortnight so, if these horns are linked to sun damage, this is your reminder to always wear SPF, and if you have any unusual growths or moles that have recently changed in appearance, go and get it checked out! • #cutaneoushorn #medicine #medicalmuseum #pathology #muttermuseum #mutter #protectthemutter #histmed #pathologymuseum #wetspecimen #humanremains #skincancerawarenessLikes : 515

515 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : Pop quiz! Apologies for the poor quality of the photo I took, but I’ve not been at the museum much recently and had to use an old image. Does anyone know what this potted specimen is? • It’s a “human horn!” (Yes, I thought of Futurama too…) The medical name for this condition is a cutaneous horn, as cutaneous means “relating to or affecting the skin”, and in Latin it’s Cornu Cutaneum. It may also be called a keratin horn because these unusual growths are made from keratin, which is the same substance that makes up hair & nails in humans, and the oesophagus of rats. They are often benign but can sometimes be malignant and their cause is still unknown. Because they more commonly appear on the face, ears and backs of hands, and in those with fair skin, it’s been suggested that there may be a connection with exposure to sunlight but there’s also a theory they are related to the wart causing virus HPV. They can be removed fairly easily for those with access to a decent medical system. • As you can see from the 2nd slide, there are still people suffering from this affliction and it’s not an archaic condition. The woman in the picture is a 69 yo who watched this horn develop over a period of 20 years. At the time this pic was taken the horn was 17cm long and was removed under general anaesthetic. • You can see from the final image that @muttermuseum in Philadelphia has an example of this in the form of a wax moulage. The woman depicted was called Madame Dimanche and she lived in 19th century France. Her horn was 25cm long! • We had a sudden period of “summer” here in the UK over the last fortnight so, if these horns are linked to sun damage, this is your reminder to always wear SPF, and if you have any unusual growths or moles that have recently changed in appearance, go and get it checked out! • #cutaneoushorn #medicine #medicalmuseum #pathology #muttermuseum #mutter #protectthemutter #histmed #pathologymuseum #wetspecimen #humanremains #skincancerawarenessLikes : 515

515 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : Pop quiz! Apologies for the poor quality of the photo I took, but I’ve not been at the museum much recently and had to use an old image. Does anyone know what this potted specimen is? • It’s a “human horn!” (Yes, I thought of Futurama too…) The medical name for this condition is a cutaneous horn, as cutaneous means “relating to or affecting the skin”, and in Latin it’s Cornu Cutaneum. It may also be called a keratin horn because these unusual growths are made from keratin, which is the same substance that makes up hair & nails in humans, and the oesophagus of rats. They are often benign but can sometimes be malignant and their cause is still unknown. Because they more commonly appear on the face, ears and backs of hands, and in those with fair skin, it’s been suggested that there may be a connection with exposure to sunlight but there’s also a theory they are related to the wart causing virus HPV. They can be removed fairly easily for those with access to a decent medical system. • As you can see from the 2nd slide, there are still people suffering from this affliction and it’s not an archaic condition. The woman in the picture is a 69 yo who watched this horn develop over a period of 20 years. At the time this pic was taken the horn was 17cm long and was removed under general anaesthetic. • You can see from the final image that @muttermuseum in Philadelphia has an example of this in the form of a wax moulage. The woman depicted was called Madame Dimanche and she lived in 19th century France. Her horn was 25cm long! • We had a sudden period of “summer” here in the UK over the last fortnight so, if these horns are linked to sun damage, this is your reminder to always wear SPF, and if you have any unusual growths or moles that have recently changed in appearance, go and get it checked out! • #cutaneoushorn #medicine #medicalmuseum #pathology #muttermuseum #mutter #protectthemutter #histmed #pathologymuseum #wetspecimen #humanremains #skincancerawarenessLikes : 515

514 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : The Halloween Countdown (“Carlaween”) continues. This amazing image comes from Sanjay Mukhopadhyay (or @smlungpathguy on Twitter) and many of you will recognise this as a Dermoid Cyst or Teratoma. For those of you not quite so familiar I’ll also post the one I have in my collection! – it’s as big as my head and similarly filled with hair, teeth, bone etc. It’s also known – for obvious reasons – as a “monster tumour” which is the Halloween connection. These tumours arise from the female ovary, usually. Ovaries are filled with totipotent stem cells which means cells that have the potential to be any tissue – after all, they’d usually form a baby. In the case of a teratoma they form a benign but strange ‘monster tumour’. I’m posting this one is because Sanjay referred to something called the Rokitansky Protuberance in his tweet (it’s the deformed lumps from which the teeth etc usually arise) and I was surprised to have never heard the term. Many of you know I am a qualified autopsy technician and one of the names most bandied around in our studies is that of Carl Rokitansky (Physician/Pathologist, 1804 – 1878). He has quite a lot of medical terminology named after him and in fact when we eviscerate the deceased at autopsy using the ‘en masse’ method we call it the Rokitansky Method (even though that’s actually incorrect: Rokitansky dissected organs in situ.) Anyway, the moral of the story is that I learned something new because of Sanjay and I guess no matter how much experience we have we are still learning! #humanremains #carlaween #teratoma #dermoidcyst #rokitansky #rokitanskyprotuberance #carlrokitansky #halloween #rokitanskymethod #halloweencountdownLikes : 514

414 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : Sound on 😉 ❤️ Who stole the heart of Laurence O’Toole? This is the 800-year old heart of St O’Toole, a 12th Century Archbishop and Patron Saint of Dublin. It was stolen in 2012, and found 6 years later, undamaged, in the city’s Phoenix Park by Irish police following “an intelligence-led investigation”. The bizarre theft happened at Christ Church Cathedral and it’s believed the thief hid overnight in the cathedral before carrying out the heart heist. The heart-taker used cutters to prise open the iron bars protecting the wooden box holding the saint’s heart, then weirdly the individual lit two peace candles on the Trinity altar in the cathedral before leaving (they didn’t take anything else, not the gold candlesticks or anything from the altars that could have fetched lots of money.) ❤️ Speaking at the time, the dean of Christ Church, the Very Reverend Dermot Dunne, described the relic as having “no economic value” but that it was a “priceless treasure that links our present foundation with its founding father”. The newly-recovered relic was handed over to the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin Dr Michael Jackson by Assisstant Garda Commissioner Pat Leahy. (For those who don’t know, “Gardai” is the Irish police force.) Apparently the heart was returned by the thieves because they believed it was cursed, and was responsible for the deaths – by heart attack – of some of their family and friends 🤷 #karma ❤️ #humanremains #valentine #anatomicalheart #saintsheart #heartrelic #humanheart #christchurchcathedral #bloodyvalentine #valentinesday #mybloodyvalentine #stolemyheartLikes : 414

414 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : Sound on 😉 ❤️ Who stole the heart of Laurence O’Toole? This is the 800-year old heart of St O’Toole, a 12th Century Archbishop and Patron Saint of Dublin. It was stolen in 2012, and found 6 years later, undamaged, in the city’s Phoenix Park by Irish police following “an intelligence-led investigation”. The bizarre theft happened at Christ Church Cathedral and it’s believed the thief hid overnight in the cathedral before carrying out the heart heist. The heart-taker used cutters to prise open the iron bars protecting the wooden box holding the saint’s heart, then weirdly the individual lit two peace candles on the Trinity altar in the cathedral before leaving (they didn’t take anything else, not the gold candlesticks or anything from the altars that could have fetched lots of money.) ❤️ Speaking at the time, the dean of Christ Church, the Very Reverend Dermot Dunne, described the relic as having “no economic value” but that it was a “priceless treasure that links our present foundation with its founding father”. The newly-recovered relic was handed over to the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin Dr Michael Jackson by Assisstant Garda Commissioner Pat Leahy. (For those who don’t know, “Gardai” is the Irish police force.) Apparently the heart was returned by the thieves because they believed it was cursed, and was responsible for the deaths – by heart attack – of some of their family and friends 🤷 #karma ❤️ #humanremains #valentine #anatomicalheart #saintsheart #heartrelic #humanheart #christchurchcathedral #bloodyvalentine #valentinesday #mybloodyvalentine #stolemyheartLikes : 414

410 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : Who’s in the same position? It’s our 1st ever school summer holiday and for today only, after finishing Reception, I brought Caleb into work. He was incredibly keen to learn all about the skeletons while wearing his Bart Simpson “Bad to the Bone” t-shirt (he’s been interested in skeletons and skulls since we went to the ossuary at St Leonard’s Church in Hythe.) Hopefully other kids will be just as keen when we put an object handling event on, which I’m hoping to organise as committee member of @medicalmuseums this October ☠️ If you’re interested in coming to our events over summer and in the autumn, email [email protected] to be placed on the mailing list. For my OG followers, I know! Can you believe how much he’s grown??! #pathology #pathologymuseum #medicalmuseum #medicine #anatomy #anatomymuseum #london #skeletons #wetspecimenconservationLikes : 410

387 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : ☠️ Skeletons are a classic Halloween decoration so why not watch the TV show I filmed a couple of years ago with @toriherridge and @raksha_digs? It’s ‘Bone Detectives: Britain’s Buried Secrets’ which originally aired on Channel 4, but I’ve noticed it’s actually being shown at the moment on 4HD. It was so interesting filming this, although it was *exhausting* too because Caleb was only a few months old at the time. There were some fascinating cases involving unusual diseases, suspicious death circumstances and much, much more…☠️ #carlaweencountdown #carlaween #halloween #halloweencountdown #bonedetectives #archaeology #anthropology #osteology #skeletons #britainsburiedsecretsLikes : 387

385 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : Bound Foot of a Chinese woman (1862). Please tag @baileysarian because it would be AMAZING if she saw this following on from her Dark History video. 🦶 The foot is shortened antero-posteriorly. The natural concavity of the sole is greatly increased. The bones are compressed and much smaller than their normal size. The toes are doubled down and distorted. The practice of binding feet in China began during the Tang dynasty (circa 950 AD) and continued as late as the 1870s. The process of creating these ‘Lotus Feet’ was started usually in the winter months when feet were numb and slightly less likely to feel pain. It began by soaking the feet of a young girl (around 2-5 years old – before the arch of the foot had a chance to develop fully) in warm animal blood in which herbs had been steeped. Toe nails were clipped, as far back as possible to prevent ingrowth and infection, and then a foot massage was given before the next step which involved breaking every toe except for the big toe. The arch of the foot was also forcibly broken. This was all done by pressing toes tightly down and into the sole of the foot and then binding them even tighter with bandages soaked into the blood and herb mixture. The procedure continued with unbinding (every couple of days), re-cutting toenails, soaking the feet to remove necrotic tissue, massaging broken bones then re-binding even tighter. As well as the more obvious problems of pain, the main issue with this techniques was infection due to ingrown toenails: many dropped off and were unable to grow back. Also, with circulation to the feet being compromised complications such as necrotic flesh were rife. However, this could be considered a benefit as it meant that toes would drop off and ‘unwanted’ flesh could be removed. In certain instances, girls with fleshier toes or larger feet risked having shards of glass or rusty nails inserted deliberately to cause infection and ultimately necrosis of tissue which could be sloughed away. Unfortunately this form of infection could lead to septic shock and death. #footbindingLikes : 385

373 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : ❤️ Continuing my ‘Valentine’ theme are these beautiful painted skulls at Hallstatt ossuary (or bone house/”beinhaus”) in Austria. The unadorned skulls are removed from the grave after 15 years, with the owners’ consent, and bleached on a shelf by the sun and the moon, over the course of a few days, in the nearby gravedigger’s cottage. Then they’re beautifully decorated: the choice of decoration is usually an option out of four – Ivy for faithfulness, Laurel for victory, Oak for glory and Rose for LOVE 🌹 #humanremains #anatomy #pathology #specimen #valentinecountdown #valentine #bloodyvalentine #anatomicalheart #valentinesday #bloodyvalentine #biology #physiology #mybloodyvalentine #galentines #heart #anatomicalheart #forensics #forensicscience #bonehouse #ossuary #hallstattLikes : 373

373 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : ❤️ Continuing my ‘Valentine’ theme are these beautiful painted skulls at Hallstatt ossuary (or bone house/”beinhaus”) in Austria. The unadorned skulls are removed from the grave after 15 years, with the owners’ consent, and bleached on a shelf by the sun and the moon, over the course of a few days, in the nearby gravedigger’s cottage. Then they’re beautifully decorated: the choice of decoration is usually an option out of four – Ivy for faithfulness, Laurel for victory, Oak for glory and Rose for LOVE 🌹 #humanremains #anatomy #pathology #specimen #valentinecountdown #valentine #bloodyvalentine #anatomicalheart #valentinesday #bloodyvalentine #biology #physiology #mybloodyvalentine #galentines #heart #anatomicalheart #forensics #forensicscience #bonehouse #ossuary #hallstattLikes : 373

373 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : ❤️ Continuing my ‘Valentine’ theme are these beautiful painted skulls at Hallstatt ossuary (or bone house/”beinhaus”) in Austria. The unadorned skulls are removed from the grave after 15 years, with the owners’ consent, and bleached on a shelf by the sun and the moon, over the course of a few days, in the nearby gravedigger’s cottage. Then they’re beautifully decorated: the choice of decoration is usually an option out of four – Ivy for faithfulness, Laurel for victory, Oak for glory and Rose for LOVE 🌹 #humanremains #anatomy #pathology #specimen #valentinecountdown #valentine #bloodyvalentine #anatomicalheart #valentinesday #bloodyvalentine #biology #physiology #mybloodyvalentine #galentines #heart #anatomicalheart #forensics #forensicscience #bonehouse #ossuary #hallstattLikes : 373

354 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : 🧛 “Vampire” – These first two images (from Reuters & National Geographic) are of the skull of the ‘Venice Vampire’, exhumed on an island near Venice called Lazzaretto Nuovo. I was actually at that dig ON THAT ISLAND several years before the “vampire” was found, and wrote about it in my blog post wp.me/p4e564-eN. I’ve added some pics of me on that dig, but I don’t have many as this was before we all had phones with cameras. This skull is of course not a real vampire (I assume..) but during the Black Death, around the 1500s, there was a genuine fear of the undead rising from their graves to feed from the innocent and spread pestilence. Shoving something inedible in the cadaver’s mouth was an exorcism technique. This is one of the only exhumed examples from there: the “vampire” has had had a brick shoved in it’s mouth (Last week I posted two other examples of “vampire” burials from a Polish dig, so do check that out if you’re interested 🧛💀🧛 #humanremains #carlaween #remains2beseen #remainstobeseen #anatomy #vampire #venice #lazzarettonuovo #plague #blackdeath #halloween #archaeology #excavavation #halloweencountdownLikes : 354

354 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : 🧛 “Vampire” – These first two images (from Reuters & National Geographic) are of the skull of the ‘Venice Vampire’, exhumed on an island near Venice called Lazzaretto Nuovo. I was actually at that dig ON THAT ISLAND several years before the “vampire” was found, and wrote about it in my blog post wp.me/p4e564-eN. I’ve added some pics of me on that dig, but I don’t have many as this was before we all had phones with cameras. This skull is of course not a real vampire (I assume..) but during the Black Death, around the 1500s, there was a genuine fear of the undead rising from their graves to feed from the innocent and spread pestilence. Shoving something inedible in the cadaver’s mouth was an exorcism technique. This is one of the only exhumed examples from there: the “vampire” has had had a brick shoved in it’s mouth (Last week I posted two other examples of “vampire” burials from a Polish dig, so do check that out if you’re interested 🧛💀🧛 #humanremains #carlaween #remains2beseen #remainstobeseen #anatomy #vampire #venice #lazzarettonuovo #plague #blackdeath #halloween #archaeology #excavavation #halloweencountdownLikes : 354

354 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : 🧛 “Vampire” – These first two images (from Reuters & National Geographic) are of the skull of the ‘Venice Vampire’, exhumed on an island near Venice called Lazzaretto Nuovo. I was actually at that dig ON THAT ISLAND several years before the “vampire” was found, and wrote about it in my blog post wp.me/p4e564-eN. I’ve added some pics of me on that dig, but I don’t have many as this was before we all had phones with cameras. This skull is of course not a real vampire (I assume..) but during the Black Death, around the 1500s, there was a genuine fear of the undead rising from their graves to feed from the innocent and spread pestilence. Shoving something inedible in the cadaver’s mouth was an exorcism technique. This is one of the only exhumed examples from there: the “vampire” has had had a brick shoved in it’s mouth (Last week I posted two other examples of “vampire” burials from a Polish dig, so do check that out if you’re interested 🧛💀🧛 #humanremains #carlaween #remains2beseen #remainstobeseen #anatomy #vampire #venice #lazzarettonuovo #plague #blackdeath #halloween #archaeology #excavavation #halloweencountdownLikes : 354

354 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : 🧛 “Vampire” – These first two images (from Reuters & National Geographic) are of the skull of the ‘Venice Vampire’, exhumed on an island near Venice called Lazzaretto Nuovo. I was actually at that dig ON THAT ISLAND several years before the “vampire” was found, and wrote about it in my blog post wp.me/p4e564-eN. I’ve added some pics of me on that dig, but I don’t have many as this was before we all had phones with cameras. This skull is of course not a real vampire (I assume..) but during the Black Death, around the 1500s, there was a genuine fear of the undead rising from their graves to feed from the innocent and spread pestilence. Shoving something inedible in the cadaver’s mouth was an exorcism technique. This is one of the only exhumed examples from there: the “vampire” has had had a brick shoved in it’s mouth (Last week I posted two other examples of “vampire” burials from a Polish dig, so do check that out if you’re interested 🧛💀🧛 #humanremains #carlaween #remains2beseen #remainstobeseen #anatomy #vampire #venice #lazzarettonuovo #plague #blackdeath #halloween #archaeology #excavavation #halloweencountdownLikes : 354

354 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : 🧛 “Vampire” – These first two images (from Reuters & National Geographic) are of the skull of the ‘Venice Vampire’, exhumed on an island near Venice called Lazzaretto Nuovo. I was actually at that dig ON THAT ISLAND several years before the “vampire” was found, and wrote about it in my blog post wp.me/p4e564-eN. I’ve added some pics of me on that dig, but I don’t have many as this was before we all had phones with cameras. This skull is of course not a real vampire (I assume..) but during the Black Death, around the 1500s, there was a genuine fear of the undead rising from their graves to feed from the innocent and spread pestilence. Shoving something inedible in the cadaver’s mouth was an exorcism technique. This is one of the only exhumed examples from there: the “vampire” has had had a brick shoved in it’s mouth (Last week I posted two other examples of “vampire” burials from a Polish dig, so do check that out if you’re interested 🧛💀🧛 #humanremains #carlaween #remains2beseen #remainstobeseen #anatomy #vampire #venice #lazzarettonuovo #plague #blackdeath #halloween #archaeology #excavavation #halloweencountdownLikes : 354

344 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : “Tomb with a view!” One of the most beautiful cemeteries I’ve seen around the world: sea view and all graves facing #stmarys #islesofscillyLikes : 344

336 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : It was so lovely to spend an afternoon with Alan Carr @chattyman recently, filming for a Channel 4 show (I believe it’s on TV in summer). Whenever I film these things it’s really interesting to see how much gets left in the final edit because with the specimens in the museum there’s definitely a tendency to…get distracted, let’s say. For example there’s a whole hour or so of myself and historian @d_a_n_jones discussing bubonic plague in a testicle that never made it into ‘London: 2000 Years of History’ a couple of years ago but is still somewhere in archives giving people a laugh! #agathachristiesforensics #agathachristie #vintage #museum #histmed #historyofcrime #forensichistoryLikes : 336

336 Likes – Carla Valentine Instagram
Caption : It was so lovely to spend an afternoon with Alan Carr @chattyman recently, filming for a Channel 4 show (I believe it’s on TV in summer). Whenever I film these things it’s really interesting to see how much gets left in the final edit because with the specimens in the museum there’s definitely a tendency to…get distracted, let’s say. For example there’s a whole hour or so of myself and historian @d_a_n_jones discussing bubonic plague in a testicle that never made it into ‘London: 2000 Years of History’ a couple of years ago but is still somewhere in archives giving people a laugh! #agathachristiesforensics #agathachristie #vintage #museum #histmed #historyofcrime #forensichistoryLikes : 336