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Stories
No. 020
The Death's-Head Hawkmoth
The death's-head hawkmoth is three Acherontia moths with a skull on the thorax. Why it squeaks, how it steals honey, whether it is rare or poisonous, and its Silence of the Lambs role.
No. 019
The Jewett City Vampires
In 1854 the Ray family of Jewett City burned two dead sons, and in Griswold a skeleton was laid out as a skull and crossbones. The real story, J.B. 55 and tuberculosis.
No. 018
The Skeleton in the Tree on the New Haven Green
In 2012 Hurricane Sandy toppled the Lincoln Oak on the New Haven Green and exposed colonial burials. Who they were, what researchers learned and who lies beneath.
No. 017
Grove Street Cemetery in New Haven
Grove Street Cemetery, chartered in 1797, holds Eli Whitney, Noah Webster and 14 Yale presidents. Its 1845 Egyptian gate reads The Dead Shall Be Raised. Hours too.
No. 016
Damien Hirst's Diamond Skull
For the Love of God (2007) is Damien Hirst's platinum skull with 8,601 diamonds and real teeth. What it cost, the disputed £50 million sale, who owns it and what it means.
No. 015
Phineas Gage's Skull
In 1848 an iron rod passed through Phineas Gage's head and he lived. What happened, how his personality changed, what his skull shows and where it is today.
No. 014
Trepanation
Trepanation is the ancient practice of opening the skull. Why people did it, how it was done, the oldest examples and the survival rates from healed bone.
No. 013
Phrenology Heads and Skulls
A phrenology head is a numbered teaching bust from a nineteenth-century theory of reading character from the skull. What the numbers mean, who made them and why it faded.
No. 012
What Happened to Oliver Cromwell's Head? From a Spike to a Secret Grave
Cromwell's body was exhumed in 1661 and his head set above Westminster Hall. How it passed from owner to owner, the 1934 study and its 1960 burial at Sidney Sussex College.