What’s The Reason Why 1,200 Bones Were Buried In Benjamin Franklin’s House?

Benjamin Franklin was a prolific inventor and businessman known for his eccentric nature and behaviors. Tales of him flying kites during storms are just the tip of the iceberg.

Benjamin Franklin owned an incredible piece of property in London and for almost two centuries and what resided in this magnificent home was very dark. Among his numerous inventions and trinkets were human bones.

The bones did have something to do with Benjamin, but he was not a serial killer, as most people might have concluded. That would have been an interesting tale, but alas, the truth is far less grim than that (thankfully).

The bones were part of an interesting Biology lesson on anatomy courtesy of the son-in-law of Franklin’s landlady. This activity happened inside the home instead of a lab because the practice was relatively new in England.

The fact that these guys were dissecting bodies in their homes should be a red flag indicating the legalities of this practice. The law wasn’t happy with the practice, but it hadn’t outlawed it either.

These bones would have remained relatively hidden if not for the fact that the house needed some repairs in the 90s. When museum staff were going about trying to restore the house to ensure it maintained its charm, they stumbled upon the bones and quickly called the coroner.

You’d expect such a find to cause a stir, but that wasn’t the case. You see, London has been built atop a lot of history so digging through the city you will find a lot of interesting things from Viking mounds to templar ornaments.

The area was such a small portion of the home and to find so many bones means many remain undiscovered. Maybe in the future, another team might find a bigger mound or something similar.

Before we debunk the serial killer business let’s look at how this man got a house in London. Benjamin first landed in the city to learn to print, but he’d retire before returning in 1757 as the agent of William Penn’s family.

Eventually, Polly would marry William Hewson, a famous anatomist revered for his work regarding blood coagulation. Franklin helped the anatomist secure a position in the Royal Society as he saw potential in William.

Now, it was during this time that Franklin started taking dissection classes from William Hewson but the practice was technically still illegal as it wasn’t as widespread. It wasn’t until the 19th century that it was considered a major branch of medicine.

Looking at the cuts and incisions on the bones, it’s clear to see they were purely used for educational purposes. The femurs were cut to mimic amputation and the skulls had marks from a trepanning device.

Looking at the marks on the bones, it’s clear to see they came from cadavers mostly used in anatomy school. Unfortunately, the legalities of such practices were still murky meaning there was a high chance, Franklin and co. used dubious methods to acquire these corpses.

Back then, there was a cheeky term used to refer to grave diggers who mostly retrieved bodies from grave sites. These daredevils were known as resurrectionists, and they had a steady flow of work from Benjamin and his team.

Nonetheless, despite all these weird adventures, our man Benjamin was probably happy with the way things were. He was a scientist through and through and nothing could stop him from gaining knowledge.