Woman Checked Human Skull in Airplane Luggage: "It's For Halloween!"

Now here's a brilliant idea: a woman decided that she wanted to bring something special for halloween, so she packed a human skull in her checked luggage! Guess what happened next:

Tucson International Airport security were greeted with quite the surprise Wednesday morning when they discovered a human skull in a piece of checked luggage. [...]

The female passenger who owned the luggage had already boarded her flight, but was pulled off by security personnel for questioning.

According to TSA, the woman says the skull was brought back by her boyfriend after his military deployment in Okinawa, Japan. The woman says she was taking the skull to Philadelphia for halloween.

http://www.kvoa.com/global/story.asp?s=9147311


I know a guy who collects human skulls. They're not hard to legally obtain. I don't know why the fact that she was carrying it was a big deal. I mean, the skull could be the remnants of a crime, but so could a hundred things in anyone's luggage. A skull is just a curiosity for people who don't get out. You can buy skulls on ebay, folks.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
I've flown with a human skull in my carry on. They're 100% legal as long as there isn't any tissue remaining. I didn't have time to get to a post office to ship it home, so traveling with it was the only option.

Strange thing though was that I wasn't pulled aside and searched, but my ex-husband ahead of me in line was for his camera bag. Strange system.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
@fractal

1: where did you legally obtain a human skull?

2: what will you do with it?

I saw an article on a bloke who acquired a human skull and turned it into a bong. Sorry, maybe I am a sook, but I think that that is just wrong.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
Physiotherapists use parts of the human skeleton for studying. As far as i know you can buy replicas, but i think there is also a possibility to get bones from people who donated (or even sold?) their bones. So there probably is a legal market.

When i studied 10 years ago, there was a girl living across the hallway who studyed to become a physiotherapist. She had a human hand/ underarm lying on her desk. ;-)
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
After creamtion, the "ashes" are mostly ground-up bone fragments. People lug "cremains" around all the time for dispersal. Can't see much difference between that and a skull. And why would security care? It's neither illegal, nor threatening.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
You can buy human skulls. Heck you can buy full skeletons if you have the $. Neither one is cheap. I collect all kinds of skulls. I haven't bought a human one yet because they are so expensive. I don't like the fact that this guy just took a skull from someplace. But I have no problem with people buying them from a legitimate dealer.
As far as TSA doing their jobs I'm surprised they even checked out the thing. Most would have figured it was a Halloween prop and ignored it.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
exhtmn, have you ever seen a chimp skull before?
http://staffwww.fullcoll.edu/jmcdermott/Chimp%20skull.jpg
I'm pretty sure humans don't have sagittal crest or a face that sticks out.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
I think the reason she got stopped was mainly because in the past murderers did some really stupid things like carry around body parts and bones in their luggage. Maybe they thought this was one of them?
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
@Larfin Jackarse - I forget the name of the shop, but it was in NYC. There are plenty of suppliers out there though. Some suppliers off the top of my head are The Bone Room in Berkley, SkullsUnlimited.com, Necromance in Los Angeles, Evolution in NYC (although that was not where I purchased mine). They can be a bit pricey, I believe mine was around $400, and that was a fairly good deal.

I collect anthropological specimens, and also use them as props for photography.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
Could this be an artifact from WWII? Estimated Japanese military and civilian deaths exceeded 270,000. There are caves all over the island with human remains. The caves are supposed to off-limits but people still explore them at their own peril. You might compare the picture with the skulls at my site. We have human and primate skull replicas at http://www.skullarama.com. These are affordable museum-quality products for display or educational purposes.
Abusive comment hidden. (Show it anyway.)
Login to comment.
Click here to access all of this post's 18 comments
Email This Post to a Friend
"Woman Checked Human Skull in Airplane Luggage: "It's For Halloween!""

Separate multiple emails with a comma. Limit 5.

 

Success! Your email has been sent!

close window
X

This website uses cookies.

This website uses cookies to improve user experience. By using this website you consent to all cookies in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

I agree
 
Learn More