Fossilization Machine Accelerates the Petrification Process

Austin Houldsworth is an "interactive artist". He wanted to see if it was possible to speed up the fossilization process from a few million years to a few months, and built a machine that he thought might do the job. Pictured above is Houldsworth with the body of a partridge that he subjected to four months of petrification. His ultimate goal is to try it on a person:

Yes, fossilising a human being is still the ultimate aim. Regarding this experiment, the results are promising enough to continue perfecting the machine... but I never saw the machine as the final result - it has helped me to understand the many different aspects which are required for the process to occur. And subsequently I've designed a number of improvements for the machine. I believe I'll be working on this particular project for a very long time.

Link via Gizmodo | Artist's Website | Photo: We Make Money Not Art

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Once it is perfected, it sounds like it could be a neat tool for serial killers. You put your victims in here until they look like they've been dead for many years before you were even born. Then laugh at police who are trying to figure out the time of death. "I wasn't born when it happened" is a pretty good alibi. Even better, hide many 100+ years dead corpses in a big city, at places where it's impossible that nobody would not have discovered for so long, then watch the news for a couple weeks as the media goes crazy.

I should be a writer for that "Dexter" show.

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