Mystery Solved Over 18 Human Heads at O'Hare

They were shipped here from Rome for cremation
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Suggested by jgmann
Posted Jan 15, 2013 3:31 PM CST
Mystery Solved Over 18 Human Heads at O'Hare
Travelers line up for ticketing at O'Hare airport in Chicago in December.   (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Officials have the solved the mystery of how 18 human heads got stuck in limbo at Chicago's O'Hare airport, reports the Chicago Tribune. All things considered, it's surprisingly uncreepy. It seems the heads were shipped from the US to Rome a while back to be used as medical specimens in research. When the research ended, they were shipped back to the US for cremation—but the accompanying paperwork didn't make it clear where the heads were supposed to go, explains the Chicago Sun-Times.

They sat at the airport (well preserved) from around Christmastime until the Cook County medical examiner's office took custody this week. After the story went public, a local crematory came forward with the proper paperwork, and the heads will soon be on their way. “Everybody here is, ‘Oh my gosh, you got a box of heads’ and everybody thinks that it’s unheard of,” says a Homeland Security official. “We’ve seen it at various ports in the nation.” (More O'Hare International Airport stories.)

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