# Human Skin Lampshade **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 12, 2012, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732 "2012-05-12T23:00:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/1 "2012-05-12T23:00:04Z")
So I came across this old Cracked article called ''The 6 Creepiest Gifts Ever Given." That led to [this](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/the-lampshade-that-drives-its-owners-mad-strange-truth-behind-20th-centurys-most-disturbing-object-2117357.html) article, which sounds like something out of a Stephen King novel. A lampshade of human skin that haunts anyone who takes possession of it. People who feel dread at the feel of its texture, before they know what it’s made of. A guy who names his human skin lampshade and starts anthropomorphizing it, before giving it away in desperation. Is this a real thing? Did it really come out of the Holocaust, as the author of the article seems to believe? How much liberty are the authors taking here? Might there be others out there like it? Could the DNA tests have been mistaken? Also, how freakin’ creepy is that, right? ETA: The reason I’m posting about this is because my husband refuses to discuss it. He thinks I’m insane for being fascinated by something so macabre. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/2 "2012-05-12T23:09:30Z")
[You should be ashamed of yourself.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2511/did-the-nazis-make-lampshades-out-of-human-skin) ---
**Author:** ![Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Attack_from_the_3rd_dimension)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/3 "2012-05-13T01:07:25Z")
I own the book _The Lampshade_. It’s not a bad read. It’s not definitive that it came from the Holocaust, but very suggestive. And, really, where else is such a thing going to come from? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/4 "2012-05-13T01:16:44Z")
There are many threads on this site which go into this. We’ll never likely prove that a lampshade made out of human skin by the Nazis exists. It well could, it might not. There might even be two. But… It’s an isolated incident in WWII. It wasn’t a thng that was mainstream. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/5 "2012-05-13T03:11:05Z")
There should be an umlaut over the u. But, I don’t know how to do that. Among its many medical specimens, the Mutter has several medical books bound in human skin. IIRC The doctor learned on a cadaver in medical school. When the cadaver was all used up, he would write out what he had learned and bind the book in the cadaver’s skin. The big surprise to me was that unless great care was taken to preserve the appearance, you end up with leather that looks pretty ordinary. DNA testing, or some kind of expert would reveal that it’s human skin. But, the average person would have no clue. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/6 "2012-05-13T04:26:43Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > Also, how freakin’ creepy is that, right? > > ETA: The reason I’m posting about this is because my husband refuses to discuss it. He thinks I’m insane for being fascinated by something so macabre. What the hell is wrong with him? ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/7 "2012-05-13T13:31:07Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > What the hell is wrong with him? I know, right? The weird thing is, I’m usually really freaked out by this kind of thing. I think what interests me is the mystery angle… how did a European lamp made of human skin end up in an abandoned house in New Orleans? Wasn’t there some serial killer that made lamps out of human skin? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/8 "2012-05-13T13:38:38Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > Wasn’t there some serial killer that made lamps out of human skin? Wasn’t that in Silence of the Lambs? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/9 "2012-05-13T13:40:02Z")
[Ed Gein](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Gein) made a variety of things from body parts, including a lampshade made from a face. He may have been attempting to make a female body suit a la Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs. He was the inspiration for Norman Bates in Psycho, and Leatherface in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/10 "2012-05-13T13:48:12Z")
Back in the not so distant past human skin was used for keepsakes. Several items were made from an executed criminal in NJ. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Iqg39N7WoWs/hqdefault.jpg "Weird NJ - Human Skin Wallets") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iqg39N7WoWs) ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/11 "2012-05-13T16:11:31Z")
> [@Covered\_In\_Bees](#): > > [You should be ashamed of yourself.](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2511/did-the-nazis-make-lampshades-out-of-human-skin) So the crux of the matter is: Did the author actually get the lampshade DNA checked at a reputable institution, and did it actually confirm human DNA. Look, there was a lot of crap going on in the death camps, and it has been confirmed that at least one person was collecting skin with tattoos, and at least one person was preserving organ/body part samples. [I understand that there was a hell of a skull collection at one point.] I can honestly see someone making a lampshade. It really is not a big stretch from a tattoo collection or body parts to a lamp shade. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/12 "2012-05-13T16:22:09Z")
> [@Attack\_from\_the\_3rd\_dimension](#): > > I own the book _The Lampshade_. It’s not a bad read. I listen to a lot of audio books on my commute, and unexpectedly, I got my biggest laugh from this one from the part where the author is describing the neighborhood he grew up in, and the tension between the Jews and Italians. When the Jewish kids would walk by group of Italian kids, the Italians would fake a sneeze - “Ah–ah–A JEW!”. Then a Jewish kid would respond with “Guinea-sundheit!” ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/13 "2012-05-13T16:23:30Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > So the crux of the matter is: Did the author actually get the lampshade DNA checked at a reputable institution, and did it actually confirm human DNA. IIRC, yes, it was confirmed to be human by a reputable lab. I do not recall with what certainty, however. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/14 "2012-05-13T17:08:07Z")
A lamp? That’s nothing. I once had a boyfriend who was \*completely covered with human skin. \* ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/15 "2012-05-13T17:41:02Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > A lamp? That’s nothing. I once had a boyfriend who was \*completely covered with human skin. \* I’ll be impressed if it wasn’t his own. ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/16 "2012-05-14T06:16:02Z")
I recently learned that human leather was not terribly uncommon, or frowned upon, in the past; and fresh stuff is even [available](http://www.humanleather.co.uk/) (though pricey). [This is good info](http://www.devilspenny.com/2010/07/a-brief-history-of-the-human-leather-trade-1903/) (from 1903 no less). ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/17 "2012-05-14T06:31:44Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > [Ed Gein](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Gein) made a variety of things from body parts, including a lampshade made from a face. He may have been attempting to make a female body suit a la Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs. He was the inspiration for Norman Bates in Psycho, and Leatherface in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Not exactly “a female body suit a la B.B.”- first, he has a few face-masks, breast-vests, vulvas, & leggins, which he did claim to occasionally wear & dance out in the moonlight, but it wasn’t a big- BB-style project, especially not one which required killing people, mostly grave-robbing. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/18 "2012-05-14T06:53:16Z")
> [@rhubarbarin](#): > > I recently learned that human leather was not terribly uncommon, or frowned upon, in the past; and fresh stuff is even [available](http://www.humanleather.co.uk/) (though pricey). What an unsettling link. I feel queasy. That’s saying a LOT. Joe ---
**Author:** ![Beastly\_Rotter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@Beastly\_Rotter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beastly_Rotter)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/19 "2012-05-14T10:01:22Z")
> [@wheresgeorge04](#): > > What an unsettling link. I feel queasy. That’s saying a LOT. > > Joe I strongly suspect it’s a windup. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732/20 "2012-05-14T10:07:17Z")
That thread title is even a trigger for me. As a child of survivors, it’s awfully unsettling. I’m with the boyfriend. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-skin-lampshade/621732.md?page=2)