TDC's "Would You Believe It?" Nope!

Cafe Society
1

I wasn’t sure if this should go here or in GQ, or the Pit, but here goes . . . I was flipping through the channels this weekend and happened on The Discovery Channel’s Would You Believe It?, a show about odd historical happenstances. Well, I know flat-out two of them were lies, and I suspect a third one is, too.

• Jeremy Bentham, a scholar and writer who “had his body stuffed and preserved” 100-some years ago, and it is still on display. Ba-nanner oil! I have both read and seen on more reliable shows that the “body” is just a wax dummy in his clothes, with his actual mummy rattling about inside.

• Thomas Parr, who died at the age of 152 and is buried in Westminster Abbey. Balderdash! When I was in Westminster Abbey about ten years ago, I noticed his grave marker and asked a guard about it. He directed me up this ancient, dusty staircase to an ancient, dusty library atop the Abbey, where I was met by an ancient, dusty librarian. I asked her about Thomas Parr, and she said, “Bollocks! He was probably in his eighties; they really didn’t keep accurate records back then.”

• St. Bernadette of Lourdes. This show claimed her “miraculously preserved body” was displayed under glass. Well, what they showed appeared to be a highly unconvincing wax dummy that wouldn’t pass muster at Lord & Taylor’s, let alone Madame Tussaud’s. Anyone have the Straight Dope on Bernie?

2

Well, I can tell you that Jeremy Benthem’s body is actually stuffed and is there, but that his head is wax. They said this in the program.

3

Sorry, Eve, but I can’t answer your question on St. Bernadette of Lourdes. However, I will contribute to this thread by mentioning that the bodily preservation of saints was the inspiration of the song “The Infant of Prague Customized My Van” by The Dead Milkmen.

By the way, are you aware there’s a magazine called “Eve”?

4

Nope, Eraser, in the program I saw, they most certainly did not say “wax head.” By that time, I was so suspicious that I was listening closely. You may be thinking of that other, more reliable, show I’d seen sometime earlier.

Nemo—Yeah, yeah, I’ve got a magazine, a cigarette and a douche named after me . . .

5

I’d read about Jeremy Bentham when I was a kid, and read the details about the preservation…Either it was a mummy/skeleton inside the suit, with a wax head. They hadn’t gotten rid of his original head, though…It was on a platter at the body’s feet. A little barbequed looking, but in pretty good shape. And very nice eyes.

BTW, had anyone seen the Would you beleive it? episode that featured the evil doll that would rattle around the attic of some old mansion? I think it was named “Johnathan,” or something un-doll like. VERY creepy.

Ranchoth