PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philly’s Mütter Museum, known for its vast collection dedicated to medical history and human anatomical specimen displays, received an odd delivery on Tuesday that triggered a police investigation.
“I have been here almost 20 years, and I have never received human remains anonymously in the mail,” said Anna Dhody, the museum’s curator.
When Dhody arrived at work Tuesday morning, she said, she saw a package had arrived, addressed to her.
“There was no return address. I opened it up,” she said.
“There were two bottles with fluid and inside that it appeared to be two very small fetal remains.”
The package also contained a letter.
“It was a short letter, and it was from this retired physician who indicated that they wanted to make this donation. But unfortunately there was no provenance — there's no information really about the specimens … proper paperwork, provenance information about it — that would enable us to accept that.”
With the letter were plastic bags that contained two bottles of fluid, holding what she said appeared to be very small preserved fetuses.
Since there was no information or proper paperwork, the museum contacted police. In the meantime, the remains were turned over to the Medical Examiner’s Office.
“It's nothing that I haven't seen before,” Dhody said. The museum has cataloged similar specimens.
Dhody says they occasionally get letters or packages, but not like this one.
“The context of course was uncomfortable. The first thing I did was call my supervisor.”
Dhody says that anyone interested in making a donation should start at the “Collections” page on their website. And they ask that prospective donors reach out to the museum before sending anything.