Do human skeletons freak you out?

[bibiche]

A skeleton is, well, a skeleton.  But you said "human remains" so does that mean there is still flesh on the bones? Even clothing and other aspects of the person?  That might be different for some people and not that surprising to me even though it doesn't bug me that much.  (Unless it was a child, honestly.)  But if they are desiccated and very old, I'd say that most people could probably handle it.  There is no should in this scenario, though.

Human remains refers to the body of a deceased person in any state of decomposition. In this case I am referring to ancient burials, so mostly skeletal remains.

 

This has presented an interesting conundrum for DS, however, as teeth are considered human remains and he has kept every tooth he has lost (cos strontium isotopes, ya know!).  He naturally concluded that this means he is one of the living dead and has been walking around the house like a zombie for the past half hour. Weirdo. 

Edited March 4, 2017 by bibiche

[bibiche]

Now I feel stupid for admitting this, what are most skeletons on display made of? The ones in classrooms. I remember drawing those in art. They are probably some sort of cast?

 

Many if not most are actual human skeletons, but as they are very expensive, less expensive plastic skeletons exist as well. 

[kewb]

Skeletons, no.  Surgery photos, crime scene photos, any photo of a cut open body, yes.

[bibiche]

Skeletons, no.  Surgery photos, crime scene photos, any photo of a cut open body, yes.

I'm with you there!

[shawthorne44]

Ahem. I took my little kids (including girl in baby carrier) through the catacombs of Paris for a leisurely couple of hours, so I'd say, no. All the stacked human skulls. We look the same when reduced to minerals :)

 

In an Orson Scott Card book, one of the characters made a similar observation but related to prejudice.  They said imagine God lined up skinned bodies and God challenged people to pick out the (insert ugly racist name here).   The person would say that they couldn't.   Then God would say, "And why should I?"   That was a long time ago that I read that, but that was the gist of the story.  The thought of skinned people made it very vivid.