Monday, April 5, 2010

John Dillinger's old fellow

When I was on a Fairfax Public Schools field trip to Washington DC in the late 1960's, THE place to visit (for the boys at least) was the Army Pathological Museum which was on or near the National Mall. My personal recollections are of the giant elephantiasis leg in a jar of formaldehyde, deformed skeletons, and a half-cast (maybe plaster), of a penis with a syphilitic canker on it--which was the purpose of that display.
For whatever reason, I thought this penis belonged to John Dillinger, but my memory may have been shaped by other people saying that it was his. Whether this was actually the case, after more than 40 years, the issue will be hard to lay to rest, but it is certainly peculiar that so many people have a recollection of some version of the Dillinger display.

No comments:

Post a Comment