A 22-year-old Serbian man’s head has been preserved in a jar at the University of Belgrade since his death in 1931. It is part of a small collection in a museum at the Institute of Forensic Medicine.
When authorities initially discovered the Serbian man on January 30, 1931, his body was found decapitated by a train near the Belgrade railway station. Authorities were not able to identify him at the time. As a result, his decapitated head was preserved by a professor at the university as part of the identification process.
The victim’s brother was ultimately able to identify him and his head has since been kept in a jar as a specimen at the university for over 80 years.
From an article:
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When authorities initially discovered the Serbian man on January 30, 1931, his body was found decapitated by a train near the Belgrade railway station. Authorities were not able to identify him at the time. As a result, his decapitated head was preserved by a professor at the university as part of the identification process.
The victim’s brother was ultimately able to identify him and his head has since been kept in a jar as a specimen at the university for over 80 years.
From an article:
Quote:
| The autopsy record contains lines hand-written in ink by Professor Milovanović as he would commonly collect data from the police and family. For this case he noted: ‘‘The corpse was found by linemen about 6 km from the Belgrade railway station at night. The head, completely separated from the body, was found away from the track, while the body was lying between the tracks in a diagonal position. The deceased was photographed at the time of autopsy and the photograph was published in a daily newspaper.’’ A day after the autopsy was performed, ‘‘Politika,’’ the most popular daily newspaper in Serbia at the time, published an article with a photograph of the deceased and some intriguing text about the beheaded man found on the rail-way tracks: ‘‘Did he jump onto the railway or was he thrown to the tracks by someone else?’’ The article reported that the young man was dressed nicely, and had no identity card on his person. That night, witnesses saw a mysterious, luxurious car, driving very slowly near the accident site. Was it a homicide? Professor Milovanović performed the autopsy after which the report was typed. The body was found on the 30th of January 1931 and the autopsy was performed the following day. The identity of the deceased was unknown. External Findings: ‘‘The hair is dark-brown, 9 cm long... The eye- brows are dark-brown... The head is completely separated from the trunk... The third and fourth cervical vertebrae are detached... The arms are amputated at the shoulder level... At the area of amputation, the skin has been partially peeled away from the muscles and bone. The skin and shirt are covered in dirt and grease...’’ Internal Findings: ‘‘The lungs are lacerated... Around the small bronchi, the lung tissue is consolidated and contains reddish areas of aspirated blood... A few pinpointed hemorrhagic areas are noted on the endocardium... There is an aortic rupture 5 cm above the valve... The stomach is filled with food and contains multiple perforations... The upper thoracic spine, as well as the ribs and sternum, are all fractured.’’ All internal organs were anemic due to exsanguination. It was concluded that cause of death was decapitation, and the ‘‘existing bruising, blood aspiration, and lung fat emboli’’ were consistent with antemortem decapitation. It was also concluded that ‘‘the death was suicidal in manner’’ and that ‘‘at the moment of death, the deceased was mildly intoxicated.’’ The deceased remained unidentified for days following the publication of the picture in the newspaper. Ultimately, victim’s brother identified him and gave his age as 22. After carrying out his military service, he had moved to Belgrade and become a tailor’s apprentice. Apparently, however, he was not skilled at his work and was often drunk. Two days prior to the day his decapitated body was found, he had a quarreled with his employer and landlord, and abandoned his job and apartment. Hidden among the autopsy record and diagrams, attached to them by a rusty metal paper clip, there was a small black-and-white photograph of the deceased in a royal military uniform, taken a few years prior to his death. This picture provides a rare opportunity to compare this photograph and the police photograph of the deceased from the early 1930s with the present-day images of the embalmed head; if viewed and compared carefully, it can be seen that this is the same person. In order to make the identification more reliable, Professor Milovanovic ́ embalmed the head of the deceased using the Pietri method. Following identification, the embalmed head was kept as a museum specimen. The head is still in good condition, having been preserved for more than 80 years. |