Monday, August 20, 2018

Was Benjamin Franklin a Serial Killer?

Benjamin Franklin was a one of the founding fathers of America as well as a great American inventor, diplomat and he also signed the Declaration of Independence.
He lived in a four story Georgian house, on 35 Craven Street in London, between 1757 and 1775.
He was an ambassador for the colonies.
Around 225 years later, the house was pretty run down, when a group called "The Friend's of Benjamin Franklin House," decided to restore it to it's former glory.
They wanted to turn it into a museum honoring Benjamin Franklin.
A month into the renovation, one of the workers made a not so pleasant discovery in the windowless basement.
A human thigh bone was sticking out of a dirt filled pit.
With the help of London police, more than 1200 more bones, all dating back 200 years or so, were discovered in the pit.
After the discovery, Dr. Simon Hillson, from the Institute of Archaeology at University College in London, was called in.
Soon he came to the conclusion that the bones belonged to William Hewson, an anatomist pioneer and the "father of hematology."
He studied blood and blood diseases.
While studying at the University of Edinburgh in 1761 to 1762, Hewson caught the attention of the Hunter brothers, Scottish scientists and surgeons.
The Hunter brothers named Hewston as their assistant in their anatomy school.
Benjamin Franklin admired Hewson's work and became his friend.
Later on, Hewson and the Hunter brother's broke up their partnership and Benjamin Franklin offered for Hewson to come live at Craven Street and open his own anatomy school there.
He opened his school in 1772.
There were remains of 15 different people found.
There were also animals remains found.
How Hewson acquired all the bodies, well some of them had to be from grave robbers.
Benjamin Franklin was far from a serial killer, but did he know about the illegal way that Hewson got some of the bodies?
We probably will never know.

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