The man in the steel cylinder

April 26, 2016 6:52 PM

Fast forward to July 1945. In the interval the cylinder became a minor part of the neighborhood. It was sometimes used by the locals as an impromptu bench and children climbed over it and rolled it around for a playground amusement. One end of the tube was closed and one had been crimped off by the bulldozer that uncovered it, and that end had re-opened enough for a boy to discover something in it: a skeletal foot.
posted by Chrysostom (22 comments total)

You know it's bedtime where I am, right?
posted by bonobothegreat at 7:12 PM on April 26, 2016 [9 favorites]

I posit that TC Williams was despondent over losing his business and was huffing paint fumes to forget about it when he over indulged, passed out and died.
posted by AugustWest at 7:17 PM on April 26, 2016

RIP

Wait long enough, and most of us might not be identifiable. Things change. Memory fades, paper records disintegrate, stone crumbles. Wait even longer, and we'll have crumbled.
posted by BlueHorse at 7:34 PM on April 26, 2016

For the curious:

Adipocere, also known as corpse, grave or mortuary wax, is a wax-like organic substance formed by the anaerobic bacterial hydrolysis of fat in tissue, such as body fat in corpses. In its formation, putrefaction is replaced by a permanent firm cast of fatty tissues, internal organs, and the face.
posted by leotrotsky at 7:57 PM on April 26, 2016 [6 favorites]

Clearly an ambassador from Mars, allergic to tiny organisms in our atmosphere.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 8:26 PM on April 26, 2016 [2 favorites]

Very curious. The amount of personal effects seems to rule out foul play, though the brick "pillow" could just as easily be a murder weapon. I wonder what modern forensics could have revealed. I doubt any kind of DNA test would be feasible even if they had every modern technique available to them in 1945. I bet a CAT scan would have been more able to rule out or confirm foul play, though.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 8:35 PM on April 26, 2016 [1 favorite]

Ha, leotrosky, I had another tab open reading that definition as I read the article, too.

Upon learning the definition, I was immediately reminded of a family vacation to Washington, D.C. as a kid. Dad (a history teacher) loved the Smithsonian and talked up various exhibits he couldn't wait to share with the family. I remember him selling the trip to me with "you want to see the man made out of soap??" Of course to me (~7 yrs old) this seemed outlandish and impossible, must-see vacation museum viewing.

Once at the museum, we got to see soapman (note: mummie-ish decomposed pic's, complete with breeches) and I, expecting 'soap' along the lines of Irish Spring or Coast - the eye Opener! (7yrs old, remember) left feeling a bit nonplussed.

In that moment, would I have had access to a smartphone and the breadth of knowledge of the internet, I could only imagine myself rolling my eyes: "sure Dad, that's just adipocere". Remarkable how the existence of one word can reduce a seemingly singular and far-fetched artifact into another, more common realm.
posted by Theophrastus Johnson at 9:46 PM on April 26, 2016 [7 favorites]

Will the obituary threads never cease?
posted by Joseph Gurl at 10:09 PM on April 26, 2016 [14 favorites]

Nice job on the post title... very Bones
posted by Hairy Lobster at 12:25 AM on April 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

Adipocere, also known as corpse, grave or mortuary wax...


Well I hoped that Adipocere would be along shortly to take umbrage at that, but you might have gotten away with it this time.
posted by quinndexter at 1:52 AM on April 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

For the curious:

Adipocere, also known as corpse, grave or mortuary wax,

One of my earliest AskMe questions. (with pics!)

Is there such a thing as "swamp wax," and could this be it?
posted by bricksNmortar at 4:51 AM on April 27, 2016 [3 favorites]

Is England just full of old bodies everywhere? I mean, parking lots, stuffed in odd corners of the Tower of London, and now this...
posted by TedW at 5:46 AM on April 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

Is England just full of old bodies everywhere?

It's a small island. They have to stow them somewhere.

Now, if someone could just turn up the Burns and Oates publishing house archives, in addition to random bodies, that would be great.
posted by thomas j wise at 5:56 AM on April 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

who sleeps on a brick in a burlap sack?
posted by ennui.bz at 6:19 AM on April 27, 2016

who sleeps on a brick in a burlap sack?

Spongebob Squarepants!

sorry, reflex.
posted by pattern juggler at 6:28 AM on April 27, 2016 [18 favorites]

Is England just full of old bodies everywhere?

Have you ever watched those British TV shows they air on PBS? As far as I can tell, literally everyone in England has murdered someone, or else has a really good motive to murder someone and will get around to it sooner or later if someone else doesn't murder them first. Often times they end up murdering several additional people to cover their tracks, for some other, unrelated reason, or possibly just because it's what is done.
posted by Naberius at 6:47 AM on April 27, 2016 [7 favorites]

Pulowski preservation shelter
posted by exogenous at 7:17 AM on April 27, 2016 [2 favorites]

ennui.bz: "who sleeps on a brick in a burlap sack?"

Luxury!
posted by Chrysostom at 7:40 AM on April 27, 2016 [4 favorites]

If the remains are still available DNA might be able to determine the individuals familial connections. Also if the diary were still available mordern tools might be able to get something out of it.
posted by humanfont at 9:13 AM on April 27, 2016

Aren't ventilation shafts generally vertical? The description implies that the body was horizontal while decomposing, so... ?
posted by TigerB at 9:49 AM on April 27, 2016

Ah, they found the Schwarzgerät. I assume there was also imipolex-G in there?

. Gottfried.
posted by jetsetsc at 10:27 AM on April 27, 2016

So 9MOTHER9HORSE9EYES9 has already started leaking into reality?
posted by mubba at 1:53 PM on April 27, 2016