Stolen Human Skin From Harvard Morgue Was Used to Make Leather: Indictment

Human skin stolen from Harvard University's morgue was allegedly used to make leather in exchange for more human skin, according to a federal indictment.

Cedric Lodge, the morgue manager at Harvard Medical School, is accused of stealing dissected body parts from human cadavers in the morgue and allegedly shipping the parts through the mail to various recipients.

The parts included heads, brains, skin and bones. The skin was allegedly used for a ghastly project: making human leather.

Lodge was expected to appear in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on Wednesday. Newsweek reached out to the court by phone for comment.

The cadavers were donated to Harvard for educational purposes, according to a report from Boston TV station WCVB. Lodge allegedly brought the remains to his home in New Hampshire to sell. He also allegedly brought prospective buyers to the morgue to choose which remains they wanted to purchase.

Others named in the indictment are Lodge's wife, Denise Lodge, and accused buyers Katrina MacLean, Jeremy Pauley, Joshua Taylor and Mathew Lampi.

Among the grisly actions, MacLean sold two dissected faces costing $600, according to the indictment. She also shipped human skin to Pauley, who was hired to tan the skin into leather, which he then exchanged for more human skin.

The tanned skin was returned to MacLean, who lives in Salem, Massachusetts, according to WCVB.

The indictment listed charges against the Lodges, MacLean, Taylor and Lampi as conspiracy and interstate transport of stolen goods. Pauley had previously been arrested and charged with abuse of a corpse, among other charges.

The grisly topic of using human skin for various purposes is rare but not unheard-of in the news.

In October 2022, a non-skin replica of "necropants," or pants made of human leg skin, was on display in an Iceland museum. In the 17th century, users would wear the pants because it was thought that they would bring the wearer good luck.

In 2014, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals President and co-founder Ingrid Newkirk published a will requesting that her body be used to alleviate animal suffering. Newkirk asked that the "meat" of her body be used for a "human barbecue" and for her skin "to be removed and made into leather products, such as purses."

In 2010, a report on another macabre use for human skin detailed how journalist Mark Jacobson unexpectedly received a lampshade made from skin in the mail.