I'd love to hear everyone's opinion on owning human bones. Personally it's something I don't think I can get behind due to not knowing if the bones were ethically sourced but it seems to be the holy grail in vulture culture for a lot of people. What do you guys think? Would you be ok with donating your bones to someone's personal collection?
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Arcanist
- Sep 17, 2025
- 404
no, id have to know the person
and honestly if i cared about someone enough to let them have my bones, id get bitter and jealous of anyone else's bones they'd have too
dhk96
Student
- May 8, 2018
- 134
I wouldn't voluntarily donate them for someone's personal collection (not exactly to my taste) but if I'm gone and you find my bones somehow...
Fair game?
I feel this. I'd be mad as hell if my partner had someone else's bones
this was prompted by someone with a human skull collection popping up on my TikTok and it really made me think of how those people would feel knowing they're being used as a shock value show piece on the internet
Honestly I just want my bones to stay in the ground I like to think I'd haunt someone that dug me up lolI wouldn't voluntarily donate them for someone's personal collection (not exactly to my taste) but if I'm gone and you find my bones somehow... Fair game?
Heraskov
Member
- Dec 25, 2025
- 14
Would the purpose of collecting these bones be in the same context as having something like a stamp or coin collection? If so, I personally feel like it's a little peculiar to treat parts of people in that manner. I don't have much immediate, explainable reasoning for why I feel that way beyond the simple instinct of "how I feel" about it.
If I were alive and some terrible occurrence caused my jawbone to detach from my face, I'd feel really creeped out if some stranger took that mandible and just kept it on a shelf in their home next to some guy's pinkie and another dude's rib. I can't imagine my opinion would change much about that after death, either, even if my soul wasn't attached to my body anymore, as the idea of taking someone's bones as one's personal "collector's property" just seems that odd to me. Even if you dug me up a hundred years after death and took my jawbone then, I'd still be looking down from the heavens and squinting in confusion.
In practice, I know and believe in bone veneration (in the Orthodox church we show honor to the bones of holy people to preserve their memory and to remind ourselves of the body's potential for holiness to inhabit it), but plain, personal, non-medical collection just strikes me as strange.
I fully agree with you. Something about it feel so odd to me. And from the research I've done a lot of the bones in the trade are from minority groups which also makes me uncomfortable. Some of th posts I've seen have been retired medical specimens which makes me slightly less uncomfortable but something about having Bobbi Jo from down the block on a shelf makes my skin crawl cause it feels so disrespectful.Would be kind of cool to have my skeleton as one of those you see in biology classrooms lolI probably sound real messed up right now, but, I wouldn't donate to anybody but I would be ok with getting paid for them now and they could collect when I ctb. This rotting carcass is a carrying case. When I'm gone I really don't care what happens to it. Y'all probably think I'm messed up and maybe I am but, ask anything I will tell the truth. There truly is no shame in my game.
Pluto
Cat Extremist
- Dec 27, 2020
- 6,203
I think I remember the artist Christine Borland created a piece nominated for the Turner Prize that involved shaking dust over a skeleton to create the image on a glass shelf. She was slightly horrified/ morally challenged on how easy it was to buy a real skeleton.
I also remember when I was young, we visited Austria and the Hallstatt Charnel House or Bone House- I think it was, which contains over 1,200 skulls. Some of them intricately painted. Some with calligraphy on, describing their name and date of birth/ death.
In that case though- it was out of necessity because of a lack of space to bury people. It also felt like it was done with a sense of tradition and respect. It was quite an odd sensation to see them too. To realise each one had been a life. Pretty poignant.
I guess the main issue I have is whether the person gave their permission. It seems more ok then. An extension of bodily autonomy. But, if the bones are aquired through grave robbing or desperation for money, it feels like exploitation- like so many other things in life.
I suppose personally, once I'm dead, I'm not all that bothered what happens to me. I'd be happy to donate my body to science. I'm not entirely against the idea of an artist creating something meaningful. Although- they'd have more difficulty- seeing as I intend to be cremated!
I think it's more the signal it sends out to the living though. That- if it's done disrespectfully, without permission or for profit- it shows just how vulnerable we are to being exploited.
NormallyNeurotic
Everything is going to be okay ⋅ he/him
- Nov 21, 2024
- 690
Exactly my thought. I plan for my bones to be in the ground so long that they decompose, but as long as the person who owns them didn't grave-rob me themself (and did their due diligence to make sure they didn't accidentally take my bones from a restricted area), then sure. I collect animal bones, so it'd be kinda funny.I wouldn't voluntarily donate them for someone's personal collection (not exactly to my taste) but if I'm gone and you find my bones somehow... Fair game?
Arvayn
Face the end.
- Nov 11, 2025
- 139
Personally? Hell yeah, brother, cut me up and put me on display. The idea of my remains continuing to creep people out even after my death, even if only briefly, is one I can get behind.
I also think it would be really funny if somebody put my skeleton in their closet; that would be a good power move for when you have guests over. I used to have a skeleton in my own closet, but I had to give it away, since my sister really disliked it.
I collect bones specifically because of enjoying morbidity and the taboo behind it giving me a thrill. It's also a very educational activity; there's a lot to learn from doing research into the bones I acquire, and so many complex processes to master. It's all the more engaging when you have a live (or, well, UNlive) specimen with you to reference.
Ultimately, whatever people do with my skeleton is their business. I'd be too dead to care.
CapitánBeto
Member
- Aug 3, 2019
- 55
This whole discussion and the organ donation dilemma is why I want to be cremated.
I want to vanish from the world.
In the words of the Ramones:
I do not have a problem with owning any parts of people so long as they were ethically sourced. I would prefer a green burial but if someone wants to put my bones up for display, cool. I really do not care so long as my body is useful to someone/something whether that be fertilizer or for people to look at.I've always wanted to but I don't wanna end up on some weird list. I'm probably on a list by now anyway lol.Similar threads
