[imagesource:befunky]

When the FBI arrived at James Nott’s apartment in Kentucky, they asked if anyone else was in the house, to which Nott replied “Only my dead friends.”

Nott wasn’t kidding and after entering the premises armed with a search warrant, the FBI found a literal house of horrors with skulls strewn all over the place. One even had a headscarf wrapped around it and another was found on the mattress where he slept.

In addition to the skulls, the nutter also had spinal cords, femurs, hip bones, and a Harvard Medical School bag lying around, proving that he at least read books.

The raid was part of an investigation into a ring of people allegedly buying and selling human body parts illegally. The morbid gang included a Harvard Medical School morgue manager who is accused of stealing cadaver parts.

In 2011, Nott pleaded guilty to possession of an unregistered destructive device, after being found with a detonation cord, igniting devices, timed fuses, and “other materials that could be used to assemble a destructive device”, but even though he was found femur-deep in human bones, he has only been charged with ‘possession of a firearm by a prohibited person due to his status as a convicted felon.’

Before being caught in his personal version of Indiana Jones and the Numerous Skulls, Nott surfaced on the FBI’s radar after another weirdo by the name of Jeremy Pauley was caught in possession of human organs and skin, among other remains.

Pauley told agents about a network of people buying and selling stolen human body parts and the investigation revealed one of those people to be Cedric Lodge, who worked in a Harvard Medical School morgue. Lodge allegedly stole cadaver body parts to sell online.

Lodge was eventually fired and is now facing charges of his own, but his Facebook Messenger history lead the authorities to Nott and his ‘dead friends’.

Dunno, looks like a nice enough fella.

Nott used a Facebook account with the username ‘William Burke’, where he posted human remains for sale as recently as June, and even sent Pauley images of skulls for sale last summer, according to the complaint. William Burke was a serial killer active in Edinburgh between 1827 and 1828, and he too sold his victim’s parts along with his sidekick, William Hare.

So yes, these guys were mucho loco and even had sales going. In one message, Pauley wrote to Nott: “I don’t mind paying up a little for shop stock. Makes things look good. How much total for the couple and the last video you sent plus the spines?”

Nott’s neighbours were apparently unaware of his home business, saying “It’s a shock. You just never know who your neighbour is anymore.” Indeed, you never know if your neighbour has a house full of skulls and is eagerly awaiting the delivery of fresh spinal cords. It does leave me with a few questions though.

What does one do with an illegally obtained secondhand spinal cord? And how many can fit into a Sixty/60 scooter box?

[source:cnn]