Dead Bodies Buried Beneath Benjamin Franklin's Garden 200 Years Later

Nearly 200 years after the fact, while turning Benjamin Franklin's English house into a museum, 15 dead bodies were found buried underneath his garden. The room in which these bones had been found is now called the Seminar Room - it was originally the garden.

In 1776 Franklin left for America, and scientists having found the bones in 1998 (relatively recently) have been able to date the bones back to that of Franklin's time. Did they belong to foul play? If they did that would certainly sour the imagine of Franklin.

Upon confirming that the bones were in fact over 100 years, an inquest was apparently not required. After Franklin left for America, the house was then used as an anatomy school run by the Mr. William Hewson - who was Franklin's son-in-law.

Hewson is best known for his research on blood and the lymphatic system. He isolated the key protein in the blood clotting process, fibrinogen, and called it “coagulable lymph”.

Scientists have been able to review and study all of the remains, and have mentioned that even animal bones remain. Most of the animal bones lay toward the front of the house, while the human ones do not. It was noted that most of the animal remains appear to have been dissected and have been used for amputation practice. This could have been due to the fact that not a lot of research had been done at that time, and most was done while on the battlefield.

One of the most prominent pieces of evidence linking these remains to Hewson was that of a turtles spine found with mercury in it. In 1770 Hewson performed an experiment for the Royal Society, and would show the flow of mercury through a turtle to highlight the lymphatic system.

The practice of dissecting human remains did not become legal until approximately the 1830's, therefore it is assumed that Hewson likely obtained the bodies from "body snatchers."

The job of teaching anatomy in those days was not as easy as it is now. In fact Hewson contracted septicaemia, or commonly known as Sepsis, in 1776 and died at age 34.

William Hewson

See more details at: https://benjaminfranklinhouse.org/the-house-benjamin-franklin/craven-street-bones/