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Doctor Fukushi Masaichi and the art of preserving tattooed skin (dannydutch.com)
62 points by danielmorozoff 12 hours ago | hide | past | favorite | 14 comments





> During a trip to the United States, Dr Masaichi brought along some of his prized tattooed skins in a suitcase. In a bizarre twist of fate, the suitcase was stolen while he was in Chicago. The fate of those tattooed skins remains a mystery to this day, with the thief likely unaware of the unique—and eerie—contents of the suitcase.

Imagine stealing a suitcase only to find it filled with tattooed human skin. Yikes.


I’m not doubting the veracity of the story, but it reminded me of the “dog in suitcase” urban legend¹.

Maybe the robber this time was Buffalo Bill². In which case, jackpot.

¹ https://www.vice.com/en/article/dead-dog-suitcase-stolen-tub...

² The Silence of the Lambs character, James Gumb³, not the showman William F. Cody⁴.

³ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Bill_(The_Silence_of_t...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Bill


Trying to find a fence for human skin would hard although, given humanity, I imagine not impossible.

The pics are enough, something very unnerving about flayed human skin.

This reminds me of story “Skin” by Roald Dahl

I've reached the weird part of the Internet, it seems.


Like something out of Gotham.

My partner and I listen to a podcast about tattoos and history called Beneath the Skin on long drives. One of the hosts, Matt Lodder has made a career studying tattooing. As an outsider I didn't expect it to be as interesting as it is and they provide an interesting look at people and history.

His book: https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/painted-people-humanity...


The article mentions he has two methods of preserving. Wet and dry. But then only explains the dry one. :/

How does the wet preservation work?


I also found that very frustrating. It's probably the method required to stretch the skin over a tailor's dummy like in that one photo.

Goo, they keep it in goo

That's what I was wondering. Floating in formaldehyde...

There's a movie about it Louis De Funes played in



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