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Posted Mar. 6, 2007, 8:35 a.m. PT
Walter Reed Army Medical Museum Memories
By Ann Magnuson
All the recent brouhaha over the Walter Reed Army Medical Center dislodged memories of visiting the remarkable (and remarkably obscure) Walter Reed Army Medical Museum.
I can't remember the first time I heard about the place. It seems the mythology had always been part of my consciousness. Maybe the first time was in grade school when there were rumors that a museum in D.C. had depression-era gangster John Dillinger's penis preserved in a jar. Every year the sixth grade safety patrol got to go on a field trip to Washington, D.C. and every year the discussion of this infamous object would occur. "Did they get to see John Dillinger's dick in a jar?" we'd ask of the returning sixth graders.
Unfortunately by the time my sixth grade safety patrol field trip came the country was in the deepest throes of raging Vietnam/pre-Watergrate angst and because there were rumors of hippies rioting on the Mall our trip was cancelled. The replacement trip was going further south into Virginia to see some waterfall. Since I got deathly sick on buses anyway I decided to stay home and watch the Vietnam protests on TV.
But I vowed that when I was old enough I would go to all the memorials and museums I could -- especially the one that housed John Dillinger's Johnson.
The Walter Reed Army Medical Museum does not have Dillinger's Little Elvis (at least not displayed) but it does have an elephantiasis scrotum in a huge jar of formaldehyde. It also has an elephantiasis leg in an even bigger jar of formaldhyde. Plus a huge collection of microscopes -- from the smallest to the largest. And a collection of 19th century Japanese tattoos -- all displayed on the flayed skin of the Japanese men who no doubt 'donated' their bodies to science -- or at least to the U.S. Army.
And a variety of 'artifacts' captured from the Viet Cong -- including bungy sticks, tire tread flip-flops and home made medical text books (with hand-drawn illustrations of emergency medical procedures) found inside the miles of tunnels the VC dug under the U.S. Army's nose. Plus one of the tens of thousands (if not millions) of mummified bodies of the hoi polloi buried around the pyramids that were dug up and used as fuel for that newfangled invention called the railroad (no coal in Egypt you know). AND the bloody cuffs worn by the doctor who removed John Wilke's Boothe's assasin's bullet from President Lincoln!
And so many more utterly cool object d'art du medicale! Question: Since I haven't been there since the Eighties, is this place still in operation? The only entries I could find on a quick Google search were in "Places to Visit" on the Silver Springs and Annapolis Days Inn sites. So it must still be open? But has it too fallen prey to neglect?
The government needs to get hip to the fact they could make some good money off this museum and should make it more known to the public! (Certainly David Lynch could help?) And maybe siphon the profits to give the returning wounded some decent care!
Oh, did I mention they also had the World's Largest Hairball? (It came out of the stomach of a pig). As well as the World's Largest Hairball Extracted From A Human? (It came from the stomach of a 12-year-old girl who chewed her own hair. She was probably thinking about that upcoming field trip that would place her face to face with John Dillinger's dick.)
Comments
....Hmm well I certainly was bummed that i never got to go to Washington on my safety patrol trip as well.And to think at one tiMe I thought it was kool to be one of thosE .......well I would certainly go...I seem to remember Hollywood Blvd. having a museum of Death before they turned it into the shopping mall it is becoming.The sad thing is there are fewer and fewer places like this....I think the tattoo skin is the coolest or maybe those microscopes....why not just haVe a insect museum ....my fondest memories are of Gatorland in florida or just feeding the ones in my back yard.
Posted at 1:56 p.m. PT on Mar 06, 2007 by randy focazio
.......its funny how David Lynch or what David Lynch does seems bizarre to some yet in actuality what he is doing or does is rreach inside and show us the things in life we try to hide from ourselves or what society hides from itself.....the true nature of the beast so to speak which is why many may find him disturbinG ....or odd.People hate facing themselves or hideous things ....yet like in Elephant Man he shows that inside hideous masks possibly lie beautiful souls and vice versa in a beautful mask lies a ugliness and cruelty ......but I think thats obvious in most macabe stuff .... I remember once on acid I watched a dead bird being devoured by maggots ,yet there was something quite beautiful in it as well.....can you imagine what must of happened to people with elephantitis in the middle ages or any other people with oddities ..? who knows if an entire breed or species was killed because of its uniqueness considered ugly and horrific to others Isnt that what the so called witches were burned for..?.....there are books filled with drawings of odd peoples who may have existed long ago ....freaks of nature seem to say that life may not be as boring as we may think... ( I know I would love to find a two headed turtle )......soMetimes the disfigurement may be mental or an idea ...or perhaps the insane people locked away in asylums are somehow evolved that they percieve reality in a higher state of recognition .......I think thats true in some cases.. ....and most artists or thinkers are truly ahead of their time in some way but the normal folks get to run the world since there are more of them ....maybe what seems normal is in fact not...? Isnt most culture...specially now dumbed down to a degree
Posted at 1:04 a.m. PT on Mar 07, 2007 by randy focazio
Dear Ann,
We're delighted that you enjoyed your visit to our museum. To answer your question and long-time mystery, the museum does not have John Dillinger's penis. Bloggers might also be interested to know that among the most popular anatomical specimens and historical artifacts we have on display are those related to President Abraham Lincoln. These include the bullet that ended his life, the probe used to locate the bullet, a blood-stained shirt cuff from the museum surgeon who attended the autopsy, and bone fragments and hair from Lincoln's skull. The collection also includes a pencil drawing of the deathbed scene made by the museum's medical illustrator immediately after the removal of Lincoln's body from the house in which he died. Also on display are copies by sculptor Avarel Fairbanks of Abraham Lincoln's life mask and hands made by Leonard Volk in 1860.
Admission and parking are free.
Regards,
Jennifer Heilman
Public Affairs Specialist
National Museum of Health and Medicine,
Armed Forces Institute of Pathology,
6900 Georgia Avenue at Elder Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20307
http://www.nmhm.washingtond...
Posted at 7:42 a.m. PT on Mar 12, 2007 by Jennifer Heilman
To answer your question and long-time mystery, the museum does not have John Dillinger's penis.
Not surprising: everyone knows that Dillinger's "equipment" was in a jar on J. Edgar Hoover's desk. After Hoover died, his files were ransacked by parties unknown (possibly James J. Angleton) and around that time the jar disappeared...
Posted at 11:06 a.m. PT on Mar 14, 2007 by Ole Hank
I was the former curator of anatomical materials at the Museum. We had nearly weekly inquiries about Dillinger's manhood. Interestingly, we believed the urban legend started with this photograph
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~1930s2/Time/1934/dillinger.html
Although it appears that JD was aroused by his own death, it is actually just rigor mortis of his arms.
Posted at 6:00 p.m. PT on Mar 14, 2007 by Paul S
I have heard similiar rumors about Rasputin ..the russian seer .That he had a more than enormous member which was preserved after his death.http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/weblog/permalink/rasputin/
Posted at 7:25 p.m. PT on Mar 15, 2007 by randy focazio
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Posted at 10:22 a.m. PT on Mar 22, 2007 by chasing patrol snow cars lyrics
In June, 1966, on my senior class trip to Washington, we went to the Smithsonian.
At that time, there was some kind of strange medical museum (I don't think it's there anymore), and in that museum I saw what was labeled as John Dillinger's penis in some kind of container. It wasn't something I had heard about before (or after for that matter). As I recall there were references in the written materials about John Dillinger that he was a "ladies' man".
My guess is that eventually there was suitable embarrassment about this, and ever since there has been a concerted effort to declare this a myth. This whole business about the autopsy picture I think was part of that myth creation -- I have to say I wasn't so overly impressed by the penis displayed, realizing it was no doubt shrunk by the preservative.
Posted at 6:39 p.m. PT on Apr 20, 2007 by Greg P
I understand the museum contains the amputated leg of General Daniel Sickels from Civil War. If true, how or where can I find out more or see it during a visit?
Posted at 9:17 p.m. PT on Mar 08, 2008 by Don Sinner
In July of 1967, when I was 14 and my brother was 13, our mother wanted to see the Smithsonian's medical exhibits. Not wanting to accompany her, us boys found a section of the museum diplaying military medicine.
We walked past glass cases of skulls perforated by various bullet types and civil war minie balls, when we saw what looked like an 18" rubber penis suspended from the case by what looked like a sling for a broken arm. It was not in a jar. Below it was a typed card that identified the object as John Dillinger's penis.
This unexpected apparition left an indelible impression.
Posted at 6:06 p.m. PT on Oct 06, 2008 by Mike P
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