My paternal grandma once told me a story about her father. I only knew him from a picture my great-grandmother used to have--it was one of those sepia-toned pics where he was wearing a hat like you'd see the working class people of the Depression-era South wear--I always thought he looked pretty cool in that pic.

Anyway, my grandmother was the oldest of 5, & her dad died in Tennessee when she was about 9, IIRC (this was probably in the early 40s). He'd worked in some kind of factory or something & ended up getting a sliver of metal in his eye. Somehow, it got infected & this led to cancer. After he died, she said that her mother, who was likely in shock & very grief-stricken to lose someone at such a young age, was talked into signing these papers. The papers allowed Great Grandpa Strickland's head to be removed & sent somewhere so the cancer could be studied or some shit. I can't verify how much truth there is to that, but I do think it's pretty bizarre to think that my great-grandfather was buried without his head. I wonder where it is now?
posted by El Bastardo at 9:28 PM