S13 E27 - F-Bomb - The Friendless Dead - Grave Secrets & Anatomy Lessons

This week on F-Bomb Friday, we uncover one of Michigan's darkest medical history stories: the resurrectionists, grave robbing, and the unclaimed dead who supplied 19th-century anatomy rooms in Detroit and Ann Arbor.  From Detroit Medical College and Michigan's 1881 Anatomy Act to Willie Brown, the "friendless dead," and the shocking 1893 discovery of two human skeletons in Detroit's garbage, this true story reveals a chilling real-world parallel to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.  Join Tracy and Todd as they explore the forgotten people behind Michigan's medical progress and ask the unsettling question at the heart of Frankenstein:  Just because science can do something, should it?

#DetroitHistory #Frankenstein # Resurrectionists #MedicalHIstory #GraveRobbing

Written, edited, hosted & produced by Tracy Preston, featuring Todd Preston

Original music created exclusively for F-Bomb by Tracy Preston

Original artwork by Todd Preston

Sources:

Bragg, Amy Elliott. “International Garbage Crime.” Little Detroit History Letter, 2025, littledetroithistoryletter.substack.com/p/international-garbage-crime. Accessed 25 Sept. 2026.

“History.” Wayne State University School of Medicine, Wayne State University, med.wayne.edu/about/history. Accessed 25 Sept. 2026.

“History of Detroit and Wayne County and Early Michigan: A Chronological Cyclopedia of the Past and Present, Vol. I.” LDS Genealogy, 1890, ldsgenealogy.com/MI/books/History-of-Detroit-and-Wayne-County-and-early-Michigan-A-Chronological-Cyclopedia-of-the-Past-and-Present-Vol-I-part-118.htm. Accessed 25 Sept. 2026.

“Anatomist and Janitor.” University of Michigan Human Resources, University of Michigan, hr.umich.edu/anatomist-janitor. Accessed 25 Sept. 2026.

Tobin, James. “The Bells of Michigan.” University of Michigan Human Resources, University of Michigan, hr.umich.edu/node/158583. Accessed 25 Sept. 2026.

“Historical Events.” Wayne State University Fact Book 2019–20, Wayne State University, gme.med.wayne.edu/pdfs/2019-20_wsu_fact_book.pdf. Accessed 25 Sept. 2026.

Shackman, Grace. “In the Archives: The Friendless Dead.” The Ann Arbor Chronicle, 1 Oct. 2013, annarborchronicle.com/2013/10/01/in-the-archives-the-friendless-dead/index.html. Accessed 25 Sept. 2026.

Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. Lackington, Hughes, Harding, Mavor & Jones, 1818.