I went there thinking it was produced by Dr. Gunther Von Hagens, who originated the plastination technique and who displays only bodies whose owners had specifically requested that they be used in this way after they were deceased. But, after buying our tickets and entering the show, there was a small sign stating that Von Hagens was not associated with the show.

The bodies themselves are fascinating to view, if you are at all interested in how people are put together. The "educational" aspects, however, were clearly an afterthought. I believe that the producers of the show took whatever body parts their Chinese partners provided and then tried to construct an educational "frame" around the parts and the show.

While we walked through the show, we were speculating on the provenance of the bodies, since no information was provided in the show itself. Based on their short stature (most of the bodies are set on pedestals), and the fact that all but two were male, I joked that they had been political prisoners in China.

In the final room of the show, there were two staffers at an information booth. They told us that the exhibits were created from "unclaimed bodies" in China. My "political prisoners" joke wasn't so funny anymore. Notwithstanding reassurances from Chinese authorities, it's not hard to imagine corrupt hospital officials working with corrupt secret police officials to ensure a steady stream of disappeared "undesirables" into the plastination factories, with the preserved remains marketed overseas at a healthy profit.

Had I know the morally ambiguous background behind the source of the bodies, I wouldn't have visited the show.

The museum would never show an unconsenting body, naked and skinned for gawking not to mention one that has a history of leaking bodily fluids.

Its very telling the entire exhibit is made up of unclaimed Chinese persons. Why? Because no Chinese person in their culture would willingly allow their body to be exhibited in such an undignified manner.

Please note Premier Exhibition that is presenting this has nothing to do with education.

As for the Museum of the Mysteries -- they specialize in UFO's, Big Foot, and 'historical' ghosts. I seriously doubt they have ANY credibility to comment on an educational health display... unless, perhaps, it were on Mars.

Political prisoner cadavers?

The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/germany/article/0,2763,1129261,00.html

..."The controversial German anatomist Gunther von Hagens last night agreed to return seven corpses to China after admitting that the bodies used in his exhibitions might have come from executed prisoners.
Professor Von Hagens, whose show Body Worlds provoked fascination and disgust when it opened in London two years ago, said the corpses would now be buried. His statement follows a damning exposé this week by the
German magazine Der Spiegel.

It revealed that at least two corpses out of some 647 stored by the anatomist at his centre in China had bullet holes in their skulls.

Splashing the story on its cover under the headline Dr Death, the magazine this week produced damning email correspondence from Prof Von
Hagens' Chinese manager, Sui Hongjin.

In December 2001 Dr Hongjin boasted that he had obtained the bodies of a "young man and young woman" who had "died" that morning. The pair were "fresh examples" of the "highest quality", the doctor said - and had been killed by a shot to the head. "

The guy in charge of the "Bodies: The Exhibit" is Sui Hongjin who works for Premiere Exhibits coming to Seattle.
Hongjin worked for the guy who invented plasinization - Gunther von Hagen but please disregard the Der Spiegel's expose that von Hagen's father Gerhard Liebchen was an SS officer currently being investigated for war crimes. Liebchen helped establish the Dalian plant where they process the cadavers for the upcoming Seattle exhibit.
[If this doesn't bother you - fine, but the association is too disturbing for me.]

To date von Hagan is under investigation in several nations who would like proof that the bodies he uses are legitimately and ethically
acquired.

http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,344539,00.html

Family's Nazi Secret Haunts 'Body Worlds' Founder

German pathologist Gunther von Hagens, who has made an international name for himself with his exhibitions of plasticized human cadavers, is raising eyebrows with his plan to open a corpse processing plant in Poland. Worse yet, it has emerged that his main deputy, his father, served as a Nazi SS officer.