CHICAGO — The owner of a shipment of 18 human heads has come forward after the heads were discovered Monday at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago.
According to USA TODAY, the heads belong to a crematorium.
It was during a routine X-ray search in Customs that showed the heads, complete with skin, in coolers. One of them was opened for inspection and that’s where the mystery began, the Chicago Tribune said.
A crematory came forward outside Chicago with what appeared to be proper documents after news reports of the found heads surfaced, USA TODAY said.
Brian Bell, a Chicago-based spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security,said, “We need to make sure that they are truly used for medical research purposes,” The Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Researchers in Rome had been using the embalmed heads but shipped them to the United States for cremation at the facility near Chicago, ABC News said.