Is It Legal To Purchase Human Skin

Business organization

Published Oct 23, 2013 Updated Jun 1, 2021, iii:36 am CDT

Books leap in human skin are a staple of horror movies, and there are even a few boot around in existent life. I tends to assume that the practice has pretty much died out, presumably because it is (or should be) illegal. But according to Homo Leather Sectional Products… not so much.

This website claims to sell products fabricated from real human "leather," and that it's all perfectly legal. We'll exit that i for the lawyers to make up one's mind, but probably the only way to bear witness their authenticity would be to buy one of their products and have information technology tested. And since a wallet is selling for $14,000, that'southward not actually an option.

So, who's buying this stuff, and how does this website source the "leather?"

In answer to the first question, HumanLeather.co.uk says it caters to "a small but discerning clientele," which makes sense considering there can't be a huge market place for $14,000 human skin wallets. Information technology's basically the middle of a Venn Diagram between "extremely rich" and "extremely creepy". Co-ordinate to the site's FAQs, their clients are "amongst those lucky few who have everything they could mayhap desire. Our supply is restricted and we adopt to go on it that way as nosotros are the only firm in the world that crafts these special products."

Equally for the source, the site claims that their "donors" bequeath their skin earlier death and that their adjacent of kin are handsomely rewarded, although only "the highest quality human skin" is accepted. So you can pre-emptively sell your pare, only to accept information technology rejected because yous didn't moisturize enough when you were even so alive.

It's a deceptively banal website, because the disturbing field of study matter. It's also pretty uninformative. The FAQs are total of apologetic redactions, mostly due to the "sensitive nature" of the business and a desire for client confidentiality. In fact, it'southward so uninformative that nosotros're hoping it'due south just a cleverly worded hoax… considering the other selection is that there really is a whole customs of rich weirdos walking around in shoes made of human skin.

So, if you have a Hannibal Lecter or a Patrick Bateman in your life, this would definitely be the perfect place to starting time shopping for a Halloween gift. It'south just also bad that thanks to loftier need, the site has manifestly been unable to take on whatsoever new clients since 2011.

Photo via tynigh /Flickr

*First Published: Oct 23, 2013, i:23 pm CDT

Gavia Baker-Whitelaw

Gavia Bakery-Whitelaw is a staff author at the Daily Dot, covering geek culture and fandom. Specializing in sci-fi movies and superheroes, she also appears as a film and Television set critic on BBC radio. Elsewhere, she co-hosts the pop culture podcast Overinvested. Follow her on Twitter: @Hello_Tailor