Jeremy Bentham’s Entire Body

In addition to being the creator of utilitarianism and one of the founders of University College London (UCL), Jeremy Bentham is best known today as the man who requested that his body be dissected, preserved, and displayed as a "auto-icon."

Bentham, strangely enough, was granted his wish. Dr. Thomas Southwood Smith removed Dr. Jeremy Bentham's skeleton after his death in 1832 and dressed it in Bentham's attire. The auto-icon was then displayed inside the UCL student center and served as the school's unofficial mascot.

The head was a different story. Dr. Smith wasn't exactly a specialist on mummification, but Bentham insisted that they use his own mummified head. The college decided to replace it with a wax replica despite his best efforts because the final product was horrifying. The real head was still on exhibit for the majority of the auto-existence, icon's sitting at its previous owner's feet. After being taken and destroyed during a prank, the real head wasn't kept in a safe until the 1990s for security reasons.

The offenders were students from King's College, a school that competes with UCL. They allegedly stole Bentham's head in 1989 and used it as a football in a neighborhood game. By the time the college received it back, it was undoubtedly in poor shape, which is why UCL chose to remove it from the exhibit. However, the students weren't too put off. The wax head of Bentham was simply taken the following year.