Men and their wallets…some men have them and some shove all their money and business cards and worldly possessions into their pockets. Women have purses and men have wallets it’s a plain and simple fact unless you are a drag queen then that theory goes right out the window, but yet some women do have wallets within their purses so yet again I destroyed my own theory. I digress however…now women have tons and tons of choices for purses and their wallets and it is a fashion statement of epic proportions. They have Calen Klein, Louis Vuitton, Ed Hardy and so on and so on. The number of designers out there in the world for women’s fashion is unlimited. Yet when you get to men’s fashions there is not that much to chose from especially something to set yourself apart from the rest of the men out there. So what would you say to a wallet made of human skin, not alligator, ostrich, or cow leather, but actual 100% human skin??? Sound intriguing??? Now if you’re like me, which I pray to God you are not, then you would all about wanting to add this to your fashion accessories and imagine the talking point it would be in a conversation. So how does one get their hands on such a great piece of fashion??? Well let’s go back to where it all started…in New Jersey…what a shock on that one, huh???
In the town of Morristown, New Jersey around the year of 1833 there was a family named the Sayre’s. This family was a well to do family of the town and was well liked by all. Then a man by the name of Antoine Le Blanc arrived as an immigrant from France who took up menial jobs from the Sayre’s to make a living and have a place to stay. Now Le Blanc was from a well to do family in France and being the bottom of the totem pole and shoveling horse crap he considered to be well above his nature even though he came to the US with nothing in his name. He was pompous and arrogant and wanted to be the king of it all…please keep in mind he was from France so we really shouldn’t be that shocked at how he was acting. So Le Blanc decided he had enough and wanted it all for himself, again he IS French, and so he killed the entire Sayre family in order to get their land and money and prestige. Now he obliviously completely ignored that fact that the Sayre family were major players of the town and well liked so when they went missing obviously the town went looking for them only to find their butchered bodies. So without hesitation Le Blanc was rushed to the court house where he admitted to the crime while in jail and was promptly sentenced to death. The town wanted nothing more than to see Le Blanc die and have the most disgrace he could have possible. So they hung him and donated his body to the medical field where they would dissect and cut him apart and ultimately throw his body in a shallow grave. However he was not buried before they carved some skin from him, tanned it and then made wallets from it. Oh wait I forgot to mention they is wasn’t just wallets they made from his skin, but also lamp shades, purses and book jackets…see so the ladies could get some skin after all too, these items were considered to be “charming little keepsakes”.
Now to this day nobody knows where these “charming little keepsakes” of morbid curiosity have landed in life. Yet there IS one wallet still in existence located at the Morristown Historical Society…its is one of the human skin wallets. Now you cant just see this without appointment or permission, but Weird NJ did and TV show on this subject and the wallet just looks like a regular leather wallet that would have been made from a cow. However the story and the legend behind the wallet is what makes this such a value morbid curiosity.
There have been items made from human skin throughout history, but its usually by head hunter tribes in foreign countries. Well now I must step back a bit and, yes in America there have been items made from human skin, but those were usually made by serial killers who also ate their victims…such is the case with Ed Gein who happened to be the inspiration for Leatherface in Texas Chainsaw Massacre. So for “civilized” towns folk to take on the aspect of morbid curiosity creators, that sort of steps outside of the box of “normal” logic.
So if you’re ever in the market for a new wallet see if they have human skin, I would love to see the look on their face.
Be safe and just remember…skin to win,
John Cannon Twitter: @JohnCannonTBS
