Benjamin Franklin House — Attraction in London

Why Was Benjamin Franklin’s Basement Filled With Skeletons?

Repairs on Franklin’s old London house turned up 1,200 pieces of bone from at least 15 people. For nearly two decades leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence Benjamin Franklin lived in London in a house at 36 Craven Street. In 1776, Franklin left his English home to come back to America. More than 200 years later, 15 bodies were found in the basement, buried in a secret, windowless room beneath the garden.

In 1998, conservationists were doing repairs on 36 Craven, looking to turn Franklin’s old haunt into a museum. “From a one metre wide, one metre deep pit, over 1200 pieces of bone were retrieved”—remnants of more than a dozen bodies, says Benjamin Franklin House. Six were children. Forensic investigations showed that the bones dated to Franklin’s day.

Franklin was a noted revolutionary and powerful freemason—the Grand Master of Masons of Pennsylvania—so it’s easy to wonder what dark secrets Franklin may have hidden in his basement chamber. But the truth, it turns out, isn’t quite so dark.

“The most plausible explanation is not mass murder, but an anatomy school run by Benjamin Franklin’s young friend and protege, William Hewson,” said the Guardian in 2003.

Still, in Franklin’s time, anatomy lessons were a dark, ethically ambiguous business. Mental Floss:

Anatomy was still in its infancy, but the day’s social and ethical mores frowned upon it… A steady supply of human bodies was hard to come by legally, so Hewson, Hunter, and the field’s other pioneers had to turn to grave robbing — either paying professional “resurrection men” to procure cadavers or digging them up themselves — to get their hands on specimens.

Researchers think that 36 Craven was an irresistible spot for Hewson to establish his own anatomy lab. The tenant was a trusted friend, the landlady was his mother-in-law, and he was flanked by convenient sources for corpses. Bodies could be smuggled from graveyards and delivered to the wharf at one end of the street, or snatched from the gallows at the other end. When he was done with them, Hewson simply buried whatever was left of the bodies in the basement, rather than sneak them out for disposal elsewhere and risk getting caught and prosecuted for dissection and grave robbing.

Franklin was probably aware of the illegal studies going on in his building, says the Benjamin Franklin House, but it’s doubtful the he was involved himself. Still, we can’t imagine that, curious man that he was, he didn’t sneak down and check out the proceedings at least once or twice.

Colin Schultz is a freelance science writer and editor based in Toronto, Canada. He blogs for Smart News and contributes to the American Geophysical Union. He has a B.Sc. in physical science and philosophy, and a M.A....

Please read in full as it is a mixed feelings here: I visited the place today as they mentioned a jubilee special event. It turned out not to be that "special" as almost nothing about the Crown was mentioned. I joined the architect tour. The guide is knowledgeable but i find one thing a little bit absurd. You have an hour for the tour then the next tour follows immediately after that so you had to leave. it left you no time for reflection. That is not how i normally visit a museum as you would like to submerge yourself in that surroundings and feel that immersive feeling, listening to history echoing towards your eardrums. You got none of that, you have to go. When i asked whether we would be left ten minutes to look around, the guide said, "this is a grade one listed building so you can imaging we cant leave alone in there." it is her response that really completely erased my perception about her knowledge. Hello, V&A is a grade 1 listed building, so is St Paul's Cathedral, so are many many churches, so is Spencer House, so is Handel House Museum etc. etc. There are over 9,000 Grade I listed buildings in England! This is the first one i have visited that i felt i was driven out of the door. You took the money from us, we signed a TOR, if you think people would vandalise this place, shame on you on human morals and integrity. I gave a three star because the tour is informative and people are welcoming but how the things are handled is sub-optimal. sorry. I never realised such things happen in England. I hope management cam...

Benjamin Franklin House at 36 Craven Street in the heart of London is a heritage ‘gem.’ The world’s only remaining home of Benjamin Franklin (and that is not in the USA), opened to the public on Franklin’s 300th birthday, as a dynamic museum and educational facility.

For nearly sixteen years between 1757 and 1775, Dr Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father of the United States and more – lived at 36 Craven Street.

First, many people may not realize that one of the Founding Fathers lived in London for a more than decade-and-a-half. He also lived in a house where hundreds of human bones were found underneath the building. Yes, human bones, and you can see them for yourself.

History : Benjamin Franklin arrived in London 1757 to “negotiate colonial interests,” according to home’s brochure. He rented rooms from Mrs. Margaret Stevenson (a widow) at 36 Craven Street, which you will find near Trafalgar Square, the massive London landmark that, of course, did not exist when Franklin was there (Battle of Trafalgar was 1805, 15 years after...