Gruesome Playthings

Vintage postcard of Scranton hospital

Throughout history, young boys have found countless ways to keep themselves entertained.  This story, which appeared in the March 25, 1895 edition of the Scranton Tribune, provides a chilling account of how a group of boys from Lackawanna County kept themselves entertained:


An orderly of the Lackawanna hospital found two fetuses in the possession of a crowd of boys in Raymond court Saturday.  The boys supposed their gruesome playthings, which are thought to have been four and one-half months old when delivered, were dead kittens and were dragging them about by strings.

The orderly stopped the lads' amusement and hurried to inform one of the hospital physicians of the find.  The physician secured the fetuses and discovered that they had been pickled and had probably been cast aside by a doctor or stolen from his office.

They are now secured in a jar in the operating room of the hospital.

In the vicinity of Raymond Court, as it appeared in 1925.

(the original newspaper article can be viewed here)