{"id":88639,"date":"2026-01-16T16:19:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T16:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/88639\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T16:19:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T16:19:08","slug":"your-donated-body-could-become-someones-halloween-decoration-in-pennsylvania-pennlive-editorial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/88639\/","title":{"rendered":"Your donated body could become someone\u2019s Halloween decoration in Pennsylvania | PennLive Editorial"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s revolting but apparently true, anyone can buy and sell body remains in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

Yes, it\u2019s legal to wear the skulls, eyes, fingers, or toes of people who have died, and worse yet, it\u2019s legal for hospitals to auction them to the highest bidder. Apparently, there is a bustling market for body parts, especially around Halloween.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what reporting by PennLive\u2019s DaniRae Renno<\/a> has uncovered, and it\u2019s disgusting.<\/p>\n

It ought to be illegal.<\/p>\n

All of this has come to light after reports on two gruesome cases involving men who trafficked in dead bodies.<\/p>\n

\"StolenAt least 30 sets of human remains were found inside Jonathan Gerlach’s home on the 100 block of Washington Avenue in Ephrata, Lancaster County, authorities said. Police said he stole the remains from Mount Moriah Cemetery in Delaware County and sold some online. (Zahriah Balentine, for PennLive)Zahriah Balentine<\/p>\n

Jonathan Gerlach, of Ephrata, was arraigned earlier this month on more than 550 counts of robbing graves. And Jeremy Pauley, 43, of Honesdale, was sentenced in December for his role in reselling human flesh, brains, two human fetuses and other human remains taken from morgues.<\/p>\n

What they did is illegal. But if a hospital decides to sell the bodies of people who gave them for scientific research, that\u2019s ok. And it seems to be ok for just anyone to buy them, even to hang in a tree as a Halloween skeleton.<\/p>\n

\"JeremyJeremy Pauley, formerly of East Pennsboro Township and now living in Susquehanna County, arrives at the Cumberland County courthouse. Pauley is accused of illegally buying and selling human remains. March 5, 2024. Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.comDan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.com<\/p>\n

Renno interviewed one \u201cdealer\u201d in human remains who said he doesn\u2019t condone grave robbing. But he says purchasing them from a hospital or dentist is ok, even if they will not be used for scientific or medical purposes.<\/p>\n

These dealers say there are enough places to purchase body parts legally. The market is saturated, one said. And it\u2019s lucrative.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re told one distributor, Skulls Unlimited, charges around $2,000 to nearly $7,000 for a human skull. They\u2019re even advertised and sold online. How bizarre is that?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not only bizarre; it\u2019s downright morbid. The bodies of people who donated them for scientific research should not be treated with such disrespect. In answer to a question someone raised in Renno\u2019s story: No. It is never ok to use a dead child\u2019s spine as a handbag handle.<\/p>\n

Dead bodies or any part of them should not be used for fashion or to satisfy someone\u2019s perverse idea of art or fun.<\/p>\n

Exemptions can be made to allow resale of body parts for scientific research, but not for mere fun and games. It\u2019s somewhat comforting to know several states have instituted broad bans on selling human body parts, but all need to do so. And that includes Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

We thank Renno for making our community aware of this detestable marketing of body parts for profit. And we call on the medical profession to work with legislators now to pass laws to stop it.<\/p>\n

Quality local journalism has never been more important. You deserve the best. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider <\/a>supporting our work<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s revolting but apparently true, anyone can buy and sell body remains in Pennsylvania. Yes, it\u2019s legal to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[212,3713,41270,44004,41647,3685,41356,28,30,29],"class_list":{"0":"post-88639","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-delaware-county","9":"tag-ephrata","10":"tag-grave-robber","11":"tag-grave-theft","12":"tag-jonathan-gerlach","13":"tag-lancaster-county","14":"tag-mount-moriah-cemetery","15":"tag-pennsylvania","16":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","17":"tag-pennsylvania-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}