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A non-profit employee in Chicago says that when he asked his boss about severed heads found at his desk, he was told, "I don't know ... there's a lot of strange things going on."
One employee thinks he's the victim of a disturbing form of retaliation after he found three severed heads at his desk. He believes they were left there in response to a complaint he'd made a month prior, per the Chicago Tribune.
It all went down at Chicago-based Anatomical Gift Association, a more than 100-year-old non-profit that manages willed body donations for medical research and education. In other words, human body parts are part of the job ... but not at anyone's desk!
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View StoryIt wasn't the only incident transportation coordinator Dale Wheatley feels was off, and directed at him, after he formally complained about how those donated bodies were being handled by the organization.
He also found rolled up sage smoldering throughout the office -- which is not a normal practice. "I think they were trying to say it's for warding off evil spirits," he told People. "And I was the evil spirit."
As for the heads, Wheatley said that his boss blew off his concerns about finding them at his desk. They were in a blue storage tub, but they were not supposed to be outside of their designated storage area.
When Wheatley asked about them, he says his boss just told him they needed to "get back with their bodies so we can send them to cremation." In five years on the job, Wheatley said this had never happened before, which is why he suspects retaliation.
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View StoryWhen he asked why they were at his desk, his boss allegedly told him, "I don't know Dale, there's a lot of strange things going on."
Wheatley filed a police report after the disturbing discovery at his desk, which he believes came as a direct result of him filing a complaint about how the organization was handling the donated bodies.
In particular, he claims they weren't being embalmed or stored properly, leading to rotting. He also filed complaints with the Cook County Medical Examiner and the Illinois Department of Public Health, and Illinois Department of Financial & Professional Regulation.
According to Wheatley's attorney, David Fish, some bodies had even been gnawed on by rats that had chewed through the bags they were stored in. "The body goes to waste if it's not properly cared for," Fish told the outlet.
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View Story"The place is deplorable. It’s in shabby conditions," Wheatley said in a press conference held this past Tuesday about his allegations. "If you’re in there for more than five minutes, if you start walking around, you start to stick to the floor."
As evidence of this purported lack of care, one medical school reached out to the organization, per People, with a complaint that donors received were in such poor condition -- read bug infestation, contortions, and decomposing extremities -- they could not be used. Wheatley claims the organization has received other complaints of a similar nature.
William O'Connor, executive vice president of Anatomical Gift Association, denied to the Tribune that donated bodies were being handled improperly. Wheatley just feels "they need to treat the donors with more respect," per Fish.
And speaking of respect, Fish called the leaving of heads at Wheatley's desk "unspeakable." He added, "Those are people’s family members. They’re not a joke … They gave their body to donate it to science."
