http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/17585457-418/17-human-heads-found-at-ohare-delivered-to-mes-office-no-foul-play-suspected.html    sure ritual 's  ???        brush up on yer rit's  folks !  

Inquiry into research facility holds up 18 human heads at O’Hare

By Stefano Esposito Staff Reporter January 14, 2013 10:52PM

Updated: January 15, 2013 10:31AM

The 18 human head specimens that arrived at O’Hare International Airport from Rome just before Christmas were on their way to a research facility in the Chicago suburbs — a facility that is “under investigation,” a source told the Chicago Sun-Times Tuesday morning.

Officials initially said a paperwork problem prevented the shipment from being delivered to its final destination, but the Sun-Times has learned that the hold-up is connected to an ongoing investigation at the suburban facility in question. The investigation is “absolutely not” connected to the shipment of the heads, the source said.

The heads were shipped from Rome as cargo on a Lufthansa Airlines flight, arriving at O’Hare about one week before Christmas.

“They were properly preserved and tagged as human specimens,” said Tony Brucci, chief investigator for the medical examiner’s office.

Brucci said U.S. Customs officials at O’Hare initially held up the shipment, when they found the paperwork to be “a little confusing.” Then the containers were X-rayed, and that’s when officials discovered what was inside, Brucci said.

Brian Bell, a spokesman with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said earlier Tuesday that the specimens appear to be legitimate medical samples.

“There’s no issue with the transportation of body parts for medical purposes,” Bell said. “There’s nothing against the law that says you cannot ship them, provided you have the right documentation.”

While Bell said he has never before fielded questions about a large package of human body parts, such shipments are not without precedent, he noted.

“Everybody here is ‘Oh my gosh, you got a box of heads’ and everybody thinks that it’s unheard of,” Bell said. “It is a potentially legitimate medical shipment. We’ve seen it at various ports in the nation.”

Bell declined to say where the package was shipped from, where its intended destination is, or how the heads were preserved.

The specimens, which are still covered in skin, were sent to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office for inspection, authorities said. Foul play was not involved in the collection of the heads.

“We need to make sure that they are truly used for medical research purposes,” said Bell.