Day 267/365 Road Trip....Crime and Punishment

It's not every vacation blog that opens with a shot of Ted Bundy's volkswagen, but our family is special that way. Today's itinerary includes serial killers, bones, forensic labs and my ecstatic daughter.

First, courtesy of the Crime and Punishment Museum, a bit of family history. Here you see Jessie's James' gun and the torn scrap of Confederate flag he always carried with him. Also shown, his slate notebook he carried in his coat pocket (Lunch-1 pm, Rob bank 3 pm, evade sheriff 4-6 pm, Remember milk and bread on way home...). I say family history because one of my great aunt's married Jessie's cousin, and was so taken with the idea she promptly named her son Jesse James. As a result he developed a wild side (no surprise there huh?) and ended up driving his motorcycle off the edge of a West Virginia mountain. As far as we know, he was not evading the sheriff (at least not that time).

Found this original 1930's cartoon style map of Chicago, noting each gang's territory: Capone has the largest section. Did they print these to give to tourists?

And the museum has Capone's silverware, and his hotel key.

Ever see Goodfella's? It's the true story of mobster Henry Hill. Now he's retired and considered something of an artist. Last Christmas, I surprised my daughter with a handmade bullet knife made and signed by Henry Hill. Probably not what everyone wants to find under the Christmas tree, but again, we're that way.

I did my senior thesis on serial killers so it's a topic I'm familiar with (and fascinated by). This is Albert De Salvo's knife he allegedly used while he was working as the Boston Strangler. I say allegedly because he was never actually convicted, and there's a lot of confusion and questions regarding his invovement.

And then there's this piece of hand painted baseball memorabilia -signed by many of the greats including Jolting Joe DiMaggio. Then they found out the artist was John Wayne Gacy, and a little of their enthusiasm disappeared.

My daughter in her element -never mind a trip to the mall -all the girl wants is her own coroners office.

Lacking that, we wandered over to the Museum of Natural Science and their incomparable forensics lab.

Currently they are investigating early colonial burials in Jjamestown Virginia. They've found bones....

more bones....

more bones

and the best of all bones, a man and his dog.

We're thinking of staying for another day. Too many bones to count.