I have a couple of annecdotes to offer on the topic of Goulish subjects!
 
A couple of years ago here at Colonial Williamsburg we had a special
program in which an 18th century gallows was reconstructed and a hanging
"event" was staged for public consumption. At the last minute, of course,
the prisoners were reprieved. Some members of our public audience were
very disappointed that a hanging did not occur and they were vocal about
it! I think that this is a good lesson that when we engage our visitors
in museum interpretations we shouldn't set up expectations that we can't
carry out! :)
 
I also had the pleasure of talking to a museum director in New Jersey
whom related to me that the original owner of their historic house & site
had served as a judge on a notorious murder trial. The accused was found
guilty, he was hung, and then flayed - and his skin was tanned and made
into "souviners". The director related to me that some of these
"souviners" are still extant in the form of little purses, which some
families in the town still proudly possess! It reminds me of the old
saying about "making silk purses..." ;)
 
One of my favorite museum experiences when I was a child was going
through the Ripley's Believe It Or Not Musuem in St. Augustine FLA - it
is the closest thing to a cabinet of curiousities which I've seen.
 
Dave Harvey
daveh@everest
 
Conservator of Metals & Arms
Colonial Williamsburg
P.O. Box 1776
Williamsburg, VA 23187-1776
804-220-7039
 
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