The 18 human heads that arrived at O’Hare International Airport just before Christmas — and remained there until this week — now appear to be on the last leg of their final journey.
The medical specimens had been in limbo since just before Christmas, when they arrived on a flight from Rome and were held up due to improper paperwork, said Mary Paleologos, a spokeswoman with the Cook County medical examiner’s office, whose office took custody of the heads this week.
Late Tuesday morning, a Schiller Park crematory came to claim them, Paleologos said.
“Now the cremation service has showed up with the proper paperwork,” Paleologos said. “The medical examiner’s office will photograph and X-ray each of the heads.”
But the specimens won’t be released until federal authorities confirm the paperwork, Paleologos said.
The heads were originally shipped from the United States to Rome for medical research, and they were then shipped back again to be cremated, Paleologos said. She said she doesn’t know the name of the cremation service or where the heads began their journey in the United States.