Some days Eastern State Penitentiary just brings things into our lives, those of us here every day, that we just never would have expected when we got out of bed.
Here’s an email exchange from this morning, for instance. Sally Elk, our President, found a dead beetle in our Catholic Chaplain’s Office, which is currently under restoration. She left it on my desk so I could pass it along to artist Greg Cowper for his wonderful exhibit Specimen.
I took a photo with my phone and emailed Greg:
Greg! This little (actually not so little) guy was found dead in the Chaplain’s office. He’s in my cube, in a yogurt container. Come get him! Sean
Greg responded in minutes:
Fantastic! This is Odontotaenius disjunctus, the horned passalid beetle, or bessbug, or patent leather beetle. It's the same beetle featured in Aububon's Ivory-billed Woodpecker plate from Birds of America! (pictured at right) Sean, if you can, put this guy in the staff refrigerator, preferably in the freezer compartment. I'll come get it as soon as i have a window in the next few days. Great find .... greg
So I had to email our full staff:
I put a beetle in a carefully-sealed piece of Tupperware and put in the staff refrigerator (white one in Kitchenette). If this totally skeeves anyone out, let me know and I’ll find another solution. Greg wants him for Specimen. (I worked for an archaeology company in the late 80s that brought me into ESP for the first time... In our office we had a human skull, yes a real human skull, in the dish rack and a dead owl, no bag, just sitting there, in the freezer.... Both skeeved me out so I’ll understand if anyone’s squeamish about this little guy.) SK
Nobody complained. A not-so-squeamish bunch.
Sean Kelley
Senior Vice President, Director of Public Programming and PR
