It's a house, like any London dwelling from the 1700s. On first glance there’s nothing unusual about it except its longevity, but this house is special, it’s a final and lasting monument to one of the 18th-century's most famous individuals…36 Craven Street is the last surviving house in which Benjamin Franklin lived. Between 1757 and 1775, Franklin occupied this residence vacating just as the American Revolution ripped open a seam of revolt. He was in residence during the golden age of his scientific renown, just before being crowned America's political savior. Eventually the house became a museum dedicated to the unique legacy and in 1998 the earth directly under it revealed something....strange. Archeological excavation reveled buried bones, human bones. How many bodies are under Franklin's house is unknown, some estimates say around a dozen, maybe more, remains of children and adults alike. Why are skeletons deposited under Franklin's London house? What was the purpose? How dark is the truth, and how deep does the "rabbit hole" go? It's not like he was eating people...or was he?
Human life was cheap in 18th-century London. Flesh, labor, and bodies could be inexpensively purchased, for pleasure, for chores, or for science. William Hewson was a young London doctor, a surgeon if fact, and he was a man with the academic proclivity and distinction of running his own anatomy school. At the time, this endeavor would be scandalous to say the least. Medicine in the 1700s was still seen in some respects as akin to alchemy and dark magic. Autopsies, where cadavers were cut apart for educational reasons, would be viewed as heresy in some circles…the work of the Devil. To get bodies, enterprising men of medicine would pay those who could acquire, through grave robbing or outright murder, something or should I say someone, fresh. Robbing a graveyard right after a burial became such a problem that those with means would put a decorative iron cage atop the grave to discourage body-snatching. Running an anatomy school would certainly not be considered proper, and the legality of the enterprise would be questionable, but Hewson had a very good friend, one who's scientific acumen and reputation was above reproach, Benjamin Franklin.
This "institution of high learning" was operated out of Benjamin Franklin's address, in secret, behind closed doors. Being a very good friend of Hewson, to the point of letting him reside in the house, Franklin likely knew of the learning experience being conducted in his home, and was probably aware the "homework" was being hidden in secret under the house once it was "turned in". Given the negative perceptions towards this kind of thing, medical science had to proceed quietly and away from the eyes of those who would condemn. Franklin and Hewson knew this all to well, but were brave enough to realize their work and the school was important enough to continue in the name of science. Sadly, young Dr. Hewson cut himself during an autopsy, developing sepsis, blood poisoning, and died on May 1st, 1774. The school ceased to exist...but the bones remained. Franklin left London for America the following year, and the secret stayed hidden for over 200 years.
It's highly improbable that Franklin, or Hewson, were tasting or dining on human flesh, despite the rumor and the hype around the discovery. Human bones under the Franklin house were put there to conceal the scientific work that society could not comprehend, but crucial to advance man's understanding of medicine and how the human body functioned. Evidence on the bones themselves show all the earmarks of being cut apart for study, not consumption. Franklin was into weird activities like the Hellfire Club, along with other prominent and well-known figures of the day, gathering to enjoy dark lascivious sexual acts and toying with satanic ritual, but gnawing on human bones...that was not on Franklin's bill of fare.