"Peter Pan" Connection to 75-Year-Old Mystery of Mummified Fetuses Found In California?

[gateley]

LOS ANGELES (CBS/AP) Los Angeles police detectives are trying to solve a 75-year-old mystery involving two fetuses that were found Tuesday, wrapped in newspaper dating from the 1930's - and they're wondering whether "Peter Pan" is a part of the story.

Yiming Xing, who lives in the Glen-Donald apartments, thought maybe she had uncovered antiques as she peeled back the newspaper that was wrapped around one of two tiny bundles she found in an old steamer trunk in the basement of her building. Instead, she came to the chilling realization that what she held in her hands were human fetal remains./snip

When police arrived they unwrapped the second bundle only to find other, slightly more developed fetal remains wrapped inside the browned and tattered pages of a Los Angeles Times dated 1935./snip

The bundles were found in two black leather doctor bags inside a 1920's steamer trunk. Also found in the trunk was a certificate of membership to the Peter Pan Woodland Club mountain resort, bearing the name Jean Barrie. There was also a typing manual with the signature "Jean M. Barrie" inside, and the steamer trunk bore the initials JMB.

The "Peter Pan" angle? The fictional little boy who wouldn't grow up was created by Scottish author James M. Barrie -- also initials JMB -- who died in 1937.

Authorities could not immediately say whether there was a connection between the fetuses and the mysterious Jean M. Barrie, or even if there was a specific "Peter Pan" connection beyond the membership to the mountain resort.

If, in fact, the fetuses were placed in the trunk around the time those newspapers were printed, it would have been during an era when "back-alley" abortions were common because abortion at that time was illegal.

The 94-unit Glen-Donald building was home to doctors, lawyers, writers and actors when it opened in 1925, most of them single women./snip

More... http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20014270-504083.html

[MorningGlow]

1. That has to be one of the worst-written articles I've read in a long time

While the discovery of the fetuses is quite sad and is a most curious situation, the article itself...MAKES NO FUCKING SENSE.

What the...two fetuses...the name Jean M. Barrie...the Peter Pan Woodland Club. Okay. What? Is the article implying that Jean M. Barrie was related to J. M. Barrie? Was the same person? WHAT connection? And if "authorities could not immediately say whether there was a connection", why bring it up at all?

Shoddy reporting, to say the least. And incomprehensible prose. Once again, I am disgusted with my fellow journalists.

[gristy]

2. Any time I see a headline with a question mark, I run away.

They are invariably bs.

[gateley]

4. I thought it was interesting because of the 'back alley' abortion

reference. Kind of paints a picture of a different time.

[Warpy]

7. I find that rather odd

since the back alley jobs were usually done the way the legal ones are now, on pregnancies that were too early to leave fully formed skeletal remains behind.

This sounds more like a couple of premature stillbirths and would also explain why the remains were kept around.

However, the real mystery isn't the fetal remains or how they got there. It's whether or not there was a connection to James M. Barrie, at all.

[gateley]

9. Good point about them probably being stillbirths. I think the

whole thing is fascinating because they've been there for so many years.

Wonder who Jean M. Barrie was?

I looked up the Peter Pan Woodland Club (or whatever it's called) and it appears to have been a legit club, golfing, etc. Didn't find much info, just pics, and it appears to have burned down.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

13. very late abortions were not unheard of for research purposes

There was a market for fetal remains at varying stages of development for research purposes.

[Warpy]

14. This, however, was likely not one of those cases.

It screams "premature birth" to me. Either they were stillborn or didn't survive long.

[gateley]

3. I think that's what it is intimating. nt

[HarveyDarkey]

5. Facts, not speculation or insinuation

That's what I thought journalism was about. Oh wait, that ended years ago.

[MorningGlow]

8. It's all about eyeballs

Numbers, ratings, hits. $$$. Bottom line. And if that means sensationalism and spurious implications without any supporting evidence, so be it.

Totally depressing.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

6. J.M. Barrie was a serious weirdo

Collecting abortion leftovers would probably rank among his more mainstream pursuits, but I don't believe he ever stepped foot in America.

[david13]

10. I'm gong to say the JMB Barrie business was a red herring. dc

[petronius]

11. There is now a Janet M. Barrie identified as a possible owner, to go along

with two Jean M. Barries (only one of whom was related to the Peter Pan author). Pretty trippy story, I doubt it will ever be resolved with certainty...

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-basement-babies-20100821,0,43711.story

(My hypothesis is that all of the JMBs were undercover space aliens collecting human samples, who used similar names in order to keep track of each other... :+ )

[gateley]

12. The entrance to the apartment building looks spooky! nt