OK, who knew this?
Dr. T. C. Mendenhall was also known for his attempt to reanimate a corpse in 1872
Dead body + electricity = spooky experiment conducted by first faculty
DEAD BODY + ELECTRICITY = SPOOKY EXPERIMENT CONDUCTED BY FIRST FACULTY
T.C. Mendenhall, 1874
Since it’s Halloween, we’d like to tell you about Thomas C. Mendenhall, the very first faculty member hired by the then-Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College in 1873. He was a real Renaissance man when it came to the many and varied interests he pursued – including reanimation of corpses.
Though Mendenhall was a Physics professor, he also had a great interest in electricity (and other subjects, as you will read later). In 1872, while he was a teacher at Central High School – then known as Columbus High School – he decided to test a theory that a dead body could be brought back to life through electric shock. He received approval from the Ohio Penitentiary to transfer the corpse of a recently hanged prisoner to Starling Medical College, located in downtown Columbus and one of the predecessors of Ohio State’s College of Medicine. So, on October 4, 1872, Mendenhall tried, by use of electric shocks, to reanimate the corpse of John Barclay—a man who was hanged for murder that same day.
According to a history of the Columbus High School, the experiment was performed in front of the judges of the State Supreme Court and other witnesses, including a reporter for the Police Gazette. “In so far as anyone knew,” the history said, “the Judges might have to pass upon the uncanny question of Barclay’s legal status as a living person who had already suffered the death penalty. However, they were spared that embarrassing situation” since the experiment obviously did not succeed.
