My Childhood: Loma Linda Visit

While I was in junior high school, my father was taking various classes in order to become an Inhalation Therapist. I remember him spending long hours each night cramming for tests, and trying desperately to remember the names and purposes of hundreds of bones, muscles and countless other body parts.

One Saturday my dad took me on a visit to the Loma Linda University. That was a very fascinating trip, which I will remember for the rest of my life.

Dad started by showing me a human cadaver, which is the body of a dead person. I mostly remember the very strong smell of formaldehyde, which is a fluid used to preserve dead body tissues. This was the first time I saw a dead human being. I felt a little queasy, but managed to keep my lunch.

After that, we visited the Loma Linda museum, which is a single room filled with bizarre human body parts. There was a bottle containing a two-headed baby, and the skeleton of the largest man in the world. I also remember seeing the skull of a man who lived his entire adult life with a railroad spite in his brain.

The room contained literally hundreds of similar displays. Mercifully, I do not remember the contents of most of the display cases and bottles, although I believe most of them contained mutated babies.

After that, my dad and I went home. It was a fascinating day spent in an interesting place. It’s not someplace that I’d want to visit again, but I’m glad my dad took me there that one time.