Norwegian Medical Students in Debrecen Grave-robbing Orgy

The next time you see on of those gorgeous Norwegian medical students holding up the bar at Iguana, you might want to take a few steps back. In one of the most shocking stories we've heard in a long, long time, several Norwegians students enrolled at Debrecen Medical University were caught on camera conducting unauthorized after-hours autopsies, and illicitly hauling body parts back to their dorm rooms for various extra-curricular activities. No, we are not joking. And yes, that is half of a human head in the pic above to the right, as tastefully captured by reader S.J. from a video that we would strongly recommend you not download and watch until you have completely finished digesting your lunch.

The gruesome story was broken by correspondents from Norwegian TV, who followed the students in question into an autopsy room at the university at 2 a.m. and filmed them conducting an after-hours autopsy. Later the students are shown in their dorm room, unwrapping body parts they took with them, including the bisected head shown above, as well as pieces of a brain. According to the report, body parts can not only be bought outright at the university, but "rented" as well.

While the autopsy was recorded with a hidden camera, the would-be MD's soon owned up to their grave-robbing, claiming that they had bought special access to the university's cadavers to help with their studies. "Well, yes, it is absurd, after all, these body parts used to belong to someone," one student told the reporter. "But here in Hungary, competition is fierce, and if you don't want to fail, you have to do everything, you forget your values if you study here."

According to an article in today's Népszava, officials at the university issued a statement reiterating that it is forbidden to take body parts from the dissection chamber. Meanwhile, the staffer who let the students into the dissection chamber - for Ft 2,000 (€8, or 65 Norwegian krone) each - has reportedly been fired.

In addition to re-airing the shocking footage from Norwegian TV (go to this page, take a deep breath, and then scroll down and click on the link saying Nézze meg a Tények teljes összeállítását!) local commercial station TV2 surveyed two Hungarian medical students in Budapest. One, who had an apparently legitimately-acquired human skull (right), showed the inside of her refrigerator and said, "See, there are no legs and arms in it!" But another student said she thought it was okay to take a brain home from school if the student returns it later. "Because they study from it," she said.

While the Norwegian authorities are said to be outraged by the grave-robbing in Debrecen, and are demanding that the university fully investigate the case, some local authorities on Norway suggest the scandal was waiting to happen. Music critic Márton Bede of leading Hungarian journal Matula, who has written extensively on Norwegian culture, explains that it was in Norway that one of the most gruesome events in musical history took place. Apparently, back in 1991 a young musician known only as "Dead" shot himself in the head, only to have his bloodied remains set upon by the remaining members of his former band, "Mayhem."

"They made a nice little stew out of [Dead's] grey matter - with 'ham, frozen vegetables, and paprika' according to drummer Hellhammer - and produced some nice and fashionable necklaces from pieces of his skull," says Bede, who also claims to "officially" be the biggest fan in Hungary of Norwegian pseudo-gay punkrockers Turbonegro. "And they also took some pictures, one of which ended up years later on the cover of a Mayhem bootleg record. So what's all the fuss about now?"