[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Amnorix

1661. On this date, Oliver Cromwell, the former Lord Protector of England, is ritually beheaded on the anniversary of the execution of Charles I. I say "ritually", because his body was exhumed due to his already having been dead for nearly two years in order for the rather gruesome at that point head to be separated from the rest of the body. What was left of his body was then hanged in chains at Tyburn, London, where many English executions took place. His body was eventually thrown into a pit. His head, however, was mounted on a pole outside Westminster Hall for nearly 25 years, until 1685, after which, it went through many hands over the next several hundred years (including being bought and sold) until eventually interred in 1960. It must have been a heck of a conversation piece...

That would've been a way cool thing to have. I wonder what it typically sold for.