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BY MALLORY PERRYMAN
ANCHOR JENNIFER MECKLES
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Was Shakespeare-- a stoner?
That’s what a team of paleontologists want to find out- by looking at the famous playwright’s remains.
Fox News reports, the exhumation team is led by Francis Thackeray- who...
“...believes the research could ultimately ... build a picture of the kind of life the writer led. The team also looks to address a controversial suggestion Thackeray made a decade ago, when he examined a collection of two dozen pipes found in the playwright’s garden and determined that Shakespeare was an avid marijuana smoker.”
Thackeray says he wouldn’t actually have to dig up the body to see if the bard was baked- he’d use 3D imaging instead. But as The Atlantic Wire points out- whether or not Shakespeare smoked pot...
“...one thing we know for sure is that he sincerely did not want to be dug up. His tombstone actually places a curse on anyone who does so, reading: ‘Blessed be the man that spares these stones/ And cursed be he that moves my bones'”
The suggestion that Shakespeare would have been a Grateful Dead fan has some upset. But as a blogger for Mother Jones explains- there’s always been those who are curious about high historical figures.
“For years, many have wondered about the weed consumption of the Founding Fathers [and] inquired about Abraham Lincoln's alleged endorsement of hemp... But this might be the first time a scientist has ever gone so far as to actually try to dig up a body to prove it.”
Scientists say they would be looking for grooves between the canine and the incisor- which would tell them if Shakespeare chewed on a pipe. But a blogger for Gather says- does it really matter?
“Really, can't people just leave a little mystery and magic in life? So what if the bard snuck a hit every now and then to help him along with his genius? His position as the world's most famous and respected playwright ... should earn him a pot pardon, or an ‘atta boy!’ depending on your point of view.”
Shakespeare died in 1616- but cause of death was never determined. According to The Daily Mail- the Church of England says it hasn’t seen any applications for permission to interfere with Shakespeare’s grave.
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