Earlier this year, a New Orleans-based witch got in some trouble for taking bones that washed up from old graves and then offering them online to friends. Grave robbing is, historically speaking, frowned upon by authorities, as well as society at large. A Tumblr post calling the witch out went viral, and, sure enough, the cops eventually raided their home, finding “at least 11 bones and four teeth.” The witch remained unrepentant, saying the bones were “something I feel nature has given me.”
This week, Tumblr users attracted attention for, again, exchanging severed body parts. A Massachusetts-based artist named Lana who posts under the extremely fun name Cummy Eyelids reported that another Tumblr user had mailed her an actual human toe.
There’s an important caveat to the story, which is that Royally Oilly did not sever her toe expressly for (shiver) Cummy Eyelids’ art project—it had been removed almost a decade ago for medical reasons, and its solution needed to be changed anyway. So, why not give it to someone who could use it?
(Deep breath) Cummy Eyelids (goddamn it) is extremely open about the project elsewhere on her Tumblr, answering all the questions as they come in. And, reading over them, this toe exchange starts to look like one of those heartwarming stories of two people with a shared, albeit niche, interest connecting on the internet.
The fact that Royally Oilly and (Christ) Cummy Eyelids found each other—one in Massachusetts, the other in Oregon—and were able to share a connection, as well as a literal toe, is what counts as a feel-good story coming out of the internet right now.
The moral of the story, as always: Tumblr is weird.