School Has Funeral When Classroom Skeleton Turns Out To Be Human

A skeleton used to teach art lessons at a British school for four decades is being put to rest after his remains were identified as human.

The skeleton was named "Arthur" by instructors at Haydock High School in Wigan, Greater Manchester, who thought the bag of bones was artificial, South West News Service reports.

That is, except for art technician Sandra Dixon, who wondered if Arthur might have once been alive and kicking.

"I remember thinking could this be a real skeleton?" she told South West News Service.

After digging into records, Dixon discovered that Arthur's bones once belonged to an Indian man who died in the early 1900s.

So far, no one has determined whether Arthur came to the UK alive or if he was already in skeletal form.

After the skeleton was discovered to be human, a local funeral home offered to give him a funeral, including coffin, hearse and pall bearers free of charge.

The funeral is taking place Thursday at a cemetery in Greater Manchester and will be attended by teachers and students from the school where he "worked" for 40 years.