The stories about exhibited human beings compete in cruelty; one of the rudest is the story of the young Inuit Minik Wallace.

Seven years old, he travelled with his family to New York, to be studied in the American Museum of Natural History. Not long after they arrived, some of the Inuit died of tuberculosis. Among them was Minik’s father.Although he was still small, Minik insisted that his father would receive a good burial. But the scientists of the museum were so eager to keep a hold on the body, that they staged a complete show for Minik: they put stones in a coffin to imitate the weight, put a stuffed doll in it covered by a cloth, and performed a ceremonial burial. The fathers skeleton was put on display at the museum. Only years later, Minsk learned the truth!

He spent his whole lifetime trying to retrieve the skeleton, but he never succeeded; each time, the museum director lied a way out.