NAME.....The Kidney Hiest
CODE.....CR1708
ORIGIN...USA 1991
STATUS...False

On a Friday evening after finishing work for the week, a man decided to go for a drink before heading off home. The man jumped on the tube and crossed London from the City to the West End, and entered a bar in Soho. Not long after arriving at the bar, a beautiful girl started chatting to him. They seemed to have hit it off and spent the whole evening drinking and chatting with each other. At the end of the evening the girl suggested that they go back to her hotel room where she was staying. The man couldn't believe his luck and promptly agreed.

After a short taxi ride they arrived at the hotel, and went straight up to the girls room. The girl poured a glass of wine for them both, and they both started to undress. Suddenly the man felt very drowsy and blacked out.

The man awoke the next day in the bathtub of the hotel room, submerged in ice. He couldn't move and hurt all over. On the wall was a note, which read 'If you want to live, dial 999 immediately'. A phone had been placed on a stool next to the bathtub, within his reach. He dialled 999 as instructed and was put through to a paramedic. He was asked if a tube had been inserted in his back, after feeling for it the man replied "Yes". The paramedic told the man to stay calm and perfectly still and that an ambulance was on its way.

The Paramedic knew straight away what had taken place, as it was not the first time it had happened. Sure enough, one of the man's kidneys had been removed by a highly professional gang that specialised in the smuggling of human organs. The girl had lured him to the hotel room where she had drugged him; the rest of the gang had been lying in wait.

Summary

This incredibly gruesome tale has been very popular since 1991, and has generated great interest from the media over the last decade. Stories of human organs being sold on the black market is nothing new, and the demand for them for medical research has led to some shady dealings in the past. I remember reading about the grave robbers that dug up dead bodies after they had been buried, and sold them to professors at Universities for this very purpose. In Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, the monster was made up of stolen body parts and organs.

The difference with this legend is the fact that the man was still alive when his kidney was stolen. He was lured into a trap, and a highly professional gang that knew exactly what they were doing carried out the whole exercise. After all, it would take a skilled surgeon to perform an operation to remove a kidney.

The man was easy prey for the pretty girl, as all men are! In his desperation and lust he let all his defences down. This legend plays out the fear of modern faceless cities, where you can't let your guard down for a second and you can't trust anyone. If you do, you could be the latest statistic on a crime sheet.

Final Thoughts

The latest versions of the legend differ from the original 1991 legends. In the original the man was always with a group of male friends, being lured away by the girl. The bath of ice and the note did not exist back then, as the man normally awoke in a bed and manages to ring his friends, who rush round to his aid.

Although this legend is false, true stories of human organ thieving keep cropping up. Early in 2001, certain British hospitals were under scrutiny, accused of removing organs from young children and babies who had died, without the consent of relatives!

In India 1998, three surgeons and seven other people were arrested for unlawfully removing body organs from unsuspecting victims. The gang targeted the unemployed, offering them job opportunities. All they had to do was to go for a medical. During the medical, surgeons would find a defect that required a minor operation. A Kidney would be removed during these operations to be resold on the black market without the victim even knowing. No job was offered to the victim after the operation.

The outcry caused by this case caused the Indian government to toughen its laws, but still in some regions the sale of body organs is commonplace.