Why This Woman Kept Her Dead Husband’s Heart In Her Desk For 30 years

If this incident is defined in short, then the whole story revolves around a woman who used to carry her husband's heart, yes we are talking about a real heart. But what was the reason behind this weird act of her? Let's try to find out. 

Actually, this is the story of a woman named Mary Shelley, who was a famous writer and a resident of London. So when her husband died and his body was cremated, a strange thing happened that his whole body got burnt but due to some reason, her heart could not burn. After which rather than bury the organ what did Mary Shelley do that she picked up that heart and kept it in her desk, wrapped in one of his final poems. And likewise, she kept her husband's heart with her for almost 30 years, and when she died in 1851, then this secret got revealed to the public.

It is a matter of July 8, 1822, when Mary Shelley's husband Percy Shelley went to Italy, and while returning his boat got caught in a storm. Due to which he and two of his sailing companions died after drowning in the sea. Ten days later their bodies were found on the seashore. The body of those three had deteriorated in such a way that they were not recognizable. Mary identified Percy Shelley by the book of John Keats poems that he kept in one of his pockets. Percy's body was so badly damaged that Mary decided to burn it immediately. But when Percy's friend went to collect the ashes, he saw something between the ashes and the half-burnt bones. And when he looked at it carefully, it was Percy's heart that looked as though it hadn't been touched by the flames.

He picked up the heart from there and placed it in a box and later handed it over to Mary. Mary kept that heart always with her and wherever she went, that heart remained with her. The heart remained with Mary till her death which took place on February 1, 1851. A few months after her death, when Mary's closer ones tried to clean out mary's home, they found something in Mary's desk which was wrapped with paper. But when they tried to find out, they were completely shocked to see as it was Percy Shelley's heart, and that wrapped paper was the page of Percy Shelley's final poem. Later, the heart was buried in the family vault with Percy Florence Shelley in 1889.