Brooklyn bone collector has over 200 skeletons, spines, skulls in home
This guy is a pro at having skeletons in his closet — and he has no bones about it.
That’s because Brooklyn resident Jon Pichaya Ferry is a medical salesman, a k a JonsBones, specializing in the macabre trade — not to mention “taboo,” according to his website — of skeletons, spines and skulls.
“I’ve never had a negative experience,” he told The Post of his dealings in the world of medical osteology.
Ferry, who lives with his bone-loving cat Chonk, works with educational institutions, medical and historical professionals and search and rescue agencies.
“Currently, I have 13 full skeletons that contain all the parts, as well as over 100 spines and 100 skulls that I keep in a showroom in my duplex apartment,” the 22-year-old student told Caters News Agency of his shocking at-home display.
Not only is his wacky work 100 percent legal, but it’s a huge boon for anatomical education, he claimed.
“I only work with medical bones, which is what doctors and osteologists use for studying. Most of the bones I acquire are passed down from doctors or medical professionals,” he said. His specimens then go to “universities, chiropractors and even ‘search and rescue’ agents to train sniffer dogs to find missing people.”
And the young entrepreneur is adamant that his skull collection — as well as his apartment’s wall of spines and other deathly decor exhibited on social media — is comprised of above-board bones.
“We don’t work with grave or tribal skeletons which have been stolen from other countries,” he said of his sourcing methods.
“Everything I work with has been donated to science,” he continued, noting that some of his specimens “come from a time where people willingly donated them to science or their family did, so most of the bones I collect are passed down from older generations.”
Still, many internet denizens are not convinced, and Ferry — who is studying product design at Parsons School of Design — is regularly inundated with critiques from haters who believe what he does is somehow unethical.
“I’ve had over 40,000 comments on social media [from people] that think it’s illegal,” he said. “It’s quite a stigmatized trade. Some people think that what I do is disgusting and atrocious; however, I rise above it and try to paint the field in a more educational manner.”
Curating his curious collection has been no small feat: He’s spent thousands on the endeavor, which began with a childhood gift. Ferry’s father, a doctor, gifted his son a rat skeleton and human skull acquired at a science fair when the boy was 15, thus triggering his lifelong obsession with bones. A hunter friend subsequently gave him his “first squirrel skeleton,” further infatuating him with the dark art.
He then began collecting animal skeletons with the goal of studying them “for science projects,” said Ferry, who has sourced many from individual sellers who “don’t know what to do with the skeletons but don’t want to just throw it away.”
Once, he even flew to Indiana, then drove six hours to collect a skeleton that a group of children had been treating as a toy.
“They only wanted to get rid of it because the new baby was terrified of it and its ribs were shattered from being used as a plaything,” he said.
Unfortunately, there can be far worse repercussions for improper disposal of bones.
“I’ve seen a few situations where people inherit skulls [and] they don’t know the laws or regulations, so they bury it in their back garden — which can cause a scene years later when police come,” he said.
