A British military museum is planning a macabre exhibition on the agony of de-feet.
That’s right – severed human feet.
The National Army Museum is accepting 15 frostbitten fingers and toes lost by a former soldier during a climb up Mount Everest.
Retired paratrooper Bronco Lane will donate the digits – which are preserved in formaldehyde – to the museum during a ceremony Saturday.
Bronco was descending with his teammate Brummie Stokes after a successful 1976 climb when the weather turned nasty.
The pair were forced to sleep overnight in a snow hole – but they survived against the odds to make it back to base camp.
Still, surgeons had to remove the five fingers of Lane’s left hand and all of his toes.
They had been displayed at a medical museum for doctors and medical workers only until it closed a few years ago.
Lane, now an author, tracked them down and decided they should be seen by the general public.
“It was strange for me to see them again – it was like being given the ashes of a great-grandparent,” Lane said.
“But I think there will be a lot of interest in them, and it was an honor to be asked to give something to the museum.”
The fingers will be displayed on a wooden, hand-shaped mold starting next week. The toes will be put on exhibit next month.
Jo Woolley, spokeswoman for the museum, said officials had first asked for something more mainstream.
“We asked Bronco if he would donate his ice ax or something else from the expedition, and he said ‘You can have my fingers if you want – I’ve no use for them,'” she said.