Severed hands found in Siberia

Someone in the Russian far eastern city of Khabarovsk made a splendidly Gothic discovery: a bag of severed human hands. 

"Initially a single hand was spotted, then the bag containing a total of 54 severed hands."  Like so:

A Siberian Times reporter entered the real of speculation:

One gruesome theory is that the hands could have been axed off as a punishment for theft.

But local media reported that next to the remains were found medical bandages and hospital-style plastic shoe covers. 

This has led to suspicion that the hands were cut off - possibly dead bodies - in a medical institution.

It is unclear why this may have been done. 

Investigators have given no details so far on their probe into the case. 

Here at Infocult we've been tracking the mysterious appearance of human body parts from all over the world, and from most parts of the human frame.  It's one aspect of the real-life Gothic.