Numerous popular legends have arisen about the mysterious figure of the Prince of Sansevero, due to the fervent imagination of the Neapolitan people, excited by the sinister flashes and fumes coming from the Prince's laboratory and the inventions that came out of it. The so-called "black legend" includes alleged prodigies and misdeeds that the Prince is said to have performed. It is said that "he had two of his servants killed" to "strangely embalm their bodies". On pages 21 and 22 we read: "In a room of another Apartment, which they call the Phoenix , [...] you can see two Anatomical Machines, or, to be more precise, two Skeletons [...] in which you can see all the veins and all the arteries of the human body, made by injection".