May 28, 2026

The Mummies of Guanajuato

The Mummies of Guanajuato
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Nothing is certain but death and taxes. In this episode, Ayden guides you through the dark and eerie Museo de Las Momias, or Museum of Mummies, in Guanajuato, Mexico.



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A cool friend. It's me Adrian or Aiden. Either way,

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I am still your host and you are still listening

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to Soustal the podcast of paranamal folklore from Latin American cultures.

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Welcome back and thank you for being here. And if

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this is your first time, thank you so much for

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joining us. Listen. I'm just going to start this off

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with being very vulnerable as a creator. There's a lot

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of noise happening right now. It is the middle of

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the day as I'm recording this, so there is a

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bird right outside the office that is just going off

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for whatever reason. I just heard of Margaret Now a

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minute ago, so nobody's cooperating. And this is why again

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I'm very excited to get into a studio space that

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is way more sound controlled than our office slash guest

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room slash studio. That being said, we'll see. Maybe none

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of those sounds will end up coming out in the

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final edit because I am such a professional, but we

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will see if I can live up to that standard.

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Either way, Thanks so much for being here. Really quick

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short updates. First off, the book club for May should

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have been announced by now by the time you are

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listening to this, So this is why it's very important

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those pages, so just make sure that you follow those

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shortly after that, once we have the actual meeting itself

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the discussion, which again is open to anybody, So if

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you read along this month, please feel free to join us.

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The meeting details again will be posted on social media,

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and then we will announce next month's read As always,

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like I said, the book club itself is open to anybody.

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It's free to join. How However, Patreon subscribers do get

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in that and other perks, you can visit sustal plus

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dot com. Speaking of if you're watching the video, look

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we have a little guest right here there she is.

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That's Margaret. Hopefully now that she sees where the voice

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is coming from, she will chill out and just hang

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out in the background. Anyway, Summer is here. I'm very excited.

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I spent a lot of time this Memorial Day weekend

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walking around on the trail, just soaking in on the nature.

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I'm trying really hard to romanticize summer this year. Usually

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I do not look forward to it at all because

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it is so hot, but I'm trying to just lean

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into it and just think about, Okay, how can we

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how can we, you know, make this, make this fun

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and not not so miserable. I'm just trying to change

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my outlook on that. But i'd digress before we get

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into today's episode. As always that you can support sustal

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by engaging wherever you are listening, which means leaving positive

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ratings and reviews or comments. And you can also support Sustal,

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dot com and deciding if there is anything on there

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that tickles your fancy that you might be into. With

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that out of the way, let's go ahead and get

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into today's episode, which is all about the mummies of Guanajuato.

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The first Cholera waves rolled through Mexico in the eighteen

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thirties like an invisible army, entire streets emptied. Church bells

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rank so often for the dead that in some towns

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the sound became part of the weather. Cemeteries filled faster

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than grave diggers could work tombs were stacked close together.

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New burial grounds spread up hillsides and beyond city limits.

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In many places, families turned to above ground crypts, sealing

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their dead inside stone chambers, meant to preserve dignity while

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saving precious space. But death kept coming and land kept

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running out, So graveyards across Mexico adopted a harsh solution.

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If families could not continue paying burial fees, the remains

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of their loved ones would be evicted from their final

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resting places. Bones would be taken from grave sites and

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transferred into ostuaries communal depositories for skeletal remains, so the

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graves could be reused for the newly more financially privileged dead.

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In the mountain city of Guanahato, however, something stranger happened.

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Guanahato is a city that seems carved directly into the earth,

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a narrow v val whose streets twist between brightly painted

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buildings that climb steep hillsides. The surrounding mountains are rich

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with minerals such as silver, iron, and sulfur buried deep

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beneath the rock. The air is dry enough that sweat

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disappears from your skin almost as soon as it forms

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under the afternoon sun, the hills grow ochre and gold.

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It is a stunning, winding valley that is as beautiful

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as it is unforgiving. In eighteen sixty one, the cemetery

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known as Pantheon Santa Paula introduced its burial tax. Families

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who could no longer afford the payments would eventually lose

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the right to keep relatives interred there forfeiting a perpetual burial.

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For several years, little was done to enforce this tax.

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Then in sixty five, cemetery workers were finally ordered to

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begin exhuming bodies from unpaid crypts. One of the first

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belonged to a man named doctor ramihil Le Roy, remembered

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locally as the French doctor. Doctor Leroy died in eighteen sixty.

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As a foreigner, he had no large extended family in

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Juanajato to continue paying the burial tax, nor would there

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be any relatives gathered outside the crypt to protest its opening,

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No priest standing nearby praying forgiveness for the disrespect about

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to take place. Only labourers with iron tools descending into

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the cemetery corridors. When they opened the tomb, they expected decay. Instead,

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they found a man. The doctor's body had dried rather

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than decomposed. His skin still clung tightly to his face,

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His beard remained intact, his clothing had not rotted away.

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It was as if the dry mountain air and mineral

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rich soil had slowly transformed him into leather and parchment

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instead of dust. The workers reportedly did not know what

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to do with him. Eventually they carried the body beneath

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the cemetery and stood it upright against the wall of

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an underground ostuary. Finding one preserved corpse would have been

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unsettling enough, Then they found another and another. As more

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graves were opened for unpaid taxes, workers discovered that many

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of the dead had undergone the same transformation. The conditions

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inside the cryps of heat, dryness, mineral content, and limited

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moisture had naturally and unintentionally mummified the bodies. Some remained

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eerily recognizable, Others had deteriorated into skeletal forms wrapped in

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stretched skin. Many appeared frozen in expressions of agony, mouths

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hanging permanently open in what looked like silent screams. In reality,

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the expression was likely caused by muscles and ligaments relaxing

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after death, allowing the jaw to fall open an uneternal yawn.

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But to the people seeing them for the first time

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in torchlight beneath the cemetery, science offered little comfort. The

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deeper the workers went, the more disturbing the discoveries became.

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One mummy belonged to a woman who had been four

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months pregnant when she died. Her tiny fetus was later

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removed from her preserved body and displayed beside her, becoming

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one of the smaller mummies in the world. Another body

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became the source of one of Guanajuato's most haunting legends,

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a woman named Ignasia Aguilarre. According to local accounts, Ignasia

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suffered from a condition that could slow her heart so

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much that it could mimic death. Her family, believing she

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had passed away, buried her quickly. When her body was

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eventually exhumed, grave workers claimed she had changed position inside

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the coffin, injuries marked her forehead. She lay face down

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with her arms beneath her, as though she had awakened

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in darkness, struck the coffin lid, trying to escape, and

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finally collapse in exhausted resignation. Whether the story is true

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or embellished over time hardly matters now. In Guanajuato, the

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line between documented history and folklore has always been thin.

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News of the mummies spread quickly through the city. Soon,

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cemetery workers began charging curious visitors a few vessels to

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descend into the astuary corridors and view the preserved dead. Tourists, travelers,

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and townspeople came to stare into the faces of people

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who had once walked the same streets above them. But

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over time, something else besides dignity disappeared. Names vanished, Tags

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identifying the dead went missing, Personal belongings disappeared, Records became incomplete.

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Many of the bodies belonged to poor families, already erased

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from official memory by poverty and time, without names attached

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to them. Cemetery workers and guides began inventing identities and

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stories to entertain visits. The unknown dead became caricatures La Brucha,

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the Witch, Elaugado, the drowned man. Tales grew more elaborate,

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with every retelling, each story helping draw larger crowds underground.

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The people too poor to remain buried with honour, slowly

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lost even the memory of who they once were. The

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final body was exhumed in nineteen fifty eight. By then,

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when hundred eleven mummies had been removed from their graves

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and lined along the underground walls of the cemetery corridors.

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A decade later, in nineteen sixty eight, the city opened

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a formal museum around the collection. Today, fifty nine of

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the mummies remain on permanent display. Every year, hundreds of

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thousands of tourists visit Museo de las Montias de Juanajuato.

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The museum generates millions of dollars for the city and

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has become one of Guanajuapo's most recognizable attractions. For decades,

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many of the mummies were displayed standing upright, just as

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workers had originally leaned them against the walls after exhumation.

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Some even traveled internationally in exhibitions, including tours through museums

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in the United States in the late two thousands. But

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in recent years the collection has become the center of

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an ethical debate. Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History,

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known as NAH, has criticized the museum's preservation practices and

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treatment of the bodies. Officials argue that the mummies were

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not properly stored and were damaged through repeated handling and transport.

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Some examinations reportedly found evidence of fungal growth on several bodies,

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raising concerns that spores could spread to workers and visitors

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through poorly sealed display cases. Iah has also pushed for

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something more fundamental, restoring identities to the dead. Researchers argue

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that these were real people, labourers, mothers, children, immigrants whose

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bodies ended up on display largely because their families could

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not afford a burial tax. Descendants, they say, deserve to

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know what became of their ancestors to leave the dead unnamed,

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posed for photographs and marketed as entertainment risks, turning poverty

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itself into spectacle. Yet many people in Guanajuato see the

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matter differently. For them, the mummies are not simply curiosities.

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They are part of a broader cultural relationship with death

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that exists throughout Mexico. Cemeteries are not always places of

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silence and distance. Families visit graves with food, candles, and

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music during Day of the Dead. The boundary between the

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living and the dead is treated less like a wall

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and more like a doorway. To many locals. The mummies

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are not hidden away in shame. They are remembered, seen, acknowledged,

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and so the question remains unresolved beneath the hills of Guanajuato.

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At what point does remembrance become exploitation, When does preserving

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the dead become pageantry? And what do the mummies themselves

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represent a scientific accident, a cultural tradition, or a warning

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about how easily poverty can follow a person even beyond

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the grave. Welcome back, Girlfriends. Thank you so much for

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tuning into that story. So this is one that we've

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been wanting to cover for quite a while, but I've

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never felt an urgency to do so because I feel

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like there has been a lot of coverage on the

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mummies of Guanaquato. But we figured, you know what, it's time,

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let's go for it. So the first source that we

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have here is from Nationalgeographic dot Com and this is

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titled These Mexican Mummies draw Crowds and Controversy. This is

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published in twenty twenty two by Jennifer Barger. Thank you

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Jennifer for writing this and obviously you know this. This

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This is a real place. The Museum of Mummies is

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a real place in Mexico and Guanajuato, Mexico. And this

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article starts off. Guanapuato, Mexico has been on the UNESCO

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World Heritage List since nineteen eighty eight thanks to its

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colonial Spanish architecture, silver mining history, and sites related to

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the Mexican Revolution. This goes on a bit more about Mexico. Then,

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this says, but the biggest tourist attraction in the central

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Mexican city is darker and more gruesome than all that,

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an underground museum of one hundred mummies. This is published

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in twenty twenty two. I know that we said. It

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says like recently, there's maybe closer to fifty or sixty

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of them that are still on display. This is no

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pun intended a living exhibit, right, So I'm sure, like

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you know, things change, They swap bodies in and out,

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and they make decisions about how many of them want

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display at any given time. Right. But this says these

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slack jawed men, leathery skinned infants, and other corpses have

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been luring curious travelers for more than a century. Visitors

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first paid a few vessels to visit to the mummies

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in an underground crypt. Since nineteen sixty nine, they've been

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displayed under spooky spotlight at the Museo de las Momies.

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These naturally preserved corpses, and in parentheses it says no

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bandages or embalming here from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

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are a revenue generator and a source of local pride

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for this city, about an hour's drive west of San

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Miguel the Allende, the mummies of Juanajuato bring the biggest

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economic income to the municipality after property tax, says Mexican

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anthropologist Juan Manuel argueyas San Millan. Their importance is hard

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to overstate. And this is where that sort of debate starts,

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00:17:25.160 --> 00:17:28.400
right is you know there's people that are from here,

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00:17:28.440 --> 00:17:34.160
from this area, that are involved in community and anthropology,

233
00:17:34.279 --> 00:17:37.359
and you know there's I think, like on surface level,

234
00:17:37.480 --> 00:17:39.720
the debate is, you do want to be worry about

235
00:17:39.720 --> 00:17:41.640
something like this, Right, It's like, what is the line

236
00:17:41.640 --> 00:17:44.799
between exploitation, especially because these people and by these people

237
00:17:44.839 --> 00:17:48.640
I mean the mummies, the corpses on display, they never

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00:17:48.640 --> 00:17:50.759
consented to any of this right, it was. It was

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00:17:50.880 --> 00:17:54.160
never even an idea in their imaginations. I think that

240
00:17:54.240 --> 00:17:57.880
the Musea de las monieas would exist that you're right, Like,

241
00:17:57.920 --> 00:18:00.279
how could you even think of something like that? So

242
00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:02.720
this was never even a concept in their minds. So

243
00:18:02.759 --> 00:18:06.279
obviously there is no like autonomy there, like it just

244
00:18:06.359 --> 00:18:08.960
does not exist. And so it's like is it ethical

245
00:18:09.079 --> 00:18:12.319
to put these bodies on display? But also some people

246
00:18:12.359 --> 00:18:15.480
would argue and say, well, what does it matter because

247
00:18:16.400 --> 00:18:19.160
they're dead, like their bodies were not claimed, they were

248
00:18:19.240 --> 00:18:22.839
left and people living today that benefit from this from

249
00:18:22.880 --> 00:18:24.880
the community say, you know, it's a point of pride

250
00:18:24.920 --> 00:18:27.960
and it is something that helps the community here, So

251
00:18:28.039 --> 00:18:30.400
like why not let it exist? Why not use it

252
00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:34.279
to bring in you know, revenue more than property taxes

253
00:18:34.279 --> 00:18:36.400
at this point in twenty twenty two, Right, So there's

254
00:18:36.759 --> 00:18:39.559
many different ways to argue it. Me personally, I don't

255
00:18:39.559 --> 00:18:42.079
think I would get involved in that argument because I

256
00:18:42.119 --> 00:18:45.200
am not from there, So I feel like I have

257
00:18:45.319 --> 00:18:47.799
no real say. If I had to give an opinion though,

258
00:18:48.200 --> 00:18:49.880
and I'm going to because hello, I'm in front of

259
00:18:49.880 --> 00:18:52.000
a microphone, why not, right, I would say that it

260
00:18:52.119 --> 00:18:57.079
depends on how the bodies are are treated like I've

261
00:18:57.119 --> 00:18:59.680
never been to this museum. I would like to go, right,

262
00:18:59.799 --> 00:19:03.519
but I would be very conscious about Okay, like how

263
00:19:03.559 --> 00:19:07.599
are they being presented? Like they're displayed behind these like

264
00:19:07.759 --> 00:19:12.400
ga glass cases, so it looks like it is done

265
00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:15.759
with respect. It would be a different story if there's like,

266
00:19:15.799 --> 00:19:18.440
you know, like flashing lights and signs and it's like, ooh,

267
00:19:18.640 --> 00:19:21.279
check out the spooky mummies right here. It doesn't seem

268
00:19:21.319 --> 00:19:24.559
like campy or like kitchy in that way. It seems

269
00:19:24.599 --> 00:19:26.960
like this is like a real display that is being

270
00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:30.279
put on with respect. It doesn't feel gimmicky, I guess,

271
00:19:30.359 --> 00:19:31.759
is what I'm trying to say. I would be very

272
00:19:31.799 --> 00:19:33.839
conscious about that as long as it doesn't feel that way.

273
00:19:33.880 --> 00:19:36.319
I think my opinion is like, Okay, let it happen

274
00:19:36.359 --> 00:19:39.599
because the community benefits from it as a whole. But

275
00:19:39.759 --> 00:19:41.680
again I am not from that community, so I cannot

276
00:19:41.680 --> 00:19:44.079
speak for them. This continues right here. It says the

277
00:19:44.160 --> 00:19:47.240
mummies are also controversial. Travelers from other cultures have a

278
00:19:47.279 --> 00:19:50.200
hard time grasping why one of Mexico's most beautiful cities

279
00:19:50.240 --> 00:19:54.240
displays macabre human remains. Some scholars think the bodies are

280
00:19:54.279 --> 00:19:57.759
badly stored and mislabeled. Earlier this year, plans for a

281
00:19:57.799 --> 00:20:02.480
glitzy new Momias Museum were after scholars and UNESCO raps

282
00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:06.839
boked at its location atop a proposed downtown shopping mall. Okay,

283
00:20:06.920 --> 00:20:09.799
see that, I'm with them on that. I'm like, really

284
00:20:09.799 --> 00:20:11.839
in a shopping center like that feels it should be

285
00:20:11.880 --> 00:20:14.960
like its own standalone thing. Maybe at a cemetery, right,

286
00:20:15.039 --> 00:20:16.839
like the cemetery that they were found out, like put

287
00:20:16.880 --> 00:20:18.920
the museum there, but then also that could cause a

288
00:20:18.920 --> 00:20:21.960
disruption to the rest of the cemetery. It's tricky, and

289
00:20:22.000 --> 00:20:24.599
this is why I am not making those decisions. And

290
00:20:24.720 --> 00:20:27.559
the city Wanajuato's not calling me. They're not rushing to

291
00:20:27.559 --> 00:20:29.559
get my opinion on this. Right. Also, I don't want

292
00:20:29.599 --> 00:20:32.400
to assume what people know. But moremiaz is a Spanish

293
00:20:32.440 --> 00:20:34.240
word for mummies. So if you hear me using the

294
00:20:34.279 --> 00:20:38.200
word moremiaz, that's what that is. It's interchanged throughout these sources.

295
00:20:38.279 --> 00:20:41.480
This says, it's all brought renewed attention to these fragile remains.

296
00:20:41.640 --> 00:20:44.319
The National Institute of Anthropology and History just launched a

297
00:20:44.359 --> 00:20:48.000
study headed by San Millan to determine the identities of

298
00:20:48.039 --> 00:20:52.200
the mostly Anonymous Bodies, an exhibition of sensitively crafted photographs

299
00:20:52.200 --> 00:20:54.880
of the mummies by local artists. Michael James. Wright will

300
00:20:54.880 --> 00:21:00.000
headline at Juanajuato's esteemed annual Festival Interna Vanino October three,

301
00:21:00.000 --> 00:21:02.680
eighteen through thirtieth, and then go on tour in Mexico

302
00:21:02.759 --> 00:21:05.839
and abroad these projects. This is a quote, These projects

303
00:21:05.880 --> 00:21:09.119
can dignify the dead and turn them into something educational

304
00:21:09.200 --> 00:21:11.480
instead of a side show. Says right, Okay, that is

305
00:21:11.559 --> 00:21:16.240
exactly online with what I was thinking is make it educational,

306
00:21:16.440 --> 00:21:19.839
make it like a culture swap thing, not a side show. Also,

307
00:21:19.880 --> 00:21:21.680
this was published in twenty twenty two, so that's probably

308
00:21:21.680 --> 00:21:23.839
when that festival happened. But I'm like, where can I

309
00:21:23.880 --> 00:21:27.240
find these photos? I think that would be really cool

310
00:21:27.279 --> 00:21:28.799
to see. If I can find some of those photos,

311
00:21:28.799 --> 00:21:30.680
I will throw them up here on the video if

312
00:21:30.680 --> 00:21:32.880
you have access to that on Patreon, and use them

313
00:21:33.200 --> 00:21:36.759
for the social media post for this episode. This says here, Haha,

314
00:21:36.880 --> 00:21:41.039
funny joke who wrote this again, funny joke Jennifer. Jennifer

315
00:21:41.079 --> 00:21:44.799
writes here we unwrap how the mummies and their museum

316
00:21:44.839 --> 00:21:46.960
came to be and why it continues to draw crowds

317
00:21:46.960 --> 00:21:51.599
to want to wat them hilarious, hilarious, Jennifer Wrights. Despite

318
00:21:51.599 --> 00:21:54.240
one of what those spectacular historic city center, the Mummies

319
00:21:54.319 --> 00:21:56.759
Museum at the edge of town is often the first

320
00:21:56.799 --> 00:21:59.720
place tourists visit. I'm going to see the aunts, joke

321
00:21:59.759 --> 00:22:03.400
mechs heading to Guanajuato. People stand in line for hours

322
00:22:03.400 --> 00:22:06.359
to enter the museum, elbow to elbow with street vendors,

323
00:22:06.359 --> 00:22:09.640
hockey Chattamusca, a local cinnamon sugar candy shaped like what

324
00:22:09.759 --> 00:22:12.400
else mummies. And then there's also a photo here from

325
00:22:12.599 --> 00:22:15.799
nineteen eleven that shows the mummies in their original display

326
00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:18.880
space and it's literally it's like a tunnel. It looks

327
00:22:18.920 --> 00:22:22.160
like it's underground. It's like an arched tunnel, arched at

328
00:22:22.160 --> 00:22:24.200
the top, like rocks and dirt on the side, and

329
00:22:24.440 --> 00:22:27.400
the bodies are just open air, lined up on the side.

330
00:22:27.519 --> 00:22:31.079
It must have been so surreal to walk down this

331
00:22:31.240 --> 00:22:34.519
hallway and be face to face with these mummies, like

332
00:22:34.680 --> 00:22:37.720
not protected by anything again, just open air. Wow, that's

333
00:22:37.559 --> 00:22:40.440
that's wild again. And also that picture will be up

334
00:22:40.440 --> 00:22:42.480
in the video or on social media. It says Mexican

335
00:22:42.519 --> 00:22:45.519
tourists tend to accept corpses on display with a mix

336
00:22:45.559 --> 00:22:49.160
of interest and respect, but not revulsion. This is the

337
00:22:49.200 --> 00:22:52.240
birthplace of the Delos Mortos, after all. Quote. But for

338
00:22:52.319 --> 00:22:54.480
travelers from other parts of the world, I really have

339
00:22:54.599 --> 00:22:58.160
to put the museum in context, says Dante Rodriguez Zavala,

340
00:22:58.279 --> 00:23:01.559
Iguanajuato native and guide with Mexico Street Food tours. Quote.

341
00:23:01.559 --> 00:23:04.200
For Mexicans, this isn't bizarre or weird. We have a

342
00:23:04.240 --> 00:23:06.720
comfort level with death. We take food to our dead

343
00:23:06.759 --> 00:23:09.200
loved ones on Day of the Dead and invite mariachis

344
00:23:09.200 --> 00:23:12.400
into the cemetery. That's very true. I feel like Mexicans

345
00:23:12.400 --> 00:23:15.440
and that I can attest to when you know I'm

346
00:23:15.480 --> 00:23:19.359
back home and we go to cemeteries to see loved ones,

347
00:23:19.440 --> 00:23:23.559
especially on like certain holidays. The cemeteries, it looks like

348
00:23:23.599 --> 00:23:26.079
there is a festival going on or something. It looks

349
00:23:26.079 --> 00:23:29.039
like a big party. There are people that set up

350
00:23:29.079 --> 00:23:31.880
They bring like tents, you know, like the like the

351
00:23:32.079 --> 00:23:35.039
like vendor tents, almost like to block the sun out.

352
00:23:35.039 --> 00:23:38.720
They set up chairs, there's coolers, there's food, there's various

353
00:23:38.720 --> 00:23:42.519
groups of madiachi's, there's people blasting music. It's it's really

354
00:23:42.599 --> 00:23:44.920
beautiful to see. It gives me chills every time I

355
00:23:45.000 --> 00:23:47.240
go and I see it. But yeah, like Mexican people

356
00:23:47.279 --> 00:23:50.759
do have a different relationship with death than many other cultures,

357
00:23:50.799 --> 00:23:53.079
and there are other cultures. There are tons of cultures

358
00:23:53.079 --> 00:23:57.920
that have very niche, unique relationships to death and how

359
00:23:57.960 --> 00:24:01.640
they transition people from you know, live to like putting

360
00:24:01.640 --> 00:24:04.680
them to rest. But this says around Juanajuato, you'll hear

361
00:24:04.680 --> 00:24:07.559
ghostly whispers about the origin of the momiaz. Some were

362
00:24:07.559 --> 00:24:10.680
buried alive, others died in a cholera outbreak. All were

363
00:24:10.680 --> 00:24:13.759
preserved due to mineral rich soil quote plus. To make

364
00:24:13.799 --> 00:24:17.519
people interested in seeing the mummies, cemetery workers started telling

365
00:24:17.640 --> 00:24:22.400
stories about hangings, desperadoes, and witches, says Gerald Gonlogue, a

366
00:24:22.480 --> 00:24:27.440
diagnostic imaging professor emeritus with Guinea Bach University who has

367
00:24:27.519 --> 00:24:30.519
extensively studied the mummies. Then this tells about how they

368
00:24:30.559 --> 00:24:35.039
were discovered. It says, opening the tombs, workers expected dusty bones. Instead,

369
00:24:35.200 --> 00:24:39.400
they found many bodies still remarkably intact, with skin, hair,

370
00:24:39.599 --> 00:24:43.440
even tongues. That's wild. The warm, dry environment turned out

371
00:24:43.519 --> 00:24:46.440
to be ideal for preserving human remains. If the sun

372
00:24:46.519 --> 00:24:49.160
hits the niches all day, as is the case, in

373
00:24:49.240 --> 00:24:52.599
the Santa Paula. It causes the bodies to quickly dehydrate,

374
00:24:52.720 --> 00:24:57.000
says Maria de garimin LEREMRG Gomez, a forensic anthropologist working

375
00:24:57.039 --> 00:25:00.599
on the IH study. Interesting, so it was us all

376
00:25:00.680 --> 00:25:04.680
the right things, right place, right time, right conditions, coincidence,

377
00:25:04.839 --> 00:25:07.799
like completely unintentional. Then this goes out to talk about

378
00:25:07.839 --> 00:25:11.720
how the cemetery workers started turning a profit on the bodies,

379
00:25:11.759 --> 00:25:14.519
and how they were charging a small fee to admit

380
00:25:14.640 --> 00:25:18.240
people into the quote Chamber of Horrors, which was a

381
00:25:18.559 --> 00:25:21.359
winding staircase that led to the crypt where the bodies

382
00:25:21.359 --> 00:25:24.480
were again lined up on either side of this walkway,

383
00:25:24.519 --> 00:25:26.839
this hallway. And then this talks about, like we mentioned

384
00:25:26.880 --> 00:25:29.559
in the story, how this says, over the years, tourists

385
00:25:29.559 --> 00:25:33.319
swiped the mummies, name tags as souvenirs, robbing most bodies

386
00:25:33.359 --> 00:25:36.920
of their identities. Museum guides and locals filled in the

387
00:25:36.960 --> 00:25:40.440
gap with new monikers and magical narratives. A female body

388
00:25:40.440 --> 00:25:44.799
deformed by severe scoliosis called La Brucha. Another corpse known

389
00:25:44.799 --> 00:25:47.559
as Elagado or the johned Man, which I hate that

390
00:25:47.720 --> 00:25:51.119
this person that had severe scoliosis, are like, oh, that's

391
00:25:51.160 --> 00:25:53.519
the witch, that's why she looks like that, that's terrible.

392
00:25:53.559 --> 00:25:55.759
You see. That's where it gets unethical, where I'm like,

393
00:25:55.920 --> 00:25:57.960
who knows, there may have been a real witch, you know,

394
00:25:58.079 --> 00:26:01.440
amongst one of these bodies, but just feels so shitty

395
00:26:01.480 --> 00:26:04.279
to do that to somebody. And again, I see it

396
00:26:04.319 --> 00:26:06.440
all the time. People are like, oh, who cares they're dead?

397
00:26:06.480 --> 00:26:08.160
You know, they don't know, they don't know any different.

398
00:26:08.200 --> 00:26:10.240
But I'm like, it's just like, it's I don't know,

399
00:26:10.279 --> 00:26:12.599
there's there's a level of respect that I think people

400
00:26:12.680 --> 00:26:16.039
should have for the dead, and to me, it's it's

401
00:26:16.079 --> 00:26:18.640
just like it feels icky because I would hate for

402
00:26:18.839 --> 00:26:21.039
like if somebody discovered my body and for some reason

403
00:26:21.039 --> 00:26:24.440
they were like, ugh, he he he's he's ugly. He's

404
00:26:24.440 --> 00:26:26.799
the ugly man, you know, and then that's my that's

405
00:26:26.799 --> 00:26:29.279
my legacy, that's my story. But also I'm like, how

406
00:26:29.279 --> 00:26:31.720
what would I know I would be dead unless my

407
00:26:31.759 --> 00:26:34.400
spirit was lingering around my body? Like why would I know?

408
00:26:34.559 --> 00:26:37.559
I don't know. It's just I don't know. It's icky

409
00:26:37.599 --> 00:26:39.559
to me. So this talks a bit more about that

410
00:26:39.680 --> 00:26:43.119
I Nah study and how they want to improve how

411
00:26:43.279 --> 00:26:46.240
the bodies are are showcased. This this last quote here

412
00:26:46.279 --> 00:26:48.720
I'll read it says these are just regular people who

413
00:26:48.720 --> 00:26:52.200
are repositories of information about the period they lived in,

414
00:26:52.359 --> 00:26:55.559
says gounlong Wi. They walked these streets, they went to

415
00:26:55.599 --> 00:26:59.000
the old market. They shouldn't be a freak show. I

416
00:26:59.039 --> 00:27:01.400
agree with that. I don't think that is a scalding

417
00:27:01.440 --> 00:27:04.200
hot take. I think there is a way to display,

418
00:27:04.319 --> 00:27:08.839
to to talk about the history, to to exhibit the corpses,

419
00:27:08.880 --> 00:27:12.839
because it's also a very just an interesting situation where like, oh,

420
00:27:12.880 --> 00:27:16.440
this was completely unintentional. Look at what happened because of again,

421
00:27:16.519 --> 00:27:19.200
these these these instances that that happened to line up

422
00:27:19.319 --> 00:27:21.559
and it was the perfect combination of things for these

423
00:27:21.640 --> 00:27:23.920
bodies to be preserved. Approach it that way, but not

424
00:27:24.079 --> 00:27:26.160
as a freak show. And it starts to enter that

425
00:27:26.240 --> 00:27:29.640
quote freak show side when we start making up stories

426
00:27:29.640 --> 00:27:33.559
about people because their bodies are not what we would

427
00:27:33.680 --> 00:27:35.519
expect a typical body to look like. You know what

428
00:27:35.559 --> 00:27:39.119
I mean, I don't know it just again, it's that ickiness. Okay,

429
00:27:39.559 --> 00:27:41.960
on that ickness. We're gonna go ahead and take a break.

430
00:27:55.759 --> 00:27:59.640
Welcome back, well friends, Okay, jumping into the next source.

431
00:27:59.720 --> 00:28:02.920
This is from the Little House of horrors dot com.

432
00:28:02.960 --> 00:28:06.240
And this is the Guanajuato Mummies. That's what it is titled.

433
00:28:06.359 --> 00:28:08.960
I do not see a published date or an author

434
00:28:09.000 --> 00:28:11.599
on here, so sorry for that. But again, as always,

435
00:28:11.640 --> 00:28:14.880
you can find direct links to the sources in these

436
00:28:14.880 --> 00:28:18.119
Susto Google docs on sustoplus dot com. So this starts

437
00:28:18.160 --> 00:28:22.000
off by talking about how these bodies ended up here,

438
00:28:22.160 --> 00:28:24.880
what was the reason for them being exhumed and all that,

439
00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:27.960
And this says the Mexican city of Guanajuato suffered from

440
00:28:27.960 --> 00:28:31.759
a heavy cholera epidemic in eighteen thirty three. Many lives

441
00:28:31.759 --> 00:28:34.319
were lost because of this illness. To make sure the

442
00:28:34.359 --> 00:28:38.440
epidemic didn't spread, the dead were buried almost immediately. In

443
00:28:38.480 --> 00:28:41.279
some cases the victims were buried a little too soon.

444
00:28:41.440 --> 00:28:43.799
I think it's talking about that story of that person

445
00:28:43.839 --> 00:28:47.400
that may allegedly have been buried alive. But this says

446
00:28:47.519 --> 00:28:49.880
no wonder why the museum where the mummies are on

447
00:28:49.960 --> 00:28:53.599
display is haunted like it is. That would make sense

448
00:28:53.640 --> 00:28:56.440
to me that it is haunted again because the bodies

449
00:28:56.480 --> 00:28:59.400
are they were disturbed. They're on display, and you know

450
00:29:00.119 --> 00:29:03.359
someone's spirit is upset enough with that, then they could

451
00:29:03.359 --> 00:29:05.440
hang out and be like, no, I'm fucking haunting this

452
00:29:05.519 --> 00:29:08.960
place because leave my body alone. Right, This continues, It

453
00:29:09.000 --> 00:29:12.799
says excavated due to taxes between eighteen fifty five and

454
00:29:12.920 --> 00:29:15.680
eighteen fifty eight. Many of the bodies were dug up,

455
00:29:15.759 --> 00:29:18.599
not because the relatives wanted their loved ones to get

456
00:29:18.599 --> 00:29:22.119
a proper burial, but because the Mexican government decided to

457
00:29:22.240 --> 00:29:26.119
raise heavy taxes on the graves. Many poor Mexicans couldn't

458
00:29:26.160 --> 00:29:29.119
pay these taxes, so the dead were excavated. The grave

459
00:29:29.200 --> 00:29:33.119
diggers stumbled upon something they didn't expect. The dead didn't

460
00:29:33.160 --> 00:29:36.880
turn into skeletons, but into perfectly preserved mummies. The dry

461
00:29:36.920 --> 00:29:40.160
Mexican heat, as well as the low humidity dried the

462
00:29:40.160 --> 00:29:42.839
bodies in a natural way. Curious people wanted to have

463
00:29:42.880 --> 00:29:45.000
a look and were even prepared to pay for it,

464
00:29:45.319 --> 00:29:48.559
and so the mummy Museum or ed Museo de las

465
00:29:48.559 --> 00:29:51.839
Momiez was born. This. I'm excited that this is talking

466
00:29:51.880 --> 00:29:53.880
about this, and we're going to bring it up a

467
00:29:53.880 --> 00:29:56.960
bit more a little later. But this says different from

468
00:29:57.000 --> 00:30:00.599
the Egyptian mummies because the Guanajuato mummies mu ummafied in

469
00:30:00.640 --> 00:30:04.039
a natural way. They differ a lot from the Egyptian mummies,

470
00:30:04.079 --> 00:30:06.960
because they think when many of us hear mummy or

471
00:30:07.000 --> 00:30:09.480
hear about mummies, we think about Egypt, right, and how

472
00:30:09.559 --> 00:30:15.640
mummification was a very structured, very revered practice at the time, right,

473
00:30:15.680 --> 00:30:18.680
And this continues. Those mummies have been preserved with care

474
00:30:18.799 --> 00:30:23.000
and skill, right, so they look clean and peaceful. Unfortunately

475
00:30:23.079 --> 00:30:25.759
that's not the case for the Mexican mummies. Some of

476
00:30:25.759 --> 00:30:29.960
them look horrified with tortured expressions on their faces. If

477
00:30:30.039 --> 00:30:33.160
this is because the way they were preserved is debatable.

478
00:30:33.240 --> 00:30:35.160
And then this also makes another reference. It says that

479
00:30:35.200 --> 00:30:37.359
there's evidence that some of the dead may have been

480
00:30:37.400 --> 00:30:39.640
buried while they were still alive. This is some so

481
00:30:39.640 --> 00:30:43.279
I like, I'm thinking, did this was this alleged on

482
00:30:43.359 --> 00:30:46.680
more than one instance? Did they find several bodies that

483
00:30:46.880 --> 00:30:50.079
showed some sort of evidence of this person may have

484
00:30:50.079 --> 00:30:52.960
been buried alive or was it just that one story? Right?

485
00:30:53.079 --> 00:30:55.920
And they talk about her again. They say Ignacia Aguilad,

486
00:30:56.039 --> 00:30:58.839
for example, suffered from cholera, but also had a rare

487
00:30:58.880 --> 00:31:01.799
disease where her heart could simply stop, sometimes for a

488
00:31:01.799 --> 00:31:04.720
whole day. Her family thought she had died and buried

489
00:31:04.720 --> 00:31:07.680
her the same day in fear of getting sick themselves again.

490
00:31:07.720 --> 00:31:11.000
There was that urgency to bury people who had passed

491
00:31:11.000 --> 00:31:13.920
away from cholera. This says she must have woken up

492
00:31:13.960 --> 00:31:16.640
at some point realizing she was buried alive. Can you

493
00:31:16.680 --> 00:31:20.039
imagine that she was found face down in her coffin

494
00:31:20.160 --> 00:31:22.440
and it seemed like she tried to open the coffin,

495
00:31:22.519 --> 00:31:25.400
pushing her back against the lid. Unfortunately she fell to

496
00:31:25.519 --> 00:31:28.359
escape her horrible fate. In her desperation, she must have

497
00:31:28.440 --> 00:31:30.799
bitten her arms. There is a huge amount of blood

498
00:31:30.799 --> 00:31:33.319
in her mouth. Her face is also covered in scratches.

499
00:31:33.599 --> 00:31:36.720
That poor poor woman. That is terrifying. That is like

500
00:31:36.960 --> 00:31:41.039
top three worst nightmare situation. This talks about another legend,

501
00:31:41.119 --> 00:31:44.119
this one there's actually a physical evidence of it. It

502
00:31:44.119 --> 00:31:46.880
does exist, and that says the world's smallest mummy. There's

503
00:31:46.880 --> 00:31:49.400
a picture here and it's a little baby mummy. But

504
00:31:49.599 --> 00:31:52.160
this does say about the baby mummies in all shapes

505
00:31:52.200 --> 00:31:55.079
and sizes can be found at the museum. Sadly, there

506
00:31:55.079 --> 00:31:57.559
are a couple of child mummies as well. One of

507
00:31:57.599 --> 00:32:00.559
the child mummies is a twenty four week old fetus,

508
00:32:00.599 --> 00:32:03.480
which is the smallest mummy in the world. Its mother

509
00:32:03.599 --> 00:32:05.960
is standing right next to it. One of the other

510
00:32:06.039 --> 00:32:09.119
mummies is the French doctor to Machiel Leroy. He was

511
00:32:09.160 --> 00:32:12.359
the first mummy to be exhibited in Musee de las Moniaz.

512
00:32:12.799 --> 00:32:15.440
Now one hundred eight mummies can be seen in the museum,

513
00:32:15.480 --> 00:32:17.839
which is built on top of the finding place. Some

514
00:32:17.920 --> 00:32:20.200
mummies even wear the clothes they wore the day they

515
00:32:20.240 --> 00:32:22.680
were buried. Okay, so again this is a different number

516
00:32:22.720 --> 00:32:24.799
about how many were displayed. I do not have a

517
00:32:24.839 --> 00:32:27.480
date on when this was published, so that could be different.

518
00:32:27.480 --> 00:32:30.440
That could have changed many times. This also says, though

519
00:32:30.680 --> 00:32:33.880
this detail that the museum was built on top of

520
00:32:33.920 --> 00:32:37.359
the finding place. So again, to me, it would make

521
00:32:37.400 --> 00:32:40.480
sense to keep the display at the cemetery, but because

522
00:32:40.519 --> 00:32:43.359
there are so many tourists, like, maybe it should be

523
00:32:43.400 --> 00:32:45.680
moved because we don't want to disturb the rest of

524
00:32:45.680 --> 00:32:49.400
the cemetery or cause issue for families trying to visit

525
00:32:49.440 --> 00:32:52.359
their loved ones at the cemetery. So like, I don't know,

526
00:32:52.720 --> 00:32:56.400
find a spot near it again, Citiguanajuato. You don't need

527
00:32:56.440 --> 00:32:59.559
my advice. That's just me like thinking out loud about

528
00:32:59.799 --> 00:33:03.880
was the solution here right now? This continues about the hauntings.

529
00:33:03.920 --> 00:33:07.519
It says the ghosts of the Juanajuato mummies. Staff members

530
00:33:07.559 --> 00:33:10.680
of l Museo de las Momias don't like spending time

531
00:33:10.720 --> 00:33:13.240
alone in the room where the mummies are on display.

532
00:33:13.480 --> 00:33:16.519
They feel as if they are being watched, and sometimes

533
00:33:16.559 --> 00:33:20.400
people claim to hear whispers and mumbles that the museum

534
00:33:20.519 --> 00:33:24.559
is haunted. Won't surprise anyone, These mummies have been taken

535
00:33:24.599 --> 00:33:27.559
from their final resting place to be shown to the public.

536
00:33:27.680 --> 00:33:30.440
That's exactly what I said. I'm like, yeah, their bodies

537
00:33:30.440 --> 00:33:34.400
are disturbed. Their final resting places were disturbed for purely

538
00:33:34.480 --> 00:33:38.160
for let's be very real, at the time, for what

539
00:33:38.319 --> 00:33:42.559
became entertainment purposes. Let's be honest. So yeah, I would

540
00:33:42.559 --> 00:33:45.279
I would think a spirit may be disturbed by that.

541
00:33:45.599 --> 00:33:48.359
This finishes up and it says the mummies are Guanajuato's

542
00:33:48.359 --> 00:33:52.039
main tourist attraction each year doing the lit Los Mortos.

543
00:33:52.079 --> 00:33:54.839
They are an important part of the celebration. I like

544
00:33:54.880 --> 00:33:57.799
that they are included that I do like. I'm like, yes,

545
00:33:57.839 --> 00:34:00.200
because that's a day to celebrate the dead, celebration to

546
00:34:00.240 --> 00:34:02.839
honor their lives. So I do like that they're included

547
00:34:02.880 --> 00:34:04.720
in that. And it's not just like you know, there's

548
00:34:04.759 --> 00:34:07.799
that museum over there, right. It says they were also

549
00:34:07.960 --> 00:34:10.559
used in the b horror movies Santo Versus The Mummies

550
00:34:10.559 --> 00:34:13.639
of Guanajuato. I need to watch that. I've really wanted

551
00:34:13.639 --> 00:34:15.920
to get to the Santo movies. So if anybody out

552
00:34:15.920 --> 00:34:18.800
there watches or has seen any of the Santo movies,

553
00:34:18.880 --> 00:34:20.800
let me know. You know, what are your top picks?

554
00:34:20.800 --> 00:34:22.800
What should I do? It's there like a box set

555
00:34:22.800 --> 00:34:25.039
of DVDs that I can buy, there probably is. I'm

556
00:34:25.039 --> 00:34:27.079
gonna look for one because I want to watch these movies.

557
00:34:27.159 --> 00:34:30.440
This continues. Author Ray Bradbury got inspired for his short

558
00:34:30.440 --> 00:34:33.440
horror story The Next in Line after visiting the museum.

559
00:34:33.760 --> 00:34:36.519
And if a diehard horror riter lose your sleep over

560
00:34:36.559 --> 00:34:39.920
these mummies, how would a normal person react to them? Exactly?

561
00:34:40.199 --> 00:34:44.039
So some fun other resources to look into the Santo

562
00:34:44.119 --> 00:34:46.920
Versus the Mummies of Guanajuato. And then again there's a

563
00:34:46.960 --> 00:34:50.280
short horror story by author Ray Bradbury and the story

564
00:34:50.320 --> 00:34:53.199
is called The Next in Line, which I will probably read.

565
00:34:53.480 --> 00:34:57.679
This next source is from tolljack dot com. That's t

566
00:34:57.840 --> 00:35:01.480
u l jak dot com and this is titled life

567
00:35:01.519 --> 00:35:05.960
and death in Guanajuato. This seems like a this is

568
00:35:06.199 --> 00:35:09.639
it is a blog, but it's written by a traveler,

569
00:35:09.679 --> 00:35:11.639
and it's written from their point of view and their

570
00:35:11.719 --> 00:35:15.559
visit to the Museum of the Mummies or the Mussel

571
00:35:15.599 --> 00:35:18.239
de las Moniez. And this says, Guanajuato left the deepest

572
00:35:18.239 --> 00:35:20.760
impression on me among all the places we visited on

573
00:35:20.800 --> 00:35:23.119
the recent trip to Central Mexico. I'm going to jump

574
00:35:23.159 --> 00:35:25.880
forward and it says, however, the city is especially popular

575
00:35:25.880 --> 00:35:28.719
with domestic tourists. Many are drawn here by the history

576
00:35:28.719 --> 00:35:32.519
and the city's most unusual attraction, mummies of Guanajuato. Unlike

577
00:35:32.559 --> 00:35:35.960
the Egyptian counterpart, the mummies of Guanajuato are naturally occurring

578
00:35:36.000 --> 00:35:40.320
phenomena and entirely accidental. The story went that there was

579
00:35:40.360 --> 00:35:43.039
a cholera outbreak back in the mid nineteenth century here

580
00:35:43.039 --> 00:35:45.960
in Central Mexico. Again to contain the epidemic, the local

581
00:35:46.000 --> 00:35:48.079
authority was quick to bury the dead in the city's

582
00:35:48.079 --> 00:35:51.440
public cemetery. Because of the high mortality rate, the cemetery

583
00:35:51.519 --> 00:35:53.719
filled up in just a matter of a few years.

584
00:35:53.880 --> 00:35:56.400
As it was common practice then, the burial was considered

585
00:35:56.519 --> 00:35:59.280
temporary for five to ten years. That's something that I

586
00:35:59.320 --> 00:36:02.039
didn't know, never heard of, so a burial, and I

587
00:36:02.119 --> 00:36:05.360
feel like that's probably similar now, like do people have

588
00:36:05.400 --> 00:36:08.480
to pay to keep their family their loved ones in

589
00:36:08.519 --> 00:36:12.360
the cemetery? Okay, so really quick Google search tells me

590
00:36:12.480 --> 00:36:16.119
that it's rare now to have to pay ongoing fees.

591
00:36:16.320 --> 00:36:19.719
That there are some cemeteries where there is like maintenance

592
00:36:19.760 --> 00:36:23.760
fees and stuff, but that initially when someone gets buried

593
00:36:23.800 --> 00:36:27.719
and you do pay for the funeral and the burial

594
00:36:27.719 --> 00:36:30.440
and all that, which is wild how expensive it is

595
00:36:30.679 --> 00:36:34.840
that when someone pays that that there's typically like a

596
00:36:34.920 --> 00:36:38.119
maintenance fee or something, or a fund that is included

597
00:36:38.159 --> 00:36:41.639
into that initial fee. So when you pay for someone

598
00:36:41.679 --> 00:36:44.679
to get buried, whatever you pay for that, it's used

599
00:36:44.719 --> 00:36:47.400
to maintain the plot and to maintain the cemetery. Right,

600
00:36:47.559 --> 00:36:50.519
So that's I'm like, okay, I'm glad there's not still

601
00:36:50.559 --> 00:36:53.119
a burial text, but I would not be shocked if

602
00:36:53.119 --> 00:36:56.760
it happened still, or if they brought it back. I'm like, yeah,

603
00:36:56.800 --> 00:37:00.440
of course they would. Anyway, Sorry, this continues. The burials

604
00:37:00.480 --> 00:37:03.960
then were it was considered temporary, which is wild, for

605
00:37:04.119 --> 00:37:06.920
five to ten years and that after this period, relatives

606
00:37:06.960 --> 00:37:09.400
of the dead must provide a proper tax payment for

607
00:37:09.440 --> 00:37:13.239
the perpetual burial right quote perpetual burial. So then this

608
00:37:13.320 --> 00:37:17.400
talks more about the story of how they the grave

609
00:37:17.440 --> 00:37:22.679
diggers then had to exume bodies because people lapsed on

610
00:37:22.719 --> 00:37:25.840
the burial tax and they had to exum bodies to

611
00:37:25.880 --> 00:37:28.320
make room for people that would pay, and then that's

612
00:37:28.360 --> 00:37:31.280
how the mummies were discovered. This talks about how the

613
00:37:31.360 --> 00:37:34.280
museum was set up, how they are on display. What

614
00:37:34.360 --> 00:37:37.039
I really wanted to read from this is they they

615
00:37:37.119 --> 00:37:40.679
wrote about again this ethical dilemma, right, because they do

616
00:37:40.760 --> 00:37:44.480
talk about you know, doctor Leroy again and some of

617
00:37:44.519 --> 00:37:48.119
the pregnant mummies and the infant ones and the child ones.

618
00:37:48.400 --> 00:37:51.159
It's a large collection, right, We've heard about that several times.

619
00:37:51.159 --> 00:37:53.880
But this says here because I'm very interested in, like

620
00:37:53.960 --> 00:37:57.440
the cultural perspective about this, this says it is, of

621
00:37:57.440 --> 00:38:00.480
course a little uncomfortable to speak of actual human remains

622
00:38:00.519 --> 00:38:04.000
as an exhibit and attraction. Actually, this reminds me of

623
00:38:04.239 --> 00:38:08.760
there was that science exhibit right where a woman there

624
00:38:08.800 --> 00:38:11.960
was it was like a science exhibit with actual human bodies,

625
00:38:12.000 --> 00:38:16.199
and a woman saw her son in it and she

626
00:38:16.320 --> 00:38:19.119
had not signed anything, Like it was like, how does

627
00:38:19.159 --> 00:38:21.760
this How did this guy's body get there? Like was

628
00:38:21.800 --> 00:38:24.800
it stolen? Yeah, yeah, that's yeah, it is. It's the

629
00:38:24.840 --> 00:38:27.840
case of Kim Smith and her son, Christopher Todd Eric

630
00:38:27.920 --> 00:38:32.119
that apparently there was a clerical order in the paperwork

631
00:38:32.199 --> 00:38:37.119
and it wrongly, inaccurately marked his body as unclaimed and

632
00:38:37.159 --> 00:38:39.519
so because of that, the body, I guess was donated

633
00:38:39.679 --> 00:38:42.760
to science and she saw it on TV. This says

634
00:38:42.840 --> 00:38:45.800
years later, Smith frozen schakquhile watching a television segment on

635
00:38:45.920 --> 00:38:49.280
the quote Real Bodies, anatomical exhibit in Las Vegas, she

636
00:38:49.400 --> 00:38:53.639
recognized her son's plastinated body on public display and it

637
00:38:53.719 --> 00:38:57.039
turned into this long drawn out battle where she had

638
00:38:57.079 --> 00:38:59.440
to fight to reclaim her son's remains and give him

639
00:38:59.440 --> 00:39:03.719
a proper burial. And that is against you. That's what

640
00:39:03.800 --> 00:39:06.000
I think of when I think of how the mummies

641
00:39:06.039 --> 00:39:08.480
and Juanawuado, how they're being displayed them, Like how would

642
00:39:08.480 --> 00:39:10.719
their foul, their loved ones react if they knew this

643
00:39:10.840 --> 00:39:13.599
was happening without anybody's permission. Again, I don't want to

644
00:39:13.679 --> 00:39:16.239
launch into another tirade about it, but that's what I'm

645
00:39:16.239 --> 00:39:19.960
talking about is like that happened, that happened in modern times,

646
00:39:20.360 --> 00:39:23.400
very similar, and again it was due to a mistake,

647
00:39:23.599 --> 00:39:26.960
but still it's like it must have felt terrible for

648
00:39:27.039 --> 00:39:29.639
that mother to see that. Anyway, this continues in this

649
00:39:29.760 --> 00:39:32.639
age of political correctness and consent, one could not visit

650
00:39:32.679 --> 00:39:35.519
the Museum of Mummies without raising ethical questions about displaying

651
00:39:35.599 --> 00:39:39.079
human remains as objects of curiosity. To date, I have

652
00:39:39.199 --> 00:39:42.599
not read about any efforts to locate the surviving descendants

653
00:39:42.639 --> 00:39:45.800
of these mummies. This may have been written before the

654
00:39:46.239 --> 00:39:50.559
NAH launched that study and that project to I start

655
00:39:50.639 --> 00:39:53.239
to try identifying the bodies again, I didn't have there's

656
00:39:53.280 --> 00:39:55.760
no date when this one was written, but probably at

657
00:39:55.760 --> 00:39:59.280
the time the IRONAH had hadn't launched that yet. This says,

658
00:39:59.320 --> 00:40:02.159
I'm not sure whether there are worries that such efforts

659
00:40:02.159 --> 00:40:04.920
could create legal complications for the museum. I heard from

660
00:40:04.960 --> 00:40:09.000
a random podcast Mimi random podcaster that the newest mummy

661
00:40:09.039 --> 00:40:11.760
and infant in the museum was unearthed as recently as

662
00:40:11.920 --> 00:40:14.440
nineteen ninety nine. See, that's wild to still be doing

663
00:40:14.480 --> 00:40:16.440
it at that time. I think initially when it happened,

664
00:40:16.480 --> 00:40:18.320
it's like a Okay, what are we dealing with here?

665
00:40:18.599 --> 00:40:20.840
What is happening? How widespread is this? I think the

666
00:40:20.880 --> 00:40:23.840
initial exhumation of the bodies should have been enough and

667
00:40:23.920 --> 00:40:26.039
been like, Okay, we can't keep doing this. But this

668
00:40:26.079 --> 00:40:29.280
says supposedly the infant's mother would visit the museum periodically

669
00:40:29.320 --> 00:40:33.159
to see her child. What Although that is a nice story,

670
00:40:33.159 --> 00:40:35.400
I have not found the primary source of that tale,

671
00:40:35.480 --> 00:40:37.880
so could be completely fabricated. And I'm like, yeah, what

672
00:40:37.920 --> 00:40:41.239
would the timeline be? How long would it take for

673
00:40:41.519 --> 00:40:46.199
a body to be naturally mummified in the Juanajuato soil

674
00:40:47.000 --> 00:40:49.400
right for then a mother to be able to visit.

675
00:40:49.599 --> 00:40:51.880
I mean, I'm sure it would take a long time.

676
00:40:51.920 --> 00:40:53.920
And if it's an infant, you know, maybe there'd be

677
00:40:54.039 --> 00:40:56.000
enough time for her to still be alive and go see.

678
00:40:56.000 --> 00:40:57.920
I don't know, there's no primary stress on this. I'm

679
00:40:57.920 --> 00:41:01.360
not going to speculate because who knows how true is this? Says? Certainly,

680
00:41:01.400 --> 00:41:04.480
Wanahuata is not alone in exhibiting human remains. Nearly all

681
00:41:04.519 --> 00:41:07.599
major Western art museums hold at least a few Egyptian mummies,

682
00:41:07.639 --> 00:41:11.679
and plenty of capuccin crypts are open for visitors across Europe.

683
00:41:11.679 --> 00:41:14.920
What distinguishes Guanahuada from others is the age of these mummies.

684
00:41:14.960 --> 00:41:17.440
Because of how recent these mummies are, you can't help

685
00:41:17.440 --> 00:41:20.840
feeling empathy and a personal connection with them. The closest

686
00:41:20.840 --> 00:41:24.840
comparison may be the bodies the exhibition, a controversial venture

687
00:41:24.840 --> 00:41:28.760
accused of alleged provenance of the bodies. Again that yeah,

688
00:41:28.800 --> 00:41:31.440
like that case. So yeah, it just it raises a

689
00:41:31.440 --> 00:41:34.559
lot of questions, and I think for me that was

690
00:41:34.639 --> 00:41:38.599
the interesting part of this story. Yes, obviously the natural

691
00:41:38.719 --> 00:41:43.480
unintentional mummification is very interesting, but I've always heard about that.

692
00:41:43.519 --> 00:41:45.960
I have never and again, to be fair, it is

693
00:41:46.000 --> 00:41:47.599
in a lot of these sources. To be fair, I

694
00:41:47.679 --> 00:41:50.480
have not looked into the ethical concerns about it. So

695
00:41:50.519 --> 00:41:53.199
when we were doing research for this episode, I was like, wait, yeah,

696
00:41:53.239 --> 00:41:55.760
that is a huge question. That is a that should

697
00:41:55.760 --> 00:41:57.639
be a big debate, and I do want to know

698
00:41:57.679 --> 00:42:00.159
what people are saying. I think that that is very

699
00:42:00.159 --> 00:42:01.840
interesting to me as well. On that We're going to

700
00:42:01.920 --> 00:42:18.840
take another break. Welcome back, well friends. Okay, there is

701
00:42:19.320 --> 00:42:22.079
one here that I really wanted to talk about because

702
00:42:22.119 --> 00:42:24.159
we referenced it in the story and I was like,

703
00:42:24.199 --> 00:42:27.000
we cannot just brush past that. But this is from

704
00:42:27.320 --> 00:42:30.119
all That's Interesting dot com and it is titled The

705
00:42:30.199 --> 00:42:34.360
Chilling Story of the Guanajuato Mummies, Mexico's Eerie Screaming Corpses.

706
00:42:34.400 --> 00:42:39.760
This is written by Gabe Pauletti Pauletti, edited by Collina Fraga,

707
00:42:40.119 --> 00:42:43.440
published in August of twenty twenty three. Ooh WHI says,

708
00:42:43.480 --> 00:42:46.639
updated May fifth, twenty twenty five. So I'm going to

709
00:42:46.679 --> 00:42:51.159
scroll down here to a section that talks about the

710
00:42:51.239 --> 00:42:54.000
current state of the mummies. This says, today, for eighty

711
00:42:54.039 --> 00:42:57.039
five vessels, visitors can walk the mummy lined halls of

712
00:42:57.079 --> 00:43:01.880
the museum and explore a macabre piece of Mexican history. However,

713
00:43:02.199 --> 00:43:06.239
the museum isn't without controversy. For one, a twoenty to

714
00:43:06.400 --> 00:43:10.400
twenty three study three years ago found that the mummies

715
00:43:10.480 --> 00:43:15.320
may be contaminating the living with dangerous fungal spores. I'm

716
00:43:15.360 --> 00:43:19.599
thinking of last of us immediately right. This says, though

717
00:43:19.639 --> 00:43:22.880
the mummies are held in glass cases, the cases themselves

718
00:43:22.880 --> 00:43:25.719
may not be air tight, which could allow the spores

719
00:43:25.760 --> 00:43:29.039
to escape. Quote. At least one of the corpses on display,

720
00:43:29.119 --> 00:43:32.280
which the National Institute of Anthropology and History inspected in

721
00:43:32.320 --> 00:43:36.119
November twenty twenty one shows signs of a proliferation of

722
00:43:36.239 --> 00:43:40.119
possible fungus colonies. Said to the institute, as reported by

723
00:43:40.159 --> 00:43:43.360
the Associated Press, quote, it is even more worrisome that

724
00:43:43.440 --> 00:43:46.719
they are still being exhibited without the safeguards for the

725
00:43:46.800 --> 00:43:50.840
public against biohazards. That breaks me out. I'm like, I

726
00:43:50.920 --> 00:43:53.559
don't I feel like people should be very, very concerned

727
00:43:53.599 --> 00:44:00.320
about a potential fungal outbreak or like these. It says

728
00:44:00.320 --> 00:44:03.840
that they are dangerous fungal spores. Like, what's the danger?

729
00:44:04.280 --> 00:44:06.719
Is it an infection of some sort? Is it death?

730
00:44:06.920 --> 00:44:10.840
Is it illness? Is a yeah, but that's coming off

731
00:44:10.840 --> 00:44:14.760
of mummies. I've seen enough movies to know that that

732
00:44:14.880 --> 00:44:18.559
will not end well. And no, thank you. This continues. Secondly,

733
00:44:18.679 --> 00:44:22.199
many people have issued complaints regarding the treatment of the mummies. Again,

734
00:44:22.280 --> 00:44:25.039
there's that debate, that ethical debate. The mummies have toured

735
00:44:25.079 --> 00:44:28.960
across Mexico, eliciting critiques about the careless handling of some

736
00:44:29.039 --> 00:44:32.159
of the corpses. National Geographic reports that they have been

737
00:44:32.159 --> 00:44:35.239
displayed at conventions and to the anger of many, even

738
00:44:35.280 --> 00:44:39.400
in Guanajuato's underground tunnels during a car rally. See that

739
00:44:39.679 --> 00:44:42.880
is where it starts to feel gimmicky and side show,

740
00:44:43.079 --> 00:44:45.199
and I don't like that, it says. In an attempt

741
00:44:45.239 --> 00:44:48.519
to provide the mummies with greater dignity, the National Institute

742
00:44:48.519 --> 00:44:52.840
of Anthropology and History in Mexico created teams to research

743
00:44:52.920 --> 00:44:56.800
nineteenth and twentieth century death certificates, church documents, and newspapers

744
00:44:56.800 --> 00:44:59.679
to identify more of the mummies. Even DNA testing is

745
00:44:59.719 --> 00:45:03.320
on the table. The INAH hopes that identifying the mummies

746
00:45:03.400 --> 00:45:06.159
might connect them to living relatives. Quote they should be

747
00:45:06.159 --> 00:45:10.559
treated like human bodies. Mexican anthropologist Juan Manuel Arueyas San

748
00:45:10.639 --> 00:45:13.880
Mian said to National Geographic, who was quoted earlier. This

749
00:45:13.960 --> 00:45:16.480
means that if a descendant of the mummies wishes to

750
00:45:16.480 --> 00:45:19.000
have his or her relative buried, it should be done

751
00:45:19.119 --> 00:45:22.679
immediately and without any problem. The quote continues here, these

752
00:45:22.719 --> 00:45:25.480
are just regular people who are repositories. Again who read

753
00:45:25.480 --> 00:45:28.199
this quote earlier for information about the period they lived

754
00:45:28.199 --> 00:45:31.760
in Gunlagwa agreed. They walked these streets, they went to

755
00:45:31.800 --> 00:45:34.880
the old market. They shouldn't be a freak show exactly.

756
00:45:35.079 --> 00:45:37.199
This kind of reminds me of We don't have a

757
00:45:37.280 --> 00:45:41.000
source on it, but this reminds me of the Paris Catacombs.

758
00:45:41.079 --> 00:45:43.719
I think that would be it considered an ostuary because

759
00:45:43.800 --> 00:45:47.519
it is it's a space for skelt remains of bodies,

760
00:45:47.599 --> 00:45:50.320
just like a communal space for them. Now, I feel

761
00:45:50.320 --> 00:45:53.840
like there's a lot more lore with that, mainly because

762
00:45:53.840 --> 00:45:57.920
of people, Like there's like underground communities, or there's like

763
00:45:58.519 --> 00:46:03.000
illicit activity that happens in those tunnels because so much

764
00:46:03.039 --> 00:46:06.199
of the tunnels are are unexplored and it's dangerous to

765
00:46:06.239 --> 00:46:08.840
go down there. And so yeah, there's that idea of

766
00:46:08.880 --> 00:46:12.880
like that fascination with death and with how it's being displayed.

767
00:46:13.199 --> 00:46:16.639
There are catacomb tours right, like official ones that you

768
00:46:16.679 --> 00:46:18.599
can do. But then there's the other side of it

769
00:46:18.639 --> 00:46:21.519
where it's scary because of the living, because people are

770
00:46:21.639 --> 00:46:24.400
up to no good down there allegedly. And then there's

771
00:46:24.800 --> 00:46:27.400
one of my favorite movies as above so Below, which

772
00:46:27.440 --> 00:46:30.119
brings them like a supernatural aspect to it. It's that

773
00:46:30.239 --> 00:46:33.360
similar kind of vibe of like how we as living

774
00:46:33.440 --> 00:46:38.440
people perceive and consume death so to speak. Okay, so

775
00:46:38.480 --> 00:46:42.599
speaking of the fungus, the dangerous spores, we have a

776
00:46:42.639 --> 00:46:45.519
source on that. This is from ap news dot com.

777
00:46:45.559 --> 00:46:48.880
This was published March thirtieth, twenty twenty three. This is

778
00:46:48.920 --> 00:46:52.440
titled Mexican experts say mummy exhibit may pose health risks,

779
00:46:52.519 --> 00:46:54.679
which I think we should talk about this for sure,

780
00:46:54.840 --> 00:46:58.280
it says Mexican government experts said Thursday they are concerned

781
00:46:58.320 --> 00:47:00.920
that a traveling display of mummies from the eighteen hundreds

782
00:47:00.920 --> 00:47:03.719
may pose a health risk to the public. The preserved

783
00:47:03.719 --> 00:47:07.079
corpses were unintentionally mummified when they were buried in cryps

784
00:47:07.199 --> 00:47:09.920
in dry, mineral rich soil in the state of Guanajuato.

785
00:47:10.159 --> 00:47:13.920
Some still have hair, leathery skin, and their original clothing,

786
00:47:14.159 --> 00:47:17.679
but the National Institute of Anthropology and History again THENAH

787
00:47:17.920 --> 00:47:20.199
said in a statement that one of the mummies also

788
00:47:20.239 --> 00:47:24.639
appears to have fungal growths. The federal institute distanced itself

789
00:47:24.639 --> 00:47:28.079
from a state government decision to display a half dozen

790
00:47:28.119 --> 00:47:30.960
of the mummies in glass cases at a tourism fare

791
00:47:30.960 --> 00:47:34.920
in Mexico City. It was unclear whether the cases were airtight,

792
00:47:35.159 --> 00:47:39.000
and the institute said it had not been consulted about

793
00:47:39.159 --> 00:47:41.840
the display. It is even more worry some that they

794
00:47:41.880 --> 00:47:45.320
are still being exhibited without the safeguards for the public

795
00:47:45.440 --> 00:47:50.159
against biohazards, said the Institute from some of the published photos.

796
00:47:50.199 --> 00:47:52.559
At least one of the corpses on display, which was

797
00:47:52.599 --> 00:47:56.280
inspected by the Institute in November twenty twenty one, shows

798
00:47:56.360 --> 00:47:59.960
signs of a proliferation of possible fungus colonies. The quote continued,

799
00:48:00.119 --> 00:48:02.639
they should all be carefully studied to see if there

800
00:48:02.719 --> 00:48:05.800
are signs of a risk for the cultural legacy, as

801
00:48:05.800 --> 00:48:08.360
well as for those who handle them and come to

802
00:48:08.440 --> 00:48:11.119
see them. The mummies are usually on display in the

803
00:48:11.119 --> 00:48:14.599
Guanajuacua state capital, but they have traveled before, and some

804
00:48:14.679 --> 00:48:17.199
were exhibited in the United States in two thousand and nine.

805
00:48:17.400 --> 00:48:20.119
They were naturally preserved, some say because of the climate

806
00:48:20.159 --> 00:48:23.960
mineral rich environment, other because of the sealed crips, though

807
00:48:24.000 --> 00:48:26.519
no one knows for sure. They were dug upstarting in

808
00:48:26.559 --> 00:48:29.280
the eighteen sixties because their families could no longer pay

809
00:48:29.320 --> 00:48:31.920
burial fees and put on display. Right, I want to

810
00:48:31.960 --> 00:48:35.119
know exactly what this fungus is. I need. I want

811
00:48:35.119 --> 00:48:38.039
to know more about it, like I want to specifically

812
00:48:38.280 --> 00:48:42.920
what is the fungus. I'm worried this is I just

813
00:48:42.960 --> 00:48:46.239
googled really quick. This is popular mechanics dot com. Fungus

814
00:48:46.360 --> 00:48:49.559
was found maype A's a health rest to humans. Again,

815
00:48:49.639 --> 00:48:52.199
it's not saying specifically what the fungus is. I'm like,

816
00:48:52.280 --> 00:48:56.199
can you please tell me please because it's freaking me out.

817
00:48:56.360 --> 00:48:59.519
I'm like, and fungus is it's cool? That way is

818
00:48:59.559 --> 00:49:03.000
that they're so fungus is not just fungus. There's like,

819
00:49:03.079 --> 00:49:06.760
what millions of different kinds of fungus and they do

820
00:49:06.800 --> 00:49:09.840
different things. So I wish there was more information, but

821
00:49:10.039 --> 00:49:11.880
this kind of looks like a dead end. No pun

822
00:49:11.920 --> 00:49:15.159
intended about the fungus. It's just like, yeah, there's just

823
00:49:15.199 --> 00:49:18.880
there's spores, there's there's fungal growths, but they're not saying

824
00:49:18.880 --> 00:49:21.360
what it is. I'm gonna take one more quick break

825
00:49:21.360 --> 00:49:37.559
and then we're gonna go to our final sources. Welcome back,

826
00:49:37.599 --> 00:49:40.440
gold friends. Okay, so I maybe should have started with this.

827
00:49:40.599 --> 00:49:43.039
Maybe it's okay to save it to the end, but

828
00:49:43.159 --> 00:49:45.800
I just wanted to do a quick review on mummification

829
00:49:46.159 --> 00:49:49.159
in general. I feel like most of us are familiar

830
00:49:49.239 --> 00:49:53.480
with mummies, right, We've all seen the classic ninety ninety

831
00:49:53.480 --> 00:49:56.920
two box office hit The Mummy starring Brendan Fraser, one

832
00:49:56.960 --> 00:50:01.079
of my favorite movies. This says mummification. Mummification was a

833
00:50:01.159 --> 00:50:05.119
painstaking and demanding process that was performed on all dead

834
00:50:05.159 --> 00:50:08.639
Egyptian citizens so that the body would be preserved for eternity.

835
00:50:08.760 --> 00:50:10.880
I didn't know it was on all citizens. By the way,

836
00:50:10.920 --> 00:50:15.920
this is from Historisic Museum dot No. This says University

837
00:50:15.960 --> 00:50:19.199
of Oslo on it. So listen, I'm gonna trust university.

838
00:50:19.400 --> 00:50:23.599
But yeah, I thought it was reserved for like noble people,

839
00:50:23.840 --> 00:50:26.679
for royalty. I didn't. I don't know it was for

840
00:50:26.800 --> 00:50:30.119
like all citizens. But we'll see. This says, it continues.

841
00:50:30.480 --> 00:50:33.920
The word mummy originates from the Arab or Persian word

842
00:50:34.199 --> 00:50:38.920
momya oh. And listen, and something about the Middle East

843
00:50:39.079 --> 00:50:41.920
and Mexico is a lot of our words are very similar.

844
00:50:42.000 --> 00:50:45.679
So this Their word momia is mo ou mia and

845
00:50:45.920 --> 00:50:49.599
in Spanish it's mo mia momya wow. And refers to

846
00:50:49.679 --> 00:50:53.840
the word bitumen or by tumen, which is pitch or tar,

847
00:50:54.440 --> 00:50:57.039
the substance that was originally thought to have been used

848
00:50:57.039 --> 00:50:59.840
by the Egyptians to preserve the bodies. The ancient Egyptian

849
00:51:00.480 --> 00:51:03.719
Sah describes the holy state of the mummy after successful

850
00:51:03.760 --> 00:51:07.400
mummification process, just as the soul had to endure a

851
00:51:07.519 --> 00:51:11.400
process or journey before reaching the blessed afterlife. The body

852
00:51:11.440 --> 00:51:15.599
also had to be subjected to a ritual process again, mummification.

853
00:51:15.840 --> 00:51:19.960
Intentional mommification in Egypt was something that was very intentional.

854
00:51:20.039 --> 00:51:24.360
There was a very thorough like structured process for it.

855
00:51:24.599 --> 00:51:27.760
This says a sah refers to a dead body that

856
00:51:27.800 --> 00:51:32.519
has gone through the meticulous religious ritual that mummification entailed. Unfortunately,

857
00:51:32.519 --> 00:51:35.440
there are very few Egyptian sources that describe the mummification

858
00:51:35.599 --> 00:51:39.119
process in detail, but some diligent Greek writers committed to

859
00:51:39.199 --> 00:51:44.480
paper their experiences from exotic Egypt. Herodotus, who traveled through

860
00:51:44.639 --> 00:51:47.599
Egypt around four hundred and fifty BC, is the most

861
00:51:47.639 --> 00:51:50.320
well known of these early historians. He tells of the

862
00:51:50.360 --> 00:51:53.679
mummification process and writes that there were three different standards

863
00:51:53.719 --> 00:51:57.000
of mummification, depending on how much the deceased could afford.

864
00:51:57.199 --> 00:51:59.320
There you go. We can also discern much about the

865
00:51:59.320 --> 00:52:01.719
process from the mummies themselves. So I think that's where

866
00:52:01.719 --> 00:52:03.480
I was getting the idea of like it was only

867
00:52:03.519 --> 00:52:08.400
for a certain caste or class of people. It was standard,

868
00:52:08.440 --> 00:52:11.039
but much like how we bury people in the United States,

869
00:52:11.119 --> 00:52:15.800
the experience varies based on what people can afford. Right Unfortunately,

870
00:52:15.880 --> 00:52:19.400
so then This goes on to talk about the actual rituals,

871
00:52:19.480 --> 00:52:22.559
how the bodies were prepared, how they were dried out,

872
00:52:22.679 --> 00:52:25.159
how they're preserved. But I just wanted to do a

873
00:52:25.239 --> 00:52:29.920
quick kind of review of mummification and its origins in Egypt.

874
00:52:30.119 --> 00:52:32.119
Something really interesting here that they did, though, that I

875
00:52:32.159 --> 00:52:35.320
do want to talk about, is it says cosmetic surgery, adornment,

876
00:52:35.400 --> 00:52:38.400
and decoration, which is something that we do in the

877
00:52:38.480 --> 00:52:41.400
United States too, right. This says, to enhance the mummy's appearance,

878
00:52:41.480 --> 00:52:44.760
the Egyptians employed several tricks of the trade. It was

879
00:52:44.800 --> 00:52:47.599
common to braid artificial hair into the deceased's hair so

880
00:52:47.639 --> 00:52:50.199
that it would look fuller and more beautiful. Again, I'm

881
00:52:50.199 --> 00:52:53.119
saying in the United States because that's where I live currently, right,

882
00:52:53.159 --> 00:52:54.719
I'm not saying like we're the only ones to do

883
00:52:54.760 --> 00:52:59.159
that here. Again, many different cultures have varying practices when

884
00:52:59.159 --> 00:53:02.800
it comes to death and funerals, so to speak. But

885
00:53:03.079 --> 00:53:05.239
this says it was common, again to braid the hair

886
00:53:05.400 --> 00:53:07.840
into the diceas here, so it looked fuller, more beautiful.

887
00:53:07.960 --> 00:53:11.159
Glass eyes were sometimes placed in the empty eye sockets.

888
00:53:11.199 --> 00:53:13.519
Animal bones or wax could be used to support the

889
00:53:13.559 --> 00:53:15.599
nose so it was restored to its natural shape after

890
00:53:15.639 --> 00:53:17.679
the removal of the brain, because that is something that

891
00:53:17.719 --> 00:53:20.800
happens in the mommification. Finally, the body could be decorated

892
00:53:20.800 --> 00:53:23.679
with cosmetic paint, both directly on the skin and on

893
00:53:23.760 --> 00:53:26.599
the outside of the bandages. Which it's so interesting to

894
00:53:26.639 --> 00:53:30.199
see how long these practices have been going on and

895
00:53:30.239 --> 00:53:33.480
like how preparing the body to look a certain way,

896
00:53:33.639 --> 00:53:37.440
to look quote its best rights as close as what

897
00:53:37.480 --> 00:53:39.760
they did when they were alive is It's very interesting

898
00:53:39.800 --> 00:53:41.559
that has been happening for a very long time. So

899
00:53:41.599 --> 00:53:43.280
I thought that was just something to point out. And

900
00:53:43.599 --> 00:53:46.840
the last source that we have here, this is from

901
00:53:46.920 --> 00:53:50.880
National Geographic dot Com and it's titled Mummies around the

902
00:53:50.960 --> 00:53:54.000
World dried, smoked, or thrown in a bog And this

903
00:53:54.159 --> 00:53:58.599
is by Molly Blowedoff in Delicado and this is published

904
00:53:58.639 --> 00:54:01.400
in January of two thousands sixteen. Because it got me

905
00:54:01.480 --> 00:54:06.159
thinking about again the Egyptian practices and then the unintentional,

906
00:54:06.719 --> 00:54:09.760
naturally occurring moumification of wanajuats, there has to be other

907
00:54:09.800 --> 00:54:12.320
instances around the world that I want to hear about.

908
00:54:12.800 --> 00:54:16.159
So this entry says here are a few of the

909
00:54:16.199 --> 00:54:19.039
world's mummies, including some you may not have heard of

910
00:54:19.119 --> 00:54:22.920
and their strange path to pseudo immortality. The first one

911
00:54:22.960 --> 00:54:26.679
on this shortlist is bog bodies. Ireland is known for

912
00:54:26.719 --> 00:54:30.079
its fairy tales of leprechauns and sprites, but it turns

913
00:54:30.079 --> 00:54:33.599
out there's something even stranger hiding out in the mists.

914
00:54:33.639 --> 00:54:37.519
Bog bodies, bodies thrown into the bogs of Ireland hundreds

915
00:54:37.559 --> 00:54:40.880
of years ago, are preserved by this hostile environment. Bogs

916
00:54:40.920 --> 00:54:44.079
have very little oxygen, keeping the bacteria that eat dead

917
00:54:44.159 --> 00:54:47.519
bodies at bay and allowing bog bodies to be preserved

918
00:54:47.519 --> 00:54:51.639
for centuries, and Anatina Geographic has pictures of bog bodies

919
00:54:51.679 --> 00:54:54.280
as well. One of the most recent of Ireland's bog

920
00:54:54.320 --> 00:54:58.000
bodies was discovered in twenty eleven and the oldest bog

921
00:54:58.039 --> 00:55:01.199
body on record at four thousand years old, which is

922
00:55:01.280 --> 00:55:06.159
five hundred years older than King Tutankhamon of Egypt. Though

923
00:55:06.199 --> 00:55:09.079
the bog can tell us about the lifestyle, diet, and

924
00:55:09.159 --> 00:55:12.840
living conditions of a person, it also destroys DNA, so

925
00:55:13.039 --> 00:55:17.000
no one knows the body's exact lineages. Some scientists think

926
00:55:17.079 --> 00:55:20.840
that the Irish bog bodies were former kings violently murdered

927
00:55:20.880 --> 00:55:23.760
and then tossed into the bog because they failed to

928
00:55:23.800 --> 00:55:26.840
protect their people from disease or famine. Little did they

929
00:55:26.880 --> 00:55:30.280
know that their bodies would be preserved for millennia. And

930
00:55:30.480 --> 00:55:33.639
these pictures are Yeah, and the one picture that is

931
00:55:33.719 --> 00:55:37.480
here of the bog body, it looks really really preserved.

932
00:55:37.519 --> 00:55:39.239
It's wild. I'm like, this is I think one of

933
00:55:39.239 --> 00:55:41.800
the most preserved bodies or photo of a body I've seen.

934
00:55:41.840 --> 00:55:43.719
It kind of looks like a statue. Like the skin

935
00:55:43.840 --> 00:55:47.599
is now black, almost like a really dark bronze color.

936
00:55:47.840 --> 00:55:49.360
You can see some of the color of the hair

937
00:55:49.360 --> 00:55:51.679
on the mustache on this. The shape of the lip

938
00:55:51.800 --> 00:55:55.000
is really defined. I'm surprised because usually like skin like

939
00:55:55.039 --> 00:55:59.199
the lips goes really fast, right, so extremely preserved. Also,

940
00:55:59.400 --> 00:56:02.360
Jeff was telling me about the bog bodies because he

941
00:56:02.400 --> 00:56:04.000
saw me looking this one up and he was like, oh,

942
00:56:04.039 --> 00:56:07.280
bog witches and I was like, what's that. Apparently, initially

943
00:56:07.400 --> 00:56:11.000
when bog bodies were discovered, the people who discovered them

944
00:56:11.039 --> 00:56:13.320
they thought they were witches and that they were asleep.

945
00:56:13.360 --> 00:56:16.400
Because of how well the bodies were preserved, they were like, oh,

946
00:56:16.440 --> 00:56:19.880
these are witches. They're hibernating and you know, that's why

947
00:56:20.360 --> 00:56:22.119
this body has been for a long time, because it's

948
00:56:22.159 --> 00:56:23.800
a witch or something. I don't know, so like a

949
00:56:23.840 --> 00:56:27.159
bog which is its own sort of like folklore from Ireland,

950
00:56:27.159 --> 00:56:29.039
which is really fun and I'm going to look more

951
00:56:29.039 --> 00:56:31.320
into that. The next one on the list is World's

952
00:56:31.360 --> 00:56:34.920
Oldest Mummies. This says Chila's Chinchotro mummies are the oldest

953
00:56:35.039 --> 00:56:38.639
known intentionally created mummies in the world. The Chinchoto were

954
00:56:38.639 --> 00:56:41.039
a fishing people living on the coast of what is

955
00:56:41.079 --> 00:56:45.039
now southern Peru and northern Chile about nine thousand years old.

956
00:56:45.440 --> 00:56:48.480
The most famous Chinchotro Cemetery is in Chile New Solo,

957
00:56:48.599 --> 00:56:52.280
between the cities of Arica and Govica, where the remains

958
00:56:52.280 --> 00:56:54.920
of what are known as the quote Black mummies were

959
00:56:54.960 --> 00:56:58.159
hidden for millennia. Black mummies were named for the layer

960
00:56:58.280 --> 00:57:02.840
of black manganese metal resembling iron that coated their bodies.

961
00:57:03.079 --> 00:57:06.119
To create a black mummy, Chinchoto morticians cut off the

962
00:57:06.159 --> 00:57:10.159
body's head, arms, and legs, scooped out the organs in flesh,

963
00:57:10.199 --> 00:57:13.039
and often emptied the brain through a hole in the skull.

964
00:57:13.199 --> 00:57:16.880
This sounds very familiar to Egyptian moummification especially the removal

965
00:57:16.920 --> 00:57:19.280
of the brain. That says the skin was peeled away

966
00:57:19.320 --> 00:57:22.800
from the body and reattached later like taking off and

967
00:57:22.840 --> 00:57:26.920
putting on a sock. Ow. I'm sorry, I mean no disrescribe,

968
00:57:26.920 --> 00:57:30.719
but I did not need it to be described that way, ugh,

969
00:57:30.800 --> 00:57:33.199
it says. According to a nineteen ninety five study published

970
00:57:33.239 --> 00:57:36.880
in the journal Latin American Antiquity, morticians completed the process

971
00:57:36.880 --> 00:57:40.119
by shoving hot coals into the trunk cavity to dry

972
00:57:40.159 --> 00:57:44.159
the cadaver. Afterward, morticians rebuilt the body with sticks and

973
00:57:44.320 --> 00:57:46.880
animal hair and covered it in white ash. As a

974
00:57:46.920 --> 00:57:50.039
final touch, morticians attached a crop of short black hair

975
00:57:50.079 --> 00:57:53.280
to the scalp and painted the corpse black with manganese.

976
00:57:53.360 --> 00:57:56.360
No one knows why the Chinchoto mummified they're dead. It's

977
00:57:56.440 --> 00:57:59.960
possible they believed in an afterlife, or perhaps natural disaster

978
00:58:00.360 --> 00:58:04.360
such as earthquakes and elninos pushed their people toward mortuary

979
00:58:04.480 --> 00:58:07.400
rituals and ancestor worship. On a picture here, it said

980
00:58:07.440 --> 00:58:10.960
that the Chinchoto mummies are the oldest known artificially preserved dead,

981
00:58:11.159 --> 00:58:14.800
dating to thousands of years before Egyptian mummies. Wow, that's

982
00:58:15.079 --> 00:58:18.320
interesting and how those practices are also similar, like that

983
00:58:18.360 --> 00:58:20.280
thing about the removal of the brain for some reason

984
00:58:20.320 --> 00:58:23.159
to be and like scooping out the organs. But this happened,

985
00:58:23.400 --> 00:58:25.840
didn't I thought the Egyptians were the first to do it,

986
00:58:25.880 --> 00:58:27.320
and for the longest time I thought they were the

987
00:58:27.360 --> 00:58:29.960
only ones to do it. But it's worldwide, and the

988
00:58:30.280 --> 00:58:33.880
Chinchoo mummies are they existed. They were mummified thousands of

989
00:58:33.960 --> 00:58:36.039
years before the Egyptian mummies. So that's that's why in

990
00:58:36.079 --> 00:58:38.039
my mind right now. And then the last one on

991
00:58:38.079 --> 00:58:41.480
the shortlist says twenty first century mummies. Some villagers and

992
00:58:41.679 --> 00:58:45.599
Papua New Guinea still mummify their ancestors today. After death,

993
00:58:45.639 --> 00:58:48.000
bodies are placed in a hut and smoked until the

994
00:58:48.000 --> 00:58:51.400
skin and internal organs are desiccated. Then they're covered in

995
00:58:51.480 --> 00:58:55.199
red clay, which helps maintain their instructural integrity, and placed

996
00:58:55.239 --> 00:58:58.199
in a jungle shrine. The first documentation of Papua and

997
00:58:58.199 --> 00:59:01.239
New guineas mummies was by British explorer Charles Higgins in

998
00:59:01.320 --> 00:59:04.320
nineteen oh seven. In the nineteen fifties, traveling missionaries have

999
00:59:04.400 --> 00:59:07.440
discouraged the practice, but there are still villages where revered

1000
00:59:07.480 --> 00:59:10.039
ancestors are smoked after their deaths. And let me just

1001
00:59:10.039 --> 00:59:13.480
say this, traveling missionaries, mind your fucking business. Sorry, not sorry,

1002
00:59:13.760 --> 00:59:16.320
maybe a hot take, I'm gonna say it. I think

1003
00:59:16.480 --> 00:59:22.199
modern missionaries is just colonization. It's colonization. Leave people alone,

1004
00:59:22.360 --> 00:59:24.880
leave indigenous cultures alone. Do not try to convert them

1005
00:59:24.920 --> 00:59:28.440
to Christianity. Stop doing that shit. That grosses me out.

1006
00:59:28.719 --> 00:59:30.920
I don't like that. And so of course they're like

1007
00:59:31.000 --> 00:59:34.840
trying to discourage the practice of people in Papua New

1008
00:59:34.880 --> 00:59:38.679
Guinea mummifying their ancestors because it is something that happens

1009
00:59:38.679 --> 00:59:42.840
to revered ancestors. It is a form of like respect

1010
00:59:42.840 --> 00:59:45.119
and worship. I'm not going to get super into it,

1011
00:59:45.159 --> 00:59:47.440
but I may have said that before. But if I

1012
00:59:47.480 --> 00:59:50.480
have it before missionaries, that's colonization to me. Oh well,

1013
00:59:50.719 --> 00:59:54.519
this continues a little bit more kind of in general worldwide.

1014
00:59:54.559 --> 00:59:57.159
It says how to become a mummy if anyone's interested,

1015
00:59:57.199 --> 00:59:59.639
and it says some of our ancestors didn't want to

1016
00:59:59.679 --> 01:00:02.519
really on a mortician. They took matters into their own

1017
01:00:02.599 --> 01:00:07.239
hands and through self mummification. The grueling and fatal practice

1018
01:00:07.280 --> 01:00:10.760
was undertaken by Buddhist monks in Japan, China, and India.

1019
01:00:10.880 --> 01:00:13.960
Some believed that the end result would give them special powers.

1020
01:00:14.079 --> 01:00:18.079
Others thought they'd one day awaken as if from a sleep. Monks,

1021
01:00:18.119 --> 01:00:21.239
hoping to attain self mummification, restricted themselves to a diet

1022
01:00:21.280 --> 01:00:23.800
of nuts and seeds for about three years, and then

1023
01:00:23.840 --> 01:00:27.000
spent another three years eating only bark and roots. The

1024
01:00:27.039 --> 01:00:29.679
goal was to deplete their bodies of all fat, so

1025
01:00:29.960 --> 01:00:33.400
once they died, the bacteria that eats corpses would have

1026
01:00:33.599 --> 01:00:37.039
less food. This diet was pioneered by the great Master

1027
01:00:37.159 --> 01:00:41.000
Buddhist Ku Kai, who was said to have forsworn all

1028
01:00:41.119 --> 01:00:44.800
cereal grains before self mummifying himself in a stone cave.

1029
01:00:44.960 --> 01:00:47.480
According to a nineteen sixty two article published in the

1030
01:00:47.559 --> 01:00:51.280
journal History of Religions, Afterward, monks drank a poisonous tea,

1031
01:00:51.400 --> 01:00:54.400
causing them to vomit repeatedly, so they'd lose their remaining

1032
01:00:54.440 --> 01:00:57.199
bodily fluids. The lack of water in their bodies and

1033
01:00:57.360 --> 01:01:00.159
poison flowing through their veins would again make it more

1034
01:01:00.239 --> 01:01:03.440
difficult for bacteria to decompose the body after death. When

1035
01:01:03.440 --> 01:01:05.679
the end was near, the monks moved to a tomb

1036
01:01:05.800 --> 01:01:08.920
equipped only with an air tube and a bell. These

1037
01:01:08.920 --> 01:01:11.800
develop men meditated ringing the bell each day to tell

1038
01:01:11.840 --> 01:01:14.599
those on the outside they were still alive. When the

1039
01:01:14.599 --> 01:01:17.400
bell stopped ringing, the air supply was cut off and

1040
01:01:17.599 --> 01:01:20.199
the tomb was sealed. Despite all that work, not all

1041
01:01:20.280 --> 01:01:24.119
attempts at self mummification were successful. In fact, it appears

1042
01:01:24.159 --> 01:01:27.920
that most monks failed and their bodies decomposed. Today, self

1043
01:01:27.960 --> 01:01:31.400
u mummification is discouraged by Buddhist religious leaders, but it's

1044
01:01:31.440 --> 01:01:35.079
a practice that has existed since at least the twelfth century,

1045
01:01:35.280 --> 01:01:38.000
and scientists are still finding more of these mummies. There

1046
01:01:38.039 --> 01:01:41.480
are at least twenty four known. In twenty fifteen, a

1047
01:01:41.639 --> 01:01:45.480
self mummified Buddhist monk was discovered entombed in a Buddhist

1048
01:01:45.519 --> 01:01:50.639
statue in China. WHOA, that's wild. And then this talks

1049
01:01:50.679 --> 01:01:55.599
about the traditional classic Egyptian mummies. It says Egyptian mummies

1050
01:01:55.599 --> 01:01:59.159
are snug in their pyramids, protected by curses, are infamous

1051
01:01:59.199 --> 01:02:02.280
in the world of both fas fiction, celebrated by researchers

1052
01:02:02.280 --> 01:02:05.800
for offering a window into the past and sensationalized by Hollywood.

1053
01:02:05.840 --> 01:02:09.360
Embalmed Egyptian corpses are the creme de la creme of mummies.

1054
01:02:09.480 --> 01:02:13.440
Egyptians were embalmed. During a process that often lasted seventy days,

1055
01:02:13.480 --> 01:02:16.920
seven zero priests liquefied the corpse's brain and drained it

1056
01:02:16.960 --> 01:02:19.599
through their nose. All internal organs were removed and placed

1057
01:02:19.639 --> 01:02:22.320
in separate jars, except the heart, which was left intact

1058
01:02:22.320 --> 01:02:25.840
because ancient Egyptians believed the heart was integralty a person's

1059
01:02:25.880 --> 01:02:30.239
being and intelligence. Afterward, the body was dried with natron

1060
01:02:30.519 --> 01:02:33.880
or naturn, a type of salt, and wrapped in hundreds

1061
01:02:33.920 --> 01:02:37.000
of yards of linen. Now completely mummified, the body was

1062
01:02:37.000 --> 01:02:40.199
placed inside its tomb, along with paintings or models of

1063
01:02:40.239 --> 01:02:43.360
food and amulets, all things the person would need in

1064
01:02:43.400 --> 01:02:47.119
an afterlife. So there it is a list of mummies

1065
01:02:47.239 --> 01:02:49.599
all around the world. That is it for all the sources.

1066
01:02:49.679 --> 01:03:05.800
We are going to take one final break. Welcome back,

1067
01:03:05.800 --> 01:03:08.280
well friends, Thank you so much for tuning in to

1068
01:03:08.280 --> 01:03:12.039
today's episode. As always, I really appreciate it. Final round

1069
01:03:12.039 --> 01:03:14.159
of updates once again the book club. Make sure that

1070
01:03:14.199 --> 01:03:16.639
you are keeping an eye on social media for meeting

1071
01:03:16.679 --> 01:03:20.159
details and next month's book and in general just all

1072
01:03:20.239 --> 01:03:22.800
updates on the show. That's at Soustal podcast on every

1073
01:03:22.800 --> 01:03:25.639
social media platform as always, Patreon subscribers do get to

1074
01:03:25.719 --> 01:03:27.840
vote on what we read, and they have access to

1075
01:03:27.880 --> 01:03:30.280
the Discord channel throughout the reading, but the book club

1076
01:03:30.360 --> 01:03:32.880
itself is open to anybody to join, so you just

1077
01:03:32.920 --> 01:03:34.760
grab your copy and read along with us, and then

1078
01:03:35.159 --> 01:03:37.800
join us for the meeting at the end of the month. Again,

1079
01:03:38.119 --> 01:03:40.440
details will be posted on social media. You can support

1080
01:03:40.480 --> 01:03:44.000
sustal otherwise by engaging with the show wherever you are listening,

1081
01:03:44.159 --> 01:03:48.000
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1082
01:03:48.079 --> 01:03:51.599
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1083
01:03:51.719 --> 01:03:55.519
plus dot com. Major thank you to this episode's patron

1084
01:03:55.639 --> 01:04:02.679
saints and you are Liza, Rachel, Alejandra, Luthor, E d Josette, Mandy, Laurie, Jeanie,

1085
01:04:02.800 --> 01:04:08.199
Desiree c Ashes, Nedessa, rachel A, Ashusna, Marlene, Chata, Laney,

1086
01:04:08.280 --> 01:04:14.440
desire A, Ricardo, Vanessa, Maritza manermal Iris, Floor, Selina Nightingville, Clint,

1087
01:04:14.599 --> 01:04:18.239
Rachel w Armani and Bianca. Thank you all so so

1088
01:04:18.400 --> 01:04:21.440
much for your support. It means the world to me.

1089
01:04:21.480 --> 01:04:23.880
Thank you everybody for listening today. I will talk to

1090
01:04:23.960 --> 01:05:26.039
you in the next one and until then not bye.

1091
01:05:00.199 --> 01:05:00.280
St