Mummies of Guanajuato
Encyclopedia
The Mummies of Guanajuato are a number of naturally mummified
bodies interred during a cholera
outbreak around Guanajuato
, Mexico
in 1833. These mummies were discovered in a cemetery located in Guanajuato, which has made the city one of the biggest tourist attractions in Mexico. All of these mummies were disinterred between 1865 and 1958, when the law required relatives to pay a tax in order to keep the bodies in the cemetery. If the relatives could not pay this tax, they would lose the right to the burial place, and the dead bodies were disinterred. Ninety percent of the bodies in the cemetery were disinterred because their relatives did not pay the tax. However, only 2% of them were naturally mummified. The mummified bodies were stored in a building and in the 1900s the mummies began attracting tourists. Cemetery workers began charging people a few peso
s to enter the building where bones and mummies were stored. This place was turned into a museum called El Museo De Las Momias, The Mummies' Museum. A law prohibiting the disinterring of more mummies was passed in 1958, but this museum still exhibits the original mummies.
, more cemeteries had to be opened in San Cayetano as well as Cañada de Marfil. Many of the bodies were buried immediately to control the spread of the disease; in some cases, the dying were buried alive by accident. As a result, some of the mummies have horrific expressions attesting to their death in the tombs, though most expressions became fixed postmortem. One of the mummies who was buried alive was Ignacia Aguilar. She suffered from a strange sickness that made her heart appear to stop for one day on several occasions. During one of these incidents, her heart appeared to stop for more than the usual time. Thinking she had died, her relatives decided to bury her. When her body was disinterred, it was noticed that she was facing down, biting her arm, and that there was a lot of blood in her mouth.
The first mummy was put on display in 1865. It was the body of Dr. Remigio Leroy. This museum
, containing at least 108 corpses, is located above the spot where the mummies were first discovered. Numerous mummies can be seen throughout the exhibition, of varying sizes. This museum is known to have the smallest mummy in the world, a fetus from a pregnant woman who fell victim to cholera. Some of the mummies can be seen wearing parts of their clothing from when they were buried.
The mummies of Gunajuato have been a notable part of Mexican popular culture, echoing the national holiday "The Day of the Dead" (El Dia de los Muertos). A well known B movie
called Santo vs. The Mummies of Guanajuato (1970) pitted the well-known Mexican professional wrestler Santo
and several others in a battle to a predictable finish.
Famous author Ray Bradbury
visited the catacombs of Guanajuato with his friend Grant Beach and wrote the short story "Next In Line" about his experience. In the introduction to The Stories of Ray Bradbury
he wrote the following about this story: "The experience so wounded and terrified me, I could hardly wait to flee Mexico. I had nightmares about dying and having to remain in the halls of the dead with those propped and wired bodies. In order to purge my terror, instantly, I wrote 'The Next in Line.' One of the few times that an experience yielded results almost on the spot."
In the late 1970s, filmmaker Werner Herzog
took footage of a number of the mummies and used it for the title sequence of his film Nosferatu the Vampyre, evidently, in order to create, as potently as possible, a morbid, eerie atmosphere.
In 2007, the Mayor of Guanajuato, Eduardo Hicks, M.D., invited three scientists, including a forensic anthropologist, to do detailed studies of 22 of the museum's mummies. See the references below for a preliminary report and some details of the results of those studied. A final report has yet to be issued and more research is in progress.
Toyah Willcox
wrote a song about the mummies in 1980 called "Mummies".
There are 119 mummies on display. The mummies are some of the strangest ones ever put on display. Some are clothed while others only have shoes. There is a wide range on age, from infants to really old.
Mummy
A mummy is a body, human or animal, whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or incidental exposure to chemicals, extreme coldness , very low humidity, or lack of air when bodies are submerged in bogs, so that the recovered body will not decay further if kept in cool and dry...
bodies interred during a cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
outbreak around Guanajuato
Guanajuato, Guanajuato
Guanajuato is a city and municipality in central Mexico and the capital of the state of the same name. It is located in a narrow valley, which makes the streets of the city narrow and winding. Most are alleys that cars cannot pass through, and some are long sets of stairs up the mountainsides....
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
in 1833. These mummies were discovered in a cemetery located in Guanajuato, which has made the city one of the biggest tourist attractions in Mexico. All of these mummies were disinterred between 1865 and 1958, when the law required relatives to pay a tax in order to keep the bodies in the cemetery. If the relatives could not pay this tax, they would lose the right to the burial place, and the dead bodies were disinterred. Ninety percent of the bodies in the cemetery were disinterred because their relatives did not pay the tax. However, only 2% of them were naturally mummified. The mummified bodies were stored in a building and in the 1900s the mummies began attracting tourists. Cemetery workers began charging people a few peso
Peso
The word peso was the name of a coin that originated in Spain and became of immense importance internationally...
s to enter the building where bones and mummies were stored. This place was turned into a museum called El Museo De Las Momias, The Mummies' Museum. A law prohibiting the disinterring of more mummies was passed in 1958, but this museum still exhibits the original mummies.
Related information
Due to the deadliness of the epidemicEpidemic
In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...
, more cemeteries had to be opened in San Cayetano as well as Cañada de Marfil. Many of the bodies were buried immediately to control the spread of the disease; in some cases, the dying were buried alive by accident. As a result, some of the mummies have horrific expressions attesting to their death in the tombs, though most expressions became fixed postmortem. One of the mummies who was buried alive was Ignacia Aguilar. She suffered from a strange sickness that made her heart appear to stop for one day on several occasions. During one of these incidents, her heart appeared to stop for more than the usual time. Thinking she had died, her relatives decided to bury her. When her body was disinterred, it was noticed that she was facing down, biting her arm, and that there was a lot of blood in her mouth.
The first mummy was put on display in 1865. It was the body of Dr. Remigio Leroy. This museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
, containing at least 108 corpses, is located above the spot where the mummies were first discovered. Numerous mummies can be seen throughout the exhibition, of varying sizes. This museum is known to have the smallest mummy in the world, a fetus from a pregnant woman who fell victim to cholera. Some of the mummies can be seen wearing parts of their clothing from when they were buried.
The mummies of Gunajuato have been a notable part of Mexican popular culture, echoing the national holiday "The Day of the Dead" (El Dia de los Muertos). A well known B movie
B movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
called Santo vs. The Mummies of Guanajuato (1970) pitted the well-known Mexican professional wrestler Santo
Santo
Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta , more widely known as El Santo , was a Mexican Luchador enmascarado , film actor, and folk icon....
and several others in a battle to a predictable finish.
Famous author Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
visited the catacombs of Guanajuato with his friend Grant Beach and wrote the short story "Next In Line" about his experience. In the introduction to The Stories of Ray Bradbury
The Stories of Ray Bradbury
The Stories of Ray Bradbury is, as the title suggests, an anthology containing 100 short stories by American writer Ray Bradbury and was first published by Knopf in 1980. The hundred stories, written from 1943 to 1980, were selected by the author himself...
he wrote the following about this story: "The experience so wounded and terrified me, I could hardly wait to flee Mexico. I had nightmares about dying and having to remain in the halls of the dead with those propped and wired bodies. In order to purge my terror, instantly, I wrote 'The Next in Line.' One of the few times that an experience yielded results almost on the spot."
In the late 1970s, filmmaker Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog Stipetić , known as Werner Herzog, is a German film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and opera director.He is often considered as one of the greatest figures of the New German Cinema, along with Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Margarethe von Trotta, Volker Schlöndorff, Werner...
took footage of a number of the mummies and used it for the title sequence of his film Nosferatu the Vampyre, evidently, in order to create, as potently as possible, a morbid, eerie atmosphere.
In 2007, the Mayor of Guanajuato, Eduardo Hicks, M.D., invited three scientists, including a forensic anthropologist, to do detailed studies of 22 of the museum's mummies. See the references below for a preliminary report and some details of the results of those studied. A final report has yet to be issued and more research is in progress.
Toyah Willcox
Toyah Willcox
Toyah Ann Willcox is an English actress and singer. In a career spanning more than thirty years Toyah has had 13 top 40 singles, released 22 studio albums, written two books, appeared in over forty stage plays and ten feature films, as well as voicing and presenting numerous television shows...
wrote a song about the mummies in 1980 called "Mummies".
There are 119 mummies on display. The mummies are some of the strangest ones ever put on display. Some are clothed while others only have shoes. There is a wide range on age, from infants to really old.
Other mummies
Other locations in Mexico where the mummification process occurs naturally include:- Encarnación de DíazEncarnación de DíazEncarnación de Díaz is a town and municipality located in the far northeast of the state of Jalisco in north central Mexico. It is located in a natural pass that connects the Los Altos region of Jalisco to points north, and from pre Hispanic times until the 20th century, it was a major thoroughfare...
- JaliscoJaliscoJalisco officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in Western Mexico and divided in 125 municipalities and its capital city is Guadalajara.It is one of the more important states...