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Mummies

Various kinds of mummies are discussed, including ancient Egyptian methods, bog mummies, saponification, and electroplating. Plus the mummies of Guanajuato, Chiesa dei Morti, Luang Pho Dang, and plenty of pop culture.

Music: “Ra Ra Ra” by Here Come the Mummies

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Videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERXD-SHbwyU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbL_LaDtWBA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x48Hq9F4Q70

13 Responses

  1. I grew up in Denmark, and remember seeing the Tollund man’s head on display at the museum in Silkeborg (the museum has since created a replica of his body). I nearly took my kids there last summer when we were visiting family, but we opted to spend our last day at Legoland instead.

    The Tollund man is only one of dozens of bog bodies that have been uncovered across northern Europe and the British Isles, but is probably the most famous because his facial features are particularly well preserved.

    Jeremy Bentham might deserve an honourable mention, as his head was mummified to be placed atop his clothed skeleton inside a special display case (and brought out occasionally to attend special College Council meetings at University College London). However the mummification process, “although technically successful, left the head looking distastefully macabre, with dried and darkened skin stretched tautly over the skull” (*Wikipedia) so a wax head was fashioned instead, and the mummified head is kept locked away in a separate location.

    If you guys decide to do a Taxidermy episode at some point, be sure to ask Stewie if he’s ever ventured north of Cowgary to see the Torrington Gopher Hole Museum.

  2. Re: Julianne Moore. I’m sure Toren knows that shortly after she was in the “Tales from the Darkside” movie, she also starred in HBO’s Lovecraft/gumshoe movie “Cast a Deadly Spell”, alongside such notable actors as Fred Ward, Clancy Brown and David f’n Warner. Despite the great cast, the gimmick (a film noir/comedy with magical realism and great old ones) was awful, and I found it difficult to sit through the whole thing—find it on YouTube, and try for yourself! 🙂

  3. In the News + callback to Human Sacrifice + callback to Alcohol + callback to Cocaine:
    Inca mummies: Child sacrifice victims fed drugs and alcohol

  4. http://www.google.com.au/search?q=yummy+mummy&safe=off

    Well, that was disappointing! Lots of pictures of Angelina Jolie at celeb events, some kind of make up and fake nails. Boo. Better search terms, please. 😉

    On the other hand, excellent and gross show, guys!

    For another pop culture reference, I’m sure there’s a Buffy ep or two involving mummies. Always good for a laugh. I wonder what it is about mummies that lend them to humour more than horror, unlike other old scary things like vampires, werewolves and zombies, all of which still appear genuinely frightening to us (in films, etc). Mind you, I think a Frankenstein foetus mummy chasing after people might change that situation.

    1. As you can tell by the length of the episode, there were more than enough real / confirmed mummies to discuss. Unfortunately, Mellified Man falls squarely under the heading of “legend”. But the Wikipedia page does make me want a peanut butter and honey sandwich.

  6. Thought you guys might be interested in my writeup/photoset of the Accidental Mummies of Guanajuato from when a selection of them were in residence at the now-defunct Detroit Science Center. In fact, I think it was the scale of this exhibit which ultimately bankrupted the center (which has since reopened as the Michigan Science Center).

    The article:
    http://motorcityblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/ongoing-accidental-mummies-of.html

    Just the pics:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/dc-in-detroit/sets/72157622718712003/with/4119765205/

  7. Bruce Campbell did a live talk at a local Detroit movie theater to introduce “Bubba Ho-Tep” when it was released (being a Detroiter himself), where he told us a story of one of the jumpsuits.

    He had been allowed to film in one of Elvis’s actual jumpsuits. As it was a museum piece it had not, of course, been laundered. Campbell says that during a day of filming, he’d warm up in the suit a bit, and an…odor would come from the cloth. It was then that he realized, he was breathing in…ELVIS.