Mummies of Guanajuato - Related Information

Related Information

Due to the deadliness of the epidemic, 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. The 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. The 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 Guanajuato 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. A preliminary report with some details of the results of those studied was delivered. 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 the elderly.