Guanajuato Mummies: Gallery

Guanajuato Mummies: Gallery

Here are some of the more famous Guanajuato mummies:

1. Ignacia Aguilar, who may have been buried alive. When the hosts of National Geographic's Mummy Road Show visited the museum for the Halloween 2002 episode, they concluded that  two factors suggested this legend was correct: the woman's arms were raised over her face and her forehead had scratch marks:

2. Juan Jaramillo, the best preserved of the Guanajuato mummies:

3. Gabino Castro who was buried in 1904 with an identification. 4. One head that reportedly belonged to a robber.

5. Two unidentified women, one who died at an old age and one who is wearing socks (some of the mummies are unclothed):

6. Four children, including Magdalena Aguilar:

Another child was Nino Gorro:

My thanks to Patricia Rodriguez of the Museo de Historia Mexicana in Monterrey, Mexico, for providing these photographs. These mummies were exhibited at the museum in September and October, 2006. For more information about the Guanajuato mummies, click here.

Not much information is available about the mummy museum in Guanajuato, but I visited it myself and describe it in How to Make a Mummy Talk. Your best bet is to arrange your own trip there and get a look for yourself. Guanajuato is a beautiful colonial city that deserves many tourists whether the mummies are displayed or not. (The local pottery is excellent, though hard to find.)

Another book with information about the Guanajuato mummies is Christine Quigley's Modern Mummies, an excellent survey of strange and mysterious mummies around the world.

You might also try to find The Mummies of Guanajuato, an out-of-print book (published in 1978) by Ray Bradbury with photographs by Archie Lieberman. The book contains a short story written by Bradbury entitled "The Next in Line" (written in 1947) about a couple who visit the Museo de las momias where the wife has an interesting experience. Filled with haunting black-and-white photos of the mummies.

Finally, National Geographic's Mummy Road Show paid a visit to the museum (this show aired on Halloween 2002). You may be able to find additional information on the National Geographic website.