August-October 2006

Guanajuato Mummy Exhibit

The Museo de Historia Mexicana in Monterrey, Mexico, will exhibit nine complete bodies and one head from the famous collection at the Museo de las momias in Guanajuato. The exhibit will run from August 29 through October 31, 2006. Further information about the museum can be found on the museum's website.

Guanajuato is a beautiful university city northwest of Mexico City which houses the Museo de las momias.

The museum in Guanajuato receives many visitors each year. To the right of the museum is the cemetery in which the bodies were found, naturally mummified.

 

 

 

A combination of the soil conditions and a dry climate of the mountainous area caused the bodies in the local cemetery to dry out naturally before they could decompose. The bodies were placed in tombs, seven rows high; apparently, those in the middle row were more likely to have been naturally mummified. However, only those who failed to pay the grave tax were ever exhumed so information about mummification will always be incomplete.

 

For more information about the Guanajuato mummies, follow this link.

 

The exhibit in Monterrey

The mummies included in the exhibit are:

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. 4   3. Gabino Castro, 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). 4   6. Four children.

	3Magdalena Aguilar
	5 Nino Gorro

Not much information is available about the mummy museum in Guanajuato, but I visited it myself and describe it in my own book, How to Make a Mummy Talk. 

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.