Michael Jackson's body not be plastinated

Apparently, some news reporters can't tell satiric fiction from fact.

On June 27, 2009, The Spoof (a satiric website) posted an article in which it claimed that Gunther von Hagens-Daz had received permission from Michael Jackson, in the months preceding his death, to plastinate and display his body, alongside his favorite chimp, Bubbles. In part, the article read:

"Flashing an official Deed of Gift signed by the late Michael Jackson's royal Bahraini family creditors plastination nutter Dr Gunther Von Hagens-Daz stormed his way into an LA court room today demanding the immediate seizure of Michael Jackson's body from cold storage facilities guarded by Joseph Jackson security staff.... "The actual contract was for $10 million," the doctor added, "and was signed by all the Jackson family so Michael could be plastinated in polyurethane and exhibited for posterity next to his preserved chimpanzee Bubbles."
The beloved former primate companion is on permanent exhibit at the AEG's O2 Arena in London...."

That the real plastination doctor's name is actually "Gunther von Hagens" not "Gunther von Hagens-Daz" and that other websites claim Bubbles is still alive (and not on display) did not deter some writers from reporting this bogus claim (which apparently originated with the Sunday Mail):

Mirror.co.uk: 'He wanted his body on show' ("Michael wanted his body to be put on display doing his trademark moonwalk dance, a controversial doctor claimed last night."

Sundaymail.co.uk: Eccentric German doctor has made macabre claim ("Gunther von Hagens said the corpse would be placed next to the singer's late pet chimp, Bubbles, which he also preserved, at London's O2 Arena where Jackson was due to perform 50 concerts.")

 Examiner.com: 'Michael Jackson's body may be permanently displayed in public after plastination procedure' ("Neil Sears of Mail Online is reporting that Michael Jackson may either have a traditional Islamic funeral... or something dramatically different. The King of Pop may never be buried at all. Instead, he could be preserved forever in his "famous moonwalk stance." Sears reports that German doctor Gunther von Hagens, famous for "embalming corpses in polyurethane," has said: "An agreement is in place to plastinate the King of Pop." According to the somewhat sensational article by Sears, von Hagens said he "had agreed with representatives of Jackson's family months ago that Jackson's body would be plastinated and placed next to the singer's late chimp Bubbles, who was preserved after his death and is on display in the show at the O2 arena, where the singer was due to appear next month." ")

Some ABC websites reported the Sunday Mail story, qualifying their account with this sentence: "There's been no announcement yet from the Jackson family about the disposition of his body, and no confirmation of the...story." Still, they passed the false story along.

And an Irish bookmaker was overwhelmed with bets (based on this false reporting) that Michael Jackson's body would be plastinated that he changed the odds he was giving the disposal of Michael Jackson's body. Here's a press release about the problem:

 "German doctor Gunther von Hagens has given Irish bookmaking outfit Paddy Power a potential EUR80,000 (USD$112,500) bloody nose with his claims that an agreement was in place with Michael Jackson to plastinate his remains upon his death. Von Hagens has caused controversy around the globe with his practice of embalming corpses with preserving polyurethane. The doctor also preserved Michael Jackson's late pet monkey, Bubbles, using the same process a number of years ago..."

Perhaps the entire hoax was an attempt to get some publicity (and profit) for the betting firm.

Face of long-dead mummy brought back to life (msnbc.msn.com)

"The face of a long-dead mummy has been brought back to life through forensic science. Based on CT-scans of the skull of the ancient Egyptian mummy Meresamun, two artists independently reconstructed her appearance and arrived at similar images of the woman. Meresamun, a temple singer in Thebes (ancient Luxor) at about 800 B.C., died of unknown causes at about age 30. Until recently, modern viewers of the University of Chicago-owned mummy have had to guess about the woman behind the mask. Now scientists think they have a pretty good idea of what she looked like. Researchers created a 3-D digital model of Meresamun's skull through multiple detailed CT-scans. Then the data was handed over to two forensic artists to extrapolate the woman's facial features. Chicago artist Joshua Harker used the Gatliff-Snow American Tissue Depth Marker Method to calculate the contours of the face and produce a digital reconstruction. This technique is considered accurate enough that its results are admissible in court to identify victims...."

CT-scan reveals 2700-year-old Brooklyn Museum female mummy was actually male (msnbc.msn.com)

"The mummy may actually have been a daddy. North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y., examined four ancient Egyptian mummies belonging to the Brooklyn Museum on Tuesday. It turns out one of the four thought for centuries to be a woman is actually a man. A CT scan revealed that one of the mummies, named “Lady Hor,” was a male. Researchers conducted the scans with hopes of gaining further knowledge about their identities, cause of death, and ancient funerary practices. Hospital spokeswoman Michelle Pinto says the testing enables radiologists to learn about the bones and skeletal system of the mummies in extraordinary detail, without having to do invasive or damaging procedures. The mummies range in age from more than 3,000 years old to about 1,700 years old. "Lady Hor" dates back to between 712 B.C. and 660 B.C., Newsday reported. Egyptologists had assumed that the mummy was female because its covering, or cartonnage, took the shape of a woman, without a symbolic beard attached. But the CT scan revealed "the pelvic organs of a male," Dr. Jesse Chusid told the newspaper...."

Florida woman donates body to plastination institute (tbo.com)

"Angie Day looked her future in the face Saturday during her visit to the Body Worlds exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry. Day, 36, recently donated her body to the company behind "Body Worlds & The Story of The Heart" to be used in the company's anatomical displays after she dies. On Saturday, she drove from her home in Melbourne to get a look at the show that one day will display her mortal remains to the public. Where her fellow visitors solemnly surveyed displays of disembodied organs or preserved bodies frozen in motion, Day pictured herself. "Maybe I could be reading a book or maybe I could be running because I like to do those things," Day said, standing by a display of a ski-jumping body split down the middle. "I don't like to ski." Day said she decided to donate her body after visiting a similar exhibit in Chicago two years ago. Day expects to wait a long time before surrendering her body to Body Worlds. She's young and in good health.... "

Erika Simon, Ötzi co-discoverer, will receive 150,000 euro payment--finally (ansa.it)

"A long-running battle over a finder's fee for Italy's famous Iceman mummy has been settled. Authorities in this province on the Austrian border said on Monday they would meet the 150,000-euro demand of the German couple who found the Iceman in 1991. The money will go to Erika Simon, 72, who lost her husband and co-finder Helmut in a mountain accident five years ago when he was 67. The pay-out settled a row which began in 1994, three years after the find, when the Simons spurned a 'symbolic' reward of 10 million lire (around 5,200 euros). That was when the couple began fighting for a slice of the multi-million-euro business the Iceman generates. In September 2006 the provincial government appealed a verdict by a lower court earlier that year which confirmed that the Simons found the 5,000-year-old frozen man and ordered the provincial government to ''properly'' compensate Erika. The provincial council in Bolzano appealed to the highest court of appeal, the Cassation Court, arguing that 150,000 euros was too much for the find. It pointed out that it had borne all the expense of exploiting the find...."

More information about the Iceman

First stop for "The Accidental Mummies of Guanajuato" exhibition is the Detroit Science Center...opening October 10, 2009

"They were miners, fathers, soldiers, farmers and children. They are revered by their descendants and have been visited by millions. They are rare, shocking…and completely accidental. Now, for the first time ever, they are coming to the United States in an all-new touring exhibition, The Accidental Mummies of Guanajuato. The Accidental Mummies of Guanajuato is a 10,000 square-foot exhibition that will tour six North American destinations from 2010-2012. Featuring 36 accidental mummies who have never been seen outside of Mexico, the exhibit combines science, history and cultural anthropology to immerse the visitor in the world of a Mexican city over 100 years ago where deceased residents naturally mummified in their crypts...."

More information about the Guanajuato mummies

Gallery of Guanajuato mummies

"The mummified remains of a woman suspected of having died during childbirth about 350 years ago found at a burial site late last month were examined by a research team Sunday. The woman was wrapped in multi-layered burial clothes, showing the dress and hair fashion of noblewomen during that period. The research team is being led by professor Shin Dong-hun at the anatomy department of Seoul National University's medical college and professor Kim Myeung-ju of Dankook University's medical college. The woman, named Ohn Yang-jeong, was the second wife of Jeong Hee-hyeon, who lived in the middle of the Joseon Kingdom. Jeong's descendants found the remains while relocating their ancestors' burial sites in Hadong, South Gyeongsang Province, late last month. Ohn was wrapped in 46 layers of clothes, under which the team also found a small skull and other bones around the lower part of her body. ``We need more scientific examination, but we believe Ohn died during childbirth and was buried together with the dead baby. A pair of child's pants found beside her feet also shows a link to the death,'' Shin said. He suspected that the woman died young, probably in her 20s or 30s, considering the condition of her teeth and color of her hair...."

Video of discovery (asiaone.com)

"Cairo University inaugurated a new DNA lab to find clues of mummies' family links here on Monday. The lab is the second of its kind in Egypt. The first one was established at the Egyptian Museum two years ago, said Dr. Hossam Kamel, president of the university. The lab is the second of its kind in Egypt. The first one was established at the Egyptian Museum two years ago, said Dr. Hossam Kamel, president of the university. "It is very important not to use the same lab to analyze the DNA of living and dead people as there may be confusion in the results," Dr Hawas said. "I used to be against the DNA tests for mummies, because it was done by foreigners, and the mix of DNA of the dead and the alive could lead to inaccurate results," he said. "We can not trust results from one lab, so we established another to make comparison and get precise data," he added. Dr Sally, one of the five scientists working at the lab, said the DNA of the mummies is different from that of people alive. "It is very old and fragile, so we have to extract and multiply it before tests." The priority of the new lab, said Hawas, is "to study the family tree of Tutankhamun, as we do not know who his father was, and where his mother's mummy was buried." Tutankhamun (ruled from 1333 BC to 1324 BC) was an Egyptian Pharaoh of the 18th Dynasty, during the period of Egyptian history, known as the new kingdom. "We will announce key information about Tutankhamun's family link next August, after comparing the results from the two labs, "Hawas said. The lab, which cost one million U. S dollars, is sponsored by the American Discovery Channel...."

"Entombed among evidence bags and found items in the Port Huron police department property room sits something a lot older than a stolen car stereo. A mummy with a story that caught the interest of people worldwide remains in the room -- evidence from a 2006 case. "We've got a lot of interesting things in that property room," Capt. Jim Jones said, "but I've got to say that's probably tops in the unusual category." Police confiscated the 200-year-old preserved medical cadaver from a Port Huron woman in 2006 after a medical student from another state reported seeing it for sale on eBay, said Sgt. Duane Loxton, who handled the case as a detective. It is illegal to possess a human body without permission, but no charges were filed. Port Huron resident Lynn Sterling told police she had been trying to sell it for a friend, Terry Fadina, who discovered it while demolishing a schoolhouse in Detroit in the 1980s. The dissected, hollowed-out and never-wrapped cadaver doesn't look a thing like the image popularized by movies. The body, with its exposed arteries colored red for use in medical studies, rests on a top shelf of a rack containing evidence bags. The box is securely taped shut and marked with arrows labeled "This side up.""