Mummies are of special interest and are one of the main attractions of museums. However, there are some mummies in Mexico that you may not want to see after a warning from some researchers. They are the mummies of Guanajuato, and there are those who think they are not safe, not because they will come back to life, but because there is life growing inside them.

Especially mushrooms. And it wouldn’t be the first time a mushroom-filled mummy has ended a human’s life.

What’s left of us. Mushrooms are not as harmless as we think. One of the best audiovisual productions related to video games is the ‘The Last of Us’ series. In this story, we see a fungus that can infect people, control them in a sense, and make it a target to multiply. This is fiction but this mushroom exists and its name is Ophiocordyceps unilateralis. This is a parasitic fungus that infects ants, grows until it reaches their brains and “guides” them to a plant where they dig with their jaws, where they die and are consumed by the fungus, which will expand and multiply via spores.

Casimir IV incident. Going back to mummies, Casimir IV had an interesting case. The Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland died in 1492 and was buried in a massive red marble tomb in Krakow Cathedral. Nearly 500 years later, 12 experts opened the tomb, and soon 10 of them died prematurely. It was discovered that the deaths were caused by toxins called aflatoxins, which are found in the grave and are highly carcinogenic, especially affecting the liver. What caused these toxins? That’s right, mushrooms.

Mummies of Guanajuato. It’s no secret that death is a job in many parts of the world, and in Mexico, as in other countries, you have to pay for eternal rest. When burial fees are suspended for any reason, the grave is considered abandoned and the remains are removed to make room for the newly deceased. This is where the story begins: Bodies began to be unearthed in 1865, and over 100 years almost 111 bodies were exhumed. Some are in the Mummies Museum of Guanajuato.

These mummies have a sinister touch due to their poses, descriptions, and the fact that one of them is literally a fetus. But they are also very interesting because they are extremely well preserved and were mummified without any such intention at the time of burial. It is believed that the good condition of the mummies is due not to the mummification techniques but to the composition of the soil in the area. And if death is a thing, mummies… more importantly, being the attraction of the place and even appearing in movies. Moreover, 36 of them were temporarily displayed in the United States from 2009 to 2013.

Related scientists. The problem came to light when a group of researchers from the National Institute of Anthropology and History became alarmed when they thought some of these mummies might be developing fungi. “According to some published photographs, signs of possible proliferation of fungal colonies are seen in at least one of the corpses examined by the Institute in November 2021,” the statement said.

Some of these mummies were displayed in shop windows at a tourism fair in Mexico City (an event for which the Institute was not consulted), and the researchers commented that it was “concerning that they continue to be displayed without the public being protected against biological risks”. “All of these need to be examined carefully to see whether they pose a risk to cultural heritage, but also to those who process them and come to view them.”

fair mummies. However, this concern has gone beyond the fact that mushrooms can be fatal and has added social problems to the health problem. In Mexico, death is of course sad, but the dead are treated with respect, food is brought to them and mariachis are invited to cemeteries. But when it comes to Guanajuato mummies, things are a little complicated. After discovering a few mummies, “cemetery workers started telling stories about executions, outlaws, and witches to get people’s attention,” says Gerald Conlogue, a professor of diagnostic imaging at Quinnipac University. In fact, one of the rooms in the museum is called ‘Witch’. Another one is ‘Angelitos’ and there is also ‘Daniel El Travieso’.

There are mummies that appear to scream because their jaw muscles are released, and over the years visitors have stolen the nuns’ identities. Hence the nicknames and ‘The Witch’ had a strange position in her life as she suffered from scoliosis. Beyond that, the fact that 12 mummies went on tour in 2020 raised voices in favor of treating them like human bodies. Conlogue believes “these should not be a fair show” and that the bodies should be examined to see if there are relatives who want to rebury them.

Pictures | ReyungCho, ReyungCho, Thelmadatter

in Xataka | The “golden child” mummy with nearly fifty amulets