The Mummies of Guanajuato are several naturally preserved bodies that were originally buried in Guanajuato, Mexico.

These human remains were removed from the ground between 1870 and 1958. At that time, a local tax required families to pay a fee for "lasting" burial. Some bodies for which the tax was not paid were removed from their graves, and others—those in the best condition—were placed in a nearby building. The climate of Guanajuato creates conditions that can cause natural mummification. However, later scientific studies showed that some of the bodies had been partially preserved with chemicals. By the 1900s, the mummies began to attract visitors. Workers at the cemetery started charging people a few pesos to enter the building where bones and mummies were kept.

This location was later turned into a museum named El Museo de las Momias ("The Museum of the Mummies") in 1969. As of 2007, 59 mummies were displayed, out of a total collection of 111.

History

In the 1800s, a law in Guanajuato required families to pay a burial tax to keep their loved ones buried forever. If the tax was not paid, the bodies were removed from the cemetery. These naturally mummified bodies were stored in a building above ground. People started visiting to see the mummies in the late 1800s. The burial tax law was removed in 1958.

As of 2006, the museum displayed 59 of the 111 mummies in its collection. Some of these mummies have been shown in the United States.

A disagreement continues between the local government of Guanajuato, which controls the mummies, and the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), which claims the mummies should be managed as part of the nation’s heritage. In 2023, INAH warned that showing the mummies in traveling exhibitions could harm public health after one mummy showed signs of fungal growth. In 2024, INAH accused local officials of poor management after a mummified arm fell off during museum renovations.

Origin

Because of the cholera outbreak between 1829 and 1851, more cemeteries were built in San Cayetano and Cañada de Marfil. Many bodies were buried quickly to stop the disease from spreading. Some people may have been buried alive by mistake, which caused their faces to look very strange. However, these strange facial expressions are usually the result of changes that happen to the body after death. One of the mummies who was buried alive was Ignacia Aguilar. She had a strange illness that made her heart stop several times. During one of these events, her heart stopped for over a day. Her family believed she had died and buried her. When her body was dug up later, it was found that she was lying face-down, biting her arm, and had a lot of blood in her mouth.

The first mummy was displayed in 1865. It was the body of Dr. Remigio Leroy. The museum, which has at least 108 bodies, is located above the place where the mummies were first found. Many mummies of different sizes are on display throughout the museum. The museum is known for having the smallest mummy in the world, a baby from a pregnant woman who died from cholera. Some mummies are still wearing parts of the clothing they were buried in.

The mummies are an important part of Mexican culture and are connected to the national holiday "The Day of the Dead" (El Día de los Muertos). A low-budget movie called Santo vs. The Mummies of Guanajuato (1970) showed the famous Mexican wrestler Santo and others fighting reanimated mummies.

Author Ray Bradbury visited the catacombs of Guanajuato with his friend Grant Beach and wrote the short story "The Next in Line" about his experience. In the introduction to The Stories of Ray Bradbury, he wrote: "The experience made me feel so hurt and scared, I could hardly wait to leave Mexico. I had nightmares about dying and being forced to stay in the halls of the dead with those propped and wired bodies. To get rid of my fear, I wrote 'The Next in Line.' One of the few times that an experience gave results quickly."

To create a dark and spooky opening scene for his film Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), German director Werner Herzog used videos he had filmed of several mummies.