Selects: How Mummies Work | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

hey everybody did you ever want to know. how mummies work and how you mummify a. person well you can learn if you listen. to this one from March 15th hey look at. that date March 15th 2011 how mummies. work welcome to stuff you should know a. production of iHeart. [Music]. Radio hey and welcome to the podast.

I'm Josh Clark there's Charles W Chuck. Bryant we're about to do this stuff you. should know thing yeah did you like that. I did how you doing man great now that. I've switched out my foul smelling. microphone cover yeah this is actually. take two this thing's nasty I'm not. getting near it but I can only imagine. CH yeah something's putria it on the um. mic cover the PE Clipper cover yeah. weird you know in real Studios they. change these out every now and.

then these things have been running for. at least a year now like 50 cents all. right what's your what's your Sterling. intro speaking of 50 cents do you. remember when we were talking about uh. fossils oh yeah and we said that every. once in a while something happens so. that a fossil naturally occurs um and. that it's desiccated the skin is dried. out yeah that's a mummy yeah who knew I. knew yeah me too actually when we talked.

about that I was like we have to do how. mummy's work and here we are I'm kind of. surprised this one has slipped under the. radar for so long this is right up our. alley yeah um I went and looked I'm like. surely we do have it anding fascinating. gruesome yeah it's it's like stuff you. should know died in the wool yeah yeah. um and you're about to hear why dear. listeners because we're about to talk. about all the things that happen to a. corpse after death which we've done. before but we need to go over again. mummies are cool though they are very. cool so Chuck let's say that you were.

stabbed in the stomach enough time so. that you could not move any longer okay. you couldn't walk back home it was out. in the woods and the one person you're. with the very person who stabbed you. left you there to die you bleed out. you're dead things start happening to. your body right yeah pretty quickly up. first is autois yes that is uh that's. kind of gruesome that's when your organs. that have digestive enzymes actually say. well this is what we do so we're gonna.

start digesting the organs right and not. like my stomach is eating itself because. I'm hungry like my stomach is actually. eating itself it's rupturing and oozing. and it's it's it's being reduced to. nothing yeah um while that's going on. and that actually I think if I remember. correctly that kind of helps Kickstart. the process of putri action right yeah. autois starts within a few hours after. you're dead the body the body knows and. if you want like a really um big.

overview of this or an indepth look at. what happens to the body immediately. after death you should listen to our. riger Morse podcast if you haven't. already oh yeah body Farms we talked. about it in there too uh so yes putri. faction you're right is followed by uh. or follows autois and that is when uh. bacteria does its little job and reduces. everything to a skeleton and you know. depending where you are this can happen. in a few months right depending on where. you are now we as human beings are a.

subtropical species right Chuck you know. that sure so uh we are designed if you. believe in that kind of thing to. decomposed decompose most readily in a. warm humid climate that's where the. bacteria that breaks down our tissue. lives or thrives moisture warmth if you. have cold dry yeah things change a. little bit like a refrigerator exactly. um which is a good place to store body. if you want to preserve it.

or food if you want to eat it that's a. good point too or body if you want to. eat it for an in-depth look at that uh. you might want to listen to our. cannibalism podcast though that's right. right um but let's say you don't have a. refrigerator nature provides it for you. in on some occasions there's uty the. Iceman right yeah is he the Iceman yeah. that's the Iceman yeah 1991 and the. Italian outs this dude is very well. preserved natural mummy like amazing. died and basically got buried in ice and.

kind of stayed that way yeah I think. they have the impression that he fell. into a crass yeah died but it was during. like a blizzard. maybe and he was covered with snow and. ice that stuck around for Millennia um. but he's so well preserved you can see. the tattoos on his um skin still yeah. well and we knew hey they tattooed. people 5,300 years ago exactly little. window into what life was like for ican. yeah he um he was uh he had I think a. nice little set of arrows and his bow.

and sure uh copper AG European guy I. think he had a wallet siiz photo of of. you as well of me yeah it's not possible. he was from the future that's my that's. what I think you just blew my mind Chuck. good so ice as we talked about in. fossils too um was a is a very good. preservant sure but nothing does it oh. Pete bogs too you remember I finally. showed you that picture of Tolen man. can't forget about Pete again if you. have not gone and looked up tol man it's.

awesome like his whiskers are still. there I know and he lived couple. thousand years ago right what's his name. did they name him just Tolen man Tolen. man I would have named him. Petey terrible I know um so those two. are pretty good but the money the. natural money preservant is sand yeah I. had no idea the reason why sand is such. a great preserv is because it actually. Wicks away and absorbs and just removes. the um any type of humidity in the body.

which allows the body to desiccate which. means that there is no place for. bacteria to live which means the tissue. the tissue remains intact and that's all. a a mummy is yeah it's a it's a corpse. with its tissue intact well and this. kind of kickstarted the whole uh. mummification artificial mummification. craze in Egypt because at first they. buried bodies they weren't in caskets. they were in you know buried in the hot. sand yeah and that preserved the body.

for so long they said well hey if the. body's preserved then that means the. spirit's preserved and this all of a. sudden we have new views on the. afterlife and life right so what they. decided to do and this was so what I. guess what you just said though is that. Mum mummification the the whole concept. of mummies that we have that was so. ingra in the Egyptian culture happened. by accident right yeah um so they. started they figured this out so they.

start purposefully burying people in the. sand with the intent of them being. mummified right um but the problem is. somewhere along the way they they began. to have horrible thoughts of their dead. relatives choked with sand right so they. started to say maybe we should put some. sort of barrier up in between the the. corpse and the sand yeah and that led to. caskets right yeah started with just. like a wicker covering then that. eventually led to wooden. boxes uh but here's the rub yeah now the.

body is not preserved now the body rots. desiccates well no it doesn't desate. it's just a normal corpse now yeah. becomes skeleton you put a barrier. between the body and the preservant in. the form of a tomb so what's an Egyptian. to do then well the Egyptians being the. very Pious culture that they were and. the very um intuitive and smart culture. that they were you should for that you. should go read um did the Greeks get all. their ideas from the Africans good. article did you write that yeah did we.

do that podcast no man let's do that. okay um they they decided that they. needed to rectify their um their. religious beliefs with their um problem. their their need to preserve bodies and. and what did they do well they said. maybe we can replicate this natural. process that we've discovered through. man-made artificial means and trial and. error yeah it's kind of like it's called. unbaling Josh and they actually figured. out Chuck that like um one of the one of.

the problems with the desiccation the. natural desiccation in the desert um was. that the skin turned like this crisp. brown right like you know overbaked. chicken yeah that's exactly what it. looks like actually yeah and um with. these embalming techniques that they. eventually mastered they they could they. could preserve a body better than it it. could be preserved naturally which is. man conquering nature that's right. conquering death even well come on it's.

close uh they didn't have huge success. at first they um they would embomb the. bodies mainly to keep it away from the. elements wrap it in linen soaked in. resin and they would create nice little. shapely forms that look kind of like. people uh but that didn't really do a. whole lot because the bandages didn't. really halt the composition they. basically figured out that it happens. from the inside out right it took him. took them a few centuries if not. Millenia they're basically wrapping it. up and it's just disintegrating with it. the bandages at first right but those.

bandages are important because they. stick around pretty much the whole time. same with the resin right yes so those. two very early embalming techniques or. mummification techniques um stuck around. yeah but it was a big leap when they. figured out oh wait a minute this is. going on inside and so we need to start. addressing that by removing organs right. and it's about here I think that we we. hit the Middle Kingdom and like the the. mummies that we think of were produced. in the from the 18th to 20th dynasties.

of the Middle Kingdom yeah the the that. was when the like the Heyday of. mummification right right which was um. between 1570 and 1075 BC yeah the. mummies that we think of the ones that. are still around like really well. preserved today they they were preserved. during this time right right so what do. you do when when you realize that. everything bad is happening to a corpse. from the inside out how do you how do. you address that should we just walk. through the.

process One By One The gruesome process. yeah okay first thing you do is you take. it and it varies you know the different. processes and and within the processes. they had uh things that they would say. sort of like religious rights that they. would go through as well it's very. sacred process yes uh but they would. take the body generally to the Redland. desert region it's not near a whole lot. of people so people aren't grossed out. but it is near the Nile River they. needed the Nile River to well we'll see. that in a second step one step one you.

need the Nile for step one uh they think. they did it in open tents obviously to. get some good ventilation going and uh. the first place they took the body was. to the IBU the place of. purification yeah that was basically the. Nile or the place where they the place. near the Nile where they rinse the body. with they wash the body off yeah it's. like a rebirth a symbol of rebirth right. so the the the corpse was hastened or. some the spirit was hastened into the.

Afterlife and we should probably say. here so it doesn't get too confusing. there were three Spirits um that the. Egyptians believed comprised a person. right the uh CA the ba and the AK a yeah. yeah it's always tricky to pronounce. that right so I think um with this. purification process the uh C or the or. the ba or the a were were moved along to. the to the next world yeah but the ca. that was the one that was um.

inextricably linked with the corpse. which became the whole reason for. mummification as long as the corpse was. preserved the ca was preserved and the. afterlife could you know the the person. could live in the afterlife but once the. corpse died the C died and that second. death was final which is why they wanted. to preserve bodies in the first place. right yeah it's pretty cool it's like. the opposite of ashes to ashes and dust. to dust that's right uh so after they've. washed the body and sort of reborn it in.

the rivers of the Nile uh they carry the. body to the. perfer and that is the house of. mummification and this is kind of where. this is the the basement of the Fisher. house basically huh and six feet under. the Fishers oh yeah this is in the. basement this is where Rico and the Gang. would get to work yeah um they would lay. it on a wooden table the body uh they. remove the brain by hammering a chisel. through the bone and the nose you know I. knew that already before this article. there's like Christian Slater in like.

he's in like one of the creep shows or. um amaz amazing stories or Tales from. the cryp the movie uhhuh Pump Up the. Volume it might have been that but I. think it was like a a a smaller um. vignette like a mini movie within the. larger movie and it's called like Lot. number nine or whatever Gleaming the. Cube I think it was no that's called. Brotherhood of the tiger now I think. they changed the name yeah anyway they. there's a mummy who's hellbent on taking.

other people's brains using these hooks. or whatever well and that's exactly what. they do they make a nose hole basically. larger than the nostrils they insert a. big hook iron hook and start scooping it. out eventually they go down to a spoon. and eventually they just rinse out the. remaining bits of brain yeah and what's. funny is so hold on they discard the. brain because they thought I don't know. why we have this stuff in our head but. we probably don't need it in the. afterlife right which is kind of unusual. for the Egyptians because they they. preserved organs yeah you know but the.

brain not the brain no and what's what's. funny though like I think what we've. just kind of meandered past that we. should kind of um meditate on for a. second Chuck is that they get to a point. where they fill the head with water I. imagine close the nose and the mouth and. shake the head around to SLO all the. stuff out and then lean the head over. and let all the last bits come out yeah. that's how I would do it I wonder if. they did shots of that stuff as like. part of the. ceremony I would draw the line in there. would you well they probably just.

thought I don't know they didn't even. know what the brain was yeah that's true. it's just waste so the brain's out Josh. uh then they take a blade made from uh. obsidian mhm sacred stone cut a little. incision on the left side and reach in. and start pulling out the organs that. they can get to right and then. preserving those like you said except. for the kidneys because they didn't. think they were important either which. they you know I mean the kidneys are. important but it's not like brain. important well I mean you need kidneys. to to live I'm sure they preserve theend.

Tech you need all of yeah right that was. probably the most holy right of the. organs so they actually when they. preserve these things they would um they. would wrap them in uh in resin strips of. linen right mm basically they would. mummify each organ yeah and then they. put them in thing in canopic jars. basically it was like here's your body. and then also here are your organs. forget take these with you they leave. the heart though because they thought. the heart was you know linked to the. soul and the spirit and uh they're kind.

of on the money there I think so these. organs take up space in our um chest and. abdominal. cavities um so they would actually um. stuff the body with like incense and. other materials as well right yeah well. first they'd rinse it once they like I. forgot they'd take out the lungs to the. abdomen oh yeah right right there you. can't get along out a little side slit. and then they would rinse the chest. cavity with palm wine and then they.

would stuff it. withi basically yeah straw well it. didn't say what actually it just said. other. materials I would use straw maybe. frankincense little myrr yeah to. complete the trilogy. [Music]. yeah. [Music].

stuff you should know. [Music]. Jerry Stu you should know should know. yeah straw frankincense and M yeah straw. that uh that kept the the uh body from. like caving in on itself basically. maintaining a little bit of shape. and then here is the key this is the key.

to mummification and as a matter of fact. I was going to say it now I found it on. the internet there is a uh stepbystep. very easy to follow recipe on um I think. Wiki how which I don't normally go on. but it's the only place I could find a. recipe for mummifying a chicken using. the um Egyptian method and it calls for. um. nron right yeah that's the key nin is. this um basically a compound that the.

Egyptians figured out they could gather. and and and combine from the Nile which. is basically baking soda sodium. bicarbonate and um salt table salt. sodium chloride yeah you mix the two. together and it becomes this perfect. preservant so they would put natant. powder which is like this just. accelerated the technique of. mumification like oh yeah by light years. sure um and they would cover the body. with this stuff and leave it and it. would just completely dry the body out.

right yeah this took about 40 days they. had to guard the body while this was. going on obviously because they didn't. want volur digging through the Natron. For What Lies Beneath after the 40 days. they uh move the body then to the wabet. which is the house of purification yank. all that incense and the stuffing out. refill it with the Natron mhm resin. soaked linen and other materials again. whatever these mysterious things are. then they would sew all the incisions up.

cover the skin with. resin and then uh say hey it's time to. wrap this puppy yeah and this is where. we get the idea for the The Mummy our. modern idea of a mummy always wearing. like bandages they're always coming off. yeah they don't you can just see the. eyes maybe like teeth or. something so this is where we're at. they're at the bandaging procedure that. 35 or 40 days while um the natur powder. was doing its work waking away all of. the basically acting as the desicant. yeah um the the family of the deceased.

was going around town going do you have. any Linens we can have forever yeah uh. do you have some Linens we can have and. how do you like your Linens to spend. eternity in heavens above with our dad. um they collected about 4,000 square. feet just top top of my head that's. about how much they gathered right um of. linen and would bring it to the. embalmers and the embalmer would say hey. we like this piece that piece is.

horrible um you're really going to bury. your your dad in this and they would. take the best stuff and they would cut. it into or they would tear them into. strips three to eight inches wide of. bandages and they would start the. wrapping which would take a little while. right yeah it takes uh a week or two uh. I guess probably depending on how big. the body is MHM Common Sense uh start. with the hands and feet you wrap all. this is the initial uh under wrapping I. guess you wrap everything individually. each little finger each little toe. everything's wrapped and then once.

everything's wrapped individually they. do a whole body. wrap uh applying new layers coating the. linen with again the hot resin to keep. everything in place uttering spells. sometimes they would wrap uh amulets. over different parts of the body wrap it. up in there with you right protect you. in the next world that kind of thing. right and then Presto changjo you are a. mummy and and before we go further the.

process we've just described this really. ornate wonderful lengthy process I know. where this is going you would think. about it like there's so many there were. a lot of Egyptians running around and a. lot of them died on any given day and. there was a lot of work to be done so. this process that we just described was. for the people who had lots of money for. some reason the wealthy have always been. revered right and have always gotten. special treatment right right yeah um if. if you were just an ordinary Schmo like.

me or Chuck you were going to get the. budget package which is basically like. instead of like carefully removing all. of the organs preserving each one they. would inject oil like this oil mixture. into your um cavities let it sit for a. few days um it would they stop up all. your orifices first so it wouldn't leak. out thank you so I don't know how they. did that I guess with other materials. yeah right so they would stop you up.

full of oil let it let you sit for a few. days and then unstop your orifices and. let all the oil drain out and it it. would carry the liquefied organs and. tissue out with it it's a lot easier a. lot faster so even this many thousands. of years ago you get what you pay for. exactly it's pretty sad yeah there's. always been a budget package or maybe. that's a good thing that it wasn't only. just reserved like if you don't have any. money you just can't get mummified. that's a way to go they thought you know. what let's think of a cheaper way to do.

this for you folks right let's just fill. you up with oil stop up your orifices. and give you a good Shake y so um you're. you're prepared you're all wrapped. however they got your organs out they. out you're bandaged um and you now about. to be outfitted what's called a a. Cartage cage which is kind of like a. breastplate um some cool like forearm uh. armor yeah uh leg armor pretty much this. thing that's gonna hold your body.

together for a while right and a um. ferary mask which is like the famous. masks we think of when we think of like. King Tut like it's a death mask yeah and. these were extremely important because. they directed The Spirit the ca to the. the right body afterward so it was in a. person's Vis yeah or possibly that of a. God but the uh the spirit would be in on. you know what to look for they would. know that that's how they knew who was. who sure this guy is supposed supposed. to either look like Josh or.

Anubis either way I think that's him. right over there right so let's grab him. and speaking of Anubis you would be. committed to your. tomb uh following a funeral procession. where you were carried and your Sue it. right which yeah that's what you think. of with King Tut that's the casket that. looks like a person like the gold casket. in the shape of a human right it's a sew. it is a SE um that would be carried to. your tomb uh and there would be a priest. dressed as the Jackal god Anubis M um.

there were uh there was the ceremony of. the mouth which is pretty cool because. there was some sort of. weird understanding I guess that um you. had died right and now certain things. had to be restored and the ceremony of. the mouth was um this um passing over of. sacred objects to like the across the. se's face the casket face um and it. would restore your five senses yeah cuz.

you need that exactly so you're placed. and this is weird Chuck did you find. this odd that your casket was placed. leaned up against the wall yeah it. almost like I would do that while I was. getting everything ready and then I. would lay it down so it almost made me. think that they kind of forgot and they. say oh well we left that first one. leaning against the wall so I guess. that's the way we do it yeah but that's. not true no I'm sure they had a very. good reason probably because it was. easier to just walk ight out of there.

well yeah I would think they wanted to. leave it upright but standing it upright. they didn't have like the perfectly. level floor probably wasn't uh too. secure so they just gave it a little. lean sure little help Which is far less. secure than just laying it down on the. floor oh yeah um following that you are. uh your furniture don't forget your. canopic jar of organs laid next to you. little food maybe sure um your furniture. mhm um basically the stuff you're going. to need in the next life to be.

comfortable yeah and you're set your. tomb is sealed up and it's probably. inscribed with something along the lines. of as for anybody who shall enter this. tomb in his impurity I shall ring his. neck as a birds it was a standard um. mummy curse yeah a mummy curse on the. tomb yeah people became in the uh 1920s. Howard Carter dug up King tutt's uh tomb. MH and people were just crazy for. mummies at the time yeah wers are like. oh my gosh this is so interesting this.

curse thing is so neat uh Laurel and. Hardy are doing mummy curse movies and. uh a microbiologist from Germany named. gotard Kramer or Cromer uh said there. may be something to this curse thing. because they bury people with food. produces mold spores so when they. unearth this tomb all these mold spores. are released into the air and it might. kill you so it's not that there's. something to the curse but it could lead. people to tie the two together if you. unearth a tomb then you die certainly. there's something weird about the Carter.

Expedition who um unearth King tou tomb. in 1922 because uh 11 of the people who. were involved not necessarily present. but involved um died within seven years. I think 11 people in a canary his Canary. died like um right right when they. entered the tomb a cobra ate it that's. bad luck it is and then it just went. downhill from there um so there's all. sorts of explanations but it's also um. odd. intriguing and like you said Egypt Mania.

gripped the West oh yeah they loved it. right um and there was actually. unraveling parties where people get. their hands on mummies and then like un. bandage them see what's in there which. is like that's not what you do with a. dead body that's desecration yeah it's. bad luck. [Music]. too. [Music].

stuff you should know. [Music]. Jerry stuff you should know should know. uh so that pretty much is the Egyptian. mummy and that's what we mainly think of. but they weren't the first people to do. this kind of thing no isn't that isn't. that interesting yeah they uh the first.

the oldest mummies actually on the. planet are uh from northern Chile the. chin Chino people yep. Chino let's go with Chino okay uh this. they started doing this about 2000 years. before the Egyptians but they were not. very much like uh the Egyptians they. basically dismembered and disemboweled. the body put it back together again. sewed it up and then covered it with uh. black mud well the like they put it back. together with like straw and sticks.

that's what they had it was like they. made Cy dolls out of like these bodies. yeah basically covered it with black mud. and shaped it into a human. form uh but they believe that this. wasn't necessarily done to preserve the. body for the afterlife maybe it was more. for uh the people left on the planet. Earth to mourn the death of their loved. one keep them around a little longer. which is very sweet because they saw. evidence of like retouching of the pain. mhm of wear and tear so that you know.

basically they were kept in the. households for a little while they think. basically it's statues freaky freaky. statues yeah uh and that was 5,000 BC. which is 2,000 years before the. Egyptians came onto the scene at all. that's right um and the uh what' you say. the Chino people Chino what you s I. think I went with. Chino but someone will point that out if. I'm wrong agreed um they're not the only. ones in South America who got into. mumification either the Incas very.

famously did as well they had a little. habit of sacrificing children to their. gods jerks um and they cultureal. relativism choke oh that's right not. jerks they would um that through this. process like the child and the child's. family were just treated like like. royalty before this like it was a high. honor to be chosen to be sacrificed to. the gods um and they would get the child. really wasted on this uh fermented corn. concoction MH uh take the child up to.

the uh Cave sometimes I think they would. whack the kid over the head or other. times they would get the child so wasted. that um they just would leave him there. in the cold temperatures exposed to the. freezing temperatures and the child. would die of exposure I can't say jerks. about this you can you're jerks um but. the there's a very famous mummy called. the maiden who's a 15-year-old girl and. she was sacrificed as a thanks to the.

gods for a really good Corn Harvest by. the Incas in Peru 500 years ago oh yeah. did you see that picture I sent you uh. oh yeah was that her it's like looking. at a girl who's sleeping but she's been. dead for 500 years yeah like you you if. you've been to South America as I know. you have or Central America like she. looks just like one of those girls you. might see down there like a Central. American indigenous person she's. probably short then she looks kind of. short yeah would that'd be funny she's. like. 6'2 but then moving on up there's also.

one and it didn't make it into this um. article but Chuck I've been there myself. wano Mexico uh has a mummy museum and. they have the world's smallest mummy I. think it might have been a fetus really. but it they were all naturally mummified. um to the great surprise of the 19th. century towns people who had to move a. graveyard and found like okay there's a. lot of mummies how big was it it was. very small give me an object uh coffee. cup coffee cup okay standard coffee cup.

s gotcha but then there's like people. they were still wearing their suits and. it's it's really amazing you walk into. this little. Mexican building and there's just dead. people everywhere just behind this glass. it's very neat if you ever go to wano. Mexico you have to go to the mummy. museum I think I should yeah uh lady. Chang China Chinese were they were lousy. with mommies. yeah they love to mummify people uh she.

was an aristocrat from about 2,000 years. ago and she is believed to be about the. best preserved ancient Mommy so far did. you see her picture yeah with her tongue. sticking out pretty well mummified yeah. and her hair still yeah she was uh they. haven't studied her a whole lot the. Chinese haven't so they don't know. exactly how she was uh prepared but they. do think that mercury and the embalming. fluid might had something to do with it. yeah that I would imagine that will do. do it Mercury yeah sure and um also in.

China mummies uh have kind of Rewritten. history a little bit um some very very. ancient mummies from um 1,000 BC before. 1,000 BC um they found some people of. Indo Iranian descent yeah and they're. like what they linked them to um like. basically. Mesopotamia uh Through Tattoos and like. other um implements that they had and. the shape of their face the way they. looked y and they figured out like wait. a minute these people were like Indo.

European Traders what are they doing. here and they just made their way to. settle right in in the uh deserts of. China before the Han Dynasty ever showed. up yeah so that kind of Chang things a. little bit I'm sure uh if we talk about. mummies we got to talk about the uh more. modern day mummies because of the big. interest in. mummification thanks to tut being found. was the big one yeah uh that's right. around the time lenen died in Russia and.

they said you know what let's preserve. lenen and uh display him in the Kremlin. so that's exactly what they did and we. do not know exactly how because it's an. ancient Russian secret I don't know. about ancient but it's a Russian secret. mhm and they uh it's ongoing because. they continue uh to immerse him in a. preservative bath every now and then. Andy wears a waterproof suit that's. right and if you've ever seen pictures. of lennen or Ava Peron they look pretty.

lifelike yeah but hers was hers was way. cool they basically replaced all the. fluids in her body with wax right which. would be a very modern take on the. ancient practice there's also um. Incorruptible corpses the of the. Catholic faith what's that it's. basically a person who is so pure on. Earth uh that they their body just. didn't didn't rot and there's examples. of them there's one. he's like a prince he's like a child.

Prince I think he died in like he died. more than a thousand years ago or about. a thousand years ago um and his his. body's totally preserved and there's no. evidence that he was embalmed or. anything like that what they don't. understand it there are some bodies out. there that just defy logic I wrote an. article you should read it it's a. miracle how can a corpse be. Incorruptible we need to are you keeping. track of these awesome ideas incredible. where's our person where's our boy.

Charlie or no our boy Friday okay. Charlie I know where I. got uh and then Josh finally we have uh. in the 1970s some. scientist discovered something called. plastination and that is when all of the. water and lipids in the body cells are. replaced with polymers and you basically. become like plastic very flexible and. durable uh you don't decompose and you. don't don't stink too bad and that is.

used to preserve bodies mainly for. anatomical research at this point or for. uh bod's world or bodies the exhibitive. you been no I've never been but that's. how they do it it is really something I. mean you're right there up on this. corpse missing its skin and like is a. dead person yeah um and it's really. interesting there's one the one that I. went to in Atlanta it's two eyeballs and. they're connected to the spinal cord. which is going down and then coming off. the spinal cord are the major nerves of. the central nervous system and that's it.

and it's just laid out perfectly and. really kind of surprising I'm shocked. that I haven't been to that yet it's. pretty cool it's definitely worth going. to I did the dialog in the dark thing I. have not been there that's next door. yeah was that kid you know I was a. little disappointed yeah not in the. exhibit itself but the way the way they. do it uh I think it could have been like. really awesome but the the way they do. it it wasn't as awesome as it could have. been just my take Yumi and her sister.

went and she said they would have liked. it but there was this very loud drunk. woman who kept like falling into people. they wanted to kill nothing you can do. about that you're in the dark weather. you could just like kick her in the shin. and run away uhuh uh we should mention. Bob Dr Bob Brier real quick though uh he. is a egyptologist who in 1994 said you. know what I want to try and replicate. the the Egyptian technique and he did it. chicken yeah with a chicken and he did. it was pretty successful at the. University of Maryland school of. medicine and um one of the things he.

learned from doing this that the uh the. way the body ends up looking is a result. of the mummification process not the. fact yeah that it's been in the ground. for thousands and thousands of years the. shriveled wrinkled look yeah yeah so. that's one thing you learned that's a. big thing to learn though I mean think. about it that's egyptology hasn't really. Advanced much in the last 50 years has. it not that I know of I know Heraldo. didn't find squat no he didn't no that. wasn't Heraldo haraldo looked for um.

Capone's oh that's right I watched that. one that was fun I was a Youngster and I. was so excited and yeah but so. disappointed when it happen just a total. disaster yeah po her allo well that's it. for mummies right Chuck you got anymore. I'm I'm are you mummed out yep all right. um if you want to learn more about. mummies check out m u m m i e in the. handy search bar at howstuffworks.com. you can learn how to mummify a chicken. on Wiki how and um what else I think. there might be a website for The Mummies.

of uh. wano uh that's I think g a n a j u a t o. maybe sounds good to me does it you know. I think uh Matt and Rachel from coolest. stuff in the planet did a thing on the. Egyptian mummy museum or not Egyptian. mummy museum the mummy museum wo mummy. museum yeah yes cool stuff on the planet. check it out that is definitely worth. watching as well it's worth watching. anyway and I said handy search bar. somewhere in there which means I guess. time for listener.

mail uh hi Chuck and Josh and Jerry my. name is Maddie I'm 12 years old I love. your podcast I wait all day at school to. get home so I can check for new podcasts. they always help me fall asleep but not. because they're boring but because it. gets my brain thinking and the brain. gets tired that's cool man that's fine. uh I was wondering if You' give a shout. out to my best bud Casey uh Casey has a. tumor in his leg and is in a wheelchair. he tells me he is very miserable but at. least he gets to listen to me talk about. you guys and fun fact he also has a pet.

rooster named lwis sweet and Lewis is. house train so he just runs around the. house that is awesome house Trin chicken. so uh please give leou I'm sorry Casey a. shout and lisis while we're at it sure. uh make him feel better would make his. day or even his year and tell me which. podcast you're going to put it on cuz I. am just 12 and some of them are. inappropriate was this one appropriate. uh I don't know probably not the shaking. the brain C out we'll figure it out okay.

uh we'll tell him to just listen to The. Listener mail and let his parents listen. to the rest and also a suggestion the. infamous story of that French Queen who. said let the meat cake I don't remember. her name that was a Marie anet Mar anet. that was Kristen Dunst uh and remember I. do not have Facebook so please answer me. by email she says and then oh is it she. is it DD or TT it's DD oh okay and then. uh her signature is. potato and a mushroom mhm from Maggie I. don't even know what that means all the.

kids are saying it this these days. really yeah all right potato and a. mushroom everybody you just said Maggie. it's Maddie right Maddie okay Maddie. thanks for that email Maddie did we give. a shout out to Louis and Casey well. Casey we hope you're feeling better bud. I'm sorry to hear about that and hope. you're up and around before you know it. take care of Louis yes if you're an. egyptologist and you have some good. mummy Stories We want to hear it you. know what if you have any good mummy. story we want to hear it uh rap put up. in an email and send that email to stuff.

podcast howstuffworks.com. stuff you should know is a production of. iHeart radio for more podcasts iHeart. Radio visit the iHeart Radio app Apple. podcasts or wherever you listen to your. favorite. [Music]. shows.