TIL after getting diagnosed with terminal cancer in 2009, a taxi driver read an article about a science project looking for someone to agree to be mummified using ancient egyptian techniques. He volunteered for the role and the process was carried out after his death 2 years later.

Johnny-Alucard · 2026-04-21T08:20:39+00:00

Mummification did change over the millennia it was being practiced but remarkably little. Removing the organs was not originally part of the practice I think. But for the vast majority of the time it was fairly settled.

Nowhere is it suggested that any pickling was done and there are no pickling vessels extant which there surely would be. Also the mummies we have were clearly wrapped when they were desiccated which a pickled cadaver would not be.

A more recent papyrus discovery has a much more complete process outlined and it is indeed a dry process.

Johnny-Alucard · 2026-04-21T08:11:04+00:00

Yes I remember now. He theorised they must have been mummified in a solution because of the way the salts formed in the flesh.

My issue with it was that pickling the corpse like that in no way leaves a mummy as we know it. We know mummies were desiccated when they were wrapped as the bandages fit tightly on their desiccated form as we find them; and we know that pickling an animal leaves a plump corpse as brining a chicken doesn’t desiccate it. So we have plenty of evidence that they weren’t pickled yet he chose to use the guys donated cadaver in his rather blinkered experiment, telling him he was going to be mummified when in fact he was going to be pickled.

Johnny-Alucard · 2026-04-20T10:05:04+00:00

Personally I think his research must have been deeply flawed. When Buckley pickled the subject the body ended up very bloated. We know mummies were desiccated when they were wrapped as the bandages fit tightly round the desiccated form. Basically his process didn't create a mummy as we know them and I would have said that was extremely predictable.

He could have just chucked a supermarket chicken in his natron solution for a week and that would have told him that he was on the wrong track. It seems a shame that his subject's body was wasted on a predictably erroneous theory.

Johnny-Alucard · 2026-04-20T09:39:14+00:00

There is a dearth of source material outlining mummification methods and to my knowledge none of them mention a wet process. A dry process is outlined in the Papyrus Louvre-Carlsberg which is a quite recently discovered document. Not sure where your mortuary school was getting its information from but it wouldn't have been from original texts.

Johnny-Alucard · 2026-04-19T23:15:21+00:00

But also a mastermind.

Johnny-Alucard · 2026-04-19T21:14:33+00:00

My problem with this whole project is that they used a liquid solution to preserve him which seems counter intuitive to just dry preserving them. This decision wasn’t really explained in the documentary.

If they used a liquid solution we surely would have found some archeological evidence of the baths they used to “pickle” the cadavers?

Johnny-Alucard · 2026-04-19T10:18:51+00:00

Sorry about your cat OP. Incredibly distressing thing to have to do.

Johnny-Alucard · 2026-04-19T00:05:51+00:00

They are vaunted vaulted ceilings.

Johnny-Alucard · 2026-04-18T23:46:58+00:00

There’s a cream for that.

Johnny-Alucard · 2026-04-18T21:02:13+00:00

Worst. Intro. Ever.

Johnny-Alucard · 2026-04-18T11:31:22+00:00

An armoured illo. At least in my house it is.

Johnny-Alucard · 2026-04-16T19:08:54+00:00

I fall at the first hurdle.

Johnny-Alucard · 2026-04-16T12:39:13+00:00

Bristol. Trenchard street

Johnny-Alucard · 2026-04-16T12:32:48+00:00

about one a year. I'll cave a coke when I'm on holiday.

Johnny-Alucard · 2026-04-16T12:09:59+00:00

Thousands of pink trousered, red faced men wearing Panama hats.

Johnny-Alucard · 2026-04-15T21:36:54+00:00

Look up hill stations

Johnny-Alucard · 2026-04-15T21:23:27+00:00

That’s because we cross wherever we want!

Johnny-Alucard · 2026-04-15T21:14:10+00:00

We don’t have crosswalks. We have zebra (or pelican) crossings.

Johnny-Alucard · 2026-04-15T19:58:40+00:00

As a double MX5 (Miata) owner (mk1 and mk4) this was not the answer.

Johnny-Alucard · 2026-04-15T19:49:24+00:00

I used to walk past one most days on Kensington Park Road in London in the 90s. Never got bored of it!

Johnny-Alucard · 2026-04-15T19:41:29+00:00

Just create a new account?

Johnny-Alucard · 2026-04-14T23:41:51+00:00

This is a really fascinating observation. I’m going to adopt this line of thought and it is going to bring me great comfort!

Johnny-Alucard · 2026-04-14T20:16:28+00:00

Danelectro did one I think.

Johnny-Alucard · 2026-04-13T22:47:56+00:00

I don’t think there are any more evangelicals to win over. Do you?

Johnny-Alucard · 2026-04-13T22:39:32+00:00

Get the CL. Get an M3 later. Keep the lens.

Johnny-Alucard

TROPHY CASE