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When yer dead, yer gone and that’s it — or so they say. Ashes to ashes, right? Not necessarily: here’s a list of people who refused to molder quietly into that good grave; who nature, and/or some very strange morticians, decided to keep around for awhile longer.
Vladimir Lenin
According to Uncle John (king of bathroom books), more people have seen Lenin’s mummy than any other mummy in history. The man shuffled off this mortal coil in 1924, but to look at him today, hyber-embalmed and lying in an airtight glass coffin in his humidity- and temperature-controlled mausoleum in Red Square, you’d think he kicked it last week. Despite his requests for a modest burial, a few days after his death, a team of Soviet scientists began working to preserve him forever. This “body brigade” has been on the job for 83 years now, giving Lenin a thorough dusting and embalming touch-up twice a week, not to mention a new hand-tailored suit every eighteen months. Lucky stiff.
Jeremy Bentham
Meet Jeremy Bentham. One of 18th century England’s foremost thinkers, he was by most standards a genius, and by all accounts, a pretty eccentric fella. To wit: his will mandated that his body be preserved and stored in a wooden cabinet at University College London, which he founded. It sits there today, at the end of a hall, wearing the same clothes he wore when he was alive. His head, badly damaged in the preservation process, sits in a jar at his feet. The “Auto-Icon,” as it is known, is hauled out for University Council meetings from time to time, at which Bentham is listed on the official register as “present but not voting.”
The Tollund Man
Named after the village of Tollund in Denmark he was discovered in one of those remarkable peat bogs in 1950, he was so well preserved by the anaerobic environment of the bog that police initially thought they had stumbled upon a recent murder. In fact, T.M. died in the 4th century B.C., with the rope that hanged him still around his neck. Some experts speculate that he was ritually drowned in the bog as part of the cult of Nerthus, the Danish subjugation of which a few centuries later lay behind the epic Beowulf. (Don’t expect the Tollund Man to show up in a supporting role in Robert Zemeckis’ new adaptation, however; word on the street is that it’s all about Angelina Jolie — or rather her strange, motion-captured avatar — being half-nude throughout.)
Otzi the Iceman
Otzi died after a skirmish in the Ötztal Alps about 5,000 years ago. Having been preserved by a glacier and rediscovered in 1999 by hikers, his body and tools have been a veritable smorgasbord for anthropologists. Being 53 centuries old makes him Europe’s oldest mummy, and something of a cult icon. A footwear company is developing a shoe based on the ones Otzi was wearing (between those and McFlys, you’d have quite the anachronistic shoe collection). X-rays have revealed that Otzi was also one of history’s most illustrated men, sporting more than 57 tattoos.
Lucy: now on tour!
Discovered on an African dig in 1974, Lucy is one of the oldest known hominid fossils ever discovered — more than 3.2 million years. Named for the Beatles’ famous ode to LSD — which was on heavy rotation in the anthropologists’ camp during the dig — Lucy is just 3.5 feet tall, a member of the Australopithecus afarensis species. Long kept locked away in an Addis Ababa museum, she’s now preparing for a six-year tour of the U.S., which will help to raise funds for the impoverished museum where she normally resides.
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In the Jeremy Bentham picture, it looks like his head is where it is supposed to be – has it been restored?
posted by sherry on 9-13-2007 at 8:06 am
I have to admit, I was wondering the same thing as Sherry.
Also, while I’ve never paid a visit to any of these folks, I did stop by the glass coffin of Pope John XXIII while touring the Vatican earlier this year. I’m not Catholic, but I appreciate the magnitude of the changes he helped usher in with Vatican 2. I wasn’t aware that he was, um, still with us – I just saw his tomb on the map and decided to find it. It was surreal to actually *see* him there.
posted by Roger on 9-13-2007 at 8:21 am
To the above two comments, I remember hearing previously about Jeremy Bentham, and if I recall correctly, they replaced his damaged head with a replica.
When I was very little, I was terrified out of my mind by the mummy exhibit at the Field Museum in Chicago. With a few more years behind me now, I admit the process of preservation is quite fascinating, though.
posted by Katherine on 9-13-2007 at 8:37 am
Hey – the Beatles have said that that song was *not* about lysergic acid diethylamide. Nope, nosiree. It was about, um, a picture…yeah, that’s it…a picture that Julian drew and brought home to John. Yeah, yeah, and when John asked his son what was in the picture, little Jude told him that it was, “Lucy, in the sky with diamonds.” It was never about drugs. Yep, that’s the story.
posted by caitlen315 on 9-13-2007 at 10:19 am
Don’t forget Evita Peron and Ho Chi Min, also preserved for perpetuity and on public display.
posted by Annette on 9-13-2007 at 10:32 am
What about Elvis?
posted by Dan on 9-13-2007 at 11:21 am
Two things. One, Caitlen is right, that song is NOT about LSD! I mean, believe what you will, but I believe the explanation. Whether or not Julian was on LSD when he drew the picture, is for him to know and for us to wonder.
Second, I remember seeing a story about some famous Saint woman who was preserved in a catacomb somewhere… does anyone know what I’m talking about? I don’t remember which one it was, perhaps Bernadette?
posted by Molly on 9-13-2007 at 11:41 am
Most people are familiar with Floyd Collins, a farmer and part-time spelunker who, in 1925, became trapped in the family’s Crystal Cave in Kentucky, trying to prove it was connected to the nearby Flint Ridge system. The media circus that developed during the long and drawn-out rescue attempt became the basis of a movie and five years ago, a musical. Of course, in 1972, members of the National Speleological Society of Yellow Springs, Ohio, after wading neck-deep through an underground river, proved that, indeed, the two systems were linked, making Mammoth Cave the largest system in the world.
However, prior to the National Park Service taking over all this land, families in this area of Kentucky tried to eke out a living during the depression by offering cave tours to tourists who came to the area after having read about the Collins story in their hometown papers. Floyd’s family interred his body in Crystal Cave and it proved to be a major draw for these tourists. So much so, that nearby competitors broke in and stole it. Floyd’s family found him in a holler, patched him up and put him back on display. This sounds like an urban legend except we were among the waitstaff at Mammoth Cave National Park who were treated to an afterhours tour of Crystal Cave and got a peek at Floyd.
posted by Alice on 9-13-2007 at 11:54 am
I googled Jeremy Bentham and it said his head was decomposing and that students had a tendency to steal it as a prank, so the head is in a nearby vault and the one in the cabinet is a wax replica.
Wasn’t Evita Peron’s body stolen? I know it was preserved, but people can’t look and visit if its missing.
There are a few saints said to be preserved, although not all of them are on display. Saint John Neumann, founder of the US Catholic school system, is on display at his shrine. I’m not sure if he is preserved by earthly means or “heavenly” means. (Meaning, it just happened, but not on purpose. Quite a few Saints are supposed to be that way.) I believe St. Cecilia and St. Clare are other examples, but I’m not sure.
That would be an interesting topic: Preserved Saints. Where can they be seen, and what explanations are thier for thier preserved state?
posted by H2OHen on 9-13-2007 at 11:56 am
I finally had the opportunity, after a lifetime of waiting, to go to Europe a couple of times in recent years, and there are “preserved saints” (the correct term is “incorrupt”) in churches all over the place! For a non-Catholic like me, there was a lot to learn – it’s fascinating stuff! Sounds like a good future blog topic…..
posted by Betsy on 9-13-2007 at 12:39 pm
Thanks, Betsy! I knew there was a term for it, I just couldn’t think of what it was. My Catholic school Church History teachers would be disappointed in me!
posted by H2OHen on 9-13-2007 at 1:56 pm
Molly:
I had the same thought you did about saints, so I looked it up. From what I read (and Betsy confirmed it), they’re called Incorruptibles–they don’t decay naturally. St. Francis Cabrini (aka Mother Cabrini) and Pope St. Pius X are probably two of the more famous saints to be (super?)naturally preserved. Wikipedia has a huge list if you search for “incorruptibility”.
posted by Meagan on 9-13-2007 at 2:45 pm
Isnt Mao in a glass coffin in that building that I cant remember its name that faces Tienanmen Square?
posted by Jen Smith on 9-14-2007 at 8:31 am
I thought Saint Bernadette was the best known of the incorruptible saints, but I guess I am wrong. My religion teachers back in Catholic school would be disappointed in me, too. She is “on display” at her shrine in Lourdes, France. I thought the Russian government finally buried Lenin a few years back?
posted by Robin on 9-14-2007 at 9:58 am
Has anyone ever seen Sylvester at Ye Old Curiosity Shop in Seattle? It’s free and you can see his bullet hole! He’s not too old but for me he’s local
posted by Claire on 9-19-2007 at 3:39 am
I think that Emmett Till, a 14 year old African-American boy from Chicago that was murdered in Mississippi is an important famous corpse to add here….
His mother put his almost-unrecognizable body (mostly due to bloating from being dumped in the water after being tortured and shot) on display at his funeral and invited members of the press and local communities. Thousands attended his funeral and it was a bold statement against racism.
posted by Haley on 9-19-2007 at 12:23 pm
Claire – I saw Sylvester at Ye Olde Curiosity Shop when I lived in Seattle. I have his bobble head now!
posted by Patricia on 9-19-2007 at 1:50 pm
Bentham’s head looks like it is in the bottom-right corner of his closet.
Didn’t Lenin “cry” or something after his death?
The name “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” may have indeed been thought up by Julian Lennon, but the imagery in the song was dreamed up with the help of LSD.
posted by bobwalrus5 on 9-19-2007 at 3:03 pm
Add Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines to your list. =)
posted by Meewa on 9-19-2007 at 6:10 pm
There is a great book titled “Magnificent Corpses” by Anneli Rufus. It is about her travels through Europe searching for the relics of Saints. She describes finding the remains of many “incorruptibles”. If you find this subject interesting,like I do, you will really enjoy this book.
posted by Dix on 9-20-2007 at 5:31 pm
Robin,
You are correct. Saint Bernadette was the best known of the incorruptible saints and is “on display” in Lourdes, France.
posted by SaucyWench on 9-22-2007 at 6:07 pm
The head your seein on the body in the photo is fake?,..right guys?? I’d hate to think the people whom preserved the guy are morbid enough to just drag it out of the gar and just stick it atop his shoulders for publicity.
Darth Venom
posted by phoenix anderson on 9-22-2007 at 10:24 pm
I think Saint Katherine’s head is preserved… I say head because I believe she was beheaded. One of my friends saw it when studying abroad in Italy. If it wasn’t actually her head I know at least they have some sort of building there for her.
posted by Kelly J on 2-13-2009 at 8:32 am
Eva Peron(Evita)is buried at the Duarte family tomb in a cemetery in Buenos Aires. She is no longer on display.
posted by Sylvia on 2-13-2009 at 1:36 pm
Hooray for the shout outs for Sylvester at Ye Olde Curiosity! I used to be terrified of him. They have another mummy there too (or used to)…anyone know anything about that one?
posted by CJ on 2-13-2009 at 5:04 pm
Ransom, you have the best posts.
posted by The Queen on 2-13-2009 at 7:43 pm