When people think of museum exhibits, they usually picture lots of inanimate artifacts. But at the Natural Science Center of Greensboro, visitors will experience a very unusual collection of objects: 28 mummies. The exhibit is Accidental Mummies of Guanajuato, currently on loan from the Museum of the Mummies in Mexico.

Their journey to the Triad begins with a re-creation of the Santa Paula cemetery. It was there that the first mummy was found more than a hundred years ago. 

“The center crypt showcases an actual accidental mummy that was discovered and as you can see there is facial hair on the body, there are fingernails and there’s still skin on there,” says Steffany Reeve , marketing director for the Natural Science Center of Greensboro .

The story behind the rare mummy find in Mexico began in 1833 after a cholera outbreak. Many cemeteries began charging a grave tax on families because of a lack of space. Families in the silver mining town of Guanajuato who couldn’t pay the fee were forced to have the bodies of their loved ones removed from crypts in the Santa Paula cemetery. During the process of removing the bodies, the first accidental mummy was discovered in 1865. They had been mummified naturally and accidentally preserving the physical features in amazing detail.

Reeve says this was made possible through a combination of minerals in the air from nearby mining operations, temperature, the right level of humidity, and the well-sealed, above-ground crypts themselves. In the decades that followed, more than 100 mummies were found.

According to Reeve, the cemetery stopped removing the bodies in the 1950’s.

“Fathers to mothers to miners to weavers and we have some children who died during this time whose bodies were naturally mummified. It was part of the Mexican culture and tradition to dress the children as saints or angels, so they are still in their full dress and some are still holding their toys. It’s a very touching and moving exhibit,” says Reeve.

The Detroit Science Center worked with several forensic scientists and a forensic artist to better understand the stories behind the accidental mummies.   

 “There are sketches for each mummy in the exhibit. The forensic artists used CT-scans, x-rays and other equipment to determine what may have been the cause of their death so that is on each exhibit as well of what occupation they may have had,  based on their clothing and some of the miners they discovered had high levels of silver,” says Reeve.

Jason Lazar of Elon learned a lot in the Forensic science lab.

“It is very interesting to see how forensics has been used to discover what these people’s lives were like. It’s a once in a life time experience for me,” says Lazar.

The traveling exhibit is the center’s first bi-lingual exhibit. Participants can also take an audio tour in both English and Spanish.

Large murals and paintings depicting the culture and people of Guanajuato are also on display. Guests who enter the exhibit are given an “uncover your mummy” card. It’s an interactive component that describes one of the mummies in the exhibit.

12-year-old James Shaw of Raleigh used his card in the gallery of mummies.

“It’s interesting how they didn’t intend to make the mummies. I like seeing all of the stories and it’s interesting to know what happened and why,” says Shaw.

Reeve says visitors also get to see the differences in how cultures view death. In Mexican culture, it is revered as a celebration of one’s life.  Reeve says the exhibit also incorporates the Triad’s Hispanic heritage.

“The last part of the exhibit we added on. We formed a relationship with a local organization in Greensboro that promotes Latino arts and culture called Casa Azul and they put together a recreation of what alters may look like. What are the different elements and things that that people’s ancestors might love from food to water to games and flowers to sugar skulls and what are the importance of these,” says Reeve.