Screaming mummies...

PC: Kevin Hutchinson

A mummy always reminds of thousands of years old pharaohs and pyramids but many civilizations including Incan, Australian Aboriginal, Aztec, African etc have practiced several types of mummification processes to preserve bodies. Guanajuato mummies are world famous for its terrifying looks. It actually is a collection of hundreds of mummies which were mummified naturally during late 19th century. In 1850s a worldwide cholera outbreak caused thousands of deaths and soon  underground cemeteries in Guanjato were running out of space to accommodate bodies. So the authorities had to build walled crypts above ground and in this warm arid environment bodies started a natural mummification process. 

In 1865 the local government introduced a " burial tax" which required families to pay a yearly grave tax. If the families are unable to pay it, bodies of their relatives will be removed and moved into a storage facility to be buried again in case the family come up with money later. People working on removing these bodies were shocked when they discovered the mummified corpses in the crypts. Mummies appeared to have terrified faces. The museum for these mummies officially opened in 1968 and currently they have around 100 mummies.

PC: Carlos Villarreal

Some of these mummies has special stories related to those. The mummy of Ignacia Aguilar was found biting into her own arm and several wounds in her hands and temples which implied that she was buried alive."Mother and child" is also one of their famous exhibits. It is a mummy of a woman around 40 years old with her fetus (5-6 months in gestation). Her bone structure indicates malnutrition and her belly is still visible. 

PC: christymemos.blogspot.com

But why do mummies scream? This screaming expression is not unique to Guanajuato mummies and it can be seen in several other mummies throughout the world as well. The reason is the nature of the temporo-mandibular joint. Human jaw and cranium are only held together by ligaments and muscles. After death with the relaxation of muscles, jaw drops and this screaming expression can be seen. Modern day embalmers secure the mandible using needles and threads therefore we don't see this real life terror show in a funeral. Since we are programmed to determine the emotional states of other fellow humans using their facial expressions people tend to use the expressions of mummies to predict their emotional states at the last moments, but actually those are postmortem artifacts.

PC: Nyall and Maryanne