Why the Mummies of Guanajuato Are Displayed as Entertainment

Museums dedicated to mummified bodies are already walking a strange line between education and morbid fascination. But the Mummies of Guanajuato take that line and completely blur it. These are regular people, a shoemaker, a housewife, infants, and even a pregnant woman, whose bodies were accidentally preserved in a Mexican cemetery. And for a long time, they were put on display not as a memorial… but as a sideshow.

But to understand how a bunch of naturally mummified bodies became one of the country’s strangest tourist attractions, you have to go back to 19th-century Guanajuato. So, let’s get started, shall we?

The accidental mummies

The preservation of these bodies wasn’t the result of some secret embalming recipe or intentional mummification process. It happened naturally. The combination of the local climate, the mineral-heavy soil, and how the crypts were sealed somehow created the perfect conditions to dry out bodies before they could decay. Basically, nature did all the work.

The first of these mummies was unearthed around 1865, when the city started enforcing a burial tax. Families had to pay a fee to keep their relatives buried in the cemetery, and if they couldn’t afford it, the bodies were removed to make room for someone else. It was practical and brutal. But when cemetery workers started digging, they realized some of the corpses hadn’t decomposed. At all. The bodies were stiff, leathery, and eerily lifelike.

From graves to glass cases

You’d think that finding mummified remains in your town would spark some sort of moral or religious debate, but no, it mostly sparked curiosity in the case of the Mummies of Guanajuato. The workers began storing the bodies in a nearby ossuary, and eventually, word got out. Locals started sneaking in for a peek. The cemetery figured, why not monetize it?

By the early 1900s, it became semi-official. Visitors could pay a small fee to enter the crypt and view the “exhibits.” There were no velvet ropes, no protective glass, no respectful distance. People just stood there, face to face with the dead. By the time the Museo de las Momias (Museum of the Mummies) officially opened in 1969, the whole thing had become a full-blown attraction. Tourists still come by the thousands every year to see the bodies.

A little horror, a little history

The whole thing walks a very strange line between folklore, history, and spectacle. Some mummies are labeled with signs that say things like “woman buried alive” or “man who died in agony,” based on nothing more than the expression frozen on their faces. Others are given backstories to make them more “interesting” for the crowds. It’s not exactly scientific. There’s even an infant mummy on display — reportedly the smallest in the world — which, depending on your mood, is either fascinating or completely heartbreaking.

In recent years, the display of the Guanajuato mummies has stirred more controversy. Some argue that putting these bodies on display, often without the consent of their families, is deeply disrespectful. And let’s not forget — at one point, these mummies toured. As in, packed up in boxes and shipped around to other cities in Mexico and the US. Imagine someone doing that to your great-grandma. If you ask me, it’s just really hard not to feel a little uncomfortable about the whole thing.