From the first time I saw a mummy movie
on TV, I developed a lifelong interest in mummies: Egyptian and otherwise, factual and
fictional.
One of my favorite activities in childhood was watching TV
shows and old movies--especially scary movies. Many Friday nights I begged to watch the Twilight
Zone, only to become so scared that I couldn't go to sleep all night; the
scariest episode of all was the one entitled "Room for One More" involving a
dream about the hospital morgue. And on Saturdays I often tuned in an old
Mummy movie (or Frankenstein or the Wolfman--you get the picture). The mummy movies were
the most fascinating to me--the idea of someone coming back to life (all wrapped up in
tattered bandages) was very creepy. Although as a child I never had a chance to see a real
mummy or learn about ancient Egypt (it wasn't covered in my school's curriculum), I kept
this fascination to adulthood.
In 1990, when I was
all grown up (and then some), I got an idea to write a book about mummies. I was in the British Museum in
London, climbing up the long staircase to the second floor when I came across a mummy that
I couldn't ignore. It was Lindow Man, and he was in a display case at the top of the
stairway.
Lindow Man is a bog
body, a kind of mummy I had never before encountered. One look at his preserved body, and
I knew I wanted to write a book about all the different types of mummies in the world.
That's what I did in my book How to Make a Mummy Talk. To
do this, I read a lot of books and articles about mummies. I spoke to a number of mummy
experts. I also visited many museums that exhibit mummies. One of my personal favorites is
the Museo de las momias in Guanajuato, Mexico. I've included
a few pictures to help you get the idea. A few years later, I decided to write an
entire book about bog bodies, complete with photographs; it's called Bodies from the Bog.
I have three mummy stories (and one Titanic
mummy story) on my
website:
Mummy Story 1: The
Loneliest Mummy--a sad
mummy story about the stolen mummy of a 15 year-old girl who is still
displayed at a California museum)
Mummy Story 2: The Curse of King
Tut's Tomb--a factual look at a
story created by the rumor mill.
