When you think of Russia, you probably don’t think of mummies. Those are more Egypt’s territory than anything else. But sources in Moscow report that preserved corpses have begun turning up in residential areas.
On Thursday, Russian police uncovered the mummified body of an elderly man in an apartment in northeastern Moscow. Authorities believe this man died at least ten years ago, and have launched an investigation, presumably into the cause of his death and the reasons he was not reported missing or deceased sooner.
The thought of discovering something like this is disturbing enough, but what makes this story downright creepy is that the corpse in question is just one of at least six such mummies that have turned up since 2009.
In January, authorities discovered the body of a woman who had been dead at least five years. Last spring, three other mummies were found in apartments around Moscow. Each of those had been an elderly man. And kicking off all this mummy madness was the body of an infant, wrapped in an old newspaper, which was discovered under the floorboards of yet another apartment.
Kind of makes you wonder what’s going on, doesn’t it? Maybe these mummies are a form of protest against the news that city officials plan to open a new, elites-only cemetery, instead of expanding other public cemeteries. Or maybe their loved ones were afraid the bodies would be eaten by bears. More likely, though, these people were just severely neglected, as many others are.
Either way, it looks like you no longer have to visit Lenin’s tomb to see a mummy in Moscow. Now it might be as simple as opening a closet door.
Image: by Tomas Castelazo, via Wikimedia Commons
Tags: mummy, Russian mummy, mummified body found in Moscow, mummy found in Russian apartment, mummies, mummy found in apartment, six Russian mummies, unusual events, Russia, Moscow
