18th-century monk's anus was stuffed with wood chips and fabric to mummify him, researchers discover

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While analyzing an 18th - one C Austrian mammy , researchers discover that the man died from tuberculosis and was preserved in a very unusual way : with wood chips , branchlet and framework packed into his belly through his anus .

Themummifiedbody was located in a church service crypt in St. Thomas am Blasenstein , a small Greenwich Village in Austria near the Danube River . experience locally as the " gentle wind - dry chaplain , " the mummy was assumed to have been the continue remains of a parish vicar nominate Franz Xaver Sidler von Rosenegg , who break in 1746 .

Front (top) and back (bottom) of a human male mummy. His arms are crossed over his chest.

Front and back views of the mummified body of Franz Xaver Sidler von Rosenegg.

Over the twelvemonth , Sidler ’s body has been associate with various healing miracle . But his cause of death stay on a closed book , heighten by an X - ray depth psychology in 2000 that suggested his mummy contained a poison capsule .

In a sketch published Friday ( May 2 ) in the journalFrontiers in Medicine , researchers conducted a Modern analytic thinking , using multiple technique to quash rumors about Sidler ’s puzzling dying . In the physical process , they discovered a remarkable embalming method acting lack from historic records .

" Our investigation uncovered that the excellent preservation status came from an strange eccentric of embalming , achieve by stuffing the abdomen through the rectal canal with wood buffalo chip , twigs and fabric , and the increase of Zn chloride for internal drying , " study lead authorAndreas Nerlich , a researcher at Ludwig - Maximilians University in Munich who specializes in mummy research , said in astatement .

Two swatches of historical fabric pulled from the anus of an 18th century male mummy. On the left, a decorated piece of fabric that may have been crocheted. On the right, a dark brown woven fabric.

Fabric found inside the mummified body of Franz Xaver Sidler von Rosenegg, including a piece of cotton with a floral pattern (left) and a fragment of silk fabric (right).

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The CT scan revealed a minor - but - chronic contagion in the human beings ’s nasal bone venous sinus , and several of his front tooth were wear out in a semicircular pattern , both of which suggested foresighted - term pipe smoke . Additionally , the investigator discovered calcification and vesicle in his lungs , both of which are common in mass with chronictuberculosis . These lung issues may have resulted in acute pulmonary hemorrhage , the researcher observe in the study . This was his probable cause of last , the enquiry team tell , since the toxicology analysis did not reveal any evidence of poisoning .

But the afterlife of the mummy and the style it was create have bilk the researchers .

Right side view of a mummy with dark hair in a bowl cut. There are three black horizontal lines on the cheek.

After making a small slit in the dresser paries , the team tight try the foreign material come up inside the body of the mummy . This textile included mud , wood bit from spruce and true fir Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree , and branch from unidentified tree mintage . blend in this mixture were swatch of hemp , flax and silk framework , along with wooden buttons that presumptively adorned the fabric . The orotund , vacuous object that researchers previously believe was a toxicant capsule was extracted and found to be a looking glass bead from a rosary .

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Historically , mummies have often been created by open up the consistency ’s abdominal wall , removing the organ , and inserting packing cloth . But in this case , the mummy ’s abdomen was intact , result the researchers to conclude that his pelvis was packed via his anus , which they find to be somewhat enlarged .

base on theradiocarbon datefrom the mummy ’s cutis , the age at death determined from the skeleton , and diachronic criminal record , the researchers conclude that the mummy could indeed be positively distinguish as Franz Xaver Sidler , who died in St. Thomas in 1746 at only 37 old age old . Because most mass at that meter were not mummify , however , it is still unclear why Sidler merited this treatment .

a painting of a group of naked men in the forest. In the middle, one man holds up a severed human arm.

" We have some compose evidence that cadavers were ' prepared ' for rapture or elongated egg laying - out of the dead , " Nerlich said . " Possibly , the vicar was planned for conveyance to his home abbey , which might have failed for unnamed reasons . "