Christian Friedrich von Kahlbutz

Christian Friedrich von Kahlbutz (1651 – 1702) was a German knight, who is today most famous because of the state of preservation of his body; no noticeable mummification process was used upon his death.

Although there were no witnesses, the shepherd's bride, Maria Leppin, accused Kahlbutz of the murder and took him to court in Dreetz (Brandenburg).

Several tests have been done on the mummy of the knight to figure out why a body that apparently was not embalmed has not undergone the natural decay process.

In the 1890s, Rudolf Virchow and Ferdinand Sauerbruch tested the mummy as did Charité, the largest university hospital in Europe, but all without success.

These kinds of substances are not readily detectable long after death though since the fat and water in the corpse changes and evaporates over time.

Bodily decay may have been prevented by the fact that prior to being hermetically sealed in the coffin, he had lost a great deal of blood, in combination with the lack of soil containing decay-accelerating materials.