Mummies of Guanajuato

The climate of Guanajuato provides an environment which can lead to a type of natural mummification, although scientific studies later revealed that some bodies had been at least partially embalmed.

Cemetery workers began charging people a few pesos to enter the building where bones and mummies were stored.

[1] The mummies began to be exhumed from a Guanajuato cemetery when a law was enacted locally requiring families to pay a 'burial tax' to ensure the perpetual burial of a loved one.

In 2023, INAH warned that displaying the mummies in traveling exhibitions could pose a public health risk after one of the corpses appeared to have fungal growths.

In 2024, INAH accused local authorities of mismanagement after an arm belonging to a mummified corpse fell off during renovations at the museum.

[citation needed] The mummies are a notable part of Mexican popular culture, echoing the national holiday "The Day of the Dead" (El Día de los Muertos).

Author Ray Bradbury visited the catacombs of Guanajuato with his friend Grant Beach[4] and wrote the short story "The Next in Line" about his experience.

"[5] To conjure a morbid and eerie atmospheric opening sequence to his film Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), German director Werner Herzog used footage he had taken of several of the mummies.