Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuughh!
My *eyes*!!!!
Ugh.
That brings back [very bad] memories.
North America: Soap Mummies
QUESTION from Calvin: My sister told me that NC (where I live) is the home of soap mummies. She told me that the proper equation was an obese person, the soil of the Piedmont area, proper moisture, the person to have been in clothes and either no coffin or perhaps a primitive coffin. She said that with the humidity here and all those other ingredients that the people literally turned into soap and were mummified. Is this true? I've tried to look it up but have not been successful. Thanks again. ANSWER FROM THE MUMMY MASTER: I don't know if NC is the "home" of soap mummies--they have been found many places. They are mummies that have been produced by the formation of adipocere. According to Christine Quigley's Modern Mummies, "adipocere is a waxy or greasy decomposition product resulting from chemical changes in soft tissues under conditions of high humidity and high environmental temperature"--like NC in the summer? These mummies have been found in other places too including underwater. According to scientists, fatty acids combine with sodium to form "hard soap" (quite crumbly)--later potassium can be added to the mix and turn the hard soap into "soft soap" (more like toothpaste). Some adipocere mummies look pretty good (though not like artificially-made mummies in Egypt or South America), but most are pretty gross. Quigley's book includes one photo on page 23.
I found him!
He's slightly less than halfway down the page!
http://adipocere.homestead.com/images2.html
[be warned...the site is really not for the faint of heart or those with full bellies]