That's usually the same story..."Oh, it's just an infant baby...or someone with a deformity..." Yea Yea Yea. But look at it in the context of what it actually is. How it was found. The story is an amazing one.
The body was located in a boulder and that boulder was located under a mountain. Miners used explosives to tunnel under the mountain, and discovered that the boulder had cracked in two. Peering into the crack they noticed a cavity. Inside the boulder they discovered a tiny hollow. Within this hollow was a kind of alter with the body sitting flat on the shelf.
There wasn't any evidence of an opening. There wasn't any evidence that are typical of burials of ANY kind. This is a unique event that needs to be researched. I am glad that someone is doing so.
CASPER, Wyo. - A man is offering $10,000 for the Pedro Mountain Mummy, a tiny set of human remains that were found in Wyoming and have not been seen in public for 55 years.
John Adolfi, of Syracuse, N.Y., said he wants the mummy so it can undergo DNA testing, X-rays and magnetic resonance imaging.
Several photos and many descriptions of the artifact remain. In its seated position, the mummy stands 7 inches tall. If it were to stand up, it would only measure about 17 inches.
Adolfi hypothesizes that modern science would prove that Pedro was an adult at the time of his death — perhaps one of the "little people" spoken of in Arapaho and Shoshone tales.
But George Gill, an anthropology professor at the University of Wyoming, has a different theory. After reviewing X-rays taken of the mummy in the 1950s, Gill concluded that it was an infant with anencephaly, a birth defect in which only the brain stem develops.
Adolfi thinks Pedro could poke holes in the theory of evolution, though he acknowledges that the recent discovery of an ancient pygmy hominid species in Indonesia doesn't disprove it.
He also plans to offer rewards for pieces or photos of Noah's Ark and for evidence of giant humans who Adolfi says once roamed Earth.
Cecil Mayne discovered the Pedro Mountain Mummy while prospecting for gold in the Pathfinder Reservoir area in 1932. It was inside a cave he uncovered with explosives, according to an article in the Oct. 21, 1932, Casper Tribune-Herald.
Debate about the remains began as soon as it was found.
The mummy was displayed for awhile at the Jones Drug Store in Meeteetse. In the mid-1940s, a Casper used car salesman, Ivan Goodman, bought Pedro for several thousand dollars and used it to attract people to his lot and as part of his advertising.
It was while the mummy belonged to Goodman that it underwent examination.
"After an exhaustive study by the scientists, it was agreed that it was the only specimen known of a human race of that type which perhaps dated back a million years," Goodman was quoted as saying in the March 5, 1950, Casper Tribune-Herald.
Goodman died later that year and the mummy passed into the hands of New Yorker Leonard Wadler. Wadler moved to Florida and died there in the 1980s, according to Adolfi.
Adolfi believes if the mummy turns up, it will be in Florida.
From Mysteries of the Unexplained, Reader's Digest General Books, The Reader's Digest Association, 1982. He was found sitting cross-legged on a ledge in a small cave in a granite mountain. His hands were folded in his lap, in the timeless attitude of a Buddha. He appeared to be middle-aged. His skin was brown and wrinkled, his nose flat, the forehead low, the mouth broad and thin-lipped. And he was 14 inches tall.
The mummy was discovered in 1932 by gold prospectors blasting the walls of a gulch in the Pedro Mountains, 60 miles southwest of Casper, Wyoming. After studying it, puzzled scientists ventured the theory that it was a mummified pygmy and possibly the progenitor of the American Indian. When it died, it was given a ceremonial burial.
Displayed in sideshows for several years, the Pedro Mountain Mummy was eventually purchased by Ivan T. Goodman, a Casper businessman, and taken to New York City. The remains, X-rayed by Dr. Harry Shapiro of the American Museum of Natural History and certified as genuine by the Anthropology Department of Harvard University, was thought by some to be those of a 65-year-old person. The speculation generated interest in the legends of the Shoshone and Crow Indians of Wyoming about a miniature people, only inches tall.
Following Goodman's death in 1950 the mummy passed into the hands of one Leonard Waller and dissapeared, but interest in it continued nationwide. In 1979 pictures of Shapiro's X-rays were given to Dr. George Gill, professor of anthropology at the University of Wyoming. The withered little body, he concluded, was that of an infant or a fetus, possibly of an unknown tribe of prehistoric Indians. He believed that the infant had been afflicted with anencephaly, a congenital abnormality that would account for the adult proportions of its skeleton. Discoveries of mummified remains are not uncommon in Wyoming, which has an arid climate. As Dr. Gill pointed out, the Indians may have found other mummies of similarly diseased infants and quite naturally assumed that they were the remains of small adults. This in turn would tend to support the legend of a "little people."
But Pedro, as the mummy is known, remains a scienfitic curiosity. "All we have are tantalizing bits of information," Dr. Gill remarked. He and other anthropologists still hope to locate the missing mummy for further examination. (The Casper Star-Tribune, July 22 and July 24, 1979; The Casper Tribune Herald, October 22, 1932; C.J. Cazeau and Stuart D. Scott, Exploring the Unknown, p. 222)
He was found sitting cross - legged on a small shelf in a cave in a granite mountain. His hands were folded in his lap, in the timeless tradition of the Buddah. He appeared to be middle aged, his skin was dark brown and wrinkled, his nose flat and splayed, the forehead low, the mouth thin lipped and wide. And to top it of, he was 14 inches tall. The mummy was discovered by gold prospectors in 1932 blasting the walls of a gulch in the Pedro Mountains, 60 miles southwest of Casper, Wyoming. After studying it, puzzled scientists ventured that it could be a mummified pygmy and possibly the progenitor of the American Indians. Displayed in carnival freak shows for several years, the remains were eventually purchased by Ivan T. Goodman, a Casper businessman, and taken to New York City.
Dr. Harry Shapiro of the American Museum of Natural History X-rayed the body, and was certified as genuine by the Anthropology Department of Harvard University. Some speculated that the person, if it was a person, may have been 65 years old at the time of his internment. The speculation generated interest in the legends of the Shoshone and Crow Indians of Wyoming, about miniature people only inches tall. Shortly before Goodmans death in 1950, the mummy was stolen and never found again.
Interest in the mummy continued however nationwide.30 years later, photographs of the X-rays were given to a Dr. George Gill, professor of anthropology at the University of Wyoming. The withered body he concluded, was that of an infant or fetus of an unknown prehistoric tribe of Indians. He proposed that the infant suffered from anencephaly, a congenital abnormality that would account for the adult proportions of the bones. Discoveries of mummified remains are not wholly uncommon in Wyoming, where the arid climate is condusive to tissue preservation. As Gill pointed out, the Indians may have found similar diseased mummies and assumed they were the remains of adults. This in turn would support the legends of the "little people." Be that as it may, Dr. Gills beliefs are far from the last word on the matter, as the body is missing. Today, with genetic technologies, it would be quite possible to put the issue to rest. The Pedro mummy remains a scientific curiousity. "All we have are bits of information" Dr. Gill remarked. He and many other anthropologists hope that someday, the San Pedro mummy resurfaces for further study.
