The Mummy’s Curse- in Cicero?!
Perhaps you saw the article in the Tribune that was brought to my attention by our friend Elizabeth, who helps out at our fine sponsor Horrorbles- about the possible arrival of some Mexican mummies in the suburb of Cicero (yes, that’s right next to Berwyn…)
It seems that there are mummies that are quite famous in Mexico- coming from a silver-mining town called Guanajuato, where some strange process in the earth there causes natural mummification of bodies buried there. These mummies, unlike the Egyptian mummies, are not buried in elaborate tombs, in
highly-decorated mummy cases-many were town residents buried in crypts, or even in the ground, who dies during a long-ago cholera epidemic. The first such mummies were unearthed in 1865, with more and more being added to the collection. According to the article, the museum there didn’t even bother putting the mummies behind glass, and countless tourists would visit the town to view them. The mummies were so legendary that TV shows and movies were made about them, including monster films that pitted the mummies, come to life, against heroic masked Mexican wrestlers like El Santo, Mil Mascaras, and the Blue Demon.
The town of Guanajuato, wanting to raise its cultural profile, was looking for a place to put the mummies on display- and, through a relationship between a Cook County commissioner and a consultant for the mummy display, had agreed to send the mummies to Cicero for a special display. Cicero had planned to display them in a gymnasium that they are converting to a cultural center with more educational information about the mummies.
Alas- things may have changed- the mummy museum in Mexico suddenly got a new management team that intends to raise their profile- and cash- via the mummies, and they suddenly feel that, if the mummies aren’t headed to Chicago and a prestigious place like the Filed Museum, and, instead, to a suburb that is known to some in Mexico as merely the headquarters of gangster Al Capone- well, maybe it isn’t the best destination. What if people don’t show up for the exhibit because it’s being held in the hometown of Capone? (Obviously, these management people haven’t been to America in a while, and must still be hooked on 1930s Warner Bros. gangster flicks…) And- is displaying them in a former gymnasium too much of –as they put it- a “freak show?”
The story will continue in tomorrow’s blog! # # #
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The Mummies of Guanajuato appeared in five films though oddly enough only the first one is based and filmed in Guanajuato.The rest were filmed in Guatemala due to budget considerations.
They were:
LAS MOMIAS DE GUANAJUATO with Blue Demon Mil Mascaras and a better late than never Santo.
EL CASTILLO DE LAS MOMIAS DE GUANAJUATO with Superzan Tinieblas and Blue Angel.
EL ROBO DE LAS MOMIAS DE GUANAJUATO with Mil Mascaras Rayo de Jalisco and Fantasma Blanco
LAS MOMIAS DE SAN ANGEL with Mil Mascaras and Tinieblas.
LA MANSION DE LAS SIETE MOMIAS with Blue Demon and Superzan
Though the legendary Santo only battled the mummies for a scant few minutes he has always been associated with that film series.
The "Filed" Museum???
In Jr. High (1981) I went to Taxco Mexico which is also a silver mining area, and also had mummies which we went underground to see. Wonder if it's the silver in the ground that makes all the Mexican mummies.