Mummies have an uncanny way of pulling us into the past, and the world of mystifying mummies offers some of the most bizarre, beautiful, and baffling examples ever uncovered. From monks frozen in lotus pose to bodies that seem to scream from the afterlife, each case tells a story that challenges what we think we know about death, preservation, and culture.

Why Mystifying Mummies Captivate Us

Beyond the obvious “cool factor,” these preserved bodies act as time capsules, holding clues about ancient diets, rituals, and even the politics of their eras. They also serve as stark reminders that, one day, we might join their ranks—making every discovery a little personal.

10 Everlasting Lama

In 2015, the mummified corpse of Buddhist lama Dashi‑Dorzho Itigilov was unearthed deep within a Mongolian monastery. The 90‑year‑old remains were discovered seated in perfect lotus position, wrapped snugly in calfskin. Born in 1842, Lama Dashi‑Dorzho was a devoted practitioner of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

Back in 1927, at age 75, he gathered his disciples, announced his imminent death, and instructed them to revisit his body thirty years later. He entered the lotus pose, whispered a prayer for the dead, and passed away. When exhumed three decades on, his body remained in the same pose, virtually intact. To protect the sacred remains from Stalinist forces, he was reburied in a secret grave. Decades later, Amgalan Dabayev, then 88, helped researchers locate the unmarked site. Today, the monk’s preserved form is on display at the Ivolginsk monastery, drawing curious visitors from around the globe.

9 Lemon Grove Mummies

In 1980, a housewife in Lemon Grove, California, was rummaging through her garage when she stumbled upon a chilling pair: a mummified young girl and an infant. The discovery immediately sparked a police murder investigation, but the forensic work soon revealed that both children had died centuries ago.

The backstory is stranger than fiction. The house had previously been occupied by two teenagers obsessed with mummies. They learned that tribes in northern Mexico often left their dead in arid caves, where the environment naturally mummified the corpses. After a month of spelunking in Chihuahua, the teens found the two remains. Fearing legal trouble, they smuggled the mummies back to California, boxed them, and kept the secret for years. Both teens were later drafted into Vietnam, and a trusted friend guarded the box for over a decade before the remains finally surfaced.

8 Gospel Mummy

Scientists think they’ve uncovered the oldest known gospel fragment tucked inside a mummy’s mask. The tiny papyrus scrap appears to contain a passage from the Gospel of Mark, potentially dating to before AD 90—decades older than any previously known gospel text. Carbon dating, handwriting analysis, and comparative studies all point to this astonishing early date.

The find relied on a delicate technique that dissolves glue from papyrus while preserving any inked text. Though the method is controversial—because it can damage delicate mummy masks—it opened a window into how ordinary people repurposed expensive papyrus. While pharaohs received lavish gold masks, common folk used papyrus, linen, glue, and paint. Researchers have already recovered Greek letters, business records, and personal letters from similar masks, making this gospel fragment a thrilling addition to the archaeological record.

7 The Salt Men

Deep within Iran’s Chehrabad Salt Mine, six naturally preserved bodies—dubbed the “salt men”—have been discovered, spanning from 539 BC to AD 640. The mine’s briny environment has kept beards, hair, clothing, and even stomach contents astonishingly intact.

The latest find, unearthed in 2007, appears to be a Roman‑era miner who likely perished in a rockfall or earthquake. While the first five salt men were handed over to researchers for study, the newest corpse will remain underground due to concerns over Iran’s preservation capabilities. Intriguingly, a Stanford folklorist suggests the salt men’s protruding jaws and snub noses echo ancient satyr depictions, linking them to mythic tales like St. Jerome’s satyr head displayed in Antioch.

6 Siberian Child Mummy

Archaeologists excavating the Zeleny Yar necropolis in northern Siberia in 2015 uncovered a remarkable child mummy dating to the 13th century. The boy, estimated to be six or seven years old, was wrapped in birch bark and copper, a combination that, together with the permafrost, preserved his remains remarkably well.

Buried alongside a bronze axe, the youngster likely held a higher social status than his contemporaries. Tissue samples of his internal organs remain intact, offering the tantalizing possibility of extracting viable DNA. Researchers have already begun comparing his genetic material with modern Siberian populations to locate living relatives. South Korean scientists are also working on a facial reconstruction, confident that the pristine preservation will yield a striking likeness.

5 Secret Of The Statue

A Dutch collector bought a centuries‑old Buddha statue from China, only to discover a 1,000‑year‑old mummified monk hidden inside its hollow core. The fragile corpse could not be removed without damage. CT scans suggest the monk had been displayed openly for two centuries before being sealed within the statue in the 14th century.

Inside the statue’s cavity, thousands of paper scraps bearing Chinese characters filled the void. The monk, identified as Liuquan, was seated on a cloth inscribed with his name. Remarkably, his organs were missing—consistent with the practice of self‑mummification, which required a strict diet and a toxic tea to render the body poisonous to decay agents. This arduous ritual, known in Thailand, China, and Japan, was reserved for a select few revered monks.

4 Tuli Mummy

In 2008, a game‑lodge patrol in Botswana chanced upon the country’s first ever mummy: the over‑200‑year‑old Tuli Mummy. Wrapped in calfskin, the remains initially fooled the officer into thinking they were the remains of a poacher, but the dry environment had naturally mummified the body.CT scans revealed the man was over 50 at death and suffered from a degenerative spinal condition. No internal organs were visible—either they dried out completely or were removed post‑mortem, though the latter is unlikely given the region’s lack of mummification traditions. DNA analysis linked the Tuli individual to modern Khoesan and Sotho‑Tswana peoples, bridging a remarkable genetic gap across centuries.

3 Dirty Thoughts

Researchers recently examined a 3,200‑year‑old Egyptian mummy whose skull was completely filled with dirt. CT imaging showed sediment occupying the cranial cavity while the brain remained intact—a rare combination that points to a New Kingdom origin (16th–11th centuries BC), when brain removal was not yet standard practice.

The mummy, named Hatason, arrived in San Francisco in the late 1800s and now resides at the Legion of Honor Museum. Her modest coffin, lacking amulets, suggests a commoner status. While her pelvis was crushed—obscuring gender identification—researchers suspect she was female based on skull morphology. The dirt‑filled skull hints at an experimental embalmer experimenting with burial techniques.

2 Guanajuato Mummies

Between 1865 and 1958, the Mexican city of Guanajuato enforced a strict grave‑tax. Families who couldn’t pay saw their loved ones “evicted” from burial plots. The arid local conditions naturally mummified many exhumed bodies, which were then stored in an ossuary that morphed into a museum in 1894.

The collection boasts a macabre variety, including a pregnant mummy and the world’s smallest preserved human. Among them, Ignacia Aguilar stands out. Misdiagnosed with a heart condition during a cholera outbreak, she was buried alive. When exhumed years later, her corpse was found face‑down, scratch‑marked, and with a mouth full of blood from gnawing on her own arm—an unsettling tableau that still haunts visitors.

1 The Screaming Mummy

In 1881, archaeologists uncovered a mysterious tomb cavern south of Cairo. When the body was finally unwrapped five years later, its face was frozen in a silent scream—a striking sight that earned it the moniker “the screaming mummy.” Initially cataloged as “Unknown Man E,” the mummy’s identity remains debated.

One theory suggests he was an Egyptian official serving in far‑flung provinces, embalmed by inexperienced workers who used quicklime and covered him with goat and sheep skins—animals considered unclean, which would have barred him from the afterlife. Another hypothesis points to a foreign prince or disgraced royal, possibly Prince Pentewere, accused of plotting against his father, Ramesses III. The macabre combination of quicklime, animal pelts, and the terrified expression continues to intrigue scholars and visitors alike.

When you think of a mountain, you might picture a towering rock formation on Earth, but the term can stretch to anything massive and mysterious. Below, we explore ten mystifying mountains that defy expectations, from eerie lights on a North Carolina ridge to a frozen volcano on a dwarf planet.

Why These Mystifying Mountains Capture Our Imagination

Each of these mystifying mountains holds a story that blends science, folklore, and a dash of the unknown, making them perfect subjects for curious minds.

10 Brown Mountain

After years of fruitless searching for the legendary lights over North Carolina’s Brown Mountain, Appalachian State University physics professor Dr. Daniel Caton was on the brink of giving up. Then, on July 17, 2016, he witnessed an orb streak across the ridge, vanishing and reappearing twice.

Caton reviewed footage from both cameras that had recorded the event and confirmed the orb appeared in each recording, ruling out a simple lens flare. Despite eliminating that explanation, the mysterious orb remains unexplained, keeping the Brown Mountain lights shrouded in mystery.

9 Mountain In A Moat

NASA scientists are baffled by a peculiar feature on Charon, Pluto’s largest moon. Dubbed a “mountain in a moat,” the raised mound sits inside a depression and was captured by the New Horizons team during its July 4, 2015 flyby.

Researchers hope that higher‑resolution data will clarify the formation’s origin once the spacecraft’s imaging equipment delivers full‑fidelity images.

8 Rainbow Mountains

It took roughly 24 million years for China’s Zhangye Danxia Landform Geological Park to craft the aptly named Rainbow Mountains. Layers of colored sandstone were compressed, then thrust upward by shifting tectonic plates, forming steep, jagged peaks.

The resulting veining of orange, yellow, blue, green, red, and brown creates a candy‑like landscape that looks as if giant brushes painted the terrain.

7 Moving Mountain

Imagine a mountain of sand that actually moves—about 20 meters (66 ft) each year. In Tanzania’s Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a crescent‑shaped dune about 10 m tall and 100 m wide shifts direction every decade, even splitting once to travel apart.

Scientists believe a past volcanic eruption created the dune, and the authority now tracks its migration with beacons to predict future movement.

6 Seamounts

Two camera‑equipped submersibles, Pisces IV and Pisces V, have taken researchers thousands of meters below the ocean surface to explore seamounts—underwater mountains that never breach the water’s surface. Some rise as much as 3,000 m (9,800 ft) from the sea floor.

These largely unexplored peaks host strange life, from kitefin sharks to dumbo octopuses that change color, and even a looming Pacific sleeper shark that glides alongside the submersibles.

5 Mount Sharp

NASA chose Gale Crater on Mars as the landing site for the Curiosity rover because the mound inside the pit—Aeolis Mons, or Mount Sharp—showed signs of past water. At 5.5 km (3.4 mi) tall, the mountain was once thought to be a water‑formed feature.

Current research indicates the peak is mostly wind‑deposited lake silt, yet its foothills were exposed to liquid water long ago, suggesting a more complex history than initially believed.

4 Sugarloaf Mountain

Rising 396 m (1,299 ft) above Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s Sugarloaf Mountain became a canvas for strange laser‑generated symbols in October 2013. A holographic pinwheel of four feathers appeared for two hours, then vanished, leaving the text “#WINNER TAKES EARTH.”

While some link the messages to the 2014 World Cup, the true meaning of the hologram remains an unsolved mystery.

3 Instant Mountain

When the Chicxulub asteroid slammed into the Yucatán Peninsula 65 million years ago, it created a mountain taller than Everest in mere minutes. The impact formed a 180‑km (112‑mi) crater whose center hosts a peak ring—a broken, circular ridge.

Two competing theories explain the ring: one suggests the impact melted the peak, forming a ring of disconnected summits; the other proposes a “dynamic collapse” where the crater imploded, causing the peak to collapse into the ring.

2 The Great Dune Of Pyla

France’s Great Dune of Pyla stretches 3 km (1.9 mi) long, 500 m (1,600 ft) wide, and rises 107 m (351 ft) tall. The massive sand formation shifts about 10 m (33 ft) each year, having moved 280 m (918 ft) over the past 57 years.

Its migration has buried private homes, pine forest, and even a road, while wind continues to sculpt the dune, attracting climbers, paragliders, and hikers.

1 Ahuna Mons

Ahuna Mons, nicknamed “the Pyramid,” sits in the middle of nowhere on dwarf planet Ceres. Standing 6.5 km (4 mi) high and spanning 16 km (10 mi) across, the icy peak sports bright streaks down its sides, reminiscent of the mysterious bright spots in Ceres’s Occator Crater.

Scientists now think Ahuna Mons is a gigantic ice volcano, erupting salty water from the interior over millions of years. As Ceres draws nearer to the Sun, researchers hope to witness venting activity.

They’re man’s best friend, but how many humans know what makes their dogs tick? Probably not enough, that’s how many. And given how much of their behavior is intended to communicate—with us, no less—we ought to have our tails between our legs. 

Here are 10 things you’ve seen your dog do but haven’t the faintest clue why.

10. Chasing cats

Contrary to popular belief, dogs don’t hate cats. After all, they’re perfectly capable of sharing a household. So why do they chase them so aggressively?

The reason is your dog’s hunting instinct. Some breeds, especially herders and hunters like Shepherds and Retrievers, chase cats more than others. But even toy breeds instinctively hound moving objects—whether it’s a ball, a stick, or a cat. And, unlike balls and sticks, cats instinctively flee, which of course makes matters worse.

There’s also a language barrier between cats and dogs. While a dog wags its tail to show willingness to interact, a cat usually wags in irritation. In other words, Catese for ‘Go away’ is Doggian for ‘Wanna play?’. Hence dogs have chased cats for millennia.

9. Panting

Ever wondered why your dog pants even when they’re just sitting still? Most of the time they’re not out of breath, they’re usually just hot or dehydrated. Dogs don’t sweat like we do (thank goodness), so they pant to keep themselves cool. What’s happening is they’re rapidly taking in air and humidifying it before exhaling so it evaporates from the nose and lungs—cooling the body from the inside out. 

Obviously they need plenty of air and access to water for this process. It’s how dogs can die within minutes from heatstroke when left in hot cars—even with the windows cracked open. They just don’t have enough air.

This isn’t the only reason for panting, though. Depending on the context, it could also indicate excitement, stress, or pain. Sometimes it’s a side effect from medicine. It could also be indicative of a toxic or allergic reaction. It’s important to be aware of all the possible causes so you know when your dog is in danger.

8. Licking you

When your dog licks you, it’s usually a greeting. Nothing mystifying about that. But if that’s all it is, why don’t dogs lick each other instead of going straight in for their customary butt sniff? 

It’s because it’s a puppy behavior. In the wild, when a mother returns to her pups from a hunt, her dependents will lick around her snout—prompting her to vomit up some food. That’s basically what you are to your dog, a lifelong mother. By providing for all of their needs, we encourage a permanent puppyhood. Such retention of juvenile behavior into adulthood is called ‘neoteny’. Another example is how vocal domesticated dogs are (like puppies) compared to dogs in the wild. 

Keep this in mind if you’re licking-averse. Punishing your dog for licking your face is cold as well as confusing. The best thing to do is let them at it. But if you really don’t like it, try covering your face and rewarding when they lick your hand instead. Or teach them an alternative greeting.

7. Digging (including indoors)

Dogs dig holes for any number of reasons, not just to hide bones like their pre-domesticated ancestors.

One key reason is their instinct for denning. Outside, a hole would keep them sheltered from cold weather and cooler in hot. This is also the reason why you might see your dog scratching as though digging indoors—particularly on their bed. Another reason, especially if your dog was bred for hunting, is an instinct to catch prey (such as gophers) in burrows.

Yet another reason, though, is stress relief. Separation anxiety is common in dogs and if they’re left on their own in the yard all day, they’ll often channel that stress into digging. It keeps them occupied, like OCD. At least until you come home and scold them for a behavior you didn’t understand.

6. Eating grass

It’s a common understanding that dogs eat grass when they want to throw up. You may have seen your own dog chewing the lawn until they vomit yellow foam. This is bile, which builds up overnight and irritates the stomach when it’s empty. The solution is a small evening meal.

But this isn’t the only reason dogs eat grass—or even the primary reason. In fact, according to a study, only 22 percent eat grass until they vomit, and only nine percent seem ill before they start. Clearly, something else is going on. 

Aside from boredom, the main reason why dogs eat grass appears to be dietary deficiency. Grass contains a number of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients that they may not be getting from their food but which, instinctively, their once-wild bodies crave. It’s been suggested that fiber is a big one.

5. Tilting their head at you

When dogs tilt their head, you can almost hear a Scooby Doo “huh?”. And that’s kind of what it is (assuming they don’t have a medical problem). Head-tilting usually just means dogs have heard something they don’t understand—but want to. For many breeds, it compensates for their ears. Dachshunds, for example, with their flaps, might tilt to uncover the ear canal. 

But there’s probably more to it than that. After all, hearing isn’t exactly a handicap for dogs; it’s one of the ways they’re better than us. So actually what we’re seeing when they tilt their head may be super hearing in action. According to some experts, dogs tilt their heads to triangulate the source of a sound. 

Obviously this doesn’t explain why they tilt their head at us. Unfortunately it’s not entirely clear. However, it may have to do with their vision, with head-tilting compensating for snouts. That may be why Bulldogs and other short-nosed breeds tilt their heads less than others. It may also be that you’ve unwittingly rewarded this cute dog behavior in the past, encouraging them to do it more often. 

4. Cowering from thunderstorms

All dog owners know the stresses of a thunderstorm. All of a sudden, it’s like your happy-go-lucky best friend is in need of some serious counseling—especially if storms are rare where you live. They’re also likely to be more afraid if their first 14 weeks of life (their socialization window) fell outside of storm season. You freaking out also doesn’t help.

Interestingly, though, it’s not just the noise. Primarily, it’s the static electricity, which runs through their fur and causes discomfort. In fact, it can even cause shocks. 

This is why they hide. It’s not to evade some unseen threat; it’s to ground themselves and minimize the static. Knowing this, there are ways we can help—such as guiding them to a good grounding spot or rubbing their fur with an unscented dryer sheet. It’s important not to be too overbearing, though, since your dog is already unnerved.

3. Moonwalking after doing their business

We’ve all seen it, that strange ritual habit of scratching the ground with the hind legs after taking a dump. To the uninitiated, it looks like an instinct to bury their do-do, hiding their tracks from other dogs. But it’s actually the opposite. Dogs’ toe pads are some of the only places on their bodies with sweat glands, so by wiping them on the ground they’re deliberately leaving their scent. Meanwhile, digging in at the same time with their claws leaves a clear visual mark for other dogs to find. The stronger the mark, the more impressive the dog—which is why they “sign their art” with such gusto. 

You see, for dogs toilet time is a social occasion; every deposit is packed with information. You may want to bear this in mind next time you catch them eating poop. Not only is it a behavior they learned from their mother, they’re communing with the neighbor dog that left it. (If nothing else, there’s minimal risk and it can even provide nutritional value.) 

Dogs sniff pee for much the same reason: Gathering intel. In fact, so data-rich is a puddle of pee that while dogs usually fail the traditional self-awareness test (e.g. putting them in front of a mirror with a mark on their body to see if they try to shake it off), they can easily identify their own urine.

2. Wagging their tail

We learn it in preschool: Dogs wag their tails when they’re happy. But, as you’ve probably learned since, it’s really not that simple. Dogs do wag their tails when they’re happy, but they wag for other reasons too—positive and negative. So all it can be said to reliably mean is your dog is communicating something. And you might want to learn to translate.

It depends on the speed and position. According to PetMD, a slightly upright tail wagging at moderate speed is Doggian for “I’m happy.” As it gets faster and faster—becoming the so-called ‘helicopter tail’—it tells you they’re super excited. No surprises there. But did you know that when the tail is arched over the back it indicates aggression? In this case the speed of the wag is a measure of how much the dog wants to bite you.

There’s also an important difference between wagging to the left side or right. It doesn’t matter what breed your dog is; when their tail is wagging slightly to the left, it means they’re feeling anxious, and when it’s wagging slightly to the right, it means they’re feeling friendly. And as pseudoscientific as this sounds, it has been extensively studied—particularly in the context of left-right asymmetries in the brain.

1. Walking in a circle before lying down

The received wisdom as to why dogs circle their bedding, or the couch, or the floor, or wherever they’re about to rest, is that they’re scanning the horizon for threats. Another common theory is that they’re scaring off vermin and pests. But, according to research, the explanation is actually pretty simple: They’re treading out bumps. Animal psychologist Professor Stanley Coren found dogs were three times as likely to circle on uneven bedding.

But why then do we also see dogs walking in a circle before doing their business outside? Scanning the horizon, right? No. Strangely enough, studies show a clear preference among dogs for pooping in alignment with the Earth’s magnetic field—at least for the fifth of the day when it’s stable. More specifically, they like a north-south alignment and avoid east-west.

Researchers aren’t sure why. Maybe dogs just feel better this way. Other animals, including birds and cows, also align themselves with the magnetic field of the planet. Whatever the reason, though, it seems fair to assume that it also comes into play when they’re circling for rest.